The Emperor’s Lady-in-Waiting Is Wanted as a Bride

Actual rating: 3.5★

Rounded up because it has the potential to be really good, and because I've been a fan of Ichige Yoru's art for almost a decade now.

This is a pretty standard reincarnation story. The main character, Lyse, remembers her past life as a knight of the Razanate Empire. She misses the empire greatly now that she's living in a vassal state, but decides that she cannot go back because she's learned the Light of Origin's secret when she died. She's now working at the palace, surrounded by people who are constantly side-eyeing her for being unladylike, until she meets Sidis and gets chosen as the emperor's lady-in-waiting. From there, she somehow gets roped into a temporary engagement with Sidis.

But of course we all know it won't stay temporary forever. Not with Sidis being super affectionate and protective of Lyse, despite her attempts to convince herself that there's nothing going on between them.

Aside from introducing us to the characters, the first volume also deals with the emperor's visit to the Kingdom of Olwen, where Lyse lives. The emperor has been slowly transforming into a dog since the moment he stepped into the kingdom, and the majority of the book is spent dealing with that issue while also linking it to another problem that might lead to something bigger: the Donan cult. The main reason why I can't rate this higher is because it has the potential to be really good, but it never quite reached that point. The writing feels rather flat for the most part, and even the Light of Origin's secret revelation feels so... bland. There's also a pretty bad case of telling instead of showing during the book's climax, and it's really unfortunate because it could've been done so much better.

Still, the characters are lovable and the romance is cute. In a true shoujo fashion, it has a frustrating moment caused by a misunderstanding, but it gets solved nicely in the end. To put it nicely, this is a classic shoujo fantasy story with all the familiar tropes. To put it not so nicely, it's nothing new and rather predictable. That being said, I like it enough to want to read all four volumes of this, so I hope the next books will be better and more engaging.