History Fanfic / MariaCampbellOfTheAstralClocktower

* AdaptationalCurves: While Maria wasn't lacking in figure in the source material, she also wasn't an AmazonianBeauty like this Maria is.

* AmazonianBeauty: Maria has a chiseled body thanks to her training. Male and female characters alike find this physically attractive.

* TheAtoner: How Maria Campbell feels after Maria of Cainhurst.
--> She was just Maria Campbell doing her chores. It was hard work, but it was a good hardness, of honest labor and clean work and no one was hurt, nothing was defiled.
--> Carrying only guilt from a life already past, Maria found a semblance of peace.

* BerserkButton: [[spoiler:Pretty much all of Maria's rational thought flies out the window when she finds out her mother has been kidnapped.]]

* BizarreTasteInFood: Maria and blood, to the point where she tried to bake blood into sweets and make blood cocktails, to little success.

* BoobsOfSteel: Several comments have been made about how well-endowed Maria is, and she's a honed fighter who takes on all manner of threats.

* CombatPragmatist: Maria fights seriously with anything on hand, even a piece of bread.

* TheCynic: Maria, due to her past life's experiences.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. Maria quickly finds that she cannot rely on her past life's memories in a fight because her body is untrained. However, later on when fighting [[spoiler: Sirius]], her using a dagger in her offhand instead of a shortsword causes it to repeatedly undershoot her swings with it. Given that she's ''not'' aiming to kill, however, this works out to her advantage.

* DisappearedDad: Maria's father disappeared when Maria was young, shortly after she unlocked her Light Magic. The townsfolk speculate that he left them as a result of his wife's ''affair'' with a noble that gave birth to Maria, but it is never confirmed, with her secretly hoping that this isn't the case. [[spoiler: Eventually, she learns that Estella Almera, a jealous rival of her mother for her father's affection, [[{{Yandere}} killed and buried him.]]]]

* FatalFlaw: Maria Campbell's GuiltComplex from her past life, causing her to take on many tasks and burdens by herself. It's implied several times throughout the story and outright stated when she runs herself ragged [[spoiler:accommodating the slaves she rescued in her manor]] by herself without even a majordomo to assist, to the point of feeling like she has failed them when she has to be dragged off by Katarina and Diana before passing out. When her friends ask if they can help, she initially declines, fearing that she'd be inconveniencing them.

* GadgeteerGenius:
** Maria Campbell, considering she recreated gunpowder and used it to make guns, fireworks, and grenades. [[spoiler:She also later replicates her beloved sword Rakuyo]]. Though somewhat inverted, in that she mostly draws up schematics before commissioning blacksmiths, rather than make them herself.
** Larna Smith, [[spoiler:former]] head of the Magic Tools Department, who spends her time making magic tools, such as a sentient tracking device and a radio, at cost to her other duties. She has a rivalry with fellow GadgeteerGenius [[Characters/FateGrandOrderCastersGToM Leona Romani]], who invented an air conditioner and [[spoiler:an improved ice cream machine for Katarina.]]

* HealingHands: Maria's Light Magic, which can mend soreness and broken bones alike.
* HeartbrokenBadass: Maria can feel things inside her breaking as the evidence against [[spoiler: Sirius Dieke]] mounts, to the point that [[spoiler: her voice is shaking as she asks him to stand down while dueling him with swords, and she freezes rather than finish him]].

* HiddenDepths: Despite her JadeColoredGlasses, Maria has a strong sense of justice and later [[spoiler: works to keep Katarina "safe" from her harem, as she believes Katarina is not mentally competent to consent to intimate behavior]].
** Contrary to her [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny personality]], Katarina's swordsmanship is BoringButPractical and she diligently practices in the early mornings before class.

* HumbleHero: Maria insists that her summer holidays' actions didn't qualify her for any kind of reward.

* IGaveMyWord: Maria, who always keeps her promises.

* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Maria. Her memories of living in a foreign culture have given her an entirely different set of social cues, often leaving her out of touch with the expectations of her new world. This attitude combined with her natural beauty and tendency toward form-fitting clothing often causes "outrage" in many of the male and female members of the school.
** It doesn't help that when she's told the dress code for a sleepover is just their normal sleep clothes, she assumes her usual choice of sleeping in the nude is a valid option.

