Gwyn J.

Volume 3 introduces us to three more characters: Foch, Curie and Anna. Curie made an appearance in the first volume when she approached Neneo regarding Freya’s whereabouts. She had heard a young woman had moved into the town and thought it was Freya. Curie told Neneo she wanted to get a look at her face. Neneo knew she was bad news, and told her some “hot-blooded” villagers had chased her out of the village,

Anna has invited Freya back to the house as she was going to formally announce her engagement. This works well for Freya because she had wanted to formally renounce herself from the inheritance and live a regular life with Neneo.

Neneo comes up with the idea of being a slave to Freya during their stay in Freya’s old home. Freya does not like the idea and suggests she goes by herself, but Neneo manages to convince her that it would be best to play it off. He didn’t want her to not return or end up hurt without him knowing.

With that plan in place, Halvard takes it upon himself to help Neneo prepare for the role when dealing with the wealthy. He warns Neneo in advance that the world of the wealthy is much different from everyone else. His concern with Neneo is not the fact that Neneo is quick to pick a fight, but the concern is more towards people guessing Neneo’s and Freya’s relationship due to how they talk to one another. Freya is completely obvious.

Halvard brings in a kid named Foch to help with Neneo’s training. Foch used to be a thief until Halvard took him in. Neneo notices that Foch also has a tattoo on his hand, which Foch seems to be very proud of. Foch admits he use to be a pickpocketer until Halvard caught him and gave him a job. Since none of Halvard’s servants want to help train Neneo, Foch was given the task, and seems to enjoy doing so. But Foch is the typical rowdy kid that can be a loud mouth and ask a lot of questions at the same time, to the point of annoying Neneo and Halvard.

It’s towards the end of the volume that we get more detail into Anna and Curie and how they met. They were both at a graveyard for two different reasons. Anna was there mourning the loss of her mother, and Curie was drinking and having a fit about failing her employment exam. Curie is extremely self-centered, saying she was better for the job then the other person, and the only reason the other person got the job was due to their father.

Once the two speak with one another, Anna offers her a job at her company. Curie realizes Anna is from the Gibson family, who are extremely wealthy. It’s after this that Curie starts scheming how to persuade undecided villagers to vote for Anna as the true heir of the company. She’s manipulative, malicious and only cares for herself and Anna.

I have enjoyed the series so far and the main characters are very likeable, despite the flaws they have. Curie and Anna not so much, because it seems both of them are up to no good. I feel however, if a writer can make a character downright annoying and evil as intended, then they are doing a great job of it.

As mentioned before, there are four volumes at the moment, the fifth volume not being released until towards the end of December. I will be working on the fourth volume review shortly.

Rating: 9/10