Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower: Volume 7

Actually more like 3.5⭐ again this time. Would've rated this four stars if only the beginning isn't so slow, but it is what it is. This volume once again brings a new character into the picture: Princess Aisha from Saisakoku, who is obviously introduced as an empress candidate for Shohi. Let's be real here. We all know Rimi won't end up marrying Shohi, so this entire book feels like it's simply laying the groundwork for his future marriage after Rimi somehow gets out of this whole thing LOL.

Due to the nature of the plot this time around, Rimi ends up feeling like a side character again albeit a little bit better than the previous book. The story mainly revolves around Aisha and her longing for the freedom she doesn't have, and Rimi has to work as her attendant simply because everyone else is putting Konkoku's interests over her well-being. Since the first half of the book acts as a massive introduction for Aisha, it's rather slow and things only become engaging in the latter half due to impulsive actions from multiple parties. Shusei and Rimi are clearly sill yearning for each other, so their attempt to see each other as enemies is never convincing... but maybe that's just me being jaded.

That being said, I still can't warm up to Shohi either. He does have some character development, especially when facing Aisha because she's basically a younger version of him, but his short fuse, tendency to throw a fit, and habit of treating Rimi like a possession are still the same. At this point I honestly feel like he's seeing Rimi more of a mother figure than anything else, so I prefer his dynamics with Aisha because it forces him to act like the more mature person.

Also, both Shohi and Shusei make absolutely terrible decisions in this book. As the result, Rimi quite literally falls into the hand of a character who's been suspicious as hell since the moment they came into the story. Sadly that's also where this book ends, so I'm off to read volume 8 now.