Episode 9

**Girl Icon** (偶像少女, *Gūzō Shōjo*?) is the ninth episode of the Anime. It was aired in Japan on March 8th, 2022.

## Synopsis

Wein is caught in the middle of Demetrio's marriage proposal to his younger sister Falanya. To everyone's surprise, he accepts it! And on the day when Wein is supposed to discuss the marital matters with Demetrio, he's caught in a conspiracy where the first was poisoned and he's taking the blame! To make matters worse, both the second and third princes surround the city, and the Levetian army led by Caldmellia are a part of it.

## Summary

Wein makes a surprise visit to the place where Falanya, Ninym, and Lowa had their meeting with Demetrio. Discreetly, Ninym passes Wein a written message about the situation and states Demetrio is seeking Falanya's hand in marriage. Internally, Wein chastises himself for such terrible timing on his part. Recalling what Falanya said about her decision on his marriage proposal, Demetrio asks to hear Wein's thoughts on the matter. Surprisingly, Wein gives his full support to the proposal noting how much stronger the Earthworld Empire's ties will be with Natra's. Not only that, it gives him the optimal opportunity to announce Lowa and his own marital plans for each other. As Lowa and Wein talk back and forth, they secretly send Non-Verbal Communication messages to each other. Protesting his abstain for the marriage between the two, Lowa retorts that it's the Emperor's prerogative for such things. Furthermore, since no one is sitting on the throne at the time, there is nothing wrong with her acting on her own accord. Quoting her brother to stay out of this matter, Lowa adds if any of this is any of his business. Ninym then chimes in claiming that Natra royalty forbids subjects from marrying into the same family, in truth this is an adlib by her. Hence, Wein suggests they discuss the marital matters the following day. To that suggestion, Demetrio agrees with it and leaves.

Later, Falanya hugs her brother for coming in right in time and Wein comments how he's glad that she's safe. When Falanya asks Wein if he intends to allow Demetrio to marry her, Wein answers that he has no intention whatsoever. Afterward, Wein talks with Ninym about him being there and Wein's concern for the Leventian's motives. Staggering a bit from exhaustion due to lack of sleep, Ninym gives the tired prince a letter from Lowa requesting a meeting with him.

Meeting with Lowa atop a tower, Wein learns from Lowa that she seeks advice or rather someone to hear her complaint. Wein guesses that she is to talk about how she wants her brothers to decide on the next emperor. Lowa confirms the notion while noting the summit won't decide the next Emperor. Despite her interest in being the next emperor, Lowa was never fully vocal about it and isn't seen as a viable candidate. The people, however, have abandoned the three princes and would likely favor Lowa to fill the empty seat of the throne. Lowa ends their talk by promising to rope Wein into her plans and will succeed in her plans.

Elsewhere, Manfred is informed of the appearance of Wein and his meeting with his older brother Demetrio by an attendee. He's asked by the attendee what is his opinion of Wein is and he states his high regard for him. However, he sees him as an obstacle to his endeavor for becoming emperor and orders to have him assassinated.

The following day, despite his drowsy and languidness, Wein insists on meeting with his preappointed meeting with Demetrio. Meanwhile, Falanya attends the Citizens Assembly where the topic of discussion is taxes. She's asked if she'd like to join the deliberations and she happily agrees. Back to Wein, he arrives at the venue where Demetrio and he will discuss the matters of their marriage proposals. However, things take a drastic turn when they're served some tea and Wein asks the maid who served it to drink it. Despite the protests from the maid, Demetrio believes that Wein was bluffing, and drinks the tea himself. At first, Demetrio puts up a cool act, but soon faints after succumbing to the poison. The maid escapes and Ninym tries to pursue her only to be stopped by Wein who requests she get a doctor.

Several days later, Wein talks with Ninym about the events surrounding the prince being poisoned. The prince managed to barely survive and hastily returned to his domain to convalescence. Bardloche and Manfred pointed the blame toward the Mealtars and encircled the city with their armies. Both Falanya and Lowa managed to mediate the situation with Cosimo, however, Wein is suspected of conspiring to poison the prince. Right when the prince hopes to escape from there, a retainer reports that the Levetian army has made the base by the western side. The army led by Caldmellia and her assistant plans to start a holy war and hopes it'll please Wein. On the contrary, Wein is panic-stricken and curses Caldmellia for her actions. Right as Wein tries to access the situation, he faints due to his exhaustion and is later bed-ridden.

Because of her brother's condition, Falanya decides to attend another meeting of the Citizens Assembly. Despite Ninym's admonishment, Falanya still goes and participates in the debate with Nanaki by her side. Her words of motivation move everyone in the assembly and manage to placate the tension there. Eventually, Wein awakens from his exhaustion and Ninym embraces him. Soon, Falanya visits Wein in his room and he has her give another uplifting speech to the citizens of Mealtars and leads all 30,000 of them to follow her to side with the Leventian. It's there that Caldmellia scorns the predicament and Gruyere notes how inadequate their supplies are to serve that many people. As it so happens, Wein appears before them and offers his counsel to help them.

## Character

Characters in order of appearance.

* Demetrio Earthworld
* Falanya Elk Abralest
* Lowellmina Earthworld
* Ninym Ralei
* Wein Salema Arbalest
* Manfred Earthworld
* Bardloche Earthworld
* Cosimo
* Caldmellia
* Nanaki Ralei
* Gruyere Soljest