The Portrait of the Late Prince - By Maginot (8/10)
The beginning of this tragic love story is executed incredibly badly. By the end its painfully realistic and sad. It's not for everyone, and the yandere is pathetic. Our protagonist is a cool painter who will never give up her mother's last name. Not even for love. Not even to become Queen.
Ines loves painting. It is her foremost love. I'm telling you right now. She doesn't give up.
Ines is pretty and a prince fell madly in love with her, but she never accepted him and she never will.
You really do pity Enrique, by the end, because Ines does love him. She just never chooses him over her legacy as a painter.
Enrique was only 15 when he met Ines. One of the only female painters in the Vertone Kingdom. Ines is the real deal. She's got a Maestro sponsor and everything. Plus her family has given up on marrying her off, because she's that obsessed. Poor Enrique fell in love with her love. Her drive to succeed and her pride and her beauty.
He was lost, but he was only a boy.
Ines felt affection for him....but not in that way. Yes, he was an art piece for her. A beautiful object to paint and pity. You see Enrique was an unwanted prince. His uncle became king. A bad king sure, but a legitimate king all the same. That king has a son...so Enrique became a prize to marry off.
Ines was commissioned to make his marriage market portrait! How cruel! His true love must paint his attractive face in a way that will entice wealthy brides, so his uncle can sell him off in exchange for astronomical wealth.
Ines does it, and she tells him the harsh truth.
He says he wants to run away with her.
She says no. She says he has no idea what hardship is. A beautiful face. Royal blood. After he marries he will be a prize. Ines finds it all so bitter. Enrique was being treated like a princess, not a prince. That was the only thing he lost. The right to inherit the world. He got everything else. Beauty, money, and a secure future.
Ines tells him to stop crying and get married.
She tells him she wants him to be happy, but he's being ridiculous. She had to work her hands to the bone to be a mere painter, and men still look down upon her. Being a spoiled, pretty prince with a wealthy bride is hardly torture.
Her life is harder than his, but she loves it.
She wants him to find that same fulfillment.
She doesn't know how deep his feelings really are.
The story begins ten years later. Ines has been captured by Nathan, the rebel leader. The new king. The lazy nobles have been overthrown. Executed. Tortured.
Nathan claims he wants an accurate portrait of the elusive missing prince.
Ines is no fool.
She knows Nathan is Enrique, but she lies to him. She missed him. Her feelings for him finally shift into lust, and confusion and fear.
She doesn't know why the new liar king is so obsessed with her.
She paints portraits that are wrong.
She tells Nathan she has forgotten Enrique. He was just an annoying boy with a bad temper. He meant nothing to her.
It gets really dark. Nathan does force her into a sexual relationship.
He also kills prisoners in front of her.
He's conflicted.
He wanted her to remember him.
You see, Ines inspired him. Basically, he overthrew his uncle because he was angry at himself. Angry at himself for being a useless runt nobody wanted. His first love rejected him. His uncle saw him as a nuisance. His only value was his pretty face. He wanted to return to Ines a conquering king that would make her fall in love.
Nathan, formerly Enrique, is still too naive.
Ines does love him.
In fact, she agrees to be his lover.
When he becomes the new king he buys her an art studio. He visits her all the time, and they have a loving relationship, but she is not his concubine. She does not marry him. She does not have his children.
Her mother's legacy, and her paintings, will always trump him.
I think this story should have been told chronologically. When Ines is "forced" into a sexual relationship she's immediately into it, because she DOES have lusty and complicated feelings for Enrique/Nathan. Due to the ten year time skip plot that intrigue is completely lost, and the story just looks like edgy garbage.
Ines remains the one thing he could not conquer, and he loves her all his life.
.....
It's a shame. Ines is an amazing protagonist worthy of obsession. It's also a breath of fresh air to see a true submissive yandere. One that actually does give in. One that puts his loves happiness first. He does try to forcefully seduce her, but in the end she is willing to give him her heart. Just not her love, children, or a Queen.
Her love is enough for him, and that's actually really touching.
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