If you’re reading this, you might have already read some of my many other posts on Who Made Me A Princess, particularly the post I made on Claude and Athanasia’s father-daughter dynamic. In this analysis, I want to discuss how their relationship is shifting in the opening chapters of Season 2. 

Last time, I said that I thought Claude’s personality was appearing in Athanasia,

“This aside, Athy has been influenced, it seems, by Claude and his personality as she grows into a young adult. Out of necessity, she acts cheerful and abundantly talkative with Claude, but on her own, she is rather headstrong and even quiet. Claude claims her boldness must come from Diana, but Claude himself is bold in many ways. Like Athy, neither character likes to give away exactly what they wish for or are thinking–Claude is especially closed off, but Athy has been too by hiding what she knows, how she feels, etc. Both think about Diana in their own ways, and neither mentions it to the other despite how therapeutic it could be for both of them. Neither, as we can see, tell each other they love the other, the closest confession of affection between them coming from Athy at the debutante ball. Still, a bigger indicator, I think, of Claude’s influence over Athy’s personality comes in the style of dress that we see over the course of the work. When meetings are scheduled ahead of time, Athanasia is dressed up (breakfasts, afternoon tea, etc.) but on the visits that seem less planned (random visits, Felix mentioning Claude’s wish to see Athanasia later in the day, etc.), Athy appears in comfortable clothing clearly meant for play and leisure much like her father is dressed when he’s meeting with her. However, at planned events, such as the debutant ball, we see Claude dressed in a manner befitting his station.”

which I still believe to be true. In Season 2, this seems to come out more since Claude confined Athanasia to the Emerald Palace after lossing his memories (until his more recent removal of her from the Royal Court). Case in point:

(^If that isn’t 100% Claude, I don’t know what is.) As Athanasia gets older, we see more of Claude’s personality come out in her own. For example, look at chapter 51 in which Claude removes Athanasia from the Royal Court. Instead of playing the delicate maiden or the loving and affectionate child she always had before, Athanasia experiences a moment of total shock and then cold rejection towards her father. It is vaguely reminiscent of the shocked look we see on Claude’s face as first encounters his brother and his fiancé together before we see a later flashback of his cold face after stabbing said brother. 

I mean, look at her face, it goes from this:

to this: 

And, don’t forget that this face is very much NOT like her mother who was a self-sacrificing figure. Instead, it is a near photocopy of Claude himself:

Down to the shape of her eyes and the scowl on her face. Those eyes say that she’s a fighter. Now look at Claude in this scene:

His eyes give away how shocked, regretful, and, maybe even, scared, he is of her and her potential power over him. 

In my first read, I thought the look was one that triggered some kind of past memory of Athanasia, but now I think he remembers himself. I believe Claude immediately regrets doing this to Athanasia when he sees that look on her face because he has seen it on himself and knows what it means. 

These eyes show a revolution in the making, just as they did on Claude when we saw them first. 

At the same time, the softened frown on his face does render an expression of some sort of affection, so while he is shocked by the magic, regretful of bringing that look to her eyes, I think he is also reflecting on the one memory he does have of her–her request for the family portrait and the smile she gave both in that request and the painting itself. 

Athanasia is more like her father in this scene than perhaps any other and, with his recent memory loss, Claude sees for a second time (though he doesn’t remember the first) that Athanasia really isn’t a copy of her mother. Athanasia is her father’s daughter. 

Now, I don’t think Athanasia’s story is one of revolution, but it could given her uncle’s disguised appearance in previous chapters and the way these two character’s relationship has developed in Season 2 thus far. Still, I believe that the end of this story is a happy one where our beloved Princess helps her father regain his memories in some way, her uncle becomes imprisoned or actually dead, and she ends up with a happy life as Empress. So while I don’t think the story will have a revolution in the sense of Athanasia rising to take out Claude, I like how the author and artist can paint the potential for that kind of storyline with just the looks on their faces and Claude’s back story in the tale. 

I can hardly wait to see more of this story progress in the coming chapters.

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The comic is currently up to Chapter 51 and is available here: https://ridibooks.com/v2/Detail?id=3240000001 

An official English translation is available on TappyToons. 

Please support the official release as it becomes available!