* NailedToTheWagon: No matter her cravings, Maria Campbell literally can't get any blood in this world like Maria of Cainhurst drank because the magic is different.

* ParentalSubstitute: The children Maria rescued regard her as this, with some of them even calling her 'mama' and her mother 'grandma'. In exchange, she cares for them greatly and tries to do her best for them.

* TheReliableOne:
** Maria, who continually did the paperwork alongside Sirius while the rest of the Student Council were absent due to concerns over Katarina's coma.
** Diana Cavendish, who unofficially serves as Student Council President Maria's enforcer in ensuring the paperwork is done.

* RunningGag: Early on, Maria misunderstanding Katarina's friedly overtures for lewd advances.

* SignatureMove: No one surpasses Maria at the lunge.

* SleepsInTheNude: Maria doesn't have any form of nightwear, since when she was 10 she found her room too hot to wear clothes to bed, and when she's older she find them constricting. She also very casual about said nudity, such as when she went to Katarina's sleepover and was never embarrassed once, even when she found out how uncomfortable it made everyone else.

* SupremeChef: Maria's sweets (and threats to stop making them) are about the only thing able to make Katarina behave.
** Despite her staff being taught how to make the sweets, her friends are still able to immediately distinguish hers from those made by her kitchen staff. They chalk this up to hers simply being better.

* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Before she starts dating Rafael, Maria was rumored to be in a relationship with both Nicol and Sophia Ascart, due to her classmates misinterpreting certain events.

* {{Workaholic}}: Maria does her duty. That is literally all she does. A number of the things she does are fun, so it takes her friends quite a while to realize that ''everything'' is either "this is my duty" or "this makes it easier for me to do my duty." She did paperwork because it was her duty, she took in the rescued slaves because it was her duty, she trains Katarina because it's her duty. Even her cooking, which naturally everyone assumes she enjoys, is a manipulation tactic because she knows how much everyone loves her cooking. Sophia is the closest thing she has to a best friend, and they rarely talk about anything besides business. [[spoiler:She gets better after all of her friends and Duchess Claes hold an intervention]].
-->'''Duchess Claes:''' In my experience. One who throws themselves so strongly into their duties is doing so because they're [[GuiltComplex trying to forget something. Something that won't leave their mind. Something that haunts them, and only putting their full effort into something almost constantly lets them function]].

--> "…a shrewd, cunning mind possessed of great power and influence… a subtle and manipulative seductress without compare."

* {{Corpsing}}: InUniverse, Prince Alan barely keeps from collapsing in laughter when [[EntertaininglyWrong Maria]] describes [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny Katarina]] as:

* YouGotSpunk:
** [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Kent Ashmore]] liked how Chiharu had ''spirit'', compared to the fallen nobles who had lost all will.
** Susanna Randall takes an interest in [[ShrinkingViolet Selena Berg]] after she becomes aggressive towards her for her involvement in getting Selena involved [[spoiler:in a plot to kidnap Katarina]].

* GagBoobs: Katarina's aunt by marriage, Henriette, is noted repeatedly to have "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Huge Tracts of Land]]", and her wife, Sheryl, frequently has Henriette rest her bosom on her head like a hat.

** It is a known occurrence throughout Sorcier, as it indicates a malevolent being with a powerful soul. People seeing it become frightened by the sign of a monster and try to get the government to send specialised soldiers in to kill the boss and lift the fog.

* NoNameGiven: Played with the Third Prince, whose name is deliberately ''never'' mentioned in the story proper. It's even lampshaded in his focus chapter.

** Diana, who is close to the workers on her family plantation, even referring to the manager as her uncle.

** More like "Ew just... ew" when [[spoiler:the third prince ''finally'' communicates his true feelings to Katarina. She also shoots down the rest of her UnwantedHarem in the same sentence, saying she likes them but only as friends.]]

** It is a know occurrence throughout Sorcier, as it indicates an malevolent being with a powerful soul. People seeing it become frightened by the sign of a monster and try to get the government to send specialised soldiers in to kill the boss and lift the fog.

