Webcomic / The Crownless Queen

The Crownless Queen.

I engrave a never-ending curse not on the sun nor the moon,
But on the sky so that it will remain even when this night ends
I grant eternal life to those to those who seek the truth
And oblivion to those who turned a blind eye

— Preface

The Crownless Queen created and drawn by Kim Ramu is a Korean Webcomic. On the day of her retirement, Jung Gwinam, a history professor of twenty years is hit by a bus while saving her daughter. Upon waking up she discovers herself in a young woman’s body called Delia. The protagonist of her daughter’s novel The Crownless Queen. Delia is a peasant with no prospects, family or money and must use her wits and knowledge to navigate and ascend the social ladder, however, there are many historical inaccuracies and mistakes she must take care of. Will it be enough for her to return home?

The story can be found on Tapas here.

Tropes for this series include:

• Abusive Parents: Bellucia mother is physically abusive towards and never seems to appreciate or consider her wellbeing. Baron Merton is also not winning any parenting medals either, despite his daughter being a brat he is quite harsh with her and when she supposedly commits suicide his main reaction is being pissed on how much he lost on money he could’ve got while marrying her off.
• Anachronism Stew: Done deliberately the most egregious examples are done with arts. In just one shop works by Michaelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Nike of Samothrace and Monet can be spotted. Yet Delia wants to know more about why they were made when the history behind them doesn’t exist.
• Animal Motifs: Owls. Near the end of season one (Chapter 48) Delia saves an owl and the same one appears when she is arguing her case to be a noble to the King. Owls are a symbol of Minerva the goddess of Wisdom. Minerva is Delia’s new surname and a fact she doesn’t overlook.
• Apocalypse How: Class 0 For over a year there was a darkness in Imperium which starved the people and froze the land called the Darkest Night. While most of the nobility survived such as Countess Chelsie, she only realised the extent of how bad it was when she went outside and saw people celebrating the end of the Darkest Night over a pile of bodies. There are still major problems concerning immigration over the issue and it’s implied that if Delia doesn’t return the pendant this same event will happen.
  Countess Chelsie: "The whole continent suffered the same disaster. But we didn’t share the same fate."
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • Delia gives on to Michael that people won’t be able to tell the difference between the counterfeit money he will make. But Delia is not so convinced that Michael as a an artist personally feels the same,
  Delia: Didn’t you say you could hear voices inside the marble? That’s what real art is! It’s something that only you could do in this world! Who cares if other people think it's real or not? IT’LL ALWAYS BE FAKE TO YOU!
  • Delia is on the recieving end of this with Countess Chelise’s father Marques Wilson and one she genuinely can’t refute despite her wanting to.
  Marques Wilson: "It’s my money so don’t meddle in my affairs. If you’re so great you should sponsor him!"
• Armor-Piercing Question: A minor example Delia asks of a woman who didn’t tell her family that she knew where her sister was. Her sister was a Viscountess and left to be with her love, a stable boy in a hut near the sea. She is pregnant and is about to marry the boy. She didn’t tell her family about she knew and the woman wants to refuse the marriage except Delia's questions.
  Delia:”Then why didn’t you bring her back?”
• Art Shift: Usually when discussing exposition the art style shifts resembling a style like a scrapbook and crafty feel, with the use of shadows, crafting paper, ripped paper and crayons for instance. In one chapter the use of red crayon and ripped paper is used to demonstrate a decaptation. Even the speech bubbles change to reflect this.
• Awesome by Analysis: Delia/Gwinam was a sixty-year-old History Professor and despite being penniless in this near world, her main weapon is her brain.
  • Earlier in the story she was able to make deductions on the time, period, place and political situations in just a brief conversation with a stranger using her historical and Latin knowledge.
  • She uses it again to fortune tell and picks up on mannerisms, objects they might have, their hands, etc and she advises them on their love life, fears about their children and their work.
  • When encountering a vase Countess Chelsia introduces to her despite remarking its fake and she paid 100 Ferrums (a maid’s wage for a month is 500 Ferrums for reference) for it. Delia still deduces its real due to its placement (in a safe area and high enough so it wouldn’t easily be tipped over), how it was kept (away from sunlight) , how Chelsia handled it (no gloves).
