NikeLivi

NikeLivi is the het ship between Nike Lemercier and Livius Orvinus Ifrikia from the Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii fandom.

Canon
Nike and Livius are the king and queen of the Sun Kingdom. They were betrothed in a political arranged marriage but overtime they fell in love.

Nike is the 16-year-old youngest of four princesses of the Rain Dukedom whereas Livius is the 12-year-old illegitimate son of the previous Sun King and ascended to the throne at age 8 after the death of his father and the assassination of his mother. After becoming king, Livius learned about the Rain Dukedom and its royal family's ability to summon the rain, he decided to make an ally of them: he sent them an official dispensation that would allow the Rain Dukedom to remain autonomous in exchange for the hand of one of the princesses in marriage. He and his butler Neil specified that they should send the most beautiful daughter. Nike played Rock Paper Scissors with her sisters to settle the matter, and Nike lost. Before going to the Sun Kingdom, Nike was told by her sisters how the king was an old man with a bald head, horns, hair all over his body and terrible breath. Nike also heard tales of the king’s reputation as a brutal person but she decided to make the best of the situation.

Upon meeting each other for the first time, Nike was shocked that Livius was just a child whereas he was disappointed in her appearance. They got off to a rough start; Nike was thrown in the dungeon for berating Livius and refused to tolerate Livius’ harshness and possessive orders whereas Livius mocked her for her brazenness and tried to win her over with extravagant gifts but all she preferred was a beautiful flower from the Garden. Livius initially dismissed this but relented to show her the Garden. Nike quickly learned Livius is overly paranoid about his safety due to the threats of assassination from opponents. She feels a desire to show him the true beauty of the world. She saves him from an assassination attempt but his brutal punishment of the suspects causes her to worry he will be targeted more, so she uses her singing to make it rain, which makes Livius understand what Nike means about the world being beautiful. He then kisses Nike and remarks she will make his life interesting.

As they prepared for their engagement party, they spent time to get to know each other. Both fought with the Ministry of the Priesthood to allow the marriage to be approved and Nike is so determined to marry Livius that she agrees to do the Rite of Illumination, despite that many foreign princesses had been killed during it in the past. She defends Livius when one of her assassins insults him and she is nearly assassinated before Livius protects her and reveals he snuck in because he was worried about her. He saves her again from being killed and tries to kill the assassin but Nike stops him. Livius then breaks down that he can’t bear to lose her and embraces her. In response she kisses his forehead and vows to never leave him until they build a bright future together. At the engagement party, the priests acknowledge that Nike has made Livius a better king than before and agree to let the marriage proceed. Nike is jealous when Luna tries to steal Livius away and tries to learn more about being a proper royal but Livius smoothes things over with her that none of that matters because he chose her. Nike later competes in a game of horse racing with Luna to settle the matter. At the end, Luna forfeits the game after seeing Nike loves Livius for who he is. From then on, Nike calls Livius by his nickname, Livi, and he is so taken back that he suddenly kisses her.

Livius’ uncle, Bard, feigns an interest in Nike to test her feelings for Livius, who misinterprets Nike being unfaithful and confines her to her room but they reconcile after the situation is resolved. Nike’s grandmother attempted to break off the engagement because she disapproved of Nike marrying Livius without her consent and it would be dangerous should any children of Nike and Livius’ inherit her power. During this time, Nike and Livius start to fall in love and share their first genuine kiss, which embarrasses them afterwards. While Nike was locked up for refusing to back out of the engagement, Livius nearly drowned to get the key to the tower and prove he is good enough to marry Nike. Nike attempts break free from the cell by throwing her body against it, causing harm to herself and declaring that she loves Livius. Both say that a life and future without each other would be pointless and would be like death itself. After convincing her cousin Kitora, Nike managed to break out and resuscitated Livius. Their engagement is approved by her family and they have another engagement ceremony with her family, during which Livius kisses Nike and swears to love and protect her, before returning to the Sun Kingdom.

