Woman who looks like Leonhart’s human form? Check.
Leonhart in agony transforming on the cover? Check.
Author’s note saying the end of the series is in sight? Check.
So…we’re gonna get some answers!!
*deep narrator voice from somewhere*
There were, in fact, no answers.
Okay, technically, that’s not true. Thanks to the “witch” Sariphi encounters at the end of volume 12, it’s confirmed a human woman gave birth to a child of a beast. But I’m pretty sure that’s been known since like the beginning of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts? I mean, if Leonhart the lion-like creature turns into a human on occasion, he either has human blood or has been cursed. And it’d be pretty silly for some witch or whatever to go through the trouble of casting a curse that only happens once a month.
Instead, volume 13 is mainly about two things: Sariphi getting to know the witch (including trying to pry the witch’s name out of her), and the eerie feeling at Leonhart’s castle that something’s about to happen. Anubis would normally be at the forefront of preventing any disaster coming upon His Majesty, but the retainer finds himself shaken by Judge Set’s words that the king has a secret. While Anubis rationalizes there’s no way Leonhart would be hiding something, he ends up going along with Set’s plan.
Which, of course, causes the “something’s about to happen” premonition to actually happen. Great job, Set!
But unfortunately, volume 13 spends a little too much time on Anubis being emotionally shaken and even moreso on Sariphi once again spreading cheer to a random person. The witch ends up giving Sariphi a journal that will likely be important, and then there’s the whole Set/Anubis’ plan aftermath to deal with, so the next volume will likely be gripping.
Here, not so much. This late in the game, I’d rather not see Sariphi spending time trying to repair the relationship between two people she only recently met. It just goes on too long for my tastes, with over three chapters before moving back to Sariphi’s main mission. The reason why the witch dislikes people away is also rather silly. Not so much because of her but because of the person she believed to have pushed her away since they had a lot of time to try to discuss the situation. But Sariphi helps out in a way that someone else couldn’t in do in 10 years.
Which is why Leonhart wants her to be queen, and her friends are excited she might be finally getting that opportunity. For now, though, all attention is on Leonhart, but I’m not sure Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts volume 13 deserves a lot of reader attention.