Nice! I'm always glad when a series will actual give the perspective reigns to another character, it really helps add depth to a story. (something I wish other series had done coughcitruscough)

They have an interesting dynamic wherein Lapis thinks she's regretfully pulling a fast one on Natori, who in turn knows exactly how she is and is trying to turn her from it.

Listen to your heart ~
When she's calling for you ~

"I started showcasing all my bad sides to her..."

No, Natori, you have privately shown vulnerability to a person who cares deeply about you (and is in denial of this fact).

Listen to your heart ~
When she's calling for you ~

Listen to your heart,
there's nothing else you can do

I love the intensity of the villianess' eyes.

...Whatever happened in their past (if he even is her real father at all) must have strained their relationship...

Operating under the assumption that Lapis had a sister who had died due to reasons we are not yet (fully) aware of (which, by the way, is this the consensus? I'm uncertain what the general consensus is at the moment), I'm inclined to believe this dude, real father or otherwise, either has a direct relation to that or was in some sort of an antagonistic position against said sister. Perhaps he is that girl's biological father or something.

My read of him is that of an opportunistic slime. Something about the way he "showed interest" in Lapis felt beyond fake, and only to cynically get on her good side for whatever reason.

In any case, I love how this chapter develops our two mains -

Natori's flashback sheds some more light on her "background actor" nature and I'd say her general preparedness and skills and cements that it is truly part of her nature, being this benevolent goddess who somehow is also very generally prepared and eager to help.

And Lapis' monologue, a very self-hating monologue, I'd like to add, gives so much more volume to her as a character, and I really appreciate that. I'm also even more certain that Lapis isn't a villain by nature, she's playing the role of the bad guy because she feels like she has to, or something along those lines.

Also, I'm just a huge fan of the dynamic between these two. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things develop, there's so much potential, and so far the author has been doing a great job.

Ha, you though this was gonna be a chapter about Natori? But it was I, Lapiz, this whole time!

"I started showcasing all my bad sides to her..."

No, Natori, you have privately shown vulnerability to a person who cares deeply about you (and is in denial of this fact).

From her perspective she acted like a fool in front of her *Employer

I want an evil wife that will hold me too.

Operating under the assumption that Lapis had a sister who had died due to reasons we are not yet (fully) aware of (which, by the way, is this the consensus? I'm uncertain what the general consensus is at the moment),

not her sister, most likely a cousin.

Operating under the assumption that Lapis had a sister who had died due to reasons we are not yet (fully) aware of (which, by the way, is this the consensus? I'm uncertain what the general consensus is at the moment),

not her sister, most likely a cousin.

Yeah Aurora is not her sister. I misspoke before. Not sure if cousin though based on what she said but could be. Could have been a commoner, even.

last edited at Aug 2, 2023 2:36PM

Operating under the assumption that Lapis had a sister who had died due to reasons we are not yet (fully) aware of (which, by the way, is this the consensus? I'm uncertain what the general consensus is at the moment),

not her sister, most likely a cousin.

Yeah Aurora is not her sister. I misspoke before. Not sure if cousin though based on what she said but could be. Could have been a commoner.

Well, she calls her onee-sama (though that's not necessarily indicative of blood relation), but Lapis later states "In the Tenebrae Family...there was a girl just like you." I took that to mean a child from a branch family of the Tenebrae main house that Lapis' parents "adopted" due to her foresight ability. But it's just as possible that she was an adopted commoner.

Operating under the assumption that Lapis had a sister who had died due to reasons we are not yet (fully) aware of (which, by the way, is this the consensus? I'm uncertain what the general consensus is at the moment),

not her sister, most likely a cousin.

Yeah Aurora is not her sister. I misspoke before. Not sure if cousin though based on what she said but could be. Could have been a commoner.

Well, she calls her onee-sama (though that's not necessarily indicative of blood relation), but Lapis later states "In the Tenebrae Family...there was a girl just like you." I took that to mean a child from a branch family of the Tenebrae main house that Lapis' parents "adopted" due to her foresight ability. But it's just as possible that she was an adopted commoner.

Yeah. I only wonder about the cousin thing because she also describes the garden as "your family's" or something like that. Creating some distance from herself. That could mean a couple things though so it's up in the air for sure.

last edited at Aug 2, 2023 3:04PM

I love the kind of Puss in Boots dynamics Lapis has going.

The Japanese have a good understanding of these things. I think it was in FLCL where I first found a detailed explanation; it was one of the girls who, at some point in the story, told the others why she loved Puss in Boots: "The cat keeps telling lies. He starts making up lies at the beginning of the tale, and then he must make up more and more lies so that his previous lies won't be exposed. Just like that the lies keep piling up -- bigger and bigger and even bigger lies! And when it looks like things have reached the point where it's impossible to keep up the front and the mountain of lies is going to crumble... the cat does something that turns all the lies into truths! And he lives happily ever after."

Looks to me like Lapis will have to make an existential choice: be a villainess who just pretended to be a good person (and break Natori's heart) or turn the lies into truths and become a paragon of virtue for realsies (and win Natori's love). Remember Puss in Boots, Lapis!

Is that a way of slowly leave her out of your evilness then???

