Ikemen Midnight Cinderella – Giles Christophe

Synopsis

In order to help your pupil find a special white rose from the palace garden, you decided to participate in the annual selection for the princess consort. Never did you expect to be chosen from amongst the hundreds of other young women. Suddenly you are entrusted with the responsibility of choosing your king and bearing the next heir for the throne! 

Giles Christophe Route

What immediately struck me about Giles is how he knows no personal boundaries! He is willing to go all out to exemplify the dangers of a lone woman wandering the streets by physically intimidating the MC himself. He’s focused on the task on hand to train the MC to be fit to be princess in the shortest time possible and this meant his rather questionable methods that border on sexual harassment. But will this strict tutor eventually fall in love with his own student? As he grapples with his feelings for MC, he starts to exhibit jealousy since MC is expected to marry someone else eventually.

MC overhears a conversation between Giles and the king and learns the reason she was chosen as the Princess elect. It wasn’t because Giles saw something in her but because she would be a good match for the king candidate they had already identified. This revelation left MC distraught. On the way to Duke Howard’s mansion, she was kidnapped by an outlaw but subsequently rescued by Giles single-handedly. It was then revealed that Giles is sick, knowledge of which he has been trying to keep under wraps. In his fevered state, Giles hugs MC and confesses that he loses himself around her.

The day of the coronation arrives. MC delivers her speech to everyone’s applause. However during the reception ball, she hears snide remarks from nobility questioning her background as a commoner and whether she is really suited to take on royal responsibilities. King Byron from the neighbouring kingdom of Stein had also graced the occasion and intimidated her with his imposing aura. Giles was not there to support MC so Alyn had to step in to protect her.

When Giles learnt about this, he felt even more wretched about his inability to protect the MC. He also enlists the help of Sid to investigate the source of the threat letters.

After the whole coronation is over, MC looked forward to speaking with Giles but he never came to visit her. The next day rumours of her dating Alyn went rampant to her surprise. Giles feels even more bitter hearing it and it didn’t help that Leo reminded him that the princess can never pick her tutor as her Prince consort.

MC is invited to a literary salon with the noble ladies to discuss politics. She seeks Giles for help but is pushed away by him as he maintains a colder than usual distance between them. She learns from Leo that she can never pick Giles as her Prince. Later MC is kidnapped again (by Nico her personal attendant) and Giles braves all odds to save her again singlehandedly. It is then that he decides to be honest with his feelings for her despite their love being forbidden.

MC and Giles finally confess their affection for each other. Giles shares that he is jealous of Alyn because he had always wanted to be a Knight but luck would have it he ended up being the king advisor instead. MC consoles him assuring him that he is a very talented advisor and many people depend on him. When MC stops Giles from leaving her room, he cannot control himself anymore and they made love that night. (Hmmm isn’t this wrong in so many ways? The king advisor sleeps with the future queen. She won’t be pure anymore for her future king and what about the heir? As king advisor, surely Giles must know the gravity of his actions).

Giles accompanies MC to her first literary salon. She has won the favour of the matron lady with her individualised thank you card for those who attended her coronation. She learns of issues happening in Muscari and starts to research about it. MC finally understands the work required by this role. Giles tries his best to support her.

The next day Giles lays feverish on the bed which got MC very worried for him. He had rode all night to find his contact to learn more about Muscari. Leo tells MC about Giles’ background. He was from a prestigious family line of captain of the knights. However due to his health issues from young, his family has disowned him since he is unable to become a knight. He was later adopted by the previous king advisor. After understanding the truth of Giles’ condition, MC hurries back to him and apologises for always giving him trouble.

When Giles learns that MC is aware of his medical condition, he shares more with her. The reason he kept the information from her is because he didn’t want her to think of him as a weak person. MC denies that and instead shares how grateful she is that he goes the extra mile despite his physical condition for her. With that settled they used the information gathered about Muscari to come up with a solution.

One day Nico visits MC again, this time not as an attendant but as a knight of Stein under orders from King Bryon. Nico invites MC for a meeting with King Bryon. MC is shocked to learn that Nico is a spy all along. Giles reveals that it was Nico who had kidnapped MC as well. Despite all this, MC decides to accept the meeting with Bryon, the meeting of two heads of country which would have profound meaning and symbolism. Giles agrees to MC’s decision and supports her too.

On the day of the meeting, King Bryon requested for a one-on-one lunch with the princess. He told her that she has gained a lot more confidence since their first meeting on coronation day. He finds her intriguing considering that she wasn’t born into royalty. Suddenly a commotion breaks out. Apparently an attack has been launched on Stein and all fingers point at the Wysterians for attacking while their King is engaged. To allay the tension, MC offers herself to be hostage while her people prove to Bryon that it was a misunderstanding.

