Synopsis

Leia’s life is turned upside down after her younger sister claims she’s a cruel villain. Leia’s fiancé breaks off their engagement, leaving her no choice but to throw herself into her saintly duties. But when confronted by the righteous Crown Prince Eric, she finds herself under his scrutiny. He’s determined to suss out her true nature, but why does it involve living in the palace with him?! (Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

A Saint Fights the Main Character Syndrome!

Written by Fuyutsuki Koki and illustrated by Haduki Futaba, one of Seven Seas Entertainment’s newest light novel titles, I Abandoned My Engagement Because My Sister is a Tragic Heroine, tells of the unfortunate consequences of main character syndrome.

A romantic fantasy, it follows a saint named Leia undergoing an age-old light novel trope. Labelled a capricious villain and her engagement broken off, this is only the start of her newfound troubles. The accusations of her villainy have reached the ears of the righteous Prince Eric. Offered a role as his bodyguard under the guise of keeping a watch on her, Leia is thrust into the world of royalty filled with conspiracies and countless assassination attempts.

The main story begins with Leia starting her new life as a bodyguard for Prince Eric. Introduced to his fraught existence, she quickly discovers that her saint skills also come in handy as a bodyguard, often enabling her to take out assassins well before they’ve reached the prince. Through these scenes, the author paints a strong picture of Leia’s personality. She has a strong sense of self and duty that often plays well with Eric’s overwhelming need for justice. These personality synergies help to ease a level of trust between the two, helping them work together as they fight off opponents, reaching ever higher on the conspiracy train to kill the prince.

The most interesting part of this novel, however, occurs as the perspective shifts towards other cast members. These segments often offer unique insights and key moments of understanding towards a specific character’s motivations. This is first displayed with Prince Eric. Seen as a man of acute justice by Leia, his own thoughts reveal a man under a great deal of strain. His pursuit of justice beyond all else has left him with few friends and many enemies, often leading to curt responses, something for which he constantly chastises himself.

As the novel continues, we also get the story from Jill, the tragic heroine’s point of view. While her main character syndrome is on constant display throughout the novel, these moments reveal the true extent of her delusions. By this point, the damage has already been done, and everything in her perspective is twisted to match the view of her own self-importance. These moments also tie in nicely with the volume’s climax, with the story’s conspiracy coming to a head. Jill’s pie-in-the-sky attitude allows for easy manipulation, something with which the conspirators aiming for Eric and Leia take full advantage of. Unfortunately for them, their plans are also undone by this same attitude.

Overall, I Abandoned My Engagement’s first instalment makes for a good start to the series. Although the plot has been seen before, the series manages to ultimately set itself apart thanks to the author’s strong visualisation of their characters and how their motivations are woven into the story.

I Give the Tragic Heroine: 8/10