Nike and Livius resume reigning as king and queen, and become closer. When Nike visits the Sand Empire due to its lack of rainfall to help, Prince Taishi becomes enamored with her and plots to keep her from returning to Livius. Nike is unsure how to reject him due to her desire to help his country but knows Livius could easily destroy Taishi’s country if she tells him about Taishi’s plot. Taishi goes as far as to lie to Livius that Nike was killed in a disaster and Livius is distraught until he deduces the lie. At the end, Livius goes to the country to fetch her and is prepared to deliver retaliation. Nike begs him to spare Taishi punishment for his plot and Livius agrees to show mercy. However, Livius is so jealous that Nike didn’t right away reject Taishi that he ignores her for a while until she confronts him and tells him that she never stopped thinking about him, and they reconcile.

At Livius’ 13th birthday party, Ursula attempts to assassinate Livius, causing him to have flashbacks of how he killed her family and destroyed her country when the two countries were at war when he became king. Because of his guilt and paranoia of Nike abandoning him, Livius has a mental breakdown, becomes physically and emotionally hostile towards Nike, and threatens to kill anyone she cherishes if she leaves him. Nike is disturbed and hints she may leave him since she can’t follow his path of revenge but she reassures him of her choice to be with him forever and that she truly loves him. When Nike is poisoned after saving Livius from Ursula trying to assassinate Livius and is left in a coma, Livius is left distraught and finally comes to terms with his sins. He hears tales of a witch named Cassandra who is an expert in pharmacy from the Forest of Wonders. After forming an alliance with her, he takes her to his kingdom and she uses her expertise to save Nike’s life. During the treatment, Livius is willing to die with her, as he would have no purpose to live if she didn’t survive, but decides to make sure she survives so they can continue living side by side, and prays for her to wake up. When Nike wakes up, Livius is overcome with relief and cries as he embraces her. Throughout her treatment, Livius never left her side. As it is custom for a king to take a concubine, Livius is expected to. As having Cassandra (a witch) within the kingdom (which is considered sacred to the Sun God) would force Livius to abdicate and his engagement to Nike would be annulled, Livius feigns having Cassandra as a concubine to have her nurse Nike back to health. Nike initially understands his reason for it but later finds herself jealous, so he ‘repudiates’ Cassandra and declares he will be faithful to Nike as she is the only woman he loves, and vows to abdicate the throne if he breaks his promise.

While in route for a vacation, they visit his mother’s homeland and Livius properly proposes to Nike and suggests they officially get married in the spring. This embarrasses Nike but she accepts. When they visit the village of hot springs. Livius wants to have Nike dress up in a revealing bathing suit and take a bath in the hot spring with him, though Nike disappoints him by wearing a moderate bathing suit. Nike asks if he can wait on them consummating their marriage until she feels ready and he agrees. Later, Nike is kidnapped by Nephero in Grand Sky Duchy who tries to force her to be his bride to the point of nearly raping her but she fights back and says she is Livius’ fiancee but the assault traumatizes her and she longs for Livius to comfort her. She is manipulated into destroying the kingdom but Livius rescues her. Upon learning his older half-brother Al is targeting Nike, Livius and Nike search for Al to settle with him. During the search, Livius reveals his past of his birth, meeting Al who murdered their younger half-brother and blamed Livius’s mother which lead to her murder and Livius ordering the execution of his older half-brother and stepmother in revenge. Although saddened, Nike comforts him. Upon reaching Al at the Ice Kingdom, the catastrophe code has been activated and the world is on the verge of being destroyed unless the most powerful summoner of the Rain Dukedom becomes the world’s protector. Livius manages to stall the disaster for a while but Nike decides to become the new protector, as she can’t bear to let the world and Livius disappear. When she tells him this, Livius refuses to let her go, saying how he would rather let the world disappear than be apart from her and he can’t live without her. She apologizes to Livius for not being able to be his wife, pleads with him to continue living, and professes her love to him before bidding Livius an emotional farewell and disappears. Livius becomes depressed following Nike’s disappearance and makes it his mission to bring her back. However since the chances are nearly zero if he and his friends do it alone, Livius makes an alliance with the other nations so he can gain support to locate all the momentum stones that were used to contain evil aura, have Sidon purge the evil aura from the stones (thereby from the world) and become the new protector so that Nike will be freed as the protector and may be able to return.