* TheOnlyOneITrust: After everything Maria has done to help protect her daughter Katarina for no reward, Duchess Claes swears that House Claes will always be there to provide aid, and shelter her from any pursuers, even from the kingdom for acts of treason. Maria is left compeltely shocked.

** Prince Alan, who is seen as the sane one amongst Katarina's harem and the 4 princes of Sorcier, with Maria lamenting the fact that he is not interested in inheriting the throne.

** Katarina, of all people, goes off on a vicious (yet insightful) rant about the use of scythes in combat and how that would ''actually'' work – versus the stereotypes clearly based on RuleOfCool – that it leaves Maria taken aback.

* WallPinOfLove: Maria → Rafael. And later Rafael → Maria.

* {{Workaholic}}: Maria does her duty. That is literally all she does. A number of the things she does are fun, so it takes her friends quite a while to realize that ''everything'' is either "this is my duty" or "this makes it easier for me to do my duty." She did paperwork because it was her duty, she took in the rescued slaves because it was her duty, she trains Katarina because it's her duty. Even her cooking, which naturally everyone assumes she enjoys, is a manipulation tactic because she knows how much everyone loves her cooking. Sophia is the closest thing she has to a best friend, and they rarely talk about anything besides business.

* Retcon: Katarina's uncle Henry is originally mentioned as having two daughters named Garnet and Amber. When actually introduced, his daughters' names are Adella and Iosefka.

* NoJustNoReaction: More like "Ew just... ew" when [[spoiler:the third prince ''finally'' communicates his true feelings to Katarina. She also shoots down the rest of her UnwantedHarem in the same sentence, saying she likes them but only as friends.]]

A crossover between ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' and ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' (yes, really,) by Creator/ShadowCrystalMage, this story explores what happens when a story based around someone who knows they're [[GenreSavvy in an Otome Game]] runs into someone reincarnated without meta-knowledge.

