Fries bags 🍟😝

Starting at the top of the chart going clockwise are the following standard stats for each villain: Intellect, Agility, and Luck

The bottom stat and subsequent stat going clockwise for each villain:

William: Heat Tolerance, Degree of Freedom Darius: Dark nature, Sharp Senses Ring: Accidental Groping, Level of Purity Nica: Surprisingly Devoted, Level of Purity Liam: Level of Sparkliness, Acting Ability Elbert: HandDexterity, Facial Beauty Roger: Coaching Skills, Level of Vision Jude: Friendliness, Level of Twistedness Alfons: Binge-Eating, Level of Shamelessness Ellis: Amiability, Level of Straigtforwardness Harrison: Sweet tooth, Worldliness Victor: Wickedness, Benevolence

The final stat for each villain is (with the exception of Victor): Ability's Danger Level.

Character Briefing:

William: One of the founders of Crown. A self-righteous monarch, who has extensive knowledge of various things. He loves strawberries and is surprisingly weak, so he has a cute side to him.

Darius: The director of Vogel. He has sharp senses and instincts. No one has seen his true colors, so his true ability remains to be judged.

Ring: Vogel's guard dog. He has immense physical prowess, and can complete any physical exercise. He's purer than anyone else, and tends to gets into unexpected "happenings."

Nica: Vogel's staff officer. He has pretty good luck and things usually go his way. Although he seems frivolous, he's surprisingly devoted.

Liam: The sparkling, sexy cheshire cat. He has an agile body and amazing acting skills. His curiosity leads him to do dangerous things, which causes trouble for Harrison.

Elbert: The greedy queen with unparalleled beauty. He is quite dexterous and can do anything surprisingly well. His go to food is salad, but recently he has been eating more and more.

Roger: Crown's doctor. He is very strong and has superb coaching skills. His eyesight is 0.04 in just one eye. He doted on Ale so much that he was recently scolded by his family.

Jude: President of a trading company. Highly intelligent, but quite twisted. He's unfriendly, and often misunderstood, but unexpectedly kind.

Alfons: A decadent hedonist. He's into nightlife, debauchery and danger, so long as it's fun. He's also well known for his devastating sense of color and his outrageous drawings.

Ellis: Assistant to the president of a trading company. Crown’s #1 athletic gentleman. He’s straight-forward, and has a kid-brother temperament. He can sometimes be too kind, which can be scary.

Harrison: A lying fox with sharp insight and cunning wisdom. He has a sweet tooth and some luck. However, he's hardworking and always gets pushed around by his friends.

I had taken her to be far too honest, and a bit of a fool too.

Someone who Crown seemed charmed by——just another human.

And also how she had by chance happened upon a place where they had passed judgment.

That was all there was to it, and yet Crown seemed quite attached to her.

She was important to them, and they held her dear in their hearts.

And seeing her surrounded by them like that, it very much resembled a ‘robin’ within a birdcage.

Lightning didn’t strike thereafter.

It was as though the raging weather up until now had all been a lie as I turned to the stars that showed themselves in the sky.

(You lucky girl, you.)

Having come to her senses, she looked as though she had barely escaped from death,

and yet, she also somewhat seemed as though she was unsatisfied by something.

Darius: Now that’s quite unfortunate, seeing the sky ended up clearing.

Just like that, I let go of her, and she went for the door in a haste to make more distance, but——

Kate: U-umm...

For some reason, she turned around and raised her voice, her trembling hands gripping her skirt.

Kate: Happy birthday!

Darius: ......... [surprised]

Kate: And good night.

I could only stare at her retreating figure from the open door for a while, dazed.

But then, I started to feel things have really started to get interesting, and laughter escaped me thereafter.

Darius: That’s the first time I’ve seen a human like her.

There wasn’t any human like her in Germany.

(But even in this country, it seems that fairytale keeper is one of a kind too.)

(That just goes to show how there are some odd humans, I suppose.)

I took out the handkerchief from my pocket, pinching it between my fingers, so the moonlight illuminated its embroidery.

Darius: Well, I already could see what she was going to choose.

I saw how she had been setting her sights at what she was going to choose from outside the shop.

And also how she had taken that handkerchief first, before all else.

Darius: It’s the first I’ve heard handkerchiefs being used as a charm, though... is it like wishing upon something, maybe?

Such as wishing not to get hurt, or to come back safe and sound.

For a long time now, humanity has entrusted their wishes on objects.

Darius: If that’s the case, though, I think this would find much more use in your hands than mine.

If someone who held no power whatsoever, such as herself, accompanied Crown on missions as fairytale keeper...

(The least you could do is make a wish on this that you can come back without getting hurt, no?)

But——

Darius: It is pretty interesting seeing a human like her worry over us Cursed ones.

In the beginning, I was wondering what type of human this fairytale keeper was, seeing Crown all around her...

(But I sure didn’t expect her to be the one to approach me first, so I didn’t even need to probe any further to know.)

She did seem perplexed, to be sure, but in the end she said that she had fun,

and while my words clearly scared her, it wasn’t as though she had run away either.

Darius: All that talk about celebrating with me forever was meant to be a joke, but now I’m starting to think a bit otherwise.

Realizing that my reflection in the window was smiling, I placed my hand on the corner of my mouth.

Darius: Which means it’s about time I start thinking about turning Crown’s little robin into Vogel’s.

D: If I do that, then I really can have her celebrate my birthday.

