Daughter of the Emperor Volumes 6, 7 and 8 Review
After being reborn into a fantasy world as the only daughter of the bloodthirsty Emperor Caitel, Ria is trying to earn her father’s affection. During her quest she gains the support of powerful allies, such as the Chancellor Perdel and the Black Knight Asisi.
Ria is still surviving day by day by being cute, but what started as acting has now turned into her whole personality. It doesn’t help that the people around her keep swooning over what she wears, does and says. Well, everyone but her father, who is the tsundere type and cannot admit or even recognise his own feelings toward his daughter.
Caitel’s upbringing was filled with bloodshed, so it’s hard for him to make sense of what he’s feeling toward his daughter, such as wanting to eat meals with her and keeping her in his palace even though it’s usual for children of royalty to have their own palaces. The only thing that makes sense is that Ria has to stay near Caitel at all times, and anyone who gets in the way is going to end up dead. In a way, Caitel is trying to keep Ria as safe as possible not only from the assassins coming for her, thinking she’s Caitel’s weakness, but also from the truth of what it means to be Caitel’s daughter. While Caitel still acts weird with his daughter, Ria is starting to realise that although her father cannot tell her he loves her, he shows his love for her in multiple ways. If that’s enough for Ria though, it’s still to be seen.
When a previous concubine comes in front of Caitel with a young boy claiming he’s Caitel’s son, it seems a lot of drama is fast approaching. Ria doesn’t really know what to do with the information, and of course the nobility and the palace servants cannot stop themselves from gossiping about it. But Caitel doesn’t take the news in the way that many readers would expect. There is something more going on behind the claim that the boy is Caitel’s son, and the emperor is biding his time until it’s time to act. But because of this, Caitel and Ria have their first big argument that strains the relationship between them, especially when Ria’s nanny gets involved as well. Although not everything is lost as the father-daughter due start to realise their own feelings.
Daughter of the Emperor continues to be a slow-paced series. It drags along, almost like a day-by-day in the life of Ria and the people she befriends. As with the previous volumes, there are a lot of internal monologues from the characters, and the illustrations are word-heavy. I thought that the arrival of the possible new heir would shake things up, but unfortunately it’s just a minor shake-up. All the drama of the series revolves around Ria and Caitel getting to love each other as a father and daughter should. The author, Yunsul, gives sad backstories to characters such as Caitel and Asisi, that shows the traumas that made them become who they currently are and why they struggle with their feelings for Ria. The readers also know what happened, thanks to the flashbacks from various characters. I believe that this aids the story to be slow-paced as we see the story progress from Ria’s point of view, only to switch to Caitel’s narration on how the same events happened from his point of view. There is really not much mystery around what happened or what will happen as the readers seem to know everything.
On the bright side, romance seems to be in the horizon for little Ria. She meets a couple more suitors, heirs to their respective kingdoms, and one of them makes Ria’s heart beat faster. Are they official suitors? Of course not (can you imagine Caitel’s reaction?!), but the brief encounters they’ve had with Ria made them fall for with her, no doubt at all. Ria’s mother is mentioned briefly as well—or more her mother’s country rather than the mother herself—but Ria is pretty happy to consider her nanny as her mother, so she doesn’t feel the need to investigate. As it’s mentioned as the witch kingdom, I wonder how that will impact Ria’s future. The empire of Agrigent believes in the Spirit’s power, and Ria and Caitel are the closest ones to it, while her mother’s kingdom has a maternal lineage from a witch. Would Ria turn into a super-powerful person? I guess the readers will need to keep going with the series to find out.
Daughter of the Emperor is written by Yunsul and illustrated by Rino. The print edition is published by Yen Press with an English translation by Micah Kim. Volume 9 is already out.
Our review copies from Yen Press were supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