* ShoutOut:
** A Katarina Interlude, which is written in the format of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'''s in-universe Parahuman Online forums.
** In the second Katarina Interlude, the Katarina council discuss the possibility of reincarnating in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'', and ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'', referring to the latter two as weird American Otome games.
** A one-off character who planned to confess to Katarina is named Lady Monika Just, making her an {{Expy}} of Monika from VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub, with the "Just" part being the ArcWords given in her introduction of "[[OnlyOneName Just Monika]]". She's also the one who finds Marcioness Dieke's unconscious body hanging upside-down from the school flagpole.
** In Katarina's Dream Sequence, Acchan talks about getting together with some guys to try out something called [[VideoGame/CorpseParty Sachiko Ever After.]]
*** Referenced again in the '[=VaatiVidya=]' interlude parody, which says that [[VaporWare Elden Ring]] was delayed again because Japan is experiencing a 'middle school murder-ghost crisis'.
** Several of the new routes in Fortune Lover include an Isekai Hero ending starring [[Literature/KonoSuba Kazuma and Megumin]], and a DLC route starring Sienna, OG!Katarina's best friend shown only in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'''s spinoff, Verge of Destruction.
** Katarina's name from her past life is revealed to be Yamada Tae, the unawake zombie idol from ''Anime/ZombielandSaga''. This turns into full-blown CompositeCharacter in sidestories and omakes.
** An omake directly references and features a similar plot to that of ''Fanfic/ThroughTheLookingGlassMyNextLifeAsAVillainess'', where the Maria and Katarina of this story end up meeting their Light Novel counterparts.
** Diana Cavendish, a noble who joins the student council during Maria's second year, who is named after and acts like her namesake from ''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia''.
** The King of Sorcier, Artorias Stuart, who was teased for being easily mistaken for a maiden, reminiscent of Saber, i.e. the female King of Camelot who hid her gender, Artoria Pendragon from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''.
** The Student Festival's play is basically ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', rewritten with lore elements of ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' mixed in.
** After rescuing the kidnapped Katarina, the carriage used to return everyone to the castle belongs to one Dame [[Literature/KonoSuba Lalatina Dustiness]].
** The Gatekeeper at the palace is named [[Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}} Zull]]. To add to that, the Castle Keymaster goes by "Vince".[[note]]As in Vince Klortho, Keymaster of Gozer the Gozerian.[[/note]]
** Kent Ashmore, "the Fiery Ryu of the West". Fire mage, slaver, rapist, murderer – he's pretty much Lung from Literature/{{Worm}} with the serial numbers filed off, alongside his bomb-throwing, dust-clone-making second-in-command Demon Lionel, or Oni Lee.
** After falling unconscious for several days, Maria "[[Literature/TheMetamorphosis discovered that in bed she had]] [[AvertedTrope not]] [[Literature/TheMetamorphosis been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.]]". Similarly, when Rafael woke, he had ''not'' turned into 'a monstrous, verminous giant locust man'.
** The last time a student needed retroactive approval to miss classes due to acts of heroism was when [[Literature/HarryPotter a potter's son, a brash red-headed boy, and a bookish girl]] went to save some classmates from a wannabe evil overlord. Unfortunately, the first two died in the process, and the girl awakened her SuperPoweredEvilSide and had to be put down for the good of the kingdom. [[SpoofAesop And that's why you should always tell a teacher when you discover where your missing classmates are being held captive.]]
** Night Fall, an in-universe series of novels spanning 364 volumes and penned by Annabel Crème, is a reference to another in-universe series of novels from ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'', down to the name, number of books, and most recent author being Annabel.
** The leader of Maria's men-at-arms, specifically titled her "[[Literature/{{Worm}} Armsmaster]]", is a [[BladeOnAStick halberdier]] named Colin.
** A noble girl called Lady Redmane who features prominently at Katarina's sleepover mentions being in love with a girl called Nancy Hightown, and whose preferred choice of weapon is a scythe. This makes her a fairly obvious {{Expy}} of Fate Testarossa from Franchise/LyricalNanoha – [[BilingualBonus Testarossa is the Italian word for "redhead", while "Hightown" is the literal translation of Takamachi]]. (Meanwhile, Nancy is said to wield a spear, which Raising Heart's Exelion Mode strongly resembles in her home series.)
** Maria reads the story of the fallen Kingdom of Tasmenia due to the actions of the treacherous Queen Yuri, called The Vile, The Seductress, The Bastard, and The Wasteful, and of [[Literature/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter Iris, The Duchess of Armelia]], who invented chocolate and tried to rebel against Queen Yuri to save the kingdom.
** [[Literature/TheWheelOfTime The Wheel of Time]]:
*** One of the blacksmiths is Master ''Perrin''.
*** The mayor and innkeeper of Raven's Edge Brandon Alvere, which sounds a lot like Brandelwyn "Bran" al'Vere, especially with a daughter Edgewin (Egwene).
*** The Nyneve Almera of Maria's home town sounds and acts much like Nynaeve al'Meara.
** Katarina's extended family from her mother's Adeth family all are an {{Expy}} of various characters, and confirmed a [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/maria-campbell-of-the-astral-clocktower-hamefura-bloodborne-post-dark-souls-crossover-yes-really.870472/page-308#post-73058831 commenter's speculation]] as to some of their identities:
*** Her aunt Leona Romani, short for Leonarudo, and her husband Saloman, and her cousins Matthew, and twins Olga and Marie are all from VideoGame/FateGrandOrder, being Leonardo da Vinci, Dr. Romani [[spoiler:aka Solomon]], Mash Kyrielight[[note]]Her first name was mistranslated as Matthew on a Valentine item picture before it was corrected.