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: A tragic example when the story starts. Gwinam and Jinhee might have a lot of friction between them but evidently, Jinhee did wear the dress she asked for and came to her retirement. It’s also telling the novel Jinhee created seems to be influenced and inspired by her mother's profession and respect for the subject. Despite misunderstanding the five classes of nobility. The tragedy also really becomes known that when running off after a bit of jest from Gwinam, Jinhee is about to be hit by a car when Gwinam takes the blow instead.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Delia is about to be caught by Duke Verl’s guards however she recalls that Imperium is also a land of power and respects that quality and acts as if she is a noble (while dressed finely thanks to Marcel) and was able to escape as a result.
• Beneath the Mask: Maria Princess of Pecunia might act ditzy and a little childish but considering her parents are so ruthless as to murder the Crown Prince to uphold their own beliefs. It’s no surprise she acts the way she does in front on them. Once she’s alone with Marcel she lets the mask drop. She calls her mother a hag and is fuming about the fact she knows their parents killed their brother. She trusts Marcel not to tell but he warns he if they find out who she is, rebellious and smarter than she looks they will kill her too. Marcel even mentions she has the best memory out of everyone he knows.
• Berserk Button:
  • The Minting Office. Try to circumvent that with Duke Verl’s knowledge at your own risk and be lucky they are living in a time of peace.
  • Delia being harshly reminded of her lack of status, wealth and power has her gripping her hands so tight, that she bleeds from where her nails pierce her skin. It is one of the few times in the series we see her genuinly angry.
• Bilingual Bonus: The words on the pendent are in conjugated Latin. "Vidistine? Tu qui viderit ulteriorem locum, hoc praeteritum est, quod itervait; futurum quod iterum repetetur. Si hic morteus es aeternum invenies solatium. Vade ad summum locum; tunc futura mutabuntur. Sola historia te ad solium ducet." ^note  Did you see? One who sees the stars. This is a past that has repeated and a future that will replay once more. Death here will grant you eternal peace. But if you go to the highest place you can go, the fated future will change. Only history will lead you to the throne. Return the pendent to where it was.
• Black Widow: Countess Chelsie is accused of this because she didn’t cry at her husband’s funeral.
• Burn the Witch!: The premise of the original Crownless Queen featuring Delia being burned to death while uttering a pretty spooky Dying Curse
• Bystander Syndrome: Upon being first reincarnated as Delia, Delia is beaten up in the middle of the streets by guards. After standing up for herself she chews out the crowd for standing by and for the overeaction by standing on a noble’s cape.
• Chess Motifs: A constant theme in the Crownless Queen especially in the second half of Season One.
  • In chapter 30 Delia plays against Duke Verl and remarks on how does a peasant becomes a queen much like how a pawn can become a queen. Fittingly when against Verl she is depicted as a Queen.
  • Delia considers “castling” with Rook and King and with how the roles of Duke and Baron have switched in this world and realises that despite Duke Verl being “lower” than Baron he in both practise, power and influence is next to the imperial throne. Duke Verl is the most powerful man and Baron Merton is described as a man who smuggled his way to a noble title. Baron Merton is perceived as powerful while in actuality he does not have much.
  • Delia is deliberately portrayed as the Black Queen and Duke Verl the White King.
• Costume Porn: Marcel’s ‘The Dew of the Night’ on Delia is an elaborate ballgrown adorned with lace, pearls and other sparkly materials. It shimmers and almost resembles the sky at points. It’s one of the best dresses Delia wears in Season One. Countess Chelsie's dress at Baron Merton’s party is also quite beautiful as well.
• Counterfeit Cash: What the Pecunia King and Queen and Baron Merton plan to do.
• Dare to Be Badass: Delia gives on to Bellucia tells her a story of a dragon hatchling who became a Water Dragon. It was trapped in a pond of mud and felt ashamed to be there among the mudfish but upon seeing a raincloud and the hatchling was able to emerge from the rainclouds. Delia asks her does she want to be the dragon who waits for the rain or a mudfish that swims in the dirty pond. The dragon will one day leave the pond but the mudfish can’t. So which is Bellucia?
