Reborn into a fantasy world as the only daughter of the bloodthirsty Emperor Caitel, Ria strives to earn her father’s affection and gains the support of powerful allies like Chancellor Perdel and the Black Knight Asisi.

Ria, initially surviving by being cute, finds that her persona has evolved into her entire identity. The people around her admire everything she wears, does, and says, with the exception of her father, a tsundere who struggles to acknowledge his feelings towards his daughter.

Due to his violent past, Caitel grapples with conflicting emotions towards his daughter, such as the desire to share meals with her and keep her close despite the norm of royal children residing in their own palaces. Driven by a need to protect Ria from assassins targeting her and shield her from the truth of being his daughter, Caitel insists on her constant presence. Although Caitel’s behavior remains peculiar, Ria recognizes his love for her manifested in various ways, leaving her uncertain if this demonstration of affection will suffice.

When a previous concubine comes in front of Caitel with a young boy claiming he’s Caitel’s son, it seems a lot of drama is fast approaching. Ria doesn’t really know what to do with the information, and of course the nobility and the palace servants cannot stop themselves from gossiping about it. But Caitel doesn’t take the news in the way that many readers would expect. There is something more going on behind the claim that the boy is Caitel’s son, and the emperor is biding his time until it’s time to act. But because of this, Caitel and Ria have their first big argument that strains the relationship between them, especially when Ria’s nanny gets involved as well. Although not everything is lost as the father-daughter due start to realise their own feelings.

Daughter of the Emperor continues to be a slow-paced series. It drags along, almost like a day-by-day in the life of Ria and the people she befriends. As with the previous volumes, there are a lot of internal monologues from the characters, and the illustrations are word-heavy. I thought that the arrival of the possible new heir would shake things up, but unfortunately it’s just a minor shake-up. All the drama of the series revolves  around Ria and Caitel getting to love each other as a father and daughter should. The author, Yunsul, gives sad backstories to characters such as Caitel and Asisi, that shows the traumas that made them become who they currently are and why they struggle with their feelings for Ria. The readers also know what happened,  thanks to the flashbacks from various characters. I believe that this aids the story to be slow-paced as we see the story progress from Ria’s point of view, only to switch to Caitel’s narration on how the same events happened from his point of view. There is really not much mystery around what happened or what will happen as the readers seem to know everything.

On the bright side, romance seems to be in the horizon for little Ria. She meets a couple more suitors, heirs to their respective kingdoms, and one of them makes Ria’s heart beat faster. Are they official suitors? Of course not (can you imagine Caitel’s reaction?!), but the brief encounters they’ve had with Ria made them fall for with her, no doubt at all. Ria’s mother is mentioned briefly as well—or more her mother’s country rather than the mother herself—but Ria is pretty happy to consider her nanny as her mother, so she doesn’t feel the need to investigate. As it’s mentioned as the witch kingdom, I wonder how that will impact Ria’s future. The empire of Agrigent believes in the Spirit’s power, and Ria and Caitel are the closest ones to it, while her mother’s kingdom has a maternal lineage from a witch. Would Ria turn into a super-powerful person? I guess the readers will need to keep going with the series to find out.

Daughter of the Emperor is written by Yunsul and illustrated by Rino. The print edition is published by Yen Press with an English translation by Micah Kim. Volume 9 is already out.

Our review copies from Yen Press were supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.