The Genius Prince’s Guide: Princess Lowa Returns With an Unexpected Twist

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 8 of The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt, "I'll Give It a Shot," now streaming on Funimation.

Princess Lowellmina of Earthworld was introduced in Episode 3 of The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt as a childhood friend of both Prince Wein and his best friend Ninym Ralei. Originally called "Lowa" by Wein and their group of friends, the imperial princess of Earthworld is every bit as intelligent and diabolical as Wein -- a detail that never goes unnoticed by Ninym. In her original introduction, Lowa caught Wein and Ninym completely off-guard when she arrived in Natra unexpectedly with a marriage proposal for Wein. The detail that knocked the genius prince off his feet, however, was the revelation he was friends with the imperial princess of Earthworld this whole time.

Knowing Lowa's personality and past exploits, Wein was naturally skeptical of her intentions to the point of assessing every possible way she would attempt to rope him into her latest scheme. He even attempted to avert Lowa's political marriage proposal by inviting one of Lowa's suitors, Gerard Antagal, to Natra with disastrous results. Not only did Lowa prove too smart to fall for Wein's trickery, but his own plan backfired when Gerard drunkenly ran to his own death on Natra palace grounds. Wein was then forced to work with Lowa to avoid another costly war with Antagal since Natra hadn't recovered from the war with Marden.

Despite the original intent of Lowa's marriage proposal being about gaining an upper hand on her older brothers for the imperial throne and averting a rebellion at the same time, that wasn't all there was to it. As Ninym revealed in Episode 5, Lowa's marriage proposal also came with a romantic interest. As it turned out, Lowa is herself in love with Wein, most likely due to him being her intellectual equal. Lowa recognized at the time that Wein and Ninym are in love with each other, but she also decided not to give Wein up. She returned to Earthworld with the goal of becoming empress and becoming worthy of him.

Episode 8 of The Genius Prince's Guide follows up on Lowa's storyline from where it left off in Episode 5. Residing in the imperial city of Mealtars, the summit for crowning the next emperor draws near and Lowa once again attempts to progress her own succession to the throne by inviting Wein over as backup. When a carriage from Natra arrives, Lowa excitedly goes to meet with Wein in person since she anticipates a sour look on his face upon entering her palace doors. When she goes to greet him, however, the joke is on her: Princess Falanya Elk Arbalest -- Wein's little sister -- arrived with Ninym and Nanaki in the prince's stead. This catches Lowa off guard, but at the same time, decides to leverage the situation in her favor.

Later that night, at a party, Lowa introduces Falanya to her three older brothers, including the oldest, Demetrio. The younger two brothers are delighted to talk to her, but Demetrio sees her attendance in place of Wein at his coronation as an insult and intends to make Wein pay for it. This establishes that he is the more narcissistic brother and the most vindictive. Falanya gets herself out of the corner she is backed into by claiming she already promised to accompany Lowa earlier; the latter plays along to excuse herself from her brothers' presence as well. Once Lowa, Falanya, and Ninym are out of sight, Lowa decides to excuse herself, but glares at Ninym before she departs. This doesn't go unnoticed by Ninym.

Deciding that Lowa has something to say, Ninym follows Lowa outside where the latter attempts to tease her about her loyalties, but Ninym proves to be too much of an ice queen to be easily shaken. Lowa then tries to strike a deal with Ninym in exchange for letting her join the summit to name the next emperor: ask Falanya to put in a good word for her. Ninym refuses by telling Lowa Wein had already anticipated this move and was asked to reject Lowa's offer outright. Ninym then fires back at Lowa by reminding her she's also vying for the throne and that she'll never have Wein's heart, no matter how much she tries. This cuts Lowa to her core.

Much later in the evening, Demetrio invites himself over to Falanya's room to propose marriage to her. Both Lowa and Ninym know his intentions aren't good and immediately put aside their differences to accompany her so that she's not alone with him. While Demetrio doesn't vocalize his intent to abuse Falanya as payback for Wein humiliating him, all three women know he intends to cause her harm. Luckily for the women, Wein shows up in time to put Demetrio in his place. Nevertheless, the fact Lowa felt the need to protect Wein's sister from her own brother is a strong indicator of her own relationship with him, which hints at past history of abuse.

About The Author