In volume 7 of demons being stepped on for Syalis’ sleep escapades, a crisis emerges:
Syalis is feeling homesick. That’s right demons! She wants to go home because she…wants her favorite woolen underwear to sleep better. Would you actually believe they agree to do this? (The answer to this is yes.) So the captors (Demon King and Cleric) take the Princess they captured back home. Not surprisingly, it goes poorly. Syalis gets distracted, the Demon Cleric adds to the distraction, and then she falls asleep in her own bed. Then her mother, the Queen Aurora Nemlis Goodereste, shows up in her room and sees “Syalis” in her own bed.
…”Syalis” in quotes because, due to a secret deal with the Demon Cleric and to avoid all of them getting caught, the succubus Bussy, who the real Syalis believes can make a suitable body double, is now the one in the bed.
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle volume 7 begins with Princess Syalis dying multiple times and turning into a mandrake. Then we get an arc where so many conventional tropes — the hero must save the princess, the knights must be heroic and strong, the mother must be overjoyed to see her daughter return once again — get flipped way upside down because of intentional incompetence. Again, allowing the person you kidnapped back to their abode likely is a bannable offense in whatever rule book exists about it. But for none of the knights to be aware of Syalis’ return and be fooled by a fake is hilarious.
The good news is we do learn a lot more about Syalis in this arc. Nemlis appears to be just as airheaded as Syalis is, and the fact she almost made Bussy give a speech in front of thousands speaks to that. But there’s an exchange that happens that makes me she think she only wants her daughter to be happy. Now whether that’s hanging out with demons is in question, but overall, I’d love to read a chapter involving just the Queen one day. We also learn all about Syalis when she was a child, which only agitates her as her secrets are revealed one after another!
Princess’ homecoming notwithstanding, a bunch of other chapters continue to explain the myriad ways to sleep. For example, by watching a bad movie! Syalis uses her experience of watching Sharknado somehow and common movie tropes to help sabotage the demons from making a good movie. How about discovering a sunken kotatsu? Let’s just say this might have just revealed more about the Demon Cleric and the amount of saving he truly needs rather than Syalis finding a new place to sleep.
But on her way to finding sleep, she manages to continue getting these demons on her side. She gets one demon to help tie a cherry stem with her tongue; she continues training Bussy to be her body-double while simultaneously making the harpy jealous; and she even befriends Poseidon due to one shared dislike of needles. The thing is, all that good will can be thrown away on Valentine’s Day…when you repeatedly call your chocolate obligatory.
Sometimes, Syalis just needs to be more aware of things and not get advice from a grimoire created to destroy demons.
Anyways, this volume of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle once again features Syalis in her states of bliss, fury (and even moreso this time!), and peaceful sleep. Looking forward to the next volume of this manga about sleeping!