Afterword

Hello, it’s me, Yui! As I’m writing this, it’s mid-summer and temperatures are boiling hot, which is why I wanted to bring you a story set at the end of the year, in the middle of winter!

We’re already on the third volume of Bibliophile Princess. Can you believe it? Even though I’m the one writing this series, I still can’t shake the feeling that it’s all just some sort of dream.

When I first set out to write a continuation to Bibliophile Princess, I had three separate types of stories in mind: one comedy, one serious, and one lovey-dovey. Fortunately, I already managed to fit the former two into the second volume. So when I was lucky enough to be approached for a third volume, I decided to deliver (what was my best attempt at) a lovey-dovey story. On the web novel version, the title for this arc was The Pests, but I changed that for the light novel serialization.

In this book, Elianna is forced to confront her romantic feelings, which she struggles with. Having our spacey, detached protagonist face romantic obstacles was but one of the two objectives that I had for this story. The other was for her to genuinely shed tears over her feelings for the prince, something I think is fairly commonplace in this type of fiction.

Looking back at volume one, Eli did fret over her feelings for the prince, but thanks to him wrapping things up so quickly (darn him!), it ended before she could cry over her love for him. I regretted not including that then, so I wanted to tie it into this story.

I was the leader and sole member of the “Make Eli Cry” group, which was all well and good...until, midway through posting the story, fans started emailing me and scolding me. (I admit, I got a few laughs out of it... Ahem.) Most of them were along the lines of, “Hey, don’t bully Eli!” My friend was blunt when she told me, “I don’t care how much you bully the men like Chris and Glen in the story (actually do it more, please), but don’t you dare mess with Eli!”

I felt really blessed as an author to see how many people cared about Eli despite how big of an airhead she is and that there are lots of people that love her for that quality.

When my editor read the part where she cries, they commented, “So the Fairytale Princess has finally become human!” Which, um, made me wonder if I’d really managed to write Eli to seem that otherworldly?

While Eli was forced to confront her romantic feelings, Chris was left to spin out of control. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to call him a wild animal on the loose? I had to rein myself in a bit with the way I wrote him. I was reminding myself, Come on, he’s a prince! What happened to that handsome, dazzling mask he always wears?!

In the extra content (the short story I wrote for the light novel), I got to depict some of the struggles he went through in the past four years. It makes it a little more understandable why he’s so unruly in the present day, I think.

...No, I’m sorry, that’s just my bias as the author speaking. Maybe he really is just a thirsty prince? Lol

Well, his true struggles are only just beginning, so I hope you’ll let him long for intimacy with Eli while he still has the leisure to do so.

This is going to be a bit of a tangent, but I want to talk about the Holy Night’s Banquet. I am sure you all already have a picture in your head of what you think it looks like after reading the book. Personally, I picture what I saw in a photo album years ago: the UNESCO world heritage site, Grande Île in Strasbourg (Strasbourg Christmas market). In the picture, night was just beginning to fall and the whole plaza lit up like a jewelry box. I’ve carried the image with me ever since I first saw it, and that was the basis for the Holy Night’s Banquet. After becoming an adult, I actually had an opportunity to go there. I savored the taste of the mulled wine as I stood there, chilled by the mid-winter cold. I’ll never forget the flavor.

My own various experiences are reflected in my writing, but still, I find myself constantly vexed by how difficult it is to describe with words what I’m envisioning in my mind. Well, as they say, “Practice makes perfect.” I seem to have a long journey ahead of me until I reach perfection, however.

And finally, I think it’s time I bow down in worship at the feet of the following lovely people (this is starting to become a habit every volume).

Oh, great editor and purveyor of words! If thou were to beat me with a spiked whip or thrust me into the burning pits of hell, I could not resent thee! (Actually, I might enjoy it. Just kidding, of course!) Um, yes, so... The absolute hopeless excuse for an author that made her editor work even on their days off? That would be me.

I’m sure I also caused trouble for the other staff involved, aside from my editor, such as the proofreader as well as the illustrator (Sheena-sensei)... I hope they’ll all forgive me for my great sin of getting a good night’s sleep every night despite the stress I caused them.

No, that one’s not a joke, actually...

To the manager who let me work until the very, very last moment so I could be completely satisfied with what I was putting out: I could bow my head a thousand times in apology and it still wouldn’t be enough. It was only thanks to their support and the support of all you readers that I was able to complete this book. Thank you all so much.

Despite being busy with other things, Sheena-sensei still graced this volume with countless beautiful illustrations. I loved them so much I actually framed the front cover illustration of Chris and Eli. I feel so grateful. Words can’t even begin to express just how thankful I am.

I hope I wasn’t the only one who burst out into laughter seeing the cunning tanuki reveal its true colors in the last two illustrations of the short story lol

Next, I would like to thank my (very benevolent) friend for putting up with me and listening to me moan and groan. Also, thank you to my family for all of their support.

And, of course, I would like to extend my gratitude to those of you who purchased this volume and read it. The reason a story like this, written by an amateur author like me, is so successful is because of all of you. As a way of thanking you, I’m working hard every day in hopes of improving my skills so that I can bring you more stories you can truly enjoy.

As the intense heat of summer continues, I hope you’ll all take good care of yourselves. I also hope we’ll meet again someday!

-Yui