By the time I hit the end of volume 3 of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince, I had that familiar pit in my stomach. You know the one. The “oh no, here comes the dragged-out misunderstandings and five-volume love triangle hell” feeling that lurks in the back of every long-running shojo reader’s mind.
We had the perfect storm: a foreign princess, a fiancée left alone and stewing in half-glimpsed moments, and a prince who can’t quite express himself. I’ve seen this setup play out badly so many times, in both manga and otome games, that I almost braced myself to check out emotionally. I like drama; I don’t like watching two otherwise decent leads act like they’ve never heard of the concept of “using words.”
Volume 4 is where this series looked me dead in the eye and went, “Relax. We’re actually going to act like our characters have emotional intelligence.” And it’s kind of great.
If you’re caught up through volume 3, you know where things left off. Princess Marianne of Belluno visits the kingdom of Zavanni. On paper, it’s diplomacy. In practice, she basically monopolizes Prince William’s time while his fiancée, Liliana-our “small-animallike lady”-ends up wandering around, hurt and confused.
Disguised and sneaking around the city with her guards, Lily spots Marianne hanging off Will’s arm in public. Not subtle. It’s an old-school shojo gut punch: the heroine sees one incriminating snapshot without context, jumps to the worst conclusion, then pulls away. The end of volume 3 leans hard into that unease-Lily’s doubts, Will’s cluelessness, Marianne’s ambiguous intentions.
I went into volume 4 expecting at least one full book of pining, missed chances, and people refusing to be in the same room together. Instead, Hisui (the creator) takes all the usual pieces of that melodrama machine and uses them to talk about something way more interesting: how couples actually fix misunderstandings when they’re committed to each other.
The first choice that really sold me on this volume is the opening: we step into Princess Marianne’s point of view. Before anyone can dismiss her as the stock “fiancée-stealing rival,” the story lets us sit with her motivations.
And yes—she absolutely came to Zavanni intending to wedge herself between Will and Lily and become his new fiancée. The manga doesn’t sugarcoat that or play coy. But it also gives her a reason that goes beyond “I want the hot prince because I’m shallow.” Marianne’s maneuvering is tied directly to her home country’s crisis with salinity issues, and from her perspective, this engagement feels like the only card she can play to save Belluno.
This doesn’t excuse her behavior, but it does reframe it. Instead of a cartoonish interloper thrown into the plot just to stir chaos, Marianne reads like someone whose desperation is pushing her into ugly choices. That nuance becomes important later in the volume, when her relationship with Lily shifts from silent rivalry to something more complicated—and potentially positive.
The heart of volume 4 is surprisingly simple: Will and Liliana sit down and talk about what happened. No running away for three chapters. No contrived interruptions every time one of them tries to speak. Just two people who care about each other, deeply embarrassed and hurt, working through that discomfort anyway.
What I appreciated is how the manga acknowledges that even getting to that conversation is hard. Will spends a chunk of time brooding over Lily’s distant behavior, but instead of letting him spiral endlessly, both his guard and Princess Marianne herself tell him the obvious truth: if he wants to fix this, he has to actually talk to his fiancée.
When the two finally meet, the scene hits that sweet spot between awkward and honest. The apology isn’t some grand theatrical gesture; it’s halting and messy. Will explains, apologizes, and takes responsibility for how things looked. Lily admits how hurt she felt and where her assumptions ran away with her. There’s a brief, very in-character moment where she panics and thinks he’s apologizing because he’s about to break off their engagement—but the manga doesn’t milk that for long.
It feels grounded. You can almost hear that embarrassed, shaky tone you use in real life when you know you messed up with someone you love. And because they tackle the issue directly, the misunderstanding that could’ve stretched across multiple books basically resolves within a chapter.
In a genre where couples sometimes take ten volumes to confess the tiniest thing, that’s honestly refreshing.
The other smart thing volume 4 does: it doesn’t treat the apology as the endpoint. Once Lily and Will clear the air, they follow it up with action. They plan another date. It’s such a small detail, but it’s also the moment where you feel their relationship re-anchor itself. They’re not just relieved it’s over—they’re choosing each other again.
That date isn’t just a fluffy outing, either. It weaves into one of Lily’s bigger dreams: building a school for the city’s children. Their time together is spent scouting a location, talking about the future, and staying locked in on both the task and each other.
This is where the “ice prince adores small-animallike lady” premise really matures. You still get the warmth and sweetness promised by the title—Will’s fondness and Lily’s earnest, slightly skittish charm—but the manga keeps grounding their romance in shared projects and mutual respect. They’re not just blushing at each other across balconies; they’re planning infrastructure.
It’s still very much shojo, but it’s shojo that understands how satisfying it is to see a couple build something tangible together.
The other big relationship glow-up in volume 4 is between Lily and Marianne. Early on, even after the central misunderstanding with Will is resolved, Marianne hasn’t fully let go of her original plan. From her vantage point, marrying Will is still the most straightforward way to support Belluno through the salinity crisis.
If this were a more typical love triangle arc, Marianne would double down on scheming in the shadows. Instead, the manga waits for its moment—and then sits these two women down to actually talk during the opening of Lily’s completed school.
