by Jeffbert » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:44 pm
The thing is from Ribon no Kishi or Princess Knight, as the English title calls it.
In short, Silverland was ruled exclusively by men. women had no claim to the throne, but the royal child was a girl. The King, Queen, & their servants hid this fact, and raised Sapphire as a boy.
However, the Duke wanted power, and suspected that S was a girl, so he ordered Nylon to expose this fact, etc. These 2 tried many times to do so, but failed until episode 22.
Just read the episode guide ('subtitle').