‘Beautiful Day‘
Reirin is out here living her best life as Keigetsu. And Leelee? Poor Leelee is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Fuelled by her hatred for Keigetsu, she accepted a deal with Lady Gayou, who is (supposedly) an attendant of Kin Seika (another member of the Maiden Court). In return for tormenting Keigetsu, she will be given a place in Seika’s retinue. However she didn’t count on Reirin’s version of Keigetsu who takes everything Leelee throws at her with a smile and treats her with unwavering kindness in return. When a confused Leelee tries to back out of the deal, Gayou instead forces her to double down and escalate to physical harm. She’s stopped just in time by Shin-u and when Reirin shields her from punishment, her last bits of resentment are broken down. She confesses all to Reirin and vows to cut all ties with Gayou. Reirin in turn gives her the acknowledgement that she so desperately longed for, treating her like a cherished court lady and even going to the extent of personally stitching a new robe for her in time for the Ghost Festival.
But why does Seika (if it is indeed Seika behind it) have it in for Keigetsu? We briefly meet her at the Ghost Festival and based on what we’ve seen so far, she seems like an eminently practical person. She realizes that Reirin is the Crown Prince’s favorite and instead of scheming against her, has simply set her sights on the next highest post in the inner court instead, that of the Noble Consort. She views Keigetsu as useless since she seems incapable of entertaining the Crown Prince – from that perspective (and honestly everything we’ve seen so far), Keigetsu is hardly a threat to her ambition. Perhaps because of her powerful backer, the existing Noble Consort? But it is clear that Keigetsu is no close relation and the Noble Consort has effectively publicly washed her hands of her by exiling her as she has. Why then would Seika go through the effort of trying to manipulate Leelee to get rid of Keigetsu? If anything, based on Keigetsu’s character and behaviour (at least pre-swap), she just needs to sit back and let Keigetsu sabotage herself. Maybe it’s a deeper plot by one of the other candidates to implicate Seika as well? The Royal Guard does find out about the plot against Keigetsu just in time to stop it – while it’s explained away by someone spotting Leelee with the knife, that could just be a convenient excuse.
And what of the real Keigetsu in all of this? She is struggling with Reirin’s frail body. Not only is she unused to being ill to this extent and frequency, she does not have the grit that Reirin had developed through years of living with her body’s weaknesses and is unable to power through with Reirin’s various activities and responsibilities. Which begs the question of how long she can continue to enjoy the position of palace butterfly while being absent from the court functions. For now, she’s still enjoying some grace from the court as they are assuming that her ill health is a result of Keigetsu’s attempt. But the longer it drags on, the more people will start to talk. Keigetsu herself is probably aware of that and turns to Reirin in desperation. However when Reirin extends her hand in friendship, her bitterness gets in the way again and she refuses to meet her in person.Don
Meanwhile, this drastic change in their behaviors is not going completely unnoticed. Leelee, Shin-u, even the Crown Prince realize that something is off. Of course, the reality is so outlandish that it’s no wonder that they are so flummoxed by their altered personalities. With Reirin’s banishment coming to an end (and presumably Keigetsu’s grace period as well), they are going to have to interact with the rest of the court soon so let’s see if someone actually manages to figure out the truth about the body swap.
Stray Musings
- Reirin’s come off as a bit of a Mary Sue so far. But it was a relief to see that she was not actually oblivious to Leelee’s attempts against her.
- The Crown Prince has still not grown on me. Yes, he did step up and send Shin-u to thwart Leelee when he found out about the plot but that really seems like the bare minimum he should do. And yes, he is at least not so self-involved that he didn’t notice that ‘Reirin’ has suddenly become more affectionate towards him. But when he described how he was first attracted to Reirin because she was the one person who didn’t seem drawn to his power, it came across as though he was viewing her as a challenge rather than appreciating her as someone with whom he can be his real self. Even in the flashback to his first meeting with Shin-u (who it turns out is his brother, but not a prince?), he comes across a tad pompous.
- Why was Keigetsu actually chosen as the Noble Consort’s candidate? She is just the daughter of a satellite branch of the Shu Clan whose parents died in debt. With no real connections, she was forced to serve as maidservant to the main Shu clan which led her to cross paths with Noble Consort Shu. But with such a background, why would the Noble Consort ever think she would be able to compete in the Maiden Court?
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