Hakushaku to Yōsei (Earl and Fairy) Episode 2 – My Fairy

It’s been a while, but we are back with the coverage of the second episode of Hakushaku to Yousei! 🙂 Just like with the first episode, Sakura provided the commentary, and I took the screenshots.

Warning: this post contains pictures of half-naked bishies 😛

While I feel that this show really hits its stride in episode 3 that would be getting ahead of myself and we learn quite a bit in episode 2 so it would be a shame not to summarize it.

Following on from the last episode, Edgar wishes to discuss things before the other ship catches up with them. He produces a small coin and hands it to Lydia. The coin has the Earl’s seal upon it and some very tiny writing on the other side, which is supposedly fairy script.

I suppose this will do, but anything weird is extra, got it!

Lydia says that the weapons of a fairy doctor are their knowledge of fairies and their ability to communicate with them; she is not a magician, so he should use a magnifying glass to read it.

Ahh but see, the kinky stuff is covered here in the fine print.

As usual, Edgar is one-step ahead of her though and he hands Lydia a piece of paper upon which is an enlarged copy of the engraving. An exasperated Lydia wonders why he didn’t just hand that to her in the first place.

Dammit you would find a loop hole. Fine, no really kinky stuff, just the handcuffs.

She is surprised to see the writing is in English and so Edgar tells her that now she won’t be able to accuse him of not being able to read fairy script. Lydia counters by asking him if he really believes that a fairy engraved it and he replies by telling her that it is conceivable a human could produce such delicate work.

I really am starting to warm to these two as a couple and Lydia is proving to be no pushover where Edgar’s charms are concerned. She’s obviously affected by it, I mean what girl wouldn’t when such a hottie is flirting with you, but she’s managing to stay in control. For now… XD

Lydia takes his reply to mean that he really doesn’t believe in fairies and Edgar throws her earlier words about knowledge and ability back at her saying those are what he needs, not mysterious powers.

Excellent…

She gets right down to work and tries to figure out the message left on the coin since it references fairy lore. She determines that the first half of the message refers to a hiding place and so looks over a map. She says that there are many Irish fairies, but Edgar tells her holds no lands there.

Merrow means Merfolk in Irish and so she theorizes that perhaps what they are looking for might be near the sea. Finding a place called the Island of Mannon on the map, which lies between the English mainland and Ireland; They determine that it may be a good starting point, since islands usually have lots of legend about Merfolk and Edgar says that he has a villa there.

After handing Lydia a check for five hundred pounds for her services, they are interrupted by some of the ships crew who are looking for a criminal and want to search the room.

Poor Raven, Lydia found a loophole, no threesomes today!

The Lt Commander enquires about Lydia and Edgar tells them that her father sent her to him as a companion. Lydia is curious about the criminal they are after and asks the Lt Commander about him. He tells her that the man they are looking for apparently abducted a young woman her age…

Edgar asks the Lt Commander not to scare Lydia and asks if he is correct in saying that the man they are looking for is also the man who killed a hundred people in America.

He replies that people probably only think that because the murderer in America and the criminal they are after looked alike, the murderer in America was executed. One of the Lt Commander’s men, Lowen, notes that the larcenist had blonde hair and ash mauve eyes as he looks over at Edgar.

The Lt Commander orders him to be quiet and Edgar refers to himself, calmly sipping tea as he states that they must be common features, since one with those attributes is in the room with them.

Lydia regards Edgar carefully, noting that he does indeed fit the criminal’s description. The ship’s crewmembers take their leave and Edgar catches Lydia watching him, she squeaks when caught and he tells her that they will be disembarking early in the morning.

Outside the room, the crewmembers continue to discuss the situation. Lowen is apologizing to the Lt Commander, saying that he thought they would know for sure if they had the criminal once they found his most notable attribute. The Lt Commander is not amused however and asks Lowen if he planned to order the Lord to stick out his tongue. He states that it would have been pointless in any case, since the criminal with a cross tattooed on his tongue was the murderer executed in America. Lowen wonders if the executed man really was the murderer larcenist Sir John, since that man was known to be a charismatic noble and the corpse didn’t fit that description. Unbeknownst to the crewmembers Nico has heard the entire conversation, not that they’d think much of a cat listening in right. 😉

The next day whilst they are aboard the train Nico tells Lydia she must get a look at Edgar’s tongue to confirm if he is the criminal since it will give her piece of mind. This of course this leads to some rather cute shenanigans between the two, until Edgar crosses the line.

Admit it ladies, its hard not to want to pounce him right?

Lydia comes across Edgar seemingly asleep in one of the trains compartments. She edges closer, reaching out towards his mouth with a finger and of course, he awakens in full charm mode.

He looks like he’s about to do something naughty with her finger. Hey Lydia, wanna trade places?

Edgar tells Lydia that he considered pretending to be asleep if she would take his lips. Standing up he apologizes saying that he shouldn’t embarrass a lady as he grasps her by the shoulders saying it would be his pleasure to respond to her feelings.