• Defector from Decadence: Considering it’s pretty firmly confirmed that Martian the Crown Prince was murdered for his righteous attitude. It’s no surprise Marcel left to sew clothes in Imperium.
• Disappeared Dad: There is no mention of Gwinam’s possible past partner or her daughter’s father at all. Jinhee doesn’t even know her father’s name which she screams at Gwinam over in Chapter One.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Baron Merton's sign of hospitality for his guests who give him less than adequate gifts is a torture device that rips off people’s legs.
• Diving Save: Used heartbreakingly at the start of the story by Gwinam to save her daughter Jinhee from an ongoing Bus.
• Dramatic Irony: Delia is incredible at reading people and yet she reflects she was never really good at connecting with her daughter and sorting her problems with her.
• Dying Curse. Delia gives a horrific one.
  Delia: " The pendant will remain to curse the land in my name, and the moon will swallow the sun as the flowers and trees will wilt. No longer will you hear the cries of babies or the chirping of birds. I engrave a never-ending curse not on the sun nor the moon. But on the sky so that it will remain even when this night ends. I grant eternal life to those to those who seek the truth. And oblivion to those who turned a blind eye.
• Dying Smirk: The original Delia gives one to the villagers about to burn her. She asks them have they ever seen wood burn and if she is a witch and guilty of the crimes she is accused the pendant will burn with her. But if not it will remain. It remains.
• Emergency Impersonation: With not to long before the wedding with a Glorium noble. Baron Merton decides to disguise Bellucia as his daughter, hide his daughter’s death and use her as a pawn against Delia.
• Entertainingly Wrong: When Duke Verl and Marcel (Marcus) fight over who gets over who escorts Delia’s thoughts is they are fighting over the rights of the minting office and believes it’s political.
• Epic Fail: Jung Gwinam’s daughter Jung Jinhee accidentally mixes up Duke and Baron in her worldbuilding. Keep in mind that Gwinam is a History Professor whose studies most likely focus on the Medieval to Early Modern Period. Gwinam of course laughs her ass off.
• Establishing Character Moment: Delia’s true abilities as a History Professor. The story does an incredible job showing it in Chapter 3. She deduces the language, area, class and her living situation once she has a moment to reflect. Unlike other transmigrated people, the way Delia questions the stranger in the country while serving as an exposition dump demonstrates how Delia uses and picks up that information. She picks up on what date it is and that they follow a different system than the Gregorian calendar and figures out what country she is by asking about the political situation. Delia even figures she is in the capital and most importantly knows when to dismiss his opinions from the facts.
• Experienced Protagonist: Unlike her other transmigrated fellows who usually transmigrate as teenagers or young adults. Gwinam was sixty years old and spent twenty years as an incredibly reputable and experienced History Professor. Keep in mind that even getting a History Undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. includes another seven years minimum) Although she is reborn in around a fifteen-year-old body called Delia she definitely keeps her cantankerous attitude, knowledge and general wits.
• Expy: A few:
  • We later learn that the creator of some of the works in the shop includes a man called Michael the sculptor, who is obviously an expy to Michaelangelo. He was the one who created this version of the world’s David and his philosophy concerning sculpting matches Michaelangelo's.
  • The Legless Old Man, Baron Merton, Delia and the King of Imperium are exact ones to a chapter in the Han Feizi by Han Fei. It talks about a man called He who found a rock and brought it to King Wu during the Zhao dynasty. Upon seeing it King Wu believed it to be an ordinary stone and cut the man’s leg off for lying and upon being offered it again his other leg was chopped off. King Wu passed away and his successor King Cheng asks why He cries so bitterly. He says that he is upset that no one but him realises the true value of the jewel. When King Cheng had the stone cut and polished it was revealed to be a beautiful Jade and was named He’s Jade. In this story, Baron Merton is the one who chopped off the Old Man’s legs off (resembling King Wu) and while the Old Man dies, Delia continues his role as He. The King of Imperum (King Cheng) is confused why Delia is so calm upon being threatened with her legs being chopped off. Delia is adamant and proves it is in fact a Jewel.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Marcel despite recognising Delia as his equal doesn’t give Delia a Salutation of Respect. He implies he is a noble higher than a Duke and while the role switch is present and the materials for his Dew of the Night come from Pecunia.
