What about...
Mr Verdandi and Duke Eckhart, when they were young 🔮⚜️
The original art belongs to SUEUN (@A_Sueune on Twitter). What Marquis Verdandi looks like is just my guess!
Winter's father is mentioned only once, in chapter 68 of the novel (or chapter 63 of the manhwa).
All that is said is that Winter was still very young (I think around 18-22 years old) when he lost his father. Also, the good relationship between Winter and Duke Eckhart was explained by the fact that the duke was friends with the former Marquis Verdandi. But what was the cause of the elder Verdandi's death?
However... what if Winter's father died fighting the Laila clan? Could he also have been a sorcerer? Was he as ideological and charitable as his son?
Most people know what a powerful wizard Winter really is. But he couldn't have learnt everything on his own, could he? Someone had to guide him and teach him how to control magic. Could it have been his father or his wizard friends? According to Verdandi himself, people who have a lot of mana cannot be called wizards if they do not know how to control it.
Okay, I think Winter has taken a lot from his father, but I'm interested to hear your opinion on this and the interaction between the Duke and the past Marquis...
By the way, is Winter's mother dead too?
In this world, it's not enough that fathers don't have their own names, but all the mothers of the main characters are killed here???
P.S. (with spoilers) I just realised that the Duke had seen his wife, daughter, and best friend die, and then he had seen his son almost killed. That the duke himself was almost eaten by a monster, and that he also survived the war... and then realised how he had ruined the lives of his children...
Listen, we need a separate post about Duke Eckhart. He's also an interesting character, but he doesn't have his own name.
Imagine, there are actually many details in the VADD universe that have not yet been fully revealed. Many characters were not revealed, even though they would have little impact on the plot.
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throw away your mask (and then what's left?)
Or:
Ren: My girlfriend took my other girlfriend in the divorce
AO3
Despite it supposedly being nearly spring, Ren’s cold when he gets back to Leblanc. When he’s there, Sojiro is nowhere to be seen, and Haru and Kasumi are sitting in a booth together, holding coffees.
“Oh? Is it just going to be all three of us tonight?” Ren asks. “Am I going to beat the cold with some curry and cuddling with my two lovely girlfriends?”
Instantly he knows something is wrong. Haru’s face is completely neutral, and Kasumi won’t look him in the eyes.
“What? Too cheesy?” He asks, trying to break the tension that’s got the cafe in a vice grip.
“Do you remember when I told you about my nightmares about my father?” Haru asks.
“Yeah, ‘course. Did you have another one?”
“Something like that.”
“Seriously, what’s going on?” Ren asks.
“Haru-chan and I were talking,” Kasumi says, “about how, you know, growing up I used to think it would be so much better if my sister wasn’t around.” She chuckles. “Awful, right?”
“I don’t think that’s–”
“I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, I just thought if I could match someone without being a matched set, people wouldn’t decide they wanted her all the time instead of me. Guess they were right to be disappointed with me, since apparently I'm the stupid one, since even my boyfriend prefers her over me, and he’s never even met her!”
“Kasumi–”
“My name is Sumire,” she snaps.
Huh. It’s been so long since aren't experienced genuine dread he doesn’t immediately recognize the twisting sensation in his stomach.
Haru’s glaring daggers at him too.
“How’d you find out?” He asks.
“We all thought something was wrong,” Haru says. “We talked it out, then we remembered. Then Akechi told us about the deal. We wanted to hear it out of your mouth.”
“...is it really so bad living in Maruki’s reality?” Ren asks. “I mean, Sumi, you got what you wanted anyway.”
“You will call me Sumire,” she says. “And you were there when I changed my mind and wanted to live as myself.”
“Did you really? Or did you just think you had to?” Ren says. “Maybe we were wrong! Society’s always telling us that we have to suffer to learn lessons, that it’s the proper way to do things, but that’s bullshit! Haru it wasn’t fair that your father died, he was just collateral damage of someone else’s scheme! And Sumire you killed your sister! Do you really want to live with that?”