The flustered Lydia tries to tell him he is mistaken and mentions his tongue, which is of course the complete wrong thing to say to a charming rogue such as Edgar, who acts as if he thinks she wanted a French kiss. I have no doubt that Edgar knows exactly what Lydia was trying to do since he always seems to be one step ahead all the time.

Such a sneaky devil, ahh why do we love rogues so much?

She starts resisting, telling Edgar he’s gotten the wrong idea, at which point Raven walks in carrying a tray of hot water and cups. Lydia asks him for help, but Edgar says that Raven wouldn’t intervene even if he were to snap her thin little neck.

Slapping Edgar, she goes to throw hot water over him, but the stoic Raven intervenes and is doused instead. Lydia is horrified and apologizes but Raven tells her that he is fine. He bows to Edgar saying he will refill the pot and Edgar tells him to treat himself first.

Lydia follows after him to apologize again and Raven tells her that his injury isn’t serious. He says that he should have intervened but he never imagined a lady would react the way she did. Lydia replies that he has to know not all women enjoy being taken advantage of by Edgar.

Raven replies that he has learnt something new and Lydia asks him how old he is. He tells her that he’s eighteen, which makes him a year older than Lydia. Raven says it’s because of his baby faced features and Lydia notices what large eyes he has, she is sure he’d leave a deep impression if he would smile.

As Raven goes to leave Lydia asks him if he would really stand by and let Edgar kill someone. Raven shocks Lydia as he replies that rather than stopping Edgar, shouldn’t he be the one doing the killing instead. An angry Lydia asks if he would go that far for his master and Raven tells her that if he were to sin it would only be for his Lord Edgar’s sake.

Since they are face-to-face Lydia stares at Raven’s eyes thinking to herself that she thought they would be as dark as his hair, but he has green eyes like her own. She points this out to him, telling him that ever since she was born, people looked upon her as a freak because of her eyes, since green eyes are associated with fairies. Of course, she concedes that her situation probably became exacerbated by the fact she can actually see fairies.

Raven tells her that he has fae blood and has been living his life as the incarnation of an evil spirit, but despite that, Edgar accepted him and became his master. He says the fairies in this country are bright and he can’t see them very well, but tells Lydia that she can’t see his sprites either.

Lydia thinks that she saw a glimmer of a smile coming from Raven, but it was filled with sadness and feels that even though they are connected by the same fae powers they are different.

After reaching their destination Lydia and Edgar are approached by a stranger as they wait on the platform. Edgar refuses the man’s offer of a carriage but he persists, Lydia moves to thank him and the guy grabs her, putting a knife to her neck. Not only does Lydia not heed the advice of Nico half the time, but now Edgar as well, she’s quite the headstrong young lady.

Huskley arrives with a bunch of men and it seems that the guy holding Lydia is working for him. He tells out at Edgar not to move, referring to him as sir, he says that he is tired of Edgar pretending to be nobility.

Edgar replies that he isn’t pretending and is a ‘Lord’ not a ‘Sir’. This angers Huskley who tells him not to test him and seems to blame Edgar for something involving his father. So remember in the first episode, where it looked like Edgar shot the guy from the opening? Well turns out our Edgar isn’t so evil after all, well, maybe. The man Edgar was trying to extract information from was Huskley’s father. Huskley burst into the room where his father was being held, firing his gun off like an idiot and hurting his father in the process. Huskley tells Edgar to shut up, saying he’ll call for the constable and have him hanged.

Edgar appears nonplussed by the threat however, saying that would mean the crimes of Huskley’s father would also become known. He asks Huskley if they should go to the gallows together and Raven finally arrives on the scene.

Ooooh Raven has the evil eye, neat!

He tells them a carriage is waiting around the corner and Edgar grabs Lydia asking Raven to take care of Huskley and his men as he runs off to the carriage. And take care of them he does, Raven cuts through Huskley’s men with ease.

Its almost like a shoujo breeze shot XD

Unfortunately, Huskley is not there to get a sound beating since he is in close pursuit of Lydia and Edgar. Lydia falls and Huskley traps her with his sword. He reminds Edgar that he said he would be talking Lydia and calls him ‘John’ telling Edgar that dying in a cesspool of waste would be fitting for him.

Calling him Gotham, Edgar dashes over to help Lydia and is hurt it the process, he also manages to wound Huskley however and he makes his escape with Lydia.

Awwwww Huskley got a boo boo. Whatever bleed Huskley BLEED!

A mysterious blond man with a huge, black, spectral hound stands in the shadows of an alleyway and witnesses the whole thing. As Edgar races off, the man remarks that Edgar is an unsuitable successor since he sacrificed himself to save a girl. Is he perhaps the original Blue Knight Earl or a successor of his? The true Lord perhaps?

Lydia and Edgar have escaped to some house ruins and Nico reappears to her whilst she is outside getting some water. Lydia agrees with him that it appears Edgar is indeed the larcenist everyone is looking for. She points out to Nico though that Edgar did rescue and protect her, but Nico says this is only because he needs her to find the Blue Knight Earl’s noble sword. But Lydia is able to counter once again, saying that everything would have been meaningless if he had died protecting her.

Aww he’s hurt, now I won’t be able to get me some of that!

