Just like my Kokuchou review, I put my entire summary into one post. So, of course, spoilers under the cut.
The story begins with a heroine named Eiar, who wakes up from a dream of flames engulfing and people shouting “die!” having been burned like a witch. Apparently she has a so called “witch eye” in which her eye turns red when he feels strong emotions. It’s because a woman would be a witch, she has lived her life as a man with the name Jed. So she lives in a tower far from town and disguises herself as a boy. She lives with a man who is the lord of the tower and also quite lazy (Jed scolds him a lot too and doesn’t hesitate to get annoyed at him).
Jed leaves the tower to head to work. She does handyman work (think like side quests in an RPG lol) like finding certain things or doing people’s chores for money or compensation. On her way, she encounters a merchant who is going on about murders that have been going on recently. She claims there’s a “black shadow” that has been mercilessly killing people. Like the constant snow in this town, she believes it may be the workings of a witch and hopes she isn’t cursed by talking about it. Jed disregards this and goes on her way.
She runs into a boy on her way who’s stealing from a merchant. She tries to chase after him, but he’s too quick and gets away. It’s than she encounters someone she’s acquainted with named, Lavan. He’s a nice young man who’s son of the head of the wolf family. He suggests she eat more since she’s out of breath easily and casually invites her to his mother’s place, Francisca. Suddenly, a ruckus is heard and Lugus seen telling a villager he needs to pay his debts. The city is governed by two factions, the wolf and falcon family. Lugus is the son of the head of the falcon family. The wolves try to easily harmonize with the town, while the falcons are more aggressive and strict.
Suddenly Lavan’s brother appears named Levi. He’s more brash and hot-headed so he charges in to tell Lugus off for bullying the townspeople. Just as they’re about to draw their swords, Lavan intervenes and tells them to consider their positions before drawing their swords. But that doesn’t stop the sparks to fly after Lugus’ sister named Tee arrives. Soon, Jed decides to intervene and says that theu should be ashamed of themselves since they’re both heads that need to protect the city, not frighten them. This finally gets them to withdraw. Right after that, Olga appears (the head of the falcon family aka Rugus and Tee’s father) and asks Jed’s name before finally departing.
When they arrive at Lavan’s home, Francisca greets Jed by hugging her tightly. They enjoy a hearty meal together and both Lavan and Levi end up leaving before dessert. They noticed Jed hadn’t been eating and wanted her to eat 3 people’s meals worth lol. Afterwords, Francisca apologizes that she had no choice but to leave their home. But regardless, will always consider her to be family even after raising her not as flesh and blood. She looks into her eyes and recites a legend that “one with red eyes will bring upon calamity”. It’s an old legend that everyone knows about a witch that will curse the city. This is why she cannot stay in her home of the wolves. Francisca is aware of her situation and that Jed is actually a girl. So after that, Jed thanks her for her meal and leaves to go back home.
On Jed’s way back, she spots a guy bullying the yellow haired boy she encountered before who was stealing. The bully has his rabbit and Jed intervenes telling him to give it back. He refuses, so Jed kicks his butt and he goes a runnin’! After that, he tells her his name is Elric. Jed suggests that he come back with her to home and will decide what to do with him tomorrow. So she takes him there and tries to change her clothes in her room since it was tight because of what she ate. As soon as she does though, Elric appears saying it looks like shes a smelly girl not a smelly guy lmao. So he finds out she’s actually a girl. Jed freaks out and tells him not to tell anyone. He jokes about telling but says he won’t. Although, Jed doesn’t really know if she can trust him.
The next day, Jed notices Elric is gone and goes to look for him. She looks all over town but can’t find him. She then remembers Elric acted strange when she mentioned a church. So she heads there and finds a man there. His name is Lawrence and he and Elric live in the church together. Jed explains the situation with Elric and he scolds him for causing ruckus in town. Lawrence takes care of Elric, who is an orphan, and took over the church. He knows she does handyman work so he asks a favor. He was supposed to attend the masquerade (which is held every year) and exhibit something called a ‘Kaleidovere’. The masquerade that is held strengthens the relationship between the two families. The ‘Kaleidovere’ is a symbol of peace between them as well. However, it mysteriously disappeared as he was preparing to display it. With it missing, it will most likely cause an uproar. So, worried about the relationship between the wolves and falcons, she accepts and says she’ll try and find it.
One day, Jed runs into Lugus who’s investigating a murder case. A knife with the falcon’s crest was left behind the crime scene. This leads Lugus to believe that either the wolves are responsible and are trying to frame the falcons, or it was a member of the falcon family. In any case scenario, this would look bad for the Falcon family. So in order to protect his father’s name, Lugus is investigating it. Lugus tells Jed he suspects her, and then goes on to ask about the wolf family in order to gather info. Before he can harass her any further though, Lavan intervenes and says he should ask him in person what he wants to know. They withdraw however, leaving Jed and him wondering about the case.