Sumire flinches, and Haru puts a hand over hers.
“No one wants to live with pain, Ren,” Haru says. “But it’s preferable to this.“
“Why? Is that fair to everyone else in Tokyo? Or the people who were brought back, they’re the same as if they never died, you’d just be killing them again!”
“I’ve already lived my life under the control of my father, I don’t want anyone else to have the power to decide what’s going to make me happy but me,”
“Maruki is not your dad,” Ren says, “he’s a good person, he means well, he’s not—”
“WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT MARUKI!” Sumire shouts suddenly. “We’re not talking about him, or this reality, or if it’s fair to everyone else! We’re talking about the fact that you made this decision without talking to us!”
Haru nods. “We already rejected this reality, and without consulting us you tossed us back in and made us forget that anything was wrong. And I know you think Maruki means well, and he probably thinks he means well, but how well-meaning can he be if he opted to continue condemning Sumire-chan to play act as Kasumi instead of bring her back?!“ Haru adds, getting more and more worked up. “Oh but even then I’m reading too much into it, aren’t I? Well I’m not as stupid as you think I am. If you actually cared about us or any of the things you were talking about you would have discussed it with us before taking the deal or even brought it up throughout Maruki’s Palace but you didn’t because you agreed, all the way up until something that affected you personally came up right?”
Haru’s gripping her mug so tightly that Ren thinks it’s about to crack. “I’d yell at you for choosing my father’s murderer over me, but that’s not fair is it? Because Akechi is just as angry as I am, so you really didn’t choose him either? You chose yourself.”
“I mean, it fits, doesn’t it?” Sumire adds. “You did teach me to be more selfish, senpai, so I guess I’ll have to give you points for consistency! But you know, the thing is just because it’s alright to be selfish doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences.”
If Ren were in their shoes, he wouldn’t take a hollow apology, especially now that they’re so far gone.
“So what will you do now?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sumire says, “we’re going to finish what we started. If you like it so much, we’ll see if there’s a way we can leave and you can stay here. We won’t force you to fight him if you really prefer… all this.”
“It won’t work,” Ren says. “It’s been too long, he’s too powerful now. You’ll die.”
“I’ve already died once resisting the will of a self-proclaimed god, I don’t mind doing it again,” Haru says. “Besides isn’t that the best outcome for you? He’ll kill us and bring us back with no memories and you can continue on like none of this ever happened.”
“Haru, I don’t want that!”
“Why not? Didn’t you just say the versions of dead people are exactly the same as they were in our reality beyond being alive? So you shouldn't have anything to worry about!”
“That’s not–”
“Is killing us and replacing us a step too far? You’ll let him wipe our memories after we poured our hearts out to you explaining why we wanted to go back, but that’s where you draw the line?”
“I–” Ren doesn’t know what to say. “I didn’t want any of you to suffer.”
“We were already suffering,” Sumire says. “God these past few months, I thought I was crazy. Feeling wrong, looking at myself in the mirror and thinking my face is different. The others have too. We all felt like we were forgetting something. But we didn't say anything because ‘Ren said it was probably fine, just finals anxiety. Obviously Ren wouldn’t lie. Obviously Ren cares about us.’ Can you really care about someone if you don’t trust them to decide what would make them happy? If you don’t listen to them when they say this isn't what they want?”
Ren’s silent. He usually has a million and one ideas for things to say, but now? Nothing.
“I don’t particularly care if someone promises they’ll wield that power well,” Haru says, “you’ve made it abundantly clear that one person can not be trusted to have control over the lives of everyone in Tokyo.” She gets up and hands Sumire her coat, all in one elegant motion.
“...you know what’s worst?” Haru asks as they reach the door. “Despite it all, I can’t truly wish harm on you.”
And they disappear into the cold.
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