The Trope of the Oops, No, I'm Waiting for Someone Else

This manga is a decent

version of the trope--still,

someone does feel rejected!  

The most common "royals" who appear in disguise in manga are animal gods or spirits who are temporarily behaving like mortals. 

Within that genre, there is a romance sub-genre in which an animal god or spirit met someone years earlier but ends up in a relationship with that someone's grandchild.

I have mixed feelings about this plot. I feel the same way as one of my brothers who remarked about Frozen: "What if Hans kissed Anna and was disappointed because he DID believe their relationship was one of true love?"

How are we the readers--and for that matter the characters--supposed to know that the fox spirit isn't still pining for the someone from years before? 

Usually, the solution is to suggest that the fox spirit was drawn to the family's genetics. The fox spirit was waiting for the descendant to come along.  

It still presupposes that the ancestor didn't get disappointed or feel rejected. That is, it presupposes fate. 

And I have mixed feelings about fate. In some ways, I think the solution is a decent one. Eros and Psyche. Belle and the Beast. It isn't about "mate selection." It's about people finding each other. 

On the other, these stories often want the characters to be SURPRISED, as in it's fate but nobody knows it is fate. In which case, what's the point of fate? 

I far prefer The (Weird) Director Who Buys Me Dinner, in which the one character knows the relationship is fate. He not only has to wait for the other character to catch up. He is ANNOYED that he has to wait for the other character to catch up. 

Now that is amusing.