But Nico points out that if Edgar had wanted to buy Lydia’s sympathy it would have cost more than five hundred pounds. Sadly, Lydia agrees with Nico and accepts sleeping pills from him to put in Edgar’s drink.

Give him some of these, and trust me you’ll be happy! 😉

Stepping back inside Lydia chastises Edgar for moving around saying it will make his wound worse. He tells her that he was only lighting the fire and tells her he can’t believe she is there before his eyes.

Lydia asks him why considering threats and deception are his specialty. She asks if he is Edgar or Sir John and finally we learn a little bit about the mysterious Edgar.

He tells Lydia that Edgar was his first name; he says it died when he was twelve, along with his parents. He says that his father who was suspected of treason killed himself and his family. Edgar says that he denounced his lineage and so now is naught but a ghost, he says she can call him anything she likes.

Lydia says that he is alive and Edgar says that he is, but life was a living hell. He was sold to a man who wanted white slaves, and he turns to show Lydia his back. He tells her he’s been in the deepest cesspools of life, doing whatever it took to survive and the mark of a slave followed him wherever he went.

Edgar is indeed the man with a cross mark on his tongue, but he tells Lydia it is not a tattoo but a brand, marking him as livestock of the man who failed to kill him. Poor Edgar, how horrible to have your tongue branded like that, what cruelty he must have suffered. 😦

Lydia asks him who Gotham is and Edgar replies that he is a man studying psychiatry, who wanted the brains of criminals for his experiments. So of course, Edgar fit the criteria he was looking for.

Edgar had managed to put money away before his execution and Gotham was able to make a body switch. Edgar chuckles and tells Lydia she is funny when she asks if his brain was taken. Edgar tells her that many innocent people were killed for Gotham’s experiments. Lydia asks if people with so little conscience really exist and Edgar tells her that, “Men are creatures who would commit any kind of atrocity.”

Kyaaaaaah half naked ashy mauve eyed bishe. NOSEBLEED!

Lydia tells Edgar that if he isn’t the real Earl then obtaining the sword will be impossible for him. But he tells her that in spite of that he must have it. She asks if he should be concentrating on getting back his real name instead, but Edgar says there is no point in getting back a name with the stigma of treachery attached to it.

He tells her that even if he is a fake, he needs a name with an overbearing presence. He tells her he will turn a fake into the real thing. He hands her his sword, saying that she wouldn’t be able to sleep with an armed larcenist around.

Lydia prepares some hot water with mint for Edgar but also slips in the sleeping pills. Nothing gets by Edgar as usual though and he asks her what she put in the drink. He tells her that she attacks him at his own peril.

Lydia tells him she won’t submit even if he threatens her. He calls her my lady and tells her there are numerous ways to make someone submit, that she can’t imagine a despair so deep, that you can’t even excuse the fact you are breathing.

Lydia asks him if he has suffered through such despair. Confirming that he has, Edgar tells her the Blue Knight Earl’s noble sword is his only hope. He asks if she will abandon him and asks her not to, saying she is his only hope.

He tells her that if she insists on leaving him, he will die. He says that if his final hope were to disappear that would mean his life would be full of suffering. He gulps the drink down, saying, “if this is poison then your heart will feel no pain if I say I will take my own life.”

Finally, Lydia is able to tell him it is sleep medicine not poison and so Edgar says his fate will be decided when he awakens. He tells her that if she has run away his life will end where he is right now and says “sweet dreams my fairy” before falling asleep.

While he is asleep we get a brief flash of younger Edgar, with a pile of bodies before him, he looks down in horror to his bloody hands.

Man she slipped me some weird roofies.

A woman falls into darkness calling him Lord Edgar and he begins to waken saying the name Ermine.

Morning comes and Edgar wakes up Lydia, laying on the charm saying he is so happy to see her since he was sure she hated him.

You were fantastic last night.

She tells him she does, she hates liars and that is why she hates him. He says she didn’t abandon him though and Lydia says that is simply because she is his fairy doctor and he hired her.

He asks her if it is safe to think she worried for his safety. She tells him that the Merrow guarding the sword isn’t an evil fairy, but he possesses dangerous powers.

Thank god I went out and got hammered last night.

She asks Edgar if he is even listening to her and he is happy that she has chosen to call him by that name. She says that he never intended on killing himself and he tells her that he is alive because of her, she asks that he let go of her hand.

May I just say best Ending animation EVER!

You’ll need a transfusion by the end of this!

See they really did have fun last night. Wonder if Nico has any more of those pills…

I do so love the banter between these two!

It ends with Huskley turning up on the doorstep of Lydia’s father with a policeman in tow, informing him that his daughter has been kidnapped!

So the mysterious Edgar is just a little bit less of a mystery now, or is he. Can we believe anything he actually says? Did he spin that story just to get Lydia on his good side or was he telling the truth?

I’m gonna side with Lydia and trust in Edgar, Huskley (Gotham) looks shifty to me, its that evil smirk and he raises his hat at the end of the episode. Beware the evil smirk!

Other Episodes of Hakushaku to Yousei