[[/note]] and Olga Marie Animusphere who appears to have be split into twins embodying the two sides of her original character's {{Tsundere}} mannerisms; Olga being the tsun side, while Marie being the dere.
*** Her aunt Sheryl, short for Sherringford, and her wife Henriette are Sherlock Shellingford and Henriette Mystère from Anime/TanteiOperaMilkyHolmes as confirmed in [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/maria-campbell-of-the-astral-clocktower-hamefura-bloodborne-post-dark-souls-crossover-yes-really.870472/page-316#post-73281977 this post]]. Even Henriette's Maiden name, Arsene, is the name of her Alter-Ego in the series. Furthermore, their son from Henriette's previous marriage, Watson Arsene, seems to be a reference to Literature/SherlockHolmes; Watson being Sherlock Holmes' famous companion, which goes well with the aunts being Sherlock references themselves.
*** Finally there are [[{{Polyamory}} Uncle Henry's wives]], Viola and Eileen, as well as their daughters Adella and Iosefka, each [=NPCs=] from ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}''. Uncle Henry is likely Henryk, [[spoiler:the partner of Viola's canonical husband Gascoigne]] and who is actually Viola's father in the same source material.
** Katarina, when postulating that her meeting with her extended family is a setup for a sequel game that has Katarina return as the villainess, wails internally and calls for [[Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows Fallen God, the one who singlehandedly revived the galge genre]], to send her his advice on how to get a golden ending.
** Upon realising that Katarina was the one who acted as translator for Maria's slaves, is the fiancée of the Third Prince, and that all the rumors about the fiancée[[note]]such as being a Saintess, being so beautiful that everyone who meets her fall in love with her, being so connected and cunning that she knows a multitude of people of various high-ranking positions, being loved by nobility and commoners alike, and seemingly knows everyone's hidden secrets (and can look straight at Nicol without falling in love)[[/note]] are about her, and that she is so dense and humble that she ''denies that any one of them'' (except the Nicol one) is true, Olga wails internally at the situation "[[Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil like a salaryman killed by a train who had managed to piss off a godlike being.]]"
** [[Literature/DresdenFiles Sir Sanya Espera]], a dark-skinned knight who has become quite enamored with Maria's firearms. (His surname being short for Esperacchius, the source character's signature weapon.)
** One of the knights summoned alongside Maria for her mission is a Sir [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Kal]] Elstrom of the Blue Sentinels, who wears formfitting blue armor, uses wind magic to enhance his movements, and fights with a spear named Sylphrena.
*** One of the other knights on that mission, [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Thom Olvar]], wields a curved sword and dagger, wears light green armor and a helm shaped like a dragon's head, and his dagger has a flute built into it that his wyvern companion loves to listen to.
** One of the Ashina that Maria rescues who later becomes her personal maid is named [[Film/TheRing Sadako]]. Her most notable feature is her [[StringyHairedGhostGirl long, dark hair]] that covers most of her face like a curtain and revealing only an eye. At one point, she is even described as looking "like a corpse that just crawled out of a well to devour the Dark Souls of the living."
*** Additionally, Sadako is revealed to be roommates with three other women: [[Film/TheGrudge Kayako]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanako-san Hanako]], and [[Manga/{{Tomie}} Tomie]].
*** The author [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/maria-campbell-of-the-astral-clocktower-hamefura-bloodborne-post-dark-souls-crossover-yes-really.870472/page-373#post-74610878 clarified]] that she looks like [[Manga/HayateCrossBlade Inugami Isuzu]] before she started putting her hair up.
** The pair of accountants working for Lady Lalatina are twin redheads named Jade and Amber Sevenights (a.k.a. [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Hisui and Kohaku Nanaya]]). Another accountant recruited by Selena Berg, Joanna Harker, is a genderbent version of Johnathan Harker, the lawyer sent to meet with [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Count Dracula]]. The scene where they first meet Maria is also inspired by Film/Dracula1931.
** One of the knights at Sir Cett's party is a Dame [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Ruby]] Vardan, who triggers a discussion over whether it's possible to [[MixAndMatchWeapon integrate the gehrman's parts into a preexisting weapon]] – upon discovering that, yes, it can be done with a bit of work, she mentions wanting to create a scythe-rifle trick weapon.
*** Brief mention is also made of her wife, Lady Eira ([[BilingualBonus Welsh for "snow", which in German becomes "Schnee"]]).
** Among the decorations built in preparation for Maria's housewarming party includes… [[https://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Jul/gazebo.html a gazebo]]. (Only a mockup, sadly, as Maria hasn't yet had time to go slay one herself.)
** The various foreign delegations for the International Assembly are rife with these:
*** The head of the Xiarmah entourage is identified as First Queen of Sword Sungs [[Literature/BewareOfChicken Xiulan]], with her primary attendant-slash-bodyguard being a somewhat heavyset man known as [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda Po the Black, hailed as the Dragon Warrior]].
*** Queen Mylene Almeria of Tasmeria, wife of former-Marquis now-King [[Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs Leon]]. Included among their retinue are Duke [[Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne Folken Fanel, his younger brother Van, and Van's wife Hitomi]].
*** One of Mary's contacts at the Assembly is [[TheBaroness Baroness]] [[WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero Anastasia Cisarovna]].
*** The delegation from Etran is represented by the mercantile house [[Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil Argent Silver, headed by Councilor Victoria Ivanova]]. Later, one of the delegates introduces herself to Sophia by the name [[FanFic/AYoungGirlsDelinquencyRecord Jennifer Ecks.]]