6 years pass, during which Livius has built a beautiful garden for Nike. A month after finding all the stones and Sidon’s disappearance, Nike suddenly appears in front of Livius, and the two share a joyful reunion, with Livius jokingly remarking he is finally older than her. Nike responds that she came back to officially become his wife and they embrace.

Fanon
It is a well-liked pairing in the Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii fandom. Fans point out how Nike made Livius a better person and unconditionally stayed by his side. It has been noted by many characters throughout the manga that Nike’s presence has had a calm and positive influence over Livius, as before he met her he was a brutal king and didn’t hesitate to use violence and revenge to get his way but upon meeting her, he became more generous and civil. Many characters considered their relationship to be socially unbalanced as Livius is the de facto king of the world whereas Nike is the princess of a small autonomous country but Nike proved to be a model queen and worked to maintain balance between royal duties and casual matters alongside Livius. She became widely loved and respected as queen who managed to use her kindness to persuade Livius to spare his enemies and help him let go of the turmoil from his past in order to find happiness.

There is criticism for their age gap (Nike is 4 years older than Livius), as well as Livius’ initial possessiveness towards her, even referring to her as his property, and Nike being a damsel in distress a few times is deemed unsuitable for a queen of the de facto king of the world.

Fandom
TUMBLR

Trivia

 * Livius tends to sleep naked in bed with Nike, which embarrasses her.
 * Nike helped Livius learn trivial tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, whereas Livius helped Nike learn how to slow dance.
 * Nike is the only person whom Livius feels comfortable to relax and act like a kid around, including resting his head in her lap.
 * Livius used to take medicine to help him sleep and protect him from poison in fear of being assassinated but stopped this after meeting Nike and sleeping in the same bed as her.
 * Livius leaves flowers from the garden in Nike’s room while she sleeps.
 * Nike gave Livius a flower crown as a birthday present, which he had framed and put in his bedroom. However he destroyed it in a moment of despair after the confrontation with Ursula.
 * During a trip to the Ice Kingdom, Livius asked Nike how many children she wanted. She embarrassingly replied that she wanted a large family, which satisfied Livius.
 * As a token of his love, Livius gave his mother’s ring to Nike, which she wears as a pendant; his mother had told him to give it only to someone he loved.
 * Similarly Livius wears a Black Loctus stone around his neck, as it helps keep Nike’s power under control and he wanted to wear it as a way to be closer to her.
 * Livius tends to act perverted towards Nike despite his young age; he asks that she wear only a ribbon and be his present for his birthday, he wanted to take a mix bath with Nike in the hot springs, and complained that his relationship with her hadn’t become physical yet.
 * Nike is more popular than Livius with the people, which doesn’t bother him.
 * With Nike’s influence, Livius starts helping with his kingdom’s people and interacting with them more.
 * Nike used to dislike fancy dresses and ceremonies but as Livius likes seeing her dressed up and a queen is expected to attend ceremonies, she began to like dressing up although ceremonies still exhaust her.
 * Contrary to the previous Sun Kings, Livius is faithful to Nike and doesn’t take concubines.
 * Nike and Livius often read together, usually Livius reading mythological books to her, before going to sleep.

Quotes
"You own the world, but you’ve never looked at any of it. What a waste."

- Nike to Livius about how takes the world for granted

"I don’t need some ring or some throne! If it means that I won’t lose you… I would throw everything away!"

- Livius after saving Nike from being assassinated

"Any harm that comes to me because of you is harm that I need. I want to share your pain. So I want you to let me fight. With you."

- Nike to Livius after seeing his weaknesses

"Losing my future life with Nike would be the same as dying."

- Livius about living without Nike

"I’m not afraid of the times I can’t see him. When I feel pain in my chest, my song grows… The scenery feels closer. The next time I see you… I will, once again, fall in love."

- Nike about not seeing Livius for a while