Reincarnated Princess Wishes To Avoid Death Chapter v4 Discussion

DISCLAIMER: This review is for the light novel version of Tearmoon Empire that is officially licensed by J-Novel Club; I have no plans of reading the web novel version.

Hoo, boy, where do I start? While this series definitely isn't the #1 light novel series of all-time or the #1 best-written light novel series, I still rate it extremely highly. Never before have I read a shojo-based story as engaging as this one (with the exception of I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level as I am extremely biased towards it; I consider it to be the ultimate masterpiece of an isekai with a female protagonist).

The story begins with the Tearmoon Empire's Imperial Princess, Mia Luna Tearmoon, being executed in the most well-known medieval style (at least, in my opinion), the guillotine. As she feels the cold steel rend her head from her body, she looks back to the life she led that led her up to this point, realizing that she had made all the wrong choices on the map of life. Mia was only allowed one personal possession: a battered diary. This diary fell down to the ground at the same time as her head and as blood continued to escape from the newly born stump, the diary's pages began staining crimson as blood soaked into its fibers. However, Mia wakes up, her head still attached to her body... and when she looked in the mirror, she had de-aged! She had awoken to herself in the past, her twelve-year-old body looking back at her. Realizing that she had gone back in time, Mia begins her journey to fix the problems that afflicted her country that inevitably led to its immolating downfall.

What I particularly love about how this author makes use of the time-travel trope is that they always make collusions to the past timeline, the timeline where the "Selfish Princess" brought about her own ruin (later on, the author also makes collusions to a [possible] future timeline in which Mia successfully saves her empire from collapse). Mia's decisions are now influenced by knowledge she had gained from the new timeline as well as the experiences of her own shattered life in the past timeline.

For example, her first major decision concerned the head chef of the imperial house (his name is revealed in a bonus short story in Volume 4, Musta Waggman) in which two years in the future, she would fire him out of rage for serving her the vegetable she hated the most, ambermoon tomatoes. Having learned from it, she inquires of the chef and praises him for his talent as she compares the taste of the ones he had cooked for her with the ones from her painful memory. She gladly accepts his deference and his conviction to constantly look after her health, knowing now that deference should not be taken for granted as she received not even a shred of concern during the three years of her imprisonment.

However, there was but one person that did not fail to show the Selfish Princess mercy even when no one else did: her most trusted and loyal maid, Anne. In the previous timeline, Anne had stayed by Mia's side all the way to the end and this deeply touched Mia. Now that she was given a chance to restart, Mia takes the opportunity to repay the loyalty Anne gave her, making sure to never let go. Aside from Anne, there was also a man that remained loyal to Mia until the end; he was named Ludwig and he was Mia's closest civil servant. While she was at odds with the man on multiple occasions, Mia swallowed her discomfort and asked Ludwig for help; Ludwig would then spearhead the operations that Mia implemented in order to save the empire (although she did so with less-than-pure intentions... the guillotine hurt like hell and Mia simply did not want to go through that again).

The plot of the story aside, I find myself equally awed by the author's writing style. They make sure to keep the narration as consistent and as witty as possible even going so far as breaking the fourth wall (multiple times) in order to remind the readers that while Mia is now known as the "Great Sage of the Empire", at her heart, she is simply a small girl afraid of pain. The narration also informs us of the relationships she has with certain characters in the story and one of the most important relations are the ones she has with her "archenemies", that is, the ones that led her to her death.

In the previous timeline, two persons, a young man along with a young girl, were directly involved in the execution of the Selfish Princess. One of them was Tiona Rudolvon, known as the "Saint of the Empire", and she, the daughter of a poor noble (known as an "Outland Count" or "Outcount", for short), instigated a rebellion against the imperial lineage because of their tyranny. Helping her was Sion Sol Sunkland, the esteemed Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Sunkland, who offered his assistance to Tiona because he could not agree with the tyranny of the empire. Mia encounters her archenemies upon attending Saint-Noel Academy and through a series of events, befriends them. Knowing that one wrong move will potentially set off a series of events that will lead her back to the guillotine, Mia makes sure she handles them with care so as to not step on any landmines.

While it doesn't take the forefront (which is pretty rare, considering that this series is shojo), the romance in this series is exceedingly well-written. There are, in fact, multiple bachelors that admire Mia in some way or form, however, only one of them holds true affection for the princess. This boy is named Abel Remno, the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Remno; in the previous timeline, he was nothing more than a playboy prince that was assassinated early. However, after meeting Mia, he changed drastically, morphing from a meek and unmotivated prince to a man who strives to be the best. Mia loves Abel back and she (quite hilariously) tries to make sure that she remains the top in their relationship, citing that "she's older as she had twenty years of life prior to this new one".

What I find exceedingly intriguing is the relationship, or should I say, rivalry, between Prince Abel and Prince Sion. They share similar character traits in the sense that both work hard in order to surpass the other in the hopes of being recognized by Mia. For example, during the swordsmanship tournament, Prince Abel and Prince Sion faced off against each other in the finals; Prince Abel, knowing that he stands no chance against Prince Sion who was a genius at the blade, resolves on using the one technique he has honed all throughout his life, the same technique that allowed him to defeat his older brother for the first time. While their duel was postponed due to inclement weather, they nevertheless sparked a lasting friendship.

To summarize, Tearmoon Empire is a one-of-a-kind light novel. While it does reuse quite a number of tropes, it does not fail to deliver a uniqueness that can only be given by this author. The overarching plot does not fall short in keeping me invested and the special traits that the characters have further enhance the depth of the story. I will look forward to reading more of this series and I will follow the trials and tribulations of the Great Sage of the Empire with great interest.