Despite the fact that I’m not usually a fan of the characters in the CUTE category, I decided to jump in and do Aldebaran, or Al, next. He really does fit the CUTE moniker! He’s not cute in the tiny-adorable sense, but just in his personality. I think that made him more enjoyable to read as well, and he’s kind of dorky in a good way. I’m also really jealous of his ability to keep fields of plants alive…I tend to kill everything green that I touch…There weren’t any major issues with his translation, but I do want to make a note on how I translated his butler’s lines, and this is something I’ve done in other stories where castle staff is present. I have translated one line in Ch. 2 to this:
Butler: “Surely you jest my lord. Her Highness is in no state for holding a party.”
The ‘my lord’ part is not something that is present in the Japanese. Instead, the butler uses a very formal way of speaking to Aldebaran, obviously because of his social status. Yet when doing a more direct translation, I felt that the difference in tone wasn’t quite distinct enough. So I’ve added things like ‘my lord’ to further emphasize the butler and the prince’s difference in status. This is even more apparent with Aldebaran because he speaks SO CASUALLY. I assume it’s because he’s supposed to come across as a good ol’ farm boy, but he’s still a prince and is due the respect that comes with that station. So I take a little creative liberties when translating the lines from castle staff, just to make sure their difference in language comes across clearly!