• Gentleman Thief: A mysterious silver-haired man called the Silver Wolf who saves Delia from Duke Verl’s guard at the start is shown to quite respectful and courteous. Later he asks Bellucia what is wrong. He appears to be quite a Robin Hood archetype of person. He comes to a place three times. One to steal the most expensive thing, then the most expensive and finally he steals what the owner cherishes most. As proof he leaves a fang where the stolen object was.
• Given Name Reveal: The Silver Wolf reveals his to Delia.
  Silver Wolf: "But still, please call me Issac next time."
• Grail in the Garbage: A major plot point. Some of the world’s known and priceless arts and treasures, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), David, Nike of Samothrace, The Mona Lisa, The Girl with the Pearl Earing, Starry Night (and another of Van Gogh works), The Gleaners, a Buddha statue, Venus de Milo and King Tut’s death mask. All packed almost disgracefully in some dinky shop while the sun is exposing them. But it’s justified considering the history behind the works aren’t known or even exist and thus the same attachment to said works wouldn’t exist. Art is objective and the meaning has yet to be ascribed to these workds. Additionally a lot of the works mentioned only recieved recognition after the artists death.
• Guile Hero: Delia goes from peasant, con artist fortune teller, maid, appraising objects and finally a noble all in the course of Season One. All Delia has is her wits and wisdom which she uses to advance her position and improve her situation.
• Harmless Lady Disguise: Delia plays it up as an old lady while wearing a cloak and covering her face to get more information or money.
• Have We Met?: Duke Verl asks this to Delia who Countess Chelsie introduces as her niece.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Gwinam shoves her daughter from harm’s way of the car and takes her place instead.
• Hidden Depths:
  • The World of the Crownless Queen itself: Gwinam originally believed her daughter spent no time doing her research, but the more she learns about it the more she that her daughter put a lot more thought into the historical context, currency and politics. For instance, Delia takes notes that the name Imperium and Ferrum (Iron) are Latin. A language Delia and possibly Jinhee are fluent in. It’s even implied that considering the setting, the book was probably dedicated to Gwinam herself.
  • The King might seem like a hedonistic and bloodthirsty prick but there is definitely more to him than meets the eye. For instance, he was the one to give Delia’s surname “Minerva” after the Roman Goddess of Wisdom whose symbol was an owl. The exact creature which landed on Delia. In his inner dialogue seems to know what the name Minerva means and the notes for the chapter state his dialogue comes from Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of the Right.”
• History Repeats: Considering Delia is a historian this is bound to pop up quite a bit. One of the key reasons she is able to be such an effective fortune teller is that while the ages change, people's concerns over family, love, children and employment often do not. Delia is also threatened with this fate and a possible death after she learns the original Delia caused a long night that lasted for over a year and starved and froze Imperium unless she return her pendant to the throne.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Bellucia. Dear god, Bellucia. She still tries to do her best with her mother and she stays with Baron Merton and his family despite how wretched they are. Yet considering Bellucia’s prospects it is still her best option.
• Hypocrite: Baron Merton is vehemently against Delia getting a title and yet he was also granted a title for his role during the Darkest Night as a smuggler. This fact is firmly pointed out to him and he shuts up.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Happens to Nicholas Galkin. The man Elise was supposed to marry at their wedding.
