Laura’s take on

not just aesthetics. not just “it matches his vibe.”

these choices reflect how they see the world… and how they survive it.

✧ ACT I — RHODOLITE

Leon — The Lion

Leon represents the idealized ruler, but one grounded in emotional awareness.

Lions don’t need to prove dominance, their presence already establishes it. Leon leads the same way: through warmth, trust, and a natural sense of authority that draws people in rather than forces them down.

But lions are also deeply territorial. His kindness is not limitless. The moment something threatens his people, there is no hesitation in him. He protects decisively, even ruthlessly if needed.

Leon is not just a kind king.

He is a king who knows exactly when kindness ends.

Chevalier — The White Tiger

A white tiger is rare, almost unnatural. It stands apart even among predators.

Chevalier embodies that separation. He doesn’t operate on instinct or emotion, but on calculation. Every move is precise, every outcome anticipated before it even begins.

Tigers hunt alone, relying only on themselves. That solitude is not loneliness, it is efficiency. Chevalier doesn’t reject connection out of fear, but because he deems it unnecessary.

There is elegance in how he operates.

Cold, flawless, and completely detached.

Licht — The Wolf

Licht is the contradiction of the wolf archetype.

Wolves are meant to exist in packs. They depend on each other, protect each other, belong to each other.

Licht denies himself that entirely.

He isolates not because he prefers solitude, but because he believes he is dangerous to those he cares about. So he rewrites his own nature, forcing distance where there should be closeness.

And yet, he never truly disconnects. He still watches, still protects, still cares deeply.

He is a wolf that refuses his own instincts,

and suffers because of it.

Honestly, it took me a while to give in to Ikemen Prince. I started with Vampire and then Villains, but the graphics in IkePrince felt a bit off to me at first. Recently, though, I caved in—and I must say, it was worth it.

I’ve only read two routes so far, and they definitely delivered. Slow-paced stories are my favorite, and I can’t even begin to describe how well they did with the writing here. Chevalier was obviously my first pick, and I deeply regret that choice: because now, in every other route I try, I just can’t get him out of my head. He’s complete perfection to me, a solid 10/10.

The MC is also really well done. I love that she actually has a personality, which I feel is kind of lacking in IkeVamp and IkeVil. I also love that they took their sweet time giving us long, detailed chapters and well-developed relationships. Chevalier’s route was spot on, and I was so excited to keep reading.

I also appreciate how deeply developed each character is, and how every route seems to have an angsty vibe (I haven’t played them all yet, but I’ve read spoilers). I especially loved the reference in Chevalier’s route to the OG game Midnight Cinderella- I miss that one so much and wish I could replay it. I was obsessed and read all of the routes back then.

If I had to point out one issue, it’s that a few characters just aren’t attractive to me (Yves, Clavis, and a couple of others), so I’ll probably skip their routes. But overall, I’m really satisfied with how the game turned out, and I’m super excited to play more. So far, I’ve done Chevalier’s, Nokto’s, and I’m currently on Licht’s.

Hi everyone, it’s me again with another analysis.

I'm really happy people are actually enjoyng those, I was always interested on reading character analysis!

This contains spoilers of Ellis route and a few site events! If you would like, you can leave a suggestion on what character you want me to analyse next on the comments!

Ellis grew up in a peaceful village, raised by both of his parents alongside his twin brother. While Ellis was calm and gentle, his brother was full of energy and dreams of exploring the world. They were opposites, but deeply close. Ellis admired his brother’s sense of adventure and cherished the bond they shared.

Everything changed after a tragic accident. A carriage ran over both of his brother’s legs, leaving him permanently unable to walk. His brother fell into a deep depression, losing the fire that once lit up his dreams. Ellis, determined to help, built him a wheelchair. He hoped that by giving him some form of independence, he could bring back a little of the joy he had lost. And for a brief moment, it worked. One afternoon, Ellis took him out for a walk and his brother smiled.

That was when his brother made an impossible request. He asked Ellis to kill him while he was still feeling that moment of happiness, so it could last forever.

He brought his brother’s body back home in the wheelchair. His father was horrified and refused to listen to any explanation. He called Ellis a demon. Ellis left without ever defending himself and never returned home again.

