So that’s basically how it works.
When I read the story from Sil’s perspective, I never realized any of this—it wasn’t until I became Octavia that I learned of the dark side to BL novels!
Throughout the generations, Esfia’s crown prince would fall in love with a man (and not want to do it with anyone other than him), so his sister would get married (oh yeah, this applied to previous generations, too!) and give birth… Rinse and repeat.
And now that I’m the one this is happening to…it really sucks.
I hate this shit!
Complaining is all I have left, really. It’s like, don’t I have any freedom? What if I were a lesbian or something?!
But you see…I really can’t do anything about it. And even if I could, my best chance would still be to give up on romance and have an arranged marriage to a man.
You read that right. I mean, I’m stuck in a BL novel. This world favors man-on-man romances. And as Sister-dearest, I am merely a convenient plot device to preserve the way this world works.
In other words, I exist so that this story’s main character can marry Prince Sirius—another man—be allowed to love him faithfully, and to give the happy couple an heir and children to raise as their own and live happily ever after.
And in my former life, I was a fangirl whose heart burned hard for their love story. I was like, Good thing Sister-dearest was there to take care of the heir issue, huh? All’s well that ends well. Love rules!
But now that I am Sister-dearest…
Um, dear Brother? You’re the crown prince and soon-to-be king. So even though your marriage to a man is kind of set in stone—make your own damn baby!
That’s where I’m at.
Now that I’m Sister-dearest, I know just how heavy the burden of solving the heir problem really is!
Lately, a thought keeps coming to me: Palace harems and polygamy are actually pretty nice. In my former life, I was absolutely against cheating, and the idea of polygamous harems generally made me feel sick.
But in a system where the king was placed at the top, as long as the man was a satisfactory stud, don’t you think a harem would actually be a pretty good system for solving the matter of an heir? You know, since it fulfills his obligation to bear children.
In that regard, harems are fabulous. Totes fabulous. Esfia should definitely add a royal harem to the royal castle!
Anyway… Being reincarnated into my favorite novel series, The Noble King, was nice and all, but I’m really bummed that I was cast as Sister-dearest. So, naturally, I don’t have very positive feelings for my big brother.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love him as the top who hooks up with the main character. But looking at this from Octavia’s perspective…I just can’t like him. In fact, I often snap at him without meaning to, and I’m a far cry from the kind, understanding princess I’m supposed to be in this story.
Even though I was born as Octavia, I still have Maki’s memories in my consciousness. In the book, my big brother and I were inseparable, but now…we’re not even all that close.
I just can’t help but be uncomfortable with Octavia’s role in the novels. Then again, my future has yet to play out. With parts of my future still unknown, through trial and error, my relationship with my brother has settled into what it is now.
As for Sister-dearest’s best feature—her humility—well, honestly…not sure I’ve got that, either. It’s an established fact that Sister-dearest is polite to those beneath her. And I’m probably like that. In a world where I’m in the upper crust, I mustn’t completely ignore the responsibilities that come with it…
Yeah, sorry, that was a lie.
I mean, I’m a princess—of course I’m gonna take advantage of the power I have! That’s the way I’ve lived my life!
At any rate, having a bad relationship with my big brother was enough to make some enemies. Which resulted in bullying! From men, no less! I know they say women fight dirty, but it turns out hell do hath fury like a woman scorned—and it’s men!
So you know what I did? I used my princess privilege to banish those bastards to faraway lands! It felt so frickin’ good, too! Privilege rocks.
Sooo, in short, my personality is a far cry from the devoted younger sister in the OG books. And so is my position—my once harmonious relationship with my big brother is now pretty rocky. Flimsy, even.
But on the surface, we act as though everything is fine. We’re a loving family. Neither my big brother nor his followers have ever harassed me even once…and it’s a damn shame.
If my big brother had a rotten personality, then I’d have some justification! But my brother Sirius is a perfect superhuman, whose only weakness is Sil.
And this Sirius is just as he was in the novel: fully devoted to his lover. He’s not the sort of guy I could convince to make love to some chick to solve the heir problem. Though if he were like that, I’d change my tune and bend over backward to support him!
After all, there are many women out there who would gladly help my big brother conceive an heir. I’m sure some of them would do it just for the seed of the crown prince alone, and some would set aside their personal feelings and volunteer as tribute to preserve the delicate balance of power among the nobles in court—he’d have his pick of the lot.
But I doubt my brother would agree to that. Because he loves Lord Sil.
So honorable… Oh yes, he is a very virtuous man! I get it, he’s noble. And if I weren’t caught in the middle of this as Octavia, or if my brother weren’t the next in line to the throne, I’d have nothing but good feelings about him!
Romance between two men (as long as it doesn’t directly affect me) is still one of my favorite things! I love that my big brother and Lord Sil are in love! They’re still my BL OTP, my absolute favorite one true pairing—that hasn’t changed.
I went through a phase where I wished they hadn’t met…but then I realized my brother probably would’ve just gotten together with some other guy instead, which made me grateful that it was Lord Sil.
But I was still facing a roadblock: the heir issue. And since my brother and Lord Sil had left that problem unresolved (and passed the buck onto me), I have a hard time liking them.
Even the sturdy princess facade I’d cultivated was slipping, and my true feelings were threatening to come out. I couldn’t hide my feelings from my brother and Sil forever.
My brother wanted his sister’s blessing. And Sil wanted his partner’s family’s blessing. It’s only natural that they’d seek it out.
My brother aside, it’s obvious to me that Lord Sil is sick with worry about it. Because even if I pretend not to notice, everyone else in the castle won’t shut up about it!
Even my father, the current king of Esfia, and the (male) mother who raised me have welcomed my brother’s romance with Sil with open arms. And as a result, try as I might to hide them, my sore feelings just stick out like a sore thumb.