With questions about their childhood, Octavia’s pain, and Sirius’s questionable memories, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 ensures the story remains interesting, even without action.
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 has less drag than its predecessor. It ramps up the story between Octavia and Klifford as they learn more about each other. The fallout of the ball leads to Octavia and Klifford being kept separate on house arrest. While some of Octavia’s narration inspires irritation instead of the comical aspect some of the first volumes possessed, there are fascinating tidbits readers learn about her. As a plan to smoke out the group targeting royals looms, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 builds relationships between characters in engaging and complex ways.
Written by Mamecyoro, illustrated by Mitsuya Fuji, and translated by Sarah Moon, the volume starts with Octavia’s father, King Enoch, making a rare and surprise visit to her bedroom to talk. The Yen Press light novel starts the next day after the ball’s events. Because of that and the injury she sustained—even if it was self-inflicted—her brother, Sirius, gives the order to confine her to her room.
Which is part of the information her father relates to her. For whatever reason, King Enoch left her and Klifford in Sirius’s hands. So he makes it clear if she wants to get out and get her bodyguard, Klifford, back, she needs to talk with her sibling. The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 finally gives readers a deeper look at their relationship.
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 Shows Something’s Amiss with Sirius
Aside from the discomfort between Octavia and Sirius in the first volume, there is little interaction between the two. Since Sirius will be king, he will need kids of royal blood to carry on the royal line. But since his partner is Sil, another man, the task falls on Octavia. She has to marry someone and give her first two kids to them. But there’s something else going on that implies someone tampered with Sirius’s childhood memories. In this volume, Octavia gets a better glimpse of what Derek Nightfellow told her. To Sirius, he and Octavia never got along. But Derek recalls otherwise.
Whenever it seems like Sirius might remember something, a brief headache ensues, and it’s gone. But as children, Sirius tried to connect with Octavia. Part of the reason it was hard was the expectations for her. The other is her trauma. Imagine being a child and remembering a previous life, complete with language and family.
Derek’s recalls witnessing her sorrow as a child speaking a language he didn’t understand as she stared at a kallum tree. It highlights the distance Octavia keeps people at. With questions about their childhood, Octavia’s pain, and Sirius’s questionable memories, The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 ensures the story remains interesting, even without action.
Adjutant Mystery Growing
Information about Adjutants and their Sovereigns remains vague. While the series takes its time here, it is better than the lengthy exposition dumps prior volumes used. Even Klifford does not fully know. But the connection between him and Octavia grows in The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4. She has a dream of a young Klifford suffering abuse. Conversely, he witnesses her past life with her family in Japan and her young present self. Combined with the plan for Octavia to use herself as bait with Klifford in tow to prove he didn’t tamper with Sil’s carriage in the previous volume, it ensures readers’ return for the next volume.
The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 has Octavia strut her intelligence as she figures out how to clear Klifford so he can return as her guard. Her goal is to have Sirius rescind their house arrest. Finding a boyfriend is on the back burner for Octavia as plots and mysteries build one on top of the other. The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices 4 keeps the story grounded thanks to its focus on the characters. Readers have to care about what happens to them, and this volume takes time to establish that.
