Score: A

I can’t even say the battle to restore Leon to the throne began here. Because it wasn’t a battle! Pride had all the cards in her hands and basically was able to walk in there and establish exactly what she wanted. That was for various reasons. The Anemone King was frankly fatigued, ill, and he was intending to do all that anyways. Leon just stayed quiet enough to let Pride do what needed to be done. And her “precognition” allowed her to just brute force things in a way that no one could disagree with. In a sense it was a stack of dominoes ready to fall and someone just needed to knock over the first piece.

Pair of fools

A given, but this got across how absolutely intimidating things must’ve been when facing Pride in the past. Her country is clearly no joke. Just Pride there as an official representative of her mother had this King absolutely freaking out. The guy looked terrified from the moment they started talking and that was when he could still convince himself this was a visit from his son’s fiance. Once his other sons were dragged into the room, I’m sure he could very much read where this was going. It seems like he was at least aware of his son’s poor behaviour. But he also let them get away with quite a bit up to this point as well. Maybe he felt a bit cornered since his first son was falling apart while his other two were slimeballs. But he had to give the kingdom to someone…

Either way he moved fast once it was time to. I half figure he thought he had to respond that harshly before Freesia declared war on them for all this! His sons were running their mouths badly. There’s no arguing here. Freesia is a more powerful nation and their Queen/Pride have precognition abilities. Unfortunately you can only ever believe everything they say or outright call them liars. Which is a risky move when they lead a powerful nation with a powerful military. Even if Pride had been lying (which she wasn’t) you can’t say any of that unless you are prepared for war.

Man very much looks worn out

All things being said about the King…it is fair to not him being deathly ill. That’s not the kind of situation anyone wants to deal with when sick. Now he does end up dying from this, but it’s possible he had no idea how bad it was until it was too late. Sure, Arthur’s powers are rare, but I’m sure his country has some level of medical professionals. If he didn’t seek any help then he must’ve underestimated his condition. Being sick sucks in general. But I can’t imagine trying to run a nation and everything else while dealing with all that! At least this worked out fantastically for him! He was given all the reason needed to detain his scumbag sons, his first son can now grow into a King to be proud of, and this guy isn’t left worrying about his nation until his final moments.

Hopefully Leon can rebound

This episode was basically just Pride crushing all opposition and cleaning things up. In a sense that whole scene was the entire episode. I was kind of shocked when the episode was over since it felt like there was plenty of time left. But I guess it really did take that much time. At least it was a good conclusion for Leon who had a lot to deal with, but can now recover. I do hope he can build up a bit of emotional toughness now that he’s gotten over this. Pride bailed him out this time, but can’t afford to hope that will always happen. A rule that is almost entirely supported by the future Queen of another nation just isn’t a secure one or a good partnership.

Even good Pride can be terrifying

There’s not much else to say really. Pride got hit hard by Leon’s charms, but he’s 100% out as a romance option. There’s no room with Leon now taking over his nation. This whittles it down to Stale, Arthur…and maybe Val if you want to stretch it. None of them would have a hope in hell if a prince from another country was in the picture. But now…it’s more flexible. Val still has the most long-shot chance unless Pride does leave her position behind. There’s still one or more love interests to introduce. But I’d kind of like one of them to actually be saved for Tiara. I know Pride’s existence as a villain consumed Tiara’s whole life. But there’s got to be someone for this version to end up with! But regardless, will see how the next episode plays out.