One day in town, Jed encounters a little girl making paper flowers. She makes one for her and then when Levi appears, she makes one for him too. Apparently he’s on patrol with Lavan and keeping a watch on the town. Lavan is clearly respected by the townspeople (and has a way with words lmao) which is why they always show him trust. Levi feels left out by it, so Jed makes a comment that she believes he’s respected by the townspeople too. He’s ecstatic to hear her say that and pats her head roughly. They then leave to continue their patrol.
So Jed asks around town about the Kaleidovere, but none of the townspeople or wolves had heard of it and the falcons refuse to talk about it. So Elric makes a suggestion dressing up as a girl in order to get information. Jed thinks on the idea, but doesn’t through with it until a clerk at a bar notices she’s looking at her boobs lmao. She find her interesting to begin with though and asks if she can put a wig on her. When dhe does, she goes on how she looks pretty and it suits her (thinking she’s still a guy lol). Jed ends up going home and putting on a dress and the Lord finds her and flirts with her saying she looks pretty all dressed up. She then heads to the church whereas Lawrence spots her and immediately knows its her (since Elric told him about her) she’s pissed he told her secret, but trusts they’ll keep it secret. While dressed as a girl, she encounters the falcon members who end up flirting with her basically (and trying to impress her) she doesn’t manage to gather any info unfortunately.
One day, Jed notices Lavan, and tries to call out to him. She’s then pulled into a narrow corner by Levi. He decided to skip put on his duties on his day off and doesn’t want to get lectured by Lavan. He starts rambling on and as soon as Jed notices Lavan about to spot them, she reversed the position and basically kabedon’s Levi, pushing them in the corner while trying to hide from Lavan. Levi starts to get kind of embarrassed due to how close they are, but Jed is confused since he did it to her first but he says it’s different when she does. Anyway, after that she accidentally makes him hit his head, she touches him but then he gets flustered again. He rustles her head and then leaves like normal.
Dressed as a woman, Jed encounters Lavan. She tripped because she wasn’t used to the shoes she was wearing and Lavan found her noticeably in pain. She tries to brush it off, but with Lavan being the gentleman he is, can’t overlook it. He picks her up and takes her to his mansion without realizing who she is. Jed pretending to be someone else, protests, but he insists. When he brings her there, he treats her twisted ankle and puts a bandage on it. She wonders if he’s always this kind to others, or perhaps he’s only showing such kindness because she’s dressed as a woman. Nevertheless she thanks him and manages to leave unnoticed.
When dressed as a woman, Jed goes to a bar to try and find out more about the Kaleidovere. She starts getting harrassed by drunk men though and thats when Levi intervenes to help her. He tries to start up a conversation and can’t help but notice that she looks similar to someone he knows (Jed whom he thinks is a guy) but obviously doesn’t realize who she really is. Suddenly some guys greet Levi and realize he’s with a woman and start teasing him. He apologizes on their behalf but she tells him she doesn’t mind and leaves before telling her to be careful when coming into the bar again.
Jed dresses as a woman again and bumps into the tavern woman who gave her the wig. She knows who she is and in order to keep her secret hidden, she does a favor for her. She says she wants to cut ties with someone and lets her know where to meet him. When Jed does meet him in the middle of the night, still dressed in women’s clothes, someone appears and kisses her unexpectedly. That certain someone was Lugus. She immediately slaps him and tells him that she’s not who he came to meet and that the person won’t be seeing him anymore. She then leaves embarrassed since nothing like that has ever happened to her before. The next day, Jed disguises as a woman again and Lugus recognizes her as the woman he accidentally kissed last night. He apologizes, even bows saying he made a mistake and didn’t think a random stranger would suddenly be involved. He asks if he’ll meet her again and she tells him she lives around, so most likely. Its then she encounters Tee, who was surprised to see Lugus bow towards her. She mentions how the masquerade typically has people come in pairs and says she shouldn’t think so highly of herself to think her brother would pick her as a partner.
Levi helps a little girl find her lost glove but accidentally falls into a narrow river that was covered by snow. Ked tries to help him but ends up falling in as well. They go back to his mansion and sit by the fire to warm up. Levi is insistent that Jed takes off her clothes to warm up and since obviously that would reveal she’s a woman she says she’s fine. He keeps insisting so she finally decides to take a different approach and ask if he wants to see her naked since he’s so insistent on it. He sputters and gets embarrassed saying he doesn’t so he finally lets it go. It’s then Jed notices a book he’s been reading and Levi reveals he always read this certain superhero book for a long time, longing to be like the character who said inspirational lines.
One day, Elric asks Jed for sword lessons so he can protect Usagi. Jed manages to help him out but he gets blisters on his hands from holding thr sword. Elric then tells Jed he has no memory up until he came to that town. Usagi was always with him since then, so he always knew he had to protect her. It was while he was traveling with Usagi that he met Lawrence, who took him into his church ever since.