Holding the handkerchief, I turned on my heel.

Strangely, I didn’t feel any disgust.

Darius: Always and forever, until I draw my very last breath.

A few days after my birthday——

Suddenly, I heard reserved knocks from the door, and I raised my head, turning my attention to the one at the other side of the door.

Darius: Come in, miss fairytale keeper.

When she opened the door, surprise was on her face.

Kate: How did you know it was me?

Darius: I just took a shot in the dark.

D: But it looks like I hit the mark.

(Well, actually, I knew because you’re the only one who knocks the door the way you do.)

I had ended up remembering how she knocked, seeing as the servants and maids knocked in a completely different way.

Kate: Are those... milk puzzles?

She looked down at the milk white pieces scattered about the desk.

Darius: We chatted about doing these together sometime, didn’t we?

Paying no mind, I continued putting the pieces together.

Darius: So would you like to do it? They’re a bit harder than normal puzzles though.

D: It’s more fun to put together a pure white piece rather than some plain old scenery.

Picking up pieces that had fallen to the floor, she handed them to me.

Kate: Of course, beautiful sceneries are good, but I also think having no picture at all like a milk puzzle is a wonderful thing too.

K: There isn’t a single stain to be seen on the single colored scene, so if you put it up somewhere, it’ll catch the eye, I would think.

(There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that she’d say she preferred puzzles with a painting on them, but...)

My hands stopped where they were when I heard her response differ from what I had thought it would be.

Kate: But, it seems like it’d be harder than I imagine to actually do.

K: So, I wonder if I’ll be able to do these?

Her eyes seemed to sparkle at the half-done puzzle,

and so I handed her a smaller puzzle that I was going to do next.

Darius: This one has fewer pieces, so I imagine even you’d be able to do it, no?

Kate: Huh...? Is it alright?

Darius: Think of it as a thank you for celebrating my birthday.

Kate: T-thank you then.

Hugging the milk puzzle in her arms, she seemed quite happy, and I tilted my head at that.

(Is it really something to be that happy about?)

Kate: Uhm, actually, there’s something I’d like to give you today...

She set the box she had been hiding behind her back down on the desk, and when she opened it——

Darius: A berry tart?

In the box was a tart with an assortment of colorful berries on top.

Kate: We didn’t have a birthday cake, so I was thinking of celebrating once again, with this...

K: See, I gathered a lot of different types of berries, and prepared something elaborate!

Seeing her holding out candles, I couldn’t help but laugh.

(As I thought, she really is earnest, honest, and a tad bit foolish.)

It was as though she had forgotten all of what happened yesterday as she looked straight this way——

Darius: Is it okay to eat it now?

Kate: Of course! And since I brought these over, too, let’s put the candles in too.

From beyond the flickering flame of the candles, I could see a full smile play on her lips as she softly sang the birthday song.

(I’ve had my birthday celebrated a great many times up until now, but strangely...)

This time seemed infinitely more pleasant than any of those birthdays.

I heard her blow out the candles and clap her hands...

Kate: Happy birthday, Darius.

(...Just what is this feeling, I wonder?)

It was the first time I ever felt this way, so unable to put a name on it, I tilted my head.

Kate: Let’s eat it together.

She held out a fork to me, causing me to come back to my senses. I reached my hands for the tart——

And taking it as I pleased, I brought it to my mouth.

Kate: Ah...

The part of the tart that didn’t reach my mouth fell on top of the milk puzzle,

staining the pure white pieces a purplish red.

I tried to wipe the fruit juice that dripped from my mouth with the back of my hand, but…

Kate: You’ll get dirty...

In a panic, she reached out to do the same, and so I brought out the handkerchief from my pocket.

Then, I placed it in her hands...

Darius: Wipe it with this.

And gripping the handkerchief, she came in closer with a deliberate movement, her hand reaching out toward me.

(See, she’s approaching me without even a moment’s hesitation.)

Seeing her without an ounce of caution, I grabbed her wrist.

Kate: Wh...

Just like that, I pulled her toward me, and her body tumbled down in response. I then grabbed a berry in my other hand, and...

Kate: mngh——

I pressed it against those small lips.

The berry now crushed, those pink lips were stained a purple-red color, and a drop of its juice traced down to her chin.

(It looks like blood.)

My eyes felt awfully drawn to that, and using my fingers, I went on to stain her cheeks with the berry juice.

Darius: Indeed, ‘dirty’ sounds right.

(The milk puzzle, me, and you...)

Darius: You’ll wipe it all, won’t you.

The color called Kate, who had fell upon the pure white that was myself, was more lovely than I had ever thought it to be,

and, even still, I wanted to keep my eyes on that very scene.

← main story fin. letter →

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END NOTES: i feel like there’s just a lot to unpack with the tart scene. or just through this story in general, i’m really starting to understand what his voice actor, shigematsu chiharu, meant when he said when he mentioned how he found it charming that how he is very human-like himself despite sort of resenting humanity. i feel that tart scene really shed light on his own ‘humanity.’ or how he is clearly capable of feeling the same way other humans can feel, but is unable to put a label on it because with her, it’s the first time he’s felt the way he did… or even just the way he was confused or taken aback by this and that because of kate, you know.

overall there’s just a lot of this sort of dissonance to be had with his character, and i’m definitely curious about him and am excited to sort of get to the root of all this, like sort of finding out why he is the way he is and all that.