Anime

OMFG this episode! My nerves were already getting wrecked at the start. Alicia's second guessing herself. Duke's giving her the cold shoulder. Then this masterful display happens:

@rikka@ani.social

I couldn't be more proud for our Villainess.

Alicia decides to be true to herself AND to her ideals as a villainess. Liz bears witness to this display and we as viewers receive another shocking development: Liz's activation of the brainwashing power . It seems to me that Liz's power is triggered by her negative emotions. We know girls used to bully her so she might've gotten upset and that triggered the brainwashing. Here she seems to gets jealous, which triggers it.

Yes... yes... we are ALL upset that the prince's love interest is a basically a child. But seriously, this whole chibi sequence was too cute. Alicia is over the moon that Liz thinks of her as a romance rival but affirms she wants to be a full rival in everything.

Freckles-chan tries to turn people against Alicia by falsifying a recording. What was cool here was that people stand up for Alicia, so it's clear that Liz's brainwashing doesn't work on everyone. There must be some special conditions but right now I cannot fathom what they might be. I also liked how Liz seemed to be actively trying to learn from Alicia. Alicia is doing well with her Watcher work.

Afterwards we finally get to meet Mel!

I was straight up wrong about Mel. She's just an Earth magic user who is also Duke's spy. Earth magic lets you manipulate sounds, so that's why she spoke with an omnipresent voice. And since she's been spying on Alicia, she's a huge fan and knows Alicia wants to be a Villainess! No supernatural entity stuff nor game knowledge here.

And if all these stunning revelations weren't enough, at the end we find out that Will is the older brother of the current King! Now maybe we'll find out why the portrait of the previous king is missing in the castle. And for sure we'll find out why Will was sentenced to exile in Roana.