• Internal Reveal: A major one in the middle of Delia playing chess. Delia knows that Jinhee confuses the role of Baron and Duke and she thought that Baron was higher than Duke and Delia considers that if it really means that a Baron has a higher status. If she did then what about Duke Verl whose scope of power over the capital is considerable and most advantageous. If he Verl is considered by others to have the power of a traditional Baron shouldn’t he be theoretically a nobody by this novel’s logic? Verl’s estate is the biggest and grandest and is the most influential person in the country. It’s also later revealed his family controls the minting industry which makes even less sense. Delia concludes that Jinhee wouldn’t have written Verl that way if she thought a Baron was higher than a Duke. Verl should be a “Baron” if that was the case and yet the other classes are historically accurate. The Duke and Baron much like “castling” have merely switched spots. Their overall value and power on the board didn’t change, just people’s perspectives of them. The novel was deliberately rewritten.
• Laser-Guided Karma: When Delia and Baron Merton are competing over whether the rock is worthless or a priceless jewel, the King of Imperium hears how Baron Merton chopped off the Old Man’s legs twice for presenting him it and decides the punishment to whoever gets appraised the stone wrong will get their legs chopped off. In fact even at the end of Season One Baron Merton is at risk of this fate happening to him.
• Little Miss Con Artist: Delia certainly plays into this role as a fortune teller. In actuality, she is using her skills of analysis and deducing people’s livelihoods based on their body language, clothes and any objects in their possessions.
• Master of Disguise: The Silver Wolf disguised himself pretty effectively as a middle-aged man with dark hair and a moustache without Baron Merton being any of the wiser.
• Meaningful Background Event: Delia’s words are front and centre when she discusses M Arques Wilson of the pitfalls he will fall into if he adopts Michael, how others will respond by demeaning him and how Michael will be pressured to rush his art. Fittingly The Torment of Saint Anthony a work commonly attributed to Michaelangelo’s is featured.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Bellucia one of the girls Delia meets on the street who sells flowers is named after one.
  • Delia's own is derived from Delos, the homeland of Artemis/ Diana Goddess of the Moon and a lesser extent vegetation Considering the Moon is believed to be bad news and cursed after the Long Night and Delia's own role in creating it you can see why.
• Meaningful Rename: Delia already has a name but she is given a surname by the King. It’s none other than Minerva and considering Delia’s the mother of the creator who made this world and her most noticeable attribute is her wisdom and an owl landed on her shoulder. The significance of this name does not escape Delia.
• Memento MacGuffin: Delia’s pendent. It reveals her true purpose to this world and he daughter mentions it is incredibly important.
• Never Suicide:
  • Marcel doesn’t believe for one second his brother Martian, the Crown Prince of Pecunia drank poison deliberately for a second. Neither does Maria his sister.
  • The death of Elise Merton. Bellucia recalls how she had a signal for her lover to visit her, red was when he couldn’t and blue was when he could. Guess which ribbon was up the day Elise fell into the spike gates.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Maria Princess of Pecunia acts like a complete and utter dumbass in front of her parents and is completely childish upon the mention of Gloria’s Princess Celine. There is good reason for this. If they knew how smart or how much she hated her parents they would most likely kill her like they killed their eldest son.
• Offing the Offspring: The King and Queen of Pecunia killed their own son Martian and despite their attempts to conceal it both of their surviving children know they both did it out of their own greed and are not immune to this fate.
• Old Man Marrying a Child: After Baron Merton royally screws up and needs to pay 10,000 aurums to the Royal Treasury he plans to marry his daughter Elise to an old noble man Nicholas Galkin. At the wedding after Elise’s death, Bellucia takes her place. The wedding itself has the image of the bride’s head down low while the old man smugly looks on is a direct reference to The Unequal Marriage by Vasill Pukirev
• Parting-Words Regret: Gwinam now Delia regrets the harsh words she said to her daughter before she died right in front of her.
• Planet of Hats: Downplayed. But each country in the Crownless Queen has certain attributes it respects above all else.
  • Gloria is the land of Glory
  • Imperium is the land of Power
  • Pecunia is the land of Wealth
• Rags to Riches: Delia claws and argues her way using her skills of analysis all to way to the noble title of Viscountess and manages to “downgrade” it to Duchess.
• Red Pill, Blue Pill: Delia discusses this with Verl over two doors. There is on the left with the most beautiful illusion you will ever see and another on the right with a reality you never wanted to see. Verl decides to Take a Third Option and open both doors, stating that the doors could be the same and reveal the same thing or not actually show the things they were supposed to.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Marcel who runs a boutique is secretly Marcus the Prince of Pecunia.
