The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom

Episode 10

I'm not sure Philia knew she could scream. All her life, she did what she was told she had to, believing that she was a failure, or at least at risk of being one, and that her best approach was to keep her head down and her voice quiet. This entire season has been at least partially devoted to proving her wrong, whether that's in the steadfast love of the people of Parnacorta or the unstinting belief of Grace. But now none of that matters. Her expanded magic circle failed, and she's stuck in another kingdom while her sister runs the very real risk of dying. Good Girl Philia knows that as Parnacorta's saint, she can't go to Girtonia. Good Girl Philia knows that she can't leave Grace in charge because that's her role. But Sister Philia knows that none of that matters if Mia dies.

Philia's entrance in Girtonia is her most triumphant moment in the series. That's not because she and Osvalt made it in the nick of time, but because when she sees Mia on the verge of death, she opens her mouth and screams. It's a spell, sure, and one we've heard many times before. But when Philia says “silver judgment” this time, she means it. She's ing judgment on those who would hurt her sister, who would make Mia suffer in any way. That loud voice that she's never used before is her declaration of intent: no one will be hurting her sister.

It's doubly important that Philia shows up at this particular moment with such powerful intent. Yes, Philia is declaring herself and showing what's truly important to her, but she's also absolving Mia of any guilt. Not that Philia herself ever blamed Mia for how she grew up, but ever since discovering the truth about how her big sister was treated, Mia has been wallowing in self-recrimination. In her mind, she's just as complicit as anyone else in Philia's ill-treatment. She doesn't get a because she didn't know what was going on. She didn't act to save her sister, so she doesn't deserve forgiveness. There's a beautiful symbolism to Philia showing up to save her when Mia's busy blaming herself for not saving Philia, because it shows that, like Philia, Mia was always deserving of being saved. She was a little girl (arguably one even when she first took over the saint role because of her naivete), and you can't blame children for not understanding. Both sisters love each other, and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

There's a nice contrast between the Adenauer sisters and the other siblings in this series. While the royal brothers of Parnacorta get along (and Reichardt does ultimately let Osvalt take Philia back to Girtonia), they don't look to be as close as the sisters. Grace and her sisters are similar; they get along, but they aren't super close. And the Adenauer parents and royal brothers of Girtonia are nightmare siblings, with the younger dedicated to hurting the elder, whether emotionally (Adenauer) or by attempting to murder them. While we could get very Christina Rosetti about this, or take it to imply that sisters are closer than brothers or mixed gender sibling pairs, the reality is that Mia and Philia grew to understand each other in a way that the other sibling sets did not. Julius was actively trying to kill Fernand in the same way Adenaur père had it out for his sister, while the Parnacorta brothers didn't have any defining traumas to alter their relationship. But Philia and Mia have grown together through this debacle, and Philia, with her unhappy childhood, was already set to make sure that Mia didn't suffer the same. The bonds that tie them have layers in a way that the others don't.

They're going to need that bond to face what's coming. Julius, despite being convicted and imprisoned, has somehow weaseled his way out of jail, and with the “help” of a ring that's clearly channeling Asmodeus, he's potentially much more dangerous, because the only thing worse than one evil man with ambitions is an evil man with ambitions whose strings are being pulled by a second one. Let's hope the power of sisterhood can take them both down, for good.

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The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold To Another Kingdom is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Wednesdays.