From that day on, Ellis became fixated on the idea that happiness is fragile and temporary. He believed that the only way to truly protect someone’s happiness was to preserve it at its peak. For him, that meant ending their life while they were still smiling. Not out of malice, but because he genuinely believed it was a kindness.

Ellis is kind, helpful, and loved by the people in town. He has a gentle demeanor and is always ready to lend a hand. He goes out of his way to make others happy and never asks for anything in return. But underneath that warmth is a deeper obsession. If he sees someone genuinely happy, a part of him wonders if that is the moment they should stay in forever.

His bond with Jude is built on this logic. Jude once told Ellis that he could take his life when he fulfilled his dream. Ever since, Ellis has stayed by his side, helping him achieve that goal. He says it like a joke, but he fully means it. He truly believes that is how he can show his love.

One of the clearest examples of Ellis’s mindset appears when Kate is injured during his route. While she is temporarily unable to walk, Ellis builds her a wheelchair just like he did for his brother. He takes full responsibility for her care. He feeds her, dresses her, and carries her when needed. It is clear that being depended on gives him a sense of closeness that he craves. He does not force it. He is gentle and respectful. But there is a possessiveness in how devoted he becomes.

This pattern shows up again in seasonal events. In Wrapped in Wicked Romance, Ellis asks Kate how happy she is and gently suggests that maybe this is the moment to stop time. He even offers to be her real boyfriend, hoping it might bring her more joy. Jude’s dialogue the next day hints that if Kate had said she was truly at her happiest she would be dead.

In Underneath the Black Veil, when a cult leader is revealed to be killing couples at the peak of their love, Ellis sees no problem with it. In fact, he suggests some of them might have chosen that fate willingly.

Ellis rarely considers his own happiness. He is always focused on others. His life is not a priority to him. What matters is helping others feel joy, even if that joy is short-lived.

Ellis is soft-spoken and thoughtful. He is not cruel. He genuinely wants people to be happy. But he also believes that happiness cannot last. So if he can freeze it before it fades, he will. His route raises difficult questions about the nature of love, control, and what it means to truly protect someone.

He does not think of what he does as dark. He thinks of it as mercy. And that is what makes him one of the most unsettling yet deeply human characters in the story.

At his core, Ellis shows patterns of codependency and trauma-based obsession. His childhood experiences created a connection between love, happiness, and finality. The one time he was able to make his brother smile again, it ended in death. That moment became a blueprint for how he sees joy. If happiness is rare and fragile, he believes it must be preserved before it fades.

Hi guys! I’m back with another deep dive into the backgrounds of the Ikemen Villains characters. As always, this series is meant to explore each character’s story and personality through the lens of what’s revealed in their route: major spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t played!

This time, we’re looking into Elbert. His route is one of the most emotionally heavy in the entire game, and his backstory is filled with quiet tragedy, complicated emotions, and some of the most delicate character writing in the series.

Let’s get into it.

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Elbert comes from a noble family and grew up in a large estate with many employees. From the outside, it might seem like he had a comfortable upbringing, but his past is one of the most traumatic in the entire game.

Later in his route, it’s revealed that Elbert was the product of sexual assault. The trauma from that event left his mother deeply depressed, and she raised Elbert with fear in her eyes. Even as a child, he noticed the way she looked at him and internalized it. At the same time, people around him constantly praised his beauty and told him how bright his future would be. This led him to associate beauty with happiness, as if being beautiful could fix the broken world around him.

In a side event, Kate meets one of Elbert’s aunts, who explains that when Elbert was little, he would collect anything he thought was beautiful in a desperate attempt to make his mother smile. But nothing helped. She died by suicide when he was just six years old.

Elbert’s curse forces anyone whose shadow he steps into to relive their worst memories. As a child, unaware of this ability, he inadvertently made his father relive his own trauma: leading to his father’s death by suicide as well. Two parents gone, both tied to a power he didn’t understand. This event filled Elbert with crushing guilt, and from then on, he began collecting beautiful things obsessively, as if trying to atone for the pain he’d caused. Beauty became both his shield and his punishment.

