Man, the start of the episode almost managed to draw a tear from my eye. Anne was so crushed to have her work stolen from her, that she would rather die than have Jonas get away with it. The other thing that ate her up inside was that she felt that the only reason why Challe stuck around to protect her was not because he cared for her, but because he cared about the safety of his wing– which is fair to say, as that was something that did cross my mind as well. But the saddest part of the episode was was watching Anne breakdown and grieve for her mother. We have to remember, she had only died like two weeks ago, so the loss of her mother is unbelievably still fresh in the mind. The whole drive of rushing to the capital to become the Silver Sugar Master was really what was keeping her sane and standing all this time. Once she felt like that was taken away from her, Anne couldn’t keep up a strong face anymore and crumbled from that despair.
But once the storm passed, hope emerged after she was graced with the opportunity of contributing to the birth of the fairy Lusul El Min, born from a dewdrop from the previous night’s storm. It also helped that Challe hadn’t actually left her, and claimed to have stuck around because he was waiting for her to uphold her promise of making him a sugar confection, which was exactly what she needed to get herself out of that slump. Thanks to that she was able to have a piece of work to even submit to the competition, as Challe decided he’ll help her make it to the competition to become the Silver Sugar Master.
While they made it to the competition, it really didn’t pan out the way anyone could have possibly imagined. Despite the fact that the advising judge Hugh (who was revealed to be a Silver Sugar Viscount) knew damn well that the piece Jonas had submitted was crafted by Anne, and that the King had certainly preferred Anne’s small fairy piece, it was Jonas that had originally won because Anne’s Butterfly work fulfilled the judgment criteria, which the basis of it needed to be large enough to be displayed for the event. Just when that bullshit was about to go through, Mythril Lid Pod came in clutch with the way he stirred enough of up a ruckus about how Jonas stole Anne’s work for her to have the courage to speak up as well. After-all, Anne wasn’t exactly in the right position to do so. Thanks to that Hugh to capitalize on the opportunity to have them prove who made the piece by having them recreate the butterfly in front of everyone. Much to my sanctification, Jonas couldn’t even bluff his way through it, and was immediately disqualified for submitting a stolen work. Better yet Anne got to punish him by giving him a good smack in the face, as she should since he tried to kill her!
However despite having made the piece herself, unfortunately her growth worked against her because the wing she made in front of them, was very different from the wing she made for the other piece. Rather than an intimidation of her mother’s craft, she made was one she could call her own. While I am okay with this resolution (admittedly a bit messy but I get the point), I would understand why some may feel sort of peeved with the outcome because it’s obvious that Anne made it, and rather than being rewarded for her growth, she’s being told to come back next year. But had she won, then we would miss out on her journey of becoming a true Silver Sugar Master. Instead this event served as a momentum stepping stone for Anne, as she was acknowledged by Hugh for creating something crafted from her own vision. This was the key difference between what she submitted and her stolen work, which she had harboured some doubts of after hearing Hugh’s initial critique at the guest house. The original butterfly piece was more of an intimidation of her mother’s works rather than her own. The new one she created to prove it was her piece was made while spurned by the inspiration of witnessing the birth of a fairy Lusul El Min, and what she had felt when touched Challe’s wing. It was no intimidation, just something drawn from her own experience and wonder. That’s why Hugh and the King concluded the artisan that made the piece is no longer present, because that wing is nothing more than a shell of her former self who was stuck to drawing inspiration from her mothers’ works.
The other reason which contributed to the reason why no one received a Royal Medal today was because the piece she made for Challe did not properly meet the evaluation criteria. The sugar confection needed to be large enough to be properly displayed for the festival, and the one she made Challe, though lovely was simply too small for the part, thus no winner to be had. At the end of the day, the best Anne could receive were acknowledgements from both the Queen (who asked for her to try again next year) and Hugh acknowledging she had successfully created an original work. So while she couldn’t fulfill her hopes of sending off a sugar confection to her mother as a Silver Sugar master, those praises alone will suffice until then.
Since Anne has fulfilled her promise of returning Challe’s wing, they are now equals and Challe is open to becoming friends with her. I thought it was endearing how he went about his round-about ways of expressing of why he has decided he will stay by her side. It’s actually hilariously adorable because before they went to the event, he said the piece was beautiful and then after she won he was like, “It looks unpalatable”, going on how he wants something made by a Silver Sugar Master, and he promises he will wait for her to win it next year. So for that reason, he will continue staying by her side. Though you have to wonder, whether he will really be able to wait that long to have one HAHAHA! But I suppose that’s why he kissed her fingertips, because he mentioned that she smells like Silver Sugar, and I suppose you could say kissing her fingers that makes them is a way to get a taste until then. Well, that would certainly be a way of sating it, heh…
Speaking of which, I’m not going to lie, I did kind of laugh at the way they totally exaggerated the scene that led to Challe kissing her fingertips. Personally I think they went a tad too far with attempting to make the scene especially romantic the scene when in the novel, he had gently took her hand to kiss her fingertips, not yank her into his arms. Honestly felt like an overkill, and this is coming from someone who loves romance okay, it was sooooooo cheesy, I cringed. Actually they did change it up a little bit, as they did cut out the part where Challe hugged her in the first half before she made the candy. Perhaps that scene was supposed to make up for it then, like a two-in-one approach. Still, if it had to be cut out, it probably would have been better to keep it that way than dramatizing it as they did. Sometimes less is more, and the novel does just that.
Now we’re off to start volume 2! In fact my copy just arrived, and oooh boy I’m SO tempted to dive straight into it tonight! So this actually makes me wonder if the adaption might actually get further along in the story than initially expected if there’s nothing too dramatic that happens in these earlier volumes. We’ll have to see!
But who am I kidding? There’s no way I’ll be able to hold myself back from reading it, I’ve waited too long for it. So I guess I’ll be just going blind starting at Volume 3 instead HAHAHAHAHAHA!
