...a true love of mine...

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The most modest dress among Sakamaki women. While Beatrix are greed for gold and jewels, Cordelia wears wild flowers. Triplets near their mom are happy (but Shu and Reiji standing near Beatrix are not).

Cordelia is incredibly beautiful character.

I always said that she must wear modest dresses covered all her body in the past.

And this contrast of her desings shows that her story is not that simple.

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DL Shu Ending 01: Shu brings what left after Beatrix's death. Yui described it as すごい宝石 = 'sugoi jewels'. It was enough for them to live without any troubles during a century.

SS 'the Night before the Wedding': Shu talks about the ring left after Beatrix's death. It was old-fashioned, poorly cared and once sent to Beatrix by Karlheinz. The mystery of this ring's history is revealed into the SS's title.

Mr.Butterfly Mask (Sadistic Song vol.5): the name of Beatrix was used in the context of 怪しく輝く金色の柩 = 'a suspiciously shining golden coffin'.

Karlheinz's gifts to Beatrix's children were very status ones — a violin (very likely by Stradivarius) and an apocalypse watch as a Demon World fetish.

MB Shu Dark Prologue: Shu's birth as the eldest son brought 地位と名誉 = 'status and prestige'.

DF Shu Vampire End: Shu mentioned that he should marry Yui for the sake of 箔が付く = 'gain prestige', his words reminds his mother's story.

MB Reiji Dark Prologue: Beatrix admired the magnificence of Karlheinz's status and asked Reiji if he was proud being born of such a person like the Vampire King.

Beatrix's children were dressed very formally — Shu's as if emphasizing his status as 'heir'.

YB vol.1: a lavish coming-of-age ceremony was prepared for Beatrix's children.

Reiji, who officially inherited Beatrix's personality, is very fond of overtly expensive luxurious staff (fabrics, porcelain etc).

Many gold details on her clothes.

A pendant with a 'jewel' (shows that there's nothing but gold in her soul) = 宝石 • ネックレス.

Her hair described as 金パツ = 'golden'.

Her shoes are of 中世の貴族ぽい = 'medieval nobility'.

It's not the 'scent'. It's a rude mistake.

この味 = 'This taste'.

This detail is important. These words prove that Laito and Cordelia had a blood-drinking relationship.

I have an oldtime theory that Cordelia used to wear more modest dresses. And in her youth she even tried to dress as modestly as possible to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to herself (caused by her blood anyway).

This theory appeared of her story about how she met Karlheinz in MB. ''And he gave his hand… to me'. Cordelia was surprised that Karlheinz chose her of all the women. After all Cordelia had a beauty and she was daughter of the Demon King. So I decided that Cordelia could only say that if she looked worse than the other women at that ball. In DF she taught Yui to dress herself more alluring like Cordelia pittied her own past as she could miss her own chance with Karl cause of her image. It's possible that in the past Cordelia even deliberately uglied herself like Kou did.

Now for Cordelia her dress are her weapon. In the first game she confessed to Reiji that only in this look she feel at ease. She feels confident in seductive dresses cause this way she is always prepared for men attacking her and can give her blood at any moment. That's why her decollete, back and arms are bared. And her hair is like a protective cloak.

However Cordelia most likely needed this armor after Karlheinz replaced to live alone in Eden. Cordelia was left alone in the castle, visited by men who wanted obtaining her and she had to fool them. So she began to play the role of a seductive coquette.

I've long thought that Cordelia should have worn more modest dresses when she married Karl to at least try to be more virtuous for the vampire clan. I've also wondered after Song of Emblem vol.1 came out if the portrait Ayato saw in the book was of Cordelia's style like this one as we see there.

So Cordelia had the most modest clothing of the Sakamaki mothers.

Even Beatrix has a bare bodice.

Cordelia's new dress has three roses on her chest, a rose on her hips and in a hair.

She holds her hands supporting her sons' backs. She has a new pose unlike Beatrix and Christa.

The triplets are happy, especially Ayato and Laito (Kanato seems frightened as always). Overall their relationship with their mother is the warmest of all other moms.

Shu and Reiji have dissatisfied expressions being near Beatrix.

They have no any physical contact with their mother. As always. They seemed distant and cold.

As a fact Cordelia is a good person

After Lost Eden release japanese fans started to change their opinion on Cordelia. Especially LE Ayato Dark 06 shows that Cordelia is not that monster as everyone described her.

I truly think that many of Cordelia's actions towards her children and others are myths and those that are still true are not so terrible due demonic kind and have a reasoning.

