School Library Journal review
Sara's Rating: 8/10 Suitability Level: Grades 7-12 Publisher: Yen Press Publication Date: January 28, 2025 ISBN: 9781975397838 (Paperback) Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Fantasy, Video Games, Isekai, Humor, Yen Press
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Adapted by INA
Tia continues to pursue her knightly work and finds herself very busy preparing for the Foundation Festival. Several princesses from other kingdoms arrive, all hoping to be selected as the Court Princess, and Tia hopes that one of them count replace her as Ruve’s betrothed. The different court factions, particularly the Nobleist faction, see this as an opportunity to support a princess who will be successful and depose Tia, whose family is of the Imperialist faction. The festival has several nights of fancy partying and dancing, but they aren’t without clandestine meetings, secret rendezvous, scheming, and political maneuvering. 
Adapted by SUOL
Penelope and Winter meet to discuss entering into a contract for the mining and production of her emerald mine, and Penelope brings up going into business for the Diamond mine as well. This would be outside of the knowledge of the Eckharts so that she will be prepared for something if and when Ivonne returns. As part of the business deal, Winter also wants to arrange several meetings with Penelope, and they sneak out together. What Penelope mistakes for a date turns out to be volunteering in the war torn regions close to the Lailan coast. A simple day of volunteering turns dangerous as children are kidnapped and taken to a secret hideout. Penelope and Winter race to save them and run into Callisto as well! 
Illustrated by Mo9Rang
Sabrian visits Abigail after their failed dance practice and confesses his trauma about touching her and why the Foundation Ball will be so difficult for him. The Ball finally arrives, and Abigail and Blanche make a splash with matching dresses designed by Abigail. They’re in the style of chemise A la Reine, one by Marie Antiunette that doesn’t require a corset or panniers, so it’s perfect for the summertime ball. Also at the ball is Lady Karen Stoke, sister to Abigail’s mother, who is Abigail’s rival and would love nothing more than to usurp Abigail. Later, Abigail hosts a tea party and Karen comes in another dress style, mi-parti, and instead of showing Abigail up, she becomes an object of fascination as Abigail explains the intricacies of the dress to the attendees. 
Adapted by INA
In seeking to become her father’s heir, Tia assumes duties with the knights, and she begins squiring and taking on the title Dame Monique when she’s on duty. Later, one of Tia’s memories of a fateful day return to her, and she realizes a catastrophe is about to occur in the king’s private gardens. Averting it may bring her back under the gaze of the royals she is hoping to escape, but letting disaster strike again may mean lose a piece of her own family legacy as well. And there’s still so much about her mother she doesn’t know, but even Prince Ruve seems to have more answers than Tia! 
Adapted by SUOL
Penelope is framed for attempted regicide and put on trial for the events of the hunting tournament. Derrick visits her in prison and tries to suss out how to minimize the effects of the rumors, rather than believing that Penelope is innocent. She rebukes his offer of help and decides to go it alone at the trial. After the hunting tournament concludes, Penelope visits Eckles and raises his affection meter into a new game mode where none of the meters for any love interests are visible unless she pays absurd amounts of money or prestige points! With her birthday coming up and the potential end of hard mode or her life, Penelope decides to be more strategic with asking for gifts: money or assets in light of this new ridiculous ransom on seeing affection meters. 
Adapted by Mo9Rang
A botched attempt at revenge causes Abigail to confess her fondness for Blanche, but this works out for Abigail in the end as Blanche becomes more comfortable around her. With the Foundation Ball coming up, Abigail's family is worried she will be snubbed again like last year, owing to the fact that Sabrian refuses to dance with his queen. Compounding their worries is Abigail's failure to produce an heir for her new kingdom. When Abigail asks Sabrian to ensure he will dance with her this year, he confides that he lacks the confidence to dance with her because he is terrible at dancing. Abigail invites him to practice sessions with her and Blanche, hoping to help his skill level but also repair some of the relationship between Sabrian and Blanche. 
Adapted by INA
Tia and her father escape to a countryside manor for a while where she continues her training and tries to put behind her the thought of betrothals, successions, and the betrayal she felt at Allen not believing her when she revealed her past life. A month goes by, and Lord Monique sends for Sein to come to the manor because he must return to the capital to resume his work with the knights. Meanwhile, Prince Ruve is determined to figure out why Tia is so afraid of him, and he stops by the manor on his way to inspect the border camps. The meeting sends Tia into a shock for several days. After her recovery, she decides to return to the Capitol to try tackling some of her fears and to continue challenging her fate. 
Adapted by SUOL
The big hunting tournament is here, and Penelope is invited to a tea party beforehand to celebrate. She quickly realizes that she is there to be an object of curiosity with her hunting outfit and crossbow after the events of last year where she threatened many nobles. Penelope leans into it again and warns a lady once again at crossbow point that she would be happy to amuse the crowd with a display of violence, albeit non-lethal. After her antics, she goes to the small game hunting ground and tries to score a rabbit, but finds herself lost on the large game ground and face to face with a bear. None other than the crown prince steps in to save her, but the two are beset by a crowd of assassins and must work together to evade them. Their escape leaves them stranded in the forest overnight, long enough for evil rumors to begin spreading about Penelope. 
Illustrated by Mo9Rang
One day, a child fashion designer works herself to her literal death and awakens as the queen in the fairytale-inspired story she was reading. Now living as Abigail, she finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage with a husband who gives her the creeps, and the worst case of Resting-B**** Face that scares the daylights out of everyone, including her beautiful step-daughter Blanche, the Snow-White figure of the story. Abigail can’t stop herself from wanting to continue to design clothes, but the person she would love to dress up more than anything is afraid of her, and the entire castle still thinks she's a terrible villain. First, she has to repair some of the relationships with the maids that former Abigail has terrorized, Blanche, who is deathly afraid of her wicked stepmother, and her husband Sabrian, who doesn’t trust her at all. |
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