The Crying Tree

While the previous two volumes each focused on a queen candidate and their problems, this book breaks free from that pattern. It expands on the world-building instead, introducing us to the bureau of magic and also giving us a glimpse of the capital city. As the result, Laetitia gets a new pet named Tweety, a Cuddle Bird from the bureau of magic. A giant chick... that loves cuddling. As the name says. Oh, and also a clowder of Gardener Cats towards the end. Joining Laetitia's villa is a new maid apprentice named Lelena, the younger sister of Krona from the first book. Lelena carries a lot of guilt because of what happened with Krona, and it extends to other issues that eventually builds up to the climax of the book. I was wondering what issue will be tackled in this volume since it's taking a different direction compared to the previous books, but it works out nicely in the end.

Being a “slow life” story, this series has been maintaining a delicate balance between slice of life and the progression of its overarching plot. It's even more evident in this particular volume. It takes a while for the main issue to come to light, but when it does, everything that happened during the slice of life parts suddenly makes sense. I also appreciate that for all the cute fluffiness the series has to offer, it doesn't drag out the revelation of Lord Aroo's identity, because Laetitia does find out in this book. Both parties feel understandably awkward and didn't get the chance to do anything about that... for now. Further development of their relationship will depend on the next books, but Glenreed does get a rival in this one. A magic nerd named Liddeus, who I'm pretty sure won't be end game for Laetitia, but still serves as a rival anyway.

So far, Laetitia is on friendly terms with Lady Natalie and Lady Kate, and she helps them to form a friendship past the human vs beastfolk prejudice. The other two candidates, Lady I-Liena and Lady Fillia, have actually been introduced in volume 2. They just haven't done anything to move the plot yet, and in this book they only appear as guests for Laetitia's tea party. It is hinted that they might have more serious issues compared to the other two though, so I wonder if we're going back to the queen candidates again after this.

Also, both Laetitia and Glenreed are starting to catch feelings. We all know this would happen sooner or later, but it's still nice to see them going beyond the relationship of a king and his placeholder queen. I look forward to the next volume.