His relationship with beauty remained complicated. Though he’s admired by many, Elbert is often touched by strangers without his consent, drawn to his delicate appearance. These moments visibly make him uncomfortable, but he never moves or protests. He stays still, quietly enduring, because he knows that one wrong step could hurt someone. Living with his curse means living in constant fear of himself. The only time he speaks up is when others begin harassing or judging Kate for being close to him. That’s when his voice finally cuts through the silence.

A turning point in his route comes during a mission to his childhood home with Kate and Alfons. Elbert becomes withdrawn and visibly distressed. Eventually, the truth surfaces: after his father’s death, several of the estate’s employees took advantage of him. Alfons later tells Kate that the abuse nearly escalated beyond inappropriate touch multiple times, and on one occasion, it did.

Earlier in the story, a woman attacks Kate with a knife and Elbert is injured while protecting her. When Kate urges him to see a doctor, he refuses. Later, Roger mentions that during the Crown members’ first medical exams, Elbert was visibly shaking with fear. The reason becomes clear when Alfons tells Kate that, at nine years old, Elbert was assaulted by a doctor. He fought back and stabbed the man with a pair of scissors. That event cemented his distrust, not just of others, but of his own ability to be safe.

Throughout his route, Elbert continues to collect beautiful things, but he doesn’t trust his own sense of what beauty is. He constantly asks Alfons to confirm whether something is truly beautiful, unsure if his eyes can be trusted. Slowly, while developing feelings for Kate, he starts forming his own opinions and reclaiming a voice he thought he wasn’t allowed to have.

Elbert’s route is deeply emotional. It explores the way trauma fragments identity, and how silence can be both protection and prison. His curse, which forces others to relive their pain, mirrors his own inner world, he’s constantly haunted by the past, and afraid to exist too loudly. Yet through Kate’s compassion and his own quiet resilience, Elbert begins to untangle the meaning of beauty. Not as something to chase for validation, but as something to define for himself. Maybe, for the first time, he starts to believe that he deserves to live in a world where beauty doesn’t have to hurt.

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Elbert exhibits many signs of complex PTSD: the result of prolonged, repeated trauma without escape. His behavior shows classic symptoms: chronic dissociation, self-blame, avoidance, extreme sensitivity to being touched, and emotional numbing. But one detail that stands out is how deeply his trauma has affected his physical health: Elbert is malnourished, rarely feels hunger, and often forgets or refuses to eat. These are very real symptoms of clinical depression, especially in trauma survivors who feel disconnected from their own body and needs. His extreme thinness is noted multiple times in the story, and characters like Roger express concern, but Elbert brushes it off. It’s another way he punishes himself and tries to disappear.

His curse is the perfect metaphor for how he sees himself: as someone whose presence harms others. That guilt becomes the foundation of his personality, he remains still, silent, barely existing, all to avoid causing pain. Even when people touch him without consent (which happens often), he stays completely still, afraid that even flinching might hurt someone else.

Hello guys!

Another post, but this time I wanted to dig deeper into each character’s background and personality. This series won’t include my personal opinions, just major spoilers from their routes and some hidden lore. I’ll be working on individual posts for each of them. Stay tuned for my future posts! I plan on analysing each character individually.

When we first meet Alfons in the game, he comes off as a mysterious and aloof man. He’s openly described as a hedonist, and he doesn’t bother hiding that about himself. He seems carefree, almost detached from the world, but as his route progresses, you find out that his emotional distance has a painful reason behind it.

Alfons' fate is devastating: after his death, everyone who’s ever known him will forget he existed. This plays a huge role in shaping the way he lives. His room in the Crown is eerily empty. A mirror leans against the wall, covered with a cloth, and nothing about the space feels lived in. That’s intentional. If he were to die suddenly, he doesn’t want anyone to even remember someone stayed there.

This is also the core reason why Alfons hides his feelings for Kate. When she confesses her love to him, he pretends not to reciprocate. He can't bear the thought of her living an empty life after he's gone, not even understanding what she’s mourning.

The Curse’s Tragic Reality

There’s a poignant moment in his route when Kate visits an elderly woman with Roger. Her late husband had the same curse as Alfons. Even though she doesn't remember her husband at all, she feels an aching loneliness every day, as if something important is missing from her life. This scene is a turning point for Kate, showing the devastating impact of Alfons' fate.

