The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman - LN 3

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman Volume 3 by Kamihara, Illustrated by Shiro46. Translated by Hengtee Lim, Edited by Ruuri. Published by J-Novel Heart (J-Novel Club).

I decided to take a slightly different approach while writing this post. Instead of writing my thoughts after finishing the entirety of Volume 3 (both parts 1 and 2), I wanted to write about my thoughts on 3.1 while they're still fresh in my mind. I'll come back to this post and revise before uploading (so you'll just receive the final product!).

As usual, it's insane that this series's books are double the length of normal light novels. Last book left off with a cliffhanger of poor Karen getting kidnapped to another dimension. We finally find out the outcome of that, and how she manages to get out of that situation. We end up finding out that the house next door has a lot more going on than it seems, and ties to some of the ancient magic in the capital.

We also find out about Six's true identity, and get more world-building and development around the politics of the Empire, including the different factions jockeying for power and what Karen's role is in all of this. We already know that Reinald and Wilhelmina are the main people vying for the throne, but who picks which side and for what reason becomes quite the interesting twist. I didn't see this one coming, but in hindsight it was obvious it would turn out this way. I honestly felt just as blindsided as Karen was, which is probably not a good thing lol.

Since Ern is on the cover, you would be right to assume she plays a much bigger role in this book. We've known that there is actually high-level magic in this world, and both Ern and Six bring a perspective of what can actually be done when you have their level of prowess. I was glad to see more interactions between Karen and her friends, as the last volume felt (understandably) isolating. Karen is in a delicate position after completely moving countries and pledging loyalty to Reinald, and she doesn't have many true friends in the Empire who know what she's going through.

Both she and Ern really go through some major character development in Volume 3.1, and I was honestly shocked and impressed that Karen approached their hurdles in the manner that she did. It's hard to accept that your friend may have played an integral role in the development of war technologies that led to the desecration of your land and peoples, but Karen handled the difficult subject as best as she could.

Overall, the first part felt a lot lighter and more slice-of-life-esque than I was anticipating, despite all the struggles and obstacles that continue to appear in Karen's way. Let's see what I think when I finally finish part 2. 

Okay Volume 3.2 was crazy, but what's new for this series? After finding out that Karen was invited to the Emperor's birthday party, there's a mad dash of preparations made to make sure that she doesn't end up embarrassing herself, or worse, offending the Emperor at the party.

To be honest, the entire sequence with the party had me on edge. This series loves to give off the illusion that everything is going to be just fine, until all hell breaks lose. Volume 3.2 was the most nerve-wracking book yet.

The rest of my impressions are going to be spoilery since there's no other way to talk about them.

WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I AM NOT REMOTELY OKAY. Okay, so I was somewhat spoiled on what happens in this book since I accidentally read the synopsis of the next novel on J-Novel Club, but I had a misunderstanding since I thought Ern was going to commit some crime that deserved getting offed. But no, I'm just dumb and misread. It makes total sense that she would be working with Reinald to free Sixtus, and the whole side-plot with the Elder Mages trying to get rid of Ern is something Karen was afraid of this entire time.

But then that dumbfuck Emperor shows his "pure race" hateful ideology hand, and now I'm rooting for Reinald to kill that guy. Poor Karen barely got out of getting killed by navigating the situation so carefully (and Reinald showing up just in the nick of time to save her).

ERN .·°՞(≧□≦)՞°·. She didn't deserve to die, and I'm going to miss her already. I have to wonder if her last act of causing Karen to shoot her destroyed her brain enough to prevent the other mages from finding out her plans/knowledge? I guess we'll find out next volume.

The extra side stories did also show Karen come to the realization that she really does love Reinald, which is obvious to everyone but her. The scene between her and Ern on the way back from the party was really sweet and funny, and it seems like everyone already knows what's going on between Karen and Reinald except for the two involved. I'm also glad that Karen's love is not depicted as some crazy passionate feeling, just the quiet care of someone who simply wants to spend time with the other person.