Reading this I’ll admit the issekai Yuri manga’s usually have the villian characters be either relatively harmless if somewhat bigoted (I prefer the Villaness) or the protagonist so they had good intentions from the start masked behind antagonism (Please Bully Me Miss Villaness) so it’s surprising to get one that’s like…..actually villainous, literally planning a genocide of the disenfranchised that someone of her class is already in a position to completely dominate to begin with so it’s like punching down to be super evil. She definitely has her noble qualities but our heroine is really gonna have to work her ass off for that redemption arc lol

Oooo she's coming around, that's progress right there folks

fake it til you make it, gayness will conquer all darkness in your heart

Schoolgirl Natori was ADORABLE.

This was such a good chapter. Something about the way Lapis said "the conclusion you reached wasn't wrong" was especially romantic to me

Ohhhh man this manga really is the peak of romance. The yearning is so intense! Lapis loves Natori and is hurt by how tender and vulnerable and grateful and kind she is toward her, because she knows that she’s positioning herself to do something cruel and dark, and doesn’t want to break her heart. She wants to treasure it but she’s loyal to her duty, and the inherent conflict between those two desires is keeping her stuck. On the one hand, she can’t resist how Natori makes her feel like she could be good and worthy and could raise up someone she cares about and heal them, and the gentleness and consideration Natori gives to her are the brightest feelings in her life. On the other hand, she has to resist the urge to get close because she doesn’t want to weaken her resolve and knows she’ll just hurt Natori more, and she doesn’t want to disappoint her. She can’t close the distance because she has so many secrets, and would not put herself in a position where Natori should know everything because she couldn’t tell her and cares for her too much to make the inevitable betrayal worse like that. But she can’t turn cold to her because she loves her too much, and she needs Natori to know how beautiful and valuable she is. So she has to give her tender touches and gentle words from arm’s length. Aaggghhhhh. This is true yuri!!!

last edited at Aug 3, 2023 10:09PM

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA This chapter was so good, this manga continues to knock it out of the park every time. I love how we both got more insight into Lapis's thinking, and backstory on Natori. Plus, given the coded message that was passed along, it seems Lapis's plans will present her with an important choice soon, that whatever the specifics may be, I feel may wind up being a defining one, even if the consequences (bad or good) don't fully come to roost until later down the line. Whatever the original decision there may have been, I feel like by this point, the other may be taken.

But no seriously teenage Natori was cute AF, and while this is unlikely, I also kinda wanna see more of that basketball girl in some way.

last edited at Aug 4, 2023 4:01PM

Nutjob theory time: Aurora is the real daughter and Lapis, probably not her given name, was a commoner, her parents are in anti-noble faction, probably the Tenebrae Family's servants or employee, and tried to use her to harm the lil sis, but she couldn't betray her and the scheme failed so they abandoned her and fled themselves. Lil sis died protected her, the Tenebrae Family adopted Lapis for both politic, pity and love, so now she decide to devote herself to weed out the anti noble crowd and probably herself in the progress. Earlier chapters feel like she resent the commoner more than just maintain the status quo to me. The whole jewelry metaphor is not about Natalie but about her past self, being thrown away and then was given care and education by the noble so she found a purpose now, being the support pieces for the nobilities and the royal family in her own senses (the chess metaphor).
1st chapter had her being mocked and isolated by her peers so imo she tried to shoulder all this herself and not fuel class war between nobles and commoners. The anti noble probably will contact Natalie and expose Lapis' past and present atrocities and try the betrayal scheme again.

Slight spoilers to chapter 11 and 12!!
TEAM LAPIS (LAPISXNATORI) UNITE CUZ WE BE WINNIN!! GET YOUR HEARTS READY BECAUSE WE WINNIN. I only had seen the raws but holy sh*t they fruity af. Chapter 11 can be read on Rawkuma, not translated tho. And chapter 12 we get a bit of inlook to one of the panels(?) In twitter. I'm team poly but things are getting clearer every chapter, also ready yourselves cuz Natori gon get a cough cough I will not spoil it so you'll be able to enjoy it.

last edited at Aug 25, 2023 1:56AM

Well, chapter 12 Raw scan is already on Rawkuma. you can look it up, and all i'm gonna say is Lapis is so romantic <(￣︶￣)>.

last edited at Aug 25, 2023 2:41AM

Slight spoilers to chapter 11 and 12!!
TEAM LAPIS (LAPISXNATORI) UNITE CUZ WE BE WINNIN!! GET YOUR HEARTS READY BECAUSE WE WINNIN. I only had seen the raws but holy sh*t they fruity af. Chapter 11 can be read on Rawkuma, not translated tho. And chapter 12 we get a bit of inlook to one of the panels(?) In twitter. I'm team poly but things are getting clearer every chapter, also ready yourselves cuz Natori gon get a cough cough I will not spoil it so you'll be able to enjoy it.

Well, chapter 12 Raw scan is already on Rawkuma. you can look it up, and all i'm gonna say is Lapis is so romantic <(￣︶￣)>.

I KNOW I HAVE SEEN IT TOO BUT I FEAR THAT I MIGHT SPOIL. BUT LIKE MY HEART ACKK!!! THE PRINCE HAVING THE FIRST CLASS SEAT BRO IS SO DAMN LUCKY.

Slight spoiler!!
HOLY SH*T THEY'RE SO CUTE THEY'RE ACTING LIKE A COUPLE!! Thought it felt kind of uncomfortable with the thought of them flirting and being fluffy with eachother especially when the other fiance is there. (I know that it's like a political engagement but still.)

last edited at Aug 25, 2023 1:55AM