Kate refuses to give up on him. She starts working with Roger to find a way to help people remember Alfons, trying to break or work around the curse. But Alfons, afraid of giving her false hope, uses his curse on the entire Crown, making them temporarily forget he even exists, hoping to disappear completely before anyone remembers.

Kate remembers him first. The final chapters of his route show her and Roger racing against time to find Alfons before he’s truly gone.

Alfons’ Childhood

At birth, Alfons was abandoned in a box outside a slum orphanage, his first name Alfons was written on the box. He grew up in the corrupt orphanage, where children were expected to work and the manager would hire out the children as workers, and many of them died before reaching adulthood.

He lived a life of severe neglect and loneliness. One of the only things that brought him comfort was a stray kitten he found and secretly cared for.

Tragically, the orphanage’s director discovered the kitten and beat it to death in front of Alfons. Unable to cope with the loss, Alfons instinctively used his curse to make the director believe he was the kitten instead. Alfons’ mind protected itself from the trauma by denying what happened, blurring fantasy and reality.

Roger was the one who finally explained to Alfons what his curse truly was and helped him come to terms with it.

Fleeing back to the orphanage, Alfons finally realized the actual fate of his kitten and what he had done to the manager; this convinced him that he should not pursue any relationships of any depth, that his own grief and love had little value because he'd been content to deny what had actually happened to his pet rather than mourn it, that his life had zero worth compared to others, that he should lead a hedonistic life to distract himself, and that delusions were often kinder than reality.

At some point following the events with Roger, Alfons attached himself to a doctor who had a preference for little boys. This is how he met Elbert.

Despite his intention to stay unconnected from other people, Alfons ended up sticking around Elbert and forming a huge connection with him; in hindsight, Alfons considers this something of a mistake due to the potential effect on Elbert if Alfons dies, but he nevertheless keeps returning to Elbert.

The Power of Illusion

Though his curse was born out of pain, Alfons eventually uses it to help others, particularly those who want to escape harsh realities. His illusions aren’t just tricks; they become a form of mercy for people who can’t face the truth.

Alfons claims to be devoted to a life of pleasure, and to not particularly care about anything or anyone. But the Kate notes that he hates pain, going out of his way to use his illusion powers to make people less sad or depressed, and she insists that it's a form of kindness. Alfons attempts to explain his choices away, then when he can't convince her leaves it alone. But he's clearly uneasy about this view of him.

Hello guys! Onto another Ikemen Villains ranking, but this time, I’ll be ranking them based on how powerful I think each character is, from least to most.

Of course, this totally depends on the situation and how you look at it, some powers are more useful in confrontation, others in manipulation, and some are just terrifying in a psychological way.

This is just my personal opinion, so feel free to disagree in the comments! (Minor spoiler alert ahead for some of their routes and curses!) 👀

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9. Harrison

Harry’s curse is super interesting, he can instantly tell when someone is lying. Honestly, that’s an amazing ability when it comes to diplomacy, spying, and manipulation (which fits perfectly with his undercover role in the Crown).

But! There’s a big limitation: he has to make eye contact with the person to know if they’re lying. That makes the power way less effective in fast-paced or dangerous situations, and definitely harder to use in confrontations.

So while I love his route and how his power plays into the story, in terms of raw strength or usefulness during confrontations, it doesn’t hold up. He gets a huge tactical advantage, sure - but not enough to climb higher on this ranking.

For that reason, he lands at the bottom of the list for me.

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8. Ellis

Ellis’s curse lets him bind people’s body parts together, which can be terrifying - and is, in the right context. But there’s a big catch: it only works through physical touch, which is a huge limitation in any serious confrontation.

This part of the ranking was really hard. His curse definitely has potential and could be extremely powerful when used strategically, especially to restrain or neutralize someone instantly. But compared to the others, Ellis lacks range or versatility, and his curse doesn’t serve much purpose outside of physical confrontation.

It’s one of those powers that’s incredible in specific moments but just not as broadly useful or dominant as the others above him. So while he’s far from weak, he lands here on the list simply because the others bring a bit more to the table in terms of reach, strategy, or sheer force.