S01 Director's interview parts about Cordelia planned to be created not as simple villain but as a heroine

作曲を依頼するうえでは、前提として乙女系の作品というより、ユイという少女とコーデリアというヒロインふたりの悲劇を軸にした作品だと伝えて、そこから作り込んでいただきました。 Commissioning the music I made it clear as a start of a work that it's not a typical otoge but rather a tragedy centered around the two heroines as Yui and Cordelia. そのときに、ユイとコーデリアイラストを描いて、「この絵のイメージで曲を作ってください」って林さんに渡したんです。 So I drew an illustration of Yui and Cordelia and gave it to Hayashi-san saying 'Please, create the soundtrack based on this picture'.

表面的には悪役であるコーデリアだが、彼女を単なる悪女として描くのではなく、「コーデリア自身も悲劇を抱えたヒロインとして表現したかった」という監督の思いが垣間見える。 While Cordelia seems to be a first-glanced villain, the director's intention to portray her not as an evil woman but as a heroine burdened by her own tragedy is evident.

「ユイとコーデリア、ふたりの悲劇がストーリーの軸になるイメージ」 'Story becomes focused on the tragedy of the two, Yui and Cordelia'.

アニメのコーデリアはゲームとは少し違うキャラクターの作り方をしていて、私の中では、彼女ももうひとりのヒロインぐらいの気持ちで描いています。 The anime version of Cordelia is portrayed in a little different way than her game version and I consider in my mind her to be almost one more heroine.

I thought it for the first time when YB vol.1 cover was released. Triplets are carrying white roses stained with blood. Analogy with the anime shots of close-up white roses on the dress covered in blood.

In DL white roses symbolize purity and innocence. The triplets are still pure on the ritual's eve. Soon as vampires they will 'experience' the Blood. The triplets' purity is also expressed by the chess pieces on YB covers. Ayato, Kanato and Laito have white figures while Shu, Reiji and Subaru have black ones. Other Sakamaki mothers' children are not so pure as Cordelia's sons.

The character design shows much, every detail is added for a reason. And what they have on chests symbolize what's in their hearts = souls. Even Yui's pendant reflects the state of her heart literally and figuratively.

Cordelia has three white roses on her chest. These are her sons. They are in her soul.

These roses can be seen on the infant triplets in the merch Vampire Baby.

Kanato has the largest while Ayato and Laito have smaller ones. Each Sakamaki baby got a detail of their mother's clothing. Shu and Reiji are weared in Beatrix's dress, Subaru carries a withered white rose with Christa's dress black rhombs. Because the birth of Karlheinz's eldest sons bestowed upon Beatrix the rich 'robe' of being the mother of heirs. While Subaru's birth caused the withering of the White Rose and her disgrace = (black rhombs).

What tarot card would I choose for KarlDelia?

The Tower: XVI Tarot Arcane

The art is the commission for mine by Bibkin Domik

The upright position for Karlheinz:

misery, total ruin, conflict, epiphany, purification of the soul

The Tower is one of the most complex arcanes, it carries the idea of ​​destruction, it creates a message for progress and overcoming problems. The Tower encompasses much that happens suddenly as the insight, awareness, the desire to fight, a breakthrough. The negative connotation of the arcane arises from the fact that all these processes are typically painful and associated with crises, conflict and destructive emotions. Few can readily accept the fact that stability and peace must be left behind and that new stability must be achieved and earned.

The inverted position for Cordelia:

disgrace, oppression, distress, restriction of freedom, time to start anew

The inverted Tower symbolizes the painful realization of ongoing injustice, the blows of fate, depression, disasters, serious illness. And all of this without any mitigating circumstances. Of course this too shall pass but the dark streak in life with the Inverted Tower is usually prolonged and painful.

KarlDelia's fate is like the tower: it is an evil insurmountable fate, inevitability and punishment. For both of them there is no other outcome but destruction. The only difference is that Karlheinz could have avoided this fate (refused of his plan and abandoned Cordelia) if he had wanted to; while Cordelia due to her origin never cannot. For her everything will always end badly, her path to freedom from the torment of the tower is to the grave, she was doomed to suffer from her birth. Karlheinz however destroys everything himself in the name of a new world and total purification.

Art also includes details of other tarot cards:

Lovers (the central sun (moon) instead the crown, the trees of apple and fig) as their choice between feelings and duty;

Moon as intrigues around the King and Queen;

Star as the only hope the only opportunity being together on the starry sky and a reference to the legend of Hoshi Matsuri.

Scrolling through DL writer Yuhmi Yamada's X-account we found her interesting idea. If DL were to be as cards, Yamada-san would assign a the same card to Cordelia and Karlheinz as the Old Maid. So I decided to share this art with her. Yamada-san's answer surprised me, she approved of the tarot card choice for this couple and even hinted that Cordelia is an another personality of Karlheinz.