*** The delegation from Etran is represented by the mercantile house [[Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil Argent Silver, headed by Councilor Victoria Ivanova]]. Later, one of the delegates introduces herself to Mary by the name [[FanFic/AYoungGirlsDelinquencyRecord Jennifer Ecks.]]

*** Queen Mylene Almeria of Tasmeria, wife of former-Marquis King [[Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs Leon]]. Included among their retinue are Duke [[Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne Folken Fanel, his younger brother Van, and Van's wife Hitomi]].

*** Queen Mylene Almeria of Tasmeria, originally hailing from a different country, and whose first husband King Lorant died in an "unfortunate accident", paving the way for the current King, former-Marquis [[Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs Leon]].

** During the International Assembly, a young woman introduces herself to Mary as [[FanFic/AYoungGirlsDelinquencyRecord Jennifer Ecks, on behalf of the Mercantile House Argent Silver.]]

''AKA, that fic where a grimdark {{DLC}} boss is reincarnated in fluffy {{otome|Game}}-land and still acts like she's in a Creator/FromSoftware game (that's NOT ''Cookies & Cream'')...''

** The Gatekeeper at the palace is named [[Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}} Zull]]. To add to that, the Keymaster is Vince.[[note]]As in Vince Klortho, Keymaster of Gozer the Gozerian.[[/note]]

** The Gatekeeper at the palace is named [[Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}} Zull]].

** Maria thinks very highly of Sophia Ascart because she is level-headed, rational, reasonable, intelligent, imaginative, bloodthirsty, and mildly terrifying. All of which Maria views as positive traits.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler:Katarina's etiquette studying under Maria is eventually revealed as this: Maria knew that Katarina would '''''never''''' be able to remember all the rules and nuances of Noble Society, due to her short attention span and bad memory when it comes to anything boring and difficult. However, she needed to "break" Katarina in order to see if she had the determination to become her Squire officially, as the normal method Knights use on potential squires is hard physical labor, something Katarina would enjoy. So she had to strain her mind instead. And Katarina passed her test: even though she was at the point of collapsing from exhaustion, was constantly crying, was lonely and and misreble from not doing the things she loved and being with her friends, had all her notes disappear, would constantly forget said notes, be unable to get even a passing grade in her test each week, and had just found out that the tests so far were simply about ''the first section of etiquette'', she still silently persisted in trying to study a book that she hates and can never remember, even when Maria was heavily tempting her to give up and go back to having fun. That she kept going even after all that and until she actually did collapse, showing that Katarina was able to keep moving forward in the face of a seemingly-immovable obstacle, made Maria officially accept her as her Squire.]]

** Maria reads the story of the fallen Kingdom of Tasmenia due to the actions of the treacherous Queen Yuri, called The Vile, The Seductress, The Bastard, and The Wasteful, and of [[LightNovel/AccomplishmentsOfTheDukesDaughter Iris, The Duchess of Armelia]], who invented chocolate and tried to rebel against Queen Yuri to save the kingdom.

** Upon realising that Katarina was the one who acted as translator for Maria's slaves, is the fiancée of the Third Prince, and that all the rumors about the fiancée[[note]]such as being a Saintess, being so beautiful that everyone who meets her fall in love with her, being so connected and cunning that she knows a multitude of people of various high-ranking positions, being loved by nobility and commoners alike, and seemingly knows everyone's hidden secrets (and can look straight at Nicol without falling in love)[[/note]] are about her, and that she is so dense and humble that she ''denies that any one of them'' (except the Nicol one) is true, Olga wails internally at the situation "[[LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil like a salaryman killed by a train who had managed to piss off a godlike being.]]"