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7. Jude

Jude’s curse lets him put people to sleep by touching their forehead, which honestly sounds gentle at first, but in the right moment, it’s incredibly effective. Imagine instantly knocking someone out in a confrontation, that’s a powerful tool.

But just like Ellis, the main drawback is contact. He needs to be close enough to physically reach someone’s forehead, which isn’t always practical in fast or chaotic situations. That said, I ranked him slightly above Ellis because his power ends a confrontation altogether. For example, if he’s facing off against someone dangerous, putting them to sleep neutralizes the threat completely, while Ellis’s binding might still leave room for struggle or escape.

Jude even uses his curse on the MC at certain moments in his route, it’s not a power he uses lightly. While limited, it’s still a clean and decisive way to win a fight, so he takes the seventh spot on my list.

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6. Roger

At first, I honestly thought Roger would end up way lower on this list, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how versatile his curse actually is. Roger has an enhanced sense of hearing, and while it’s definitely limited by range, it’s still incredibly useful in a wide variety of situations.

He can hear heartbeats, which lets him detect how many people are nearby, even through walls. He can listen in on conversations from a distance, which makes him excellent for gathering intel. And no one could ever sneak up on him, which gives him a huge edge in any confrontation or ambush scenario.

While it’s not an offensive power, his curse works both in and outside of combat, offering him constant awareness and the upper hand in planning and reaction. That kind of advantage might not look flashy, but it’s strategically powerful, so Roger comfortably takes the sixth spot.

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5. Liam

Liam’s curse lets him turn invisible, making him the only character whose power directly affects himself rather than others, which is pretty unique and really interesting.

His invisibility is extremely versatile and useful in all kinds of situations. In confrontation, he has a major advantage since he can strike or escape without being seen. He can basically move anywhere he wants without being noticed… well, except by Roger, whose enhanced hearing can still catch him.

Liam’s curse gives him a huge edge in stealth and surprise attacks, making him one of the most powerful when it comes to mobility and evasion.

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4. Elbert

Elbert’s curse lets him make people relive their worst memories simply by stepping on their shadow. That’s a powerful ability, and unlike some others, it doesn’t require physical contact with the target.

The main limitation is ligh: if there’s no shadow, he can’t use his power. But still, having to only step on someone’s shadow gives him a huge advantage. He doesn’t need to physically attack or fight; he can completely disarm his opponents emotionally and mentally with just a step.

Compared to other curses, Elbert’s has a unique mix of range, psychological impact, and control, which easily puts him in the top half of this ranking.

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3. Alfons

Alfons’s curse lets him create vivid illusions directly in a person’s mind and completely alter their perception of reality, which is an incredibly powerful and versatile ability.

The only real limitation is that he needs to touch someone on the back of their neck to use it, so proximity is required. But once he makes that contact, the effects can be devastating. He can manipulate someone’s senses to the point where they believe they’re in a totally different world or even make them doubt their own identity.

This power isn’t just useful for confrontation, it’s equally effective in manipulation, espionage, and psychological control. Alfons can convince opponents to stand down, flee, or fight phantom enemies, giving him a huge tactical edge.

His curse allows him to control the battlefield without physically harming anyone, which makes him incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. For these reasons, Alfons easily secures the third spot on my power ranking.

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2. William

William’s gift is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful in the entire game. He can completely take away a person’s free will and make them do whatever he wants, which is absolutely terrifying.

The limitation is that he needs to be making direct eye contact with his target, so he can only control a limited number of people at a time. But even with that, his power is incredibly effective in almost any situation.

Whether in confrontation or outside of it, William can resolve conflicts, manipulate enemies, or gain allies without lifting a finger. His ability to control others puts him just below my top pick because of its sheer influence and psychological domination.

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1. Victor

Victor’s curse lets him make people want to end their own lives. At first glance, you might think William’s power should be number one since he can also make people do terrible things by command. But here’s the difference: Victor’s curse has no real limitations like eye contact or physical proximity.

In his route, he doesn’t need eye contact or even to be physically near someone. He can simply say “pledge your loyalty to my evil,” and people happily fall under his curs, even if they don’t realize it.

Importantly, it’s shown that he can somewhat control who falls under the curse, because there’s a moment when the MC hears him say the words but does not fall victim. This selective control adds an even deeper layer of power.