• Refuge in Audacity: How Delia managed to get a noble title for herself is nothing short of incredible. She is up against Baron Merton and his claims with the risk of losing both her legs. She manages to dramatically show she is right about the jewel and is about to be rewarded for it. The King is about to reward her but Delia refuses a party or money that will just go away she wants something more meaningful. She reveals she is just a peasant after hiding as a Countess's niece and manages to convince the King of Imperium whose country values power above all, something only he could give her. A Noble Title. And she fucking gets it.
• Retirony: Gwinam died on the same day of her retirement. Can’t get any more retirony than that.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Baron Merton appears to be somewhat cultured at first having a painting of The Girl with the Pearl Earring in his house but his vase which he supposedly spent 500 aurums for (which is a ridiculous amount of money) is in fact worthless as Delia appraises it and notices discrepancies in its age and how it was glazed and its paint. This trait is also exemplified by how he considers art on a superficial level. Noticeably when Delia goes to Countess Chelsie's house she notices how much more luxurious it is compared to the Baron’s and her vase which she spent less on is well looked after and real.
• Royal Harem: The King of Imperium is shown to have quite a good few women around him and is shown to be quite The Hedonist.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Delia reminds Michael of his conduct as an artist and his personal beliefs concerning art and counterfeiting. When he is confronted by Baron Merton, Michael sternly says he is an artist and he will not counterfeit money as a result.
• Secret Relationship: Elise Merton is in one with a man called Adam. It ends poorly.
• Shown Their Work: Commenters have mentioned that the author of The Crownless Queen does a fantastic job at incorporating real-life works of art such as Michaelangelo’s David and Nike of Samothrace. The author also uses real-life reactions to the works, especially regarding Michaelangelo’s views of sculpting and sensibilities towards nudity even towards David as of recently. This is just a small example
  • The game Delia and Duke Verl played against each other was probably based on a real chess match Joseph Henry Harper vs Blackburne London (1868) . They both opened with Knights, Verl made a mistake with his Knight on the sixth move with G5, which the pawn just moved out of the way to avoid the Knight and it ended with the Queen defeating the King.
  • The Head of a Faun is indeed a lost sculpture of Michaelangelo and the description Delia made of Michaelangelo’s David that was made with the head smaller than the rest of the body so it would fit with the rest of the proportions as you looked from below is also accurate.
• Slasher Smile: Baron Merton is quite fond of giving these, when it’s first revealed he brings out Cold-Blooded Torture on guests who give him inadequate gifts and he gives a pretty chilling at the end of Season One.
• Smart People Play Chess: Done incredibly effectively when Delia plays against Duke Verl. Delia wins not just because she outsmarted Verl but because Verl’s own personality views everything with hidden agendas and has him mistake an obvious move as meaning more than what it actually was. Delia's win is done not because she is academically intelligent but because she is emotionally and socially canny.
• Small Role, Big Impact: The cherubs who tell Delia her name, her backstory, clue Delia she is in her daughter’s novel and to watch out for Duke Verl. Additionally Jung Jinhee, Jung Gwinam’s daughter. Jinhee is only in two chapters maximum but she is the one who created the world and its inconsistent worldbuilding, whom Gwinam sacrificed herself and died over and who tells Delia what she must do next.
• Smart People Know Latin: Gwinam is incredibly smart and is later shown to be fluent in Latin when she reads what the pendant requests of her to do in conjugated Latin.
• Spoiled Brat: Elise Merton. The daughter of Baron Merton. She starts her proper debut in the story by deliberately tripping Bellucia and who lands in what is presumably a priceless artifect. She later blames Bellucia for ruining her dress and threatens to sell her as a slave if she tells her family she is in a Secret Relationship.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: The thief Silver Wolf is fond of using this, especially around Delia. He even once disappears while they are in the middle of dancing together.
• The Faceless: Countess Chelsia is only ever seen with her hat and a veil and we have yet to see her actual face even in flashbacks.
