The Water Dragon’s Bride, Vol. 3 by Rei Tōma
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Unable to return home, Asahi grows into a lovely young woman. As a priestess, she must spend time with the water dragon god for a ritual every year, but because of her connection to the water dragon god’s power, someone kidnaps her! Will Asahi be able to escape unscathed?
Now that Asahi is old enough (and 4 years have passed since she has been made a priestess), the village is getting ready to move ahead with the symbolic ‘bride’ part of her position. What they do not know is that every year, she is taken to his domain for 3 days where he just sits and watches her. Asahi is starting to grow into the idea of hoping that the Water God starts liking her enough to fulfill her wish of getting back to her life. Meanwhile, a neighboring village is out for her and kidnaps her to get the power of the god for their village. Naturally, she is rolling her eyes at these people and trying to fight back – she knows the only one who can save her is herself in this situation; that water god is absolutely useless about saving her from situations that are his fault.
He eventually gives her back her voice, and she uses it to scream all her rage when war breaks out between the two villages. The wrath of the god also deters the other village, and Asahi now knows that she can hope for him being invested in her enough to ask a boon. As for the romance, Subaru is still a strong contender, and he is obviously very devoted to her, but the Water God (ugh) also wants her now. Like, for him, she is already his bride and his possession, and well, I am mad that this is even turning into a romance. She protests this fact and lets him know, and the plot I feel is showing what is wrong with this ‘romance’ (she literally calls him uncle) but the cover is another matter – what is this dissonance when it comes to the underlying theme of the story? This is an unequal relationship (even if I disregard the fact that he made her his ‘bride’ when she was like 12-13) and she is pretty much at the mercy of his whims! I am not liking the direction this story is taking.
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