The game doesn’t fully explain the limits of his power, but from his story, it’s clear that he inadvertently caused the deaths of his own relatives: accidents and suicides happening one after another, which led him to discover his curse. This implies he was summoning death around him even without wanting to, which is terrifying.

Hello guys! Posting my final ranking of all the routes from Ikemen Villains, because yes—I’ve read them all (including Victor and Jude’s routes through Japanese translations, no regrets). This is entirely based on my personal experience and opinion, so feel free to agree or argue with me in the comments.

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT: I will talk about major plot points in each route, including trauma backstories, twists, and relationships. If you haven’t played some of these yet and want to go in blind, stop reading now!

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William – 6/10

Curse: Based on the Queen of Hearts, William can control people completely just by making eye contact and giving a command—essentially erasing their free will. Psych Theme: Obsession with control, fear of vulnerability, ideological dominance

Everyone starts with William, right? He’s the face of the game and incredibly visually appealing—so of course I picked him first. I was shocked by how early he and Kate get together, especially compared to other routes. He’s charming and kind, but honestly... he felt too safe. For a game about villains, he doesn’t exactly bring that morally gray energy. His personality ended up feeling a little vanilla.

What really brought my score down was how shallow his backstory feels—especially after reading the other routes where we get deep dives into childhood trauma. We never really get to know him beyond the surface, and that lack of emotional depth made his story feel flatter in comparison. Maybe the side stories develop him more, but I believe the main route should’ve done that. Also, his reaction when Kate gets stabbed?? Way too calm. I wanted some angst, some emotional breakdown—anything! And we didn’t get that.

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Elbert – 6/10

Curse: Modeled after the Evil Queen, he can make people relive their worst memories by stepping on their shadow. Psych Theme: Self-hatred, trauma from abuse, obsessive tendencies

I felt so bad for Elbert. He’s arguably the only one truly cursed in a way he despises—and he hates his own power. His route is one of the darkest, especially when we get into his childhood and the way he was abused by his caretakers. That broke me. But... his personality just didn’t work for me. He comes off really creepy around Kate, and there were moments where I genuinely didn’t understand why she stuck around. He’s quiet, withdrawn, and doesn’t offer much in terms of emotional connection early on.

Ironically, reading his route made me way more interested in Alfons—who plays a supporting role here—and I found myself wanting to know more about him than Elbert. Still, I respect the heavy themes, even if I didn’t love the execution.

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Alfons – 7/10

Curse: Snow White’s Mirror—he can create illusions and manipulate perception. Psych Theme: Hedonism, guilt, identity suppression, emotional repression

Okay. Please don’t judge me. I know Alfons is a terrible person—but his route got the most raw emotional reaction out of me. It’s messed up. There’s a lot of non-consensual stuff, and he assaults Kate repeatedly. I hated that the writers leaned so hard into making him irredeemable when he had so much potential.

But underneath all that, he’s a deeply conflicted, broken character who’s obsessed with control and terrified of vulnerability. The duality of him falling for Kate but trying to hide it at all costs? I ate that up. It’s just a shame that they tried to generate angst through repeated abuse instead of developing his emotional complexity. His route could’ve been a 10/10 with better handling. Still, I liked how much they built on his childhood and trauma—he’s not just evil for fun.

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Ellis – 9/10

Curse: Briar Rose. He can bind people’s bodie parts together. Psych Theme: Obsession with happiness, denial, dependency

Ellis is the surprise winner for me. I genuinely didn’t expect to love his route as much as I did, but it has everything I like: slow-burn, psychological depth, and a protagonist who’s both lovable and terrifying. His fixation on eternal happiness is creepy in theory but ends up being deeply tragic when you understand where it comes from.

His trauma is explored in such a meaningful way, and the pacing of his romance with Kate is perfect. I loved how long it took for him to realize he was in love—it felt earned. Out of all the routes, his relationship felt the most layered and emotionally satisfying. A well-written villain romance done right.

