Hakushaku To Yousei Ep 4 – Merrow's Secret vs. Victoria's Secret

It’s Merrow’s Secret’s latest style.

And the winner is… Loli-Merrow! That’s not her on the image though.

Summary

Lydia was waylaid by a sinister dog. At the first sign of danger, Nico escaped and it was left up to Raven to save our Lydia. After a major battle, the dog returned to its realm. After that, Lydia was locked up along with her father while Edgar managed to elude Huskly. Her father asked if Edgar was serious about the marriage, and said he would not oppose Lydia. Lydia scoffed at the thought. Outside the cell, Raven (who supposedly escaped during the battle) informed Lydia to wait for their rescue and added that Edgar did not lie about needing Lydia. Lydia said that Edgar simply needed her as a fairy doctor, but Raven included more information about a key and the need for a blood sacrifice.

Huskly ordered Lydia to guide the way to the treasure at night. When Lydia brought Huskly to the area where Raven and Edgar knocked him unconscious. Edgar was about to kill Huskly but he was stopped by a distraught Lydia who was worried that her father would be harmed. Edgar said that Huskly would keep her father alive as long as the mystery was not solved. They found the clue of the cross, and Lydia said that the spirit mentioned in the clue was scared of mahogany crosses. Following the various clues engraved on the coin, they found themselves on a cliff edge.

At the cliff edge, there was an opening the size of a coin. Symbolizing the leprechaun’s liking to hide coins beneath the sea, Edgar placed the coin into the hole to create a new underground path that leads to a winery. At the sidelines, Nico warned Lydia to grab the sword and kill Edgar. Behind a door, they found a three way crossroad. Lydia told them that they should follow the direction of the banshee’s wail. After crossing a chasm, they found the slot for the silver key. Edgar was surprised how Lydia knew about the key. Raven bowed down and admitted that it was his doing. Raven did that on behalf of Ermine, who did not want Edgar to be hurt. Edgar was about to explain “Noblesse Oblige (the requirements of a noble) to explain Raven’s actions but they were interrupted by Huskly.

Huskly threatened to kill Lydia’s father but Lydia warned that he would get no benefits for doing that. Ignoring Huskly’s threats, Raven inserted the silver key and the drawbridge across the chasm collapsed. Edgar decided to push ahead and told Lydia that giving Huskly the sword would not ensure her father’s safety. They then saw a young girl, and Lydia confirmed it was Merrow. Edgar rushed forward to grab the sword, but it turned out to be a mirage. Lydia, with her eyes, was able to see the real sword.

Lydia said she knew about the sacrifice, and Edgar told her that she won. Edgar also told Raven not to do anything as he moved closer to Lydia. Edgar said he really could not lie to her, and grabbed the blade of the sword. As the blood flowed onto the sword, Edgar disappeared into thin air. Merrow could recognize that Lydia was a fairy doctor, since there were no longer any descendants of the Earl. Merrow asked Lydia to release them to fulfill the former Earl’s promise, while Lydia mentioned that the sword did not have the star sapphire. Merrow said that the descendant of the Earl had a carving of the Star Sapphire on a part of his body as evidence. Hence, Edgar did not need a blood sacrifice but needed to find the person with the mark of the Star Sapphire.

Just then, Huskly caught up and threatened Lydia again. However, Nico and other fairies impeded them. Lydia then told Raven that she would be negotiating with Merrow for his master’s return. Under the sea, Lydia found Edgar’s soul. Edgar thought he was in a dream, but realized that Lydia was really here to save a man who threatened to kill her. Lydia demanded Merrow to replace the sapphire in exchange for Lydia’s soul. However, Edgar stopped Merrow in time by noting his tongue’s sapphire mark and Merrow agreed to bestow Edgar as the next Earl. Edgar started to hug Lydia when the waves appeared, and mentioned that it was for his safety. A few days later, Edgar officially gained the rank of a Earl and invited Lydia to become the official fairy doctor.

13sugar’s Kyaaing thoughts

So in this episode, I concluded that Raven was an action hero, Edgar was the suicidal-romantic hero, and Nico was the smartest character of the lot. In the whole four episodes, Nico didn’t get into a fight. He ate and drank whatever he wanted, and the best part was that he appeared and disappeared whenever he wanted. Back in this episode, when Raven pulled his trick-or-treat demon-spirit-within on the bad dog, poochy retreated and left, which actually made me wonder what exactly did bad poochy’s master want him to do.

The blood sacrifice tidbit was part of the riddle engraved on the silver key which Edgar already kept with him. Its purpose was to mislead people who plan to abuse the earl and all that come with the title. It really served well since everyone believed there must be a blood sacrifice to fully acquire the sword.

Raven, in fear for his master doing a noblesse oblige stunt (It’s kind of like the Spider-Man quote, “With great power, comes great responsibility.), hinted to Lydia while she was locked up that as a noble, Edgar might make himself the blood sacrifice to fulfill his duty to those below his status. But Nico thought otherwise and warned Lydia to kill Edgar as soon as they get the sword of Merrow because Lydia could actually be the blood sacrifice Edgar needed to possess the sword.

When Edgar and Lydia finally found Merrow and the sword, Edgar ended up killing himself not because of Lydia or the blood sacrifice riddle but because he noticed that, just like Lydia did after he disappeared; there was no star-sapphire on the Merrow sword. His hope of becoming the earl and gaining a new noble identity completely fell apart in that instant. He got so emo about it and decided to welcome death at that point. And of course, if Lydia hadn’t rescued him, this anime series would’ve ended on this episode. As an audience, I was grateful that some typical shoujo-heroine traits were in her character. Otherwise, I would throw my b/f (Bitch-fit, boyfriend, I’ll throw them both.).

Anyway, what Merrow really wanted was the person who possessed the six-pointed-star mark on his/her body. It meant that, since the previous earl’s descendants were all deceased, anyone who possessed a six-pointed-star mark can be acknowledged by Merrow as the true Earl of the Blue Knights. Unfortunately, Edgar only had four points on his “star” mark, but Merrow probably thought that it was better to have a four-pointed star mark of a hot bishie than a fairy doctor’s soul.

Merrow in this episode was quite a mystery to me. After all, the previous earl gave his sword to her for safe keeping. Who was she? Our guess was that she was the leader of the fairies, or Merrow’s Secret’s top model. It could probably be the latter; a bishoujo mermaid who could turn into a loli-fairy found in a cave if one followed the direction of the banshee’s wail. But as far as I knew when it came to fairy tales, mermaids were usually the sirens, and banshees usually were the cursed sisters of sirens. I could be wrong on this.

The best kya-kya moment for me was when they copied Jiro and Mimiko’s water escape in Black Blood Brothers. Only, Lydia wasn’t limp from an orgasm of losing blood like Mimiko was.