That conversation is another quiet highlight of the volume. With the immediate romantic crisis over, their dynamic has room to breathe. Marianne isn’t just “the rival,” and Lily isn’t just “the heroine who must defend her man.” They’re two royals carrying very different burdens, suddenly standing on more equal footing.
The manga uses that scene to drop new revelations about Marianne’s situation and reframe her earlier behavior. It doesn’t absolve everything, but it does let both characters move forward with more clarity—and even the hint of a budding positive relationship. I wouldn’t call them friends yet, but the door is open.
For a series that’s always leaned positive and light, seeing it extend that empathy to the “other woman” instead of throwing her under the bus is a nice touch.
Tonal consistency is one of this series’ secret weapons, and volume 4 doesn’t mess with that. Even while it’s untangling jealousies and political motives, The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince stays bright and upbeat. The trademark sweetness is intact: chibi reactions, gentle humor, and a general refusal to wallow in misery.
What changes is the temperature under the surface. Because the misunderstandings get cleared up quickly, the volume isn’t dominated by angst. Instead, it redirects that energy into things like Lily’s school project, glimpses of the citizens they’re trying to help, and the broader situation with Belluno’s crisis. The world feels a little wider, the stakes a little more communal, without sacrificing the core romance.
Artistically, that light tone still fits. The character designs lean cute and expressive, which helps sell Lily’s “small-animallike” vibe without turning her into a joke. Scenes with Marianne and Will are staged clearly enough that you always understand why Lily misread them, but later, those same framing choices help emphasize how far everyone has come.
Is this the most visually daring shojo on shelves? No. But the art does the job: clean, readable, emotionally direct. For a story so focused on communication, it feels appropriate that the faces and gestures carry a lot of the weight.
With Yen Press set to release volume 5 on July 28, 2026, volume 4 lands in an interesting spot. It’s not a big cliffhanger book. Instead, it feels like the arc where the series plants a flag about what kind of romance it wants to be.
By dodging the cheap route—a long, dragged-out love triangle built on constant non-communication—this volume clears the runway for more interesting conflicts in future installments. Will and Lily have now proven that, when something threatens their relationship, they’ll talk it out rather than sulk indefinitely. Marianne has been humanized enough that she can return later as an ally, a political partner, or a complicated friend instead of a stock antagonist.
For readers thinking of catching up before volume 5 hits, volumes 1-4 form a pretty satisfying emotional unit. You get the initial engagement setup, the shaky middle where doubt creeps in, and then this volume as the payoff where the characters choose to do things the healthy way. Wherever the story heads next, it’s heading there with a more stable romantic core.
If you bounce off shojo series that drag their love triangles across half a decade of releases, this volume is the one that might convince you this series is different. It’s not that there’s no drama; it’s that the drama isn’t the point. The point is how these characters handle it.
For all the things I liked here, volume 4 isn’t flawless.
Because the misunderstanding resolves so quickly and so cleanly, some readers might feel like the emotional fallout is a bit undercooked. Lily’s hurt and uncertainty ring true, but the speed at which things get tidied away can make the third volume’s tension feel almost inconsequential in hindsight. If you enjoy longer, more turbulent arcs, this might feel like hitting fast-forward on what could’ve been a meatier emotional journey.
Marianne’s salinity-crisis motivation, while appreciated, also gets relatively light page time. The manga clearly wants to keep things breezy, which is part of its charm, but that sometimes works against the heavier implications of “my country is in enough trouble that I’m trying to forcibly redirect an international engagement.” I found myself wishing we could spend just a bit more time on Belluno’s situation and how diplomacy might offer alternatives to romantic self-sacrifice.
Still, these are more like “I wanted more of the good stuff” complaints than dealbreakers. The core reading experience stays warm and satisfying throughout.
If you’re trying to decide whether to keep going—or jump in and marathon up to here—volume 4 is especially suited to:
If you’re hunting for high drama, breakups, and tear-stained confessions on every page, this probably won’t scratch that itch. But if you want something that leaves you feeling like you just watched two good people handle a rough patch well, this hits the spot.
Volume 4 of The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince takes one of shojo’s most overused tools—the love triangle born from a visiting princess—and uses it to highlight healthy communication instead of endless angst. Will and Lily come out of this book feeling stronger, not because fate said so, but because they chose to talk honestly and keep choosing each other.
Marianne steps out of the “other woman” box just enough to be intriguing going forward. The broader world gets a little more texture through the school project and Belluno’s crisis. And the series holds onto its signature sweetness throughout, without tipping into pure fluff.
It’s not a volume built on big twists or shocking reveals. Instead, it’s the kind of steady, reassuring chapter in a romance that makes you trust the journey. For me, that’s exactly what I wanted after the uneasy ending of volume 3.
Score: 8.5/10 – A charming, surprisingly mature turn that keeps the series’ heart intact while leveling up its relationships.
Get access to exclusive strategies, hidden tips, and pro-level insights that we don't share publicly.
Ultimate Reviews Strategy Guide + Weekly Pro Tips