Honey Ending

MC’s retainers were all in shock over her peace offering. However Giles agreed to let MC go with King Bryon to show that he trusted her decision and to reciprocate her trust in her people to discover the truth behind the attack. Days have passed while MC is kept hostage in Stein. Several briefing sessions have been conducted between the two nations with no clarity on the culprit. At the last meeting, Giles turns around to look at MC with a certain forlorn look in his eyes as if he’s going away. MC, unable to contain herself further, runs after him.

She is stopped by King Bryon. He asked her why she looked like she was crying and whether this was an appropriate disposition as a princess and leader of her country. MC apologises and thank King Bryon for his admonition. She also requested to accompany him on future business trips so that she can assist with the investigation.

At the next briefing, MC was surprised that Giles was not in attendance, instead Leo had replaced him. Leo told her that Giles had resigned as the king’s personal advisor so that he could focus on this investigation to free her as hostage as soon as possible. When MC learnt that the resignation is permanent as he had essentially abandoned his position, she felt so guilty for causing him to lose the one thing that gave him purpose.

Later King Bryon receives a letter in Giles’ handwriting which provided sufficient evidence that the attack was instigated by another country Protea, to cause a rift between Stein and Wysteria. Coupled with information that MC had dug up during one of the work trips with Bryon, he was convinced that Wysteria is innocent so he declared that MC was free to return to her country. Without Giles by her side, would carrying out her princess duties still be the same?

As expected, while MC is glad to be free from Stein, she was unhappy in a Wysteria without Giles. Everywhere she went, she is reminded of the times she spent with him. Feeling lost she thought about what mattered to Giles. He had always placed the country above himself such as getting information about Muscari even in poor health. MC asked Leo what she can do now to continue protecting the country that Giles loved so much. Leo told her that she should prepare to choose a Prince consort. Hmm this feels rather disjointed. Wasn’t Duke Howard in the running for this role, why suddenly the need to throw a ball for her to select a suitable candidate.

At the ball, MC spots someone who looks like Giles. She runs after him and trips over the stairs. However just like before, Giles was there to catch her before she falls. Finally reunited with him, MC hugs MC. MC tells him how much she missed him and that she doesn’t want to be separated from him anymore. Seeing how much she loves him, Giles relents and returns to the ballroom with her to much clamour from the other nobles and lords. However Alyn and Leo both defended the couple, while Duke Howard walks out knowing that he has no more shot at becoming Prince consort.

The king arrives and after gently chiding Giles, he approves of the union and prepares a chamber for Giles. Apparently Giles managed to strike some deal with the old foggies which made it possible for him to be Prince consort despite being the princess’ tutor.

MC and Giles return to the chamber and were soon all over each other as they missed each other so much. The next morning Giles brings MC to a chapel and made an engagement/wedding vow to always support her and love her. And yes before they allow me to have my happy ever after… I need to now raise money to buy my engagement dress!!! I’ve got half a mind not to continue with Midnight Cinderella… the story writing is shallow in comparison, the characters lack moral judgement and the game mechanics pisses me!

I finally saved enough money to buy that darn dress! The final chapter focuses on the engagement ceremony, a recap of how much MC has grown from the young lady who snuck into the palace for a flower, to her proposing to Giles to be her prince consort, and his vow to always support and love her (despite his penchant to be overly jealous of Leo who is now her tutor and gets to spend more time with her.) And they lived happily ever after!!!

~ Fin

Review

As the first otome in this Ikemen series, I think it’s only fair to be a little less judgemental about the story writing, character design and game mechanics… every aspect paling in comparison with the other Ikemen series. It is pretty cliche plot to begin with choosing a commoner to become the new princess of a kingdom and then forcing her to find a suitable prince consort to rule the country together. I would really be quite worried for the survivability of such a nation to be honest as much as the idea that anyone can be royalty is a fantastical dream.

Couple that with a love interest Giles whose personality is quite dubious to be honest. While Giles is someone who is willing to give up everything for the MC, I find that his decision making process to be very flawed as a man and as the king’s advisor. He decided to prioritise the needs of a single person in many instances over the kingdom, and even made love to the MC when he is supposed to be helping her choose a prince consort. He is overly touchy in his interactions with her, easily jealous of the other men supporting her, and is insecure about his own inability to protect MC. As the king’s advisor there should have been many opportunities to showcase his intelligence despite his physical weakness but the author decided to focus on creating intimate scenes between MC and Giles.

I guess Giles would appeal to women who like their men to go all out for them. In that aspect, I’m surprisingly rational. I want a man who can think beyond just his love for a woman and contribute to a cause bigger than himself.