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Jude – 7/10

Curse: Inspired by the 13th Fairy from Sleeping Beauty—he can make people fall asleep by touching their forehead. Psych Theme: Suppression of emotions, guilt, and fatalism

Jude was one I expected to love more than I did. His whole persona is based on apathy, and he keeps pushing Kate away for her own safety. That would’ve worked better if it didn’t drag out so long. It took over 20 chapters for him to even admit he liked her.

His backstory is tragic—losing his sister, promising never to break his word—and that added emotional weight to his stoicism. But for me, the chemistry wasn’t there. Also... his accent in the English translation?? I get that they wanted to show he's from the slums, but it just made the route harder to read as a non-native speaker. It slowed the pacing a lot.

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Liam – 5/10

Curse: Based on the Cheshire Cat—he can turn invisible. Psych Theme: Mental instability, fragmentation, isolation

Honestly, I only read his route because I ran out of characters. Liam’s just not for me. He’s mentally unstable in a way that’s more unsettling than sympathetic, and his curse is probably the most forgettable. The fact that he burned his family alive is just casually mentioned, and the story doesn’t dive into that nearly enough.

There’s emotional potential, but the route doesn't develop it. He doesn’t stand out visually or narratively. I finished his route and felt... nothing. Maybe if they’d written him with a little more nuance, I’d care, but as it stands—he's forgettable.

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Harry – 8/10

Curse: Inspired by the lying fox - he can tell when someone is lying. Psych Theme: Truth vs. deception, grief, identity

Harry ended up surprising me in a good way. His curse is simple but really well-used, especially with the reveal that he’s acting as a spy within the Crown to find out who killed his father. That twist added so much to his character. He’s the only one in the cast who had a genuinely loving relationship with his family, and that was a refreshing change.

His route has great balance—romance, mystery, plot twists—and you feel the stakes. Plus, he’s charming in a very grounded way. I ended up liking him a lot more than I expected to.

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Victor – 7/10

Curse: ?? -he emits an aura that makes people long for death simply by being near him. Psych Theme: Existential dread, duality, repression, denial

I was mostly curious about Victor’s curse going in, and yeah—it’s as intense as it sounds. But personality-wise, he’s a bit too bubbly for me. I usually love duality in characters, but it didn’t totally land here. That said—major props for the plot twists in his route. But it was kinda disappointing how they don't really explain the origin of his curse... since that was the mystery about him.

The reveal that he’s actually Queen Victoria (yes, the monarch herself in disguise) was so satisfying and recontextualized everything about him. His whole act makes way more sense once you realize he’s basically been hiding in plain sight the entire game. That alone bumped up the score for me.

Also—what really got me emotionally was the fact that he and Kate had met as children. He never forgot her, and when that gets revealed late in the route, it’s honestly one of the most romantic moments in the game. He’s been carrying the memory of her all this time while trying to suppress his feelings and identity. That hit hard. Their connection is way more fated than it initially seems, and it gave a lot more weight to his feelings.

Still not my favorite, but the emotional payoff is strong and I respect how different his story feels from the others.

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Roger – Unranked

I’m really sorry to all the Roger fans out there, but I just couldn’t get into his route. Honestly, I was more curious about the voguel’s appearance than Roger himself. I skimmed a few chapters but never got far enough to form a solid opinion or rank him. Maybe someday, but not right now!

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About Kate (The Main Character)

One thing I really need to get off my chest is how disappointed I was with Kate’s character overall. She feels like she has zero consistent personality. In every route, she completely changes to fit the love interest’s vibe, which made her feel very shallow to me.

It was frustrating to see how little effort the game put into developing her as an individual—there’s almost no backstory or exploration of her life before she got involved with the Crown. It’s like she only exists as a blank slate for each villain’s story rather than a full character on her own.

I get that it’s an otome game and the focus is on romance, but I’ve played other otome titles with much stronger, more memorable heroines who have clear personalities and agency. It just felt like a missed opportunity here.

Upcoming Routes

As soon as Ring’s route drops, I’ll definitely be making a post all about him! I’m so excited—I can barely wait. If I don’t find a good translation online, I’m thinking about trying to translate it myself with some help from AI.

From what I’ve heard, Ring’s route might be a classic love-at-first-sight story, which is totally my vibe. I’m really curious to find out more about the Voguel’s curse and what kind of twist they’ll bring to the game.