• The Prophecy: One given by the pendant to Delia. “Did you see? One who sees the stars. [[ History Repeats This is a past that has repeated and a future that will replay once more.]] Death here will grant you eternal peace. But if you go to the highest place you can go, the fated future will change. Only history will lead you to the throne. Return the pendent to where it was.”
• There Are No Coincidences: Delia doesn’t believe for a second that her new surname was given by a coincidence. The symbolism of the owl landing on her shoulder and her surname being Minerva, an animal often associated with the Roman Goddess of Wisdom doesn’t escape her.
• The Scapegoat: The original Delia was one, the bad harvest was not because of her and she explains it was due to the bad weather and the chickens died because of disease. The townsfolk also blamed her for being unable to pay their taxes.
• Token Good Teammate: Baron Merton is a cruel and sadistic man, cutting off a man who he deemed to give him an inadequate present and his daughter Elise is a spiteful brat who takes her anger out on Bellucia. Baroness Merton seems to be quite a kind and loving person from what little is seen of her.
• Tough Love: Gwinam is not exactly the kindest of parents regarding her daughter's interests and scolds her quite a bit on her mistakes but she evidently cares deeply for her child.
• Vindicated by History: Delia mentions this regarding art with Michael ( an Expy of Michaelangelo), that a lot of artists don’t get recognition in their lifetimes and that genius takes time to be understood.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Jinhee is constantly trying to show off her writing and works to her mother and is very upset when he mother mocks it. Even more heartbreakingly considering the setting and Gwinam's historical knowledge on the Early Modern Period (especially Italy and the Renaissance) and Latin in the story, it’s evident Jinhee was inspired and probably dedicated the book to her mother.
• Wham Line: There are a few.
  • In chapter 32 this comes from the Queen of Pecunia there is this.
  Queen: "So you’ve returned too. I thought you left for Imperium to sew clothes for women. Marcus no.. Marcel."
  • When the Old Man with He’s Jade is dying it’s nothing out of the ordinary. However there is a big problem. This is a world without a God. And when Delia passes this information onto Verl he is visibly shocked the old man would even say such a thing.
  Old Man: "I can finally go… To the Almighty Lord."
  • Verl is hit with one about Delia in the same chapter.
  Duke's Aide. Countess Chelsie is an only child. So she can’t have a niece on her side of the family.
  • From Delia herself to Duke Verl and the rest of the royal court this intelligent and well-dressed woman is no more than just a simple peasant on the lowest rung of society.
  Delia: "My name is Delia and I am a peasant."
• Wham Shot: Marcel returns after spending several chapters missing for unknown reasons and is revealed to the be 2nd Prince of Pecunia.
• Widowed at the Wedding: Quite dramatically at the end of Season 1. The man whom Elise ( Bellucia) was meant to marry suddenly collapsed amidst his own blood.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Delia takes this to stupid lengths despite being in the body of presumably a young teenager at least. She is noted by many character to be incredibly rational, wise and almost old in a sense. Considering Gwinam was in her sixties when she died this should come to no suprise.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: A very important one that Delia recognises with what looks like a worthless rock is a Jade. It's by recognising this that allows her to argue for a noble title.
• Worthy Opponent: A plot point: A Salutation of Respect. When a person in Imperium recognises and acknowledges another's power, they kneel and kiss the back of their hand.
  • Countess Marie Chelse gives one to Delia by acknowledging her power by kneeling. It is an important gesture in Imperium that regards someone as their equal or respect, either through strength, beauty or knowledge. It’s also Foreshadowing that despite Marcel’s proclaiming respect of Delia’s beauty he doesn’t do this since he isn’t from Imperium but Pecunia.
  • Verl certainly considers Delia to be one mentioning her wisdom, how she conducts herself and her general maturity despite being so young. In the season finale, Duke Verl kneels before her in salutation of Delia Minerva and acknowledges her power in order for others to respect her too. He is not someone who offers that respect easily and it sends a warning out to other nobility.
• Would Hurt a Child: Bellucia’s mother attacks her viciously and abuses her.