A bit of tussle starts in the tavern with the wolves and falcons when Lugus comes in. In order to dispute the fight, Jed speaks up. In the end, its decided the one who wins a drinking game will be the one to issue a command, whether it be a representative of the wolves or falcons. Instead of alcohol, they drink a really strong health drink and Jed ends up drinking the most and winning. Lugus surprisingly admits defeat and asks what she requests. Jed says she wants the wolves and falcons to get along until the Masquerade. Thinking its an unreasonable request, Lavan intervenes and tells Jed to declare it. Meaning that, until the Masquerade, the wolves and falcons will have no choice but to get along. They decide to drink to celebrate but Jed has never drank before, and the moment she merely smells it she blacks out. When Jed wakes up, her head was on Lavan’s lap. He kept her cool while she was intoxicated by the smell of booze lmao. She gets up and thanks him and tells him she’s fine now. Thankfully, relations with the wolves and falcons are fine now and Lavan says its all thanks to her. After that, Jed is in much higher spirits and makes sure that she’ll find the ‘Kaleidovere’ so the Masquerade is a success.
While dressed as a woman, Jed encounters Lugus and Tee at a food stall thats selling honey buns. Lugus buys some for both Tee and Jed and they eat it together (quick scene but very cute nevertheless).
Jed finds Tee at the tavern who gets all embarrassed from seeing Jed since she has a crush on her. Suddenly Levi appears and they start arguing. In order to dispute the fight, she suggests they have some sort of contest. In the end, both Levi and Tee start pointing out all the good points about Jed. They scream how they love her and Jed interrupts loudly by saying thanks, but tells them they should keep it down since its embarrassing. Realizing they both just basically sounded like they proclaimed their love for Jed, they run out of the tavern together.
Lugus wants to know more about Jed but she knows she can’t tell him since she’s been living a life dressed as a man. Just then an old woman who’s trying to deliver tools to her husband appears. Jed immediately helps her and runs after the man. She finally catches up with him and delivers his tools. Lugus followed behind and realizes he found out something about her today. He then points out her skirt being up high so he fixes it before leaving lol.
Jed speaks to the old man who’s often at the tavern. She asks about the Kaleidovere which he happens to know a little about. She heard from Lawrence its a symbol of peace between the two families, but its actually the opposite. It was a symbol of conflict and kept by the church to not be seen since its something of a bad reminder. It also has a said power to be used, but beyond that the old man says this is just a fairy tale. He tells her she may find what she’s looking for if she leaves to the town square.
So Jed starts walking down the empty and foggy down square. She then feels hands on her face with the same tattoo as the old man. He tells her his name is Hugh and before she can say who she is, he tells her he already knows but came to deliver her something. He gives her something wrapped in cloth then fades away before telling her they’ll meet again. When she opens it up she finds its the kaleidovere. She brings it back and when she looks at it, she almost gets immersed by the light before Haitaka puts the cloth back on it. It’s then she goes to sleep and has a dream about a woman named Aria.
The next day Jed brings the Kaleidovere to Lawrence. She asks if he knows someone named Hugh and he says he may be the master of this world. Jed thinks he’s joking so leaves it at that. He then thanks her and so she leaves. After that, the festival has already started. As representatives of the wolf family, Lavan, Levi and Francisca are there wearing formal clothing. Levi then encounters Elric in a cat costume and pulls her away telling her to come with him. They bring her to a room and made her dress up in a beautiful dress and get all dolled up for the Masquerade. First, she dances with Lavan, then she eats with Levi, and after that she encounters Lugus again. Lugus dances with her and says he’s attracted to her. He asks her for her name so he can call out to her again and she tells him her real female name, Eiar. After that he leaves and she goes back to the tower and dances with Haitaka, telling him she had a lot of fun at the Masquerade.
The next day, Jed is still planning on leaving the town since thats what she promised herself to do after the Masquerade. She doesn’t intend to tell anyone, and thinks leaving silently is best. That very day she goes to visit Francisca at her mansion. She cooks for her and they talk a lot before Jed falls asleep. When she wakes up she starts to smell smoke and their made comes in saying the mansion is on fire. Jed immediately goes to look for Francisca. Finally, she finds her standing at the entrance of the mansion in a calm state. Jed tells her to hurry and escape with her, but she tells her she can’t. Voices outside are yelling to burn Francisca the witch. Apparently Olga ordered the hawks to do so claiming Francisca was the witch. Jed is in disbelief but still tries to convince her. Francisca then commands Jed to leave as a leader of the wolf faction. This way, she’ll die known as the witch so Jed won’t be suspected. She tells her to not give the Kaleidovere to Olga before opening the front entrance of the mansion.
She greets the mob as the witch and Olga orders them to shoot her. She’s killed and Jed despairs before making her escape out the back door as Francisca requested. When Jed comes out, she finds Lugus there. In admist a fit of rage she yells at him saying its the wolves fault Francisca died. She tries attacking him but he pins her to a tree. Her eyes turn red due to her anger, revealing she was the witch and the person who Lugus always thought of. She yells saying that she should’ve died instead of Francisca before escaping Lugus. She runs to the church to beg Lawrence to give her the Kaleidovere. He’s hesitant at first, but believes there’s a reason why Hugh gave it to her. So he gives it to her and she goes home to rest.
When Jed wakes up, Elric is in front of her. He tells her the town is in chaos and there’s conflict between the wolves and falcons due to the killing of the wolves leader. He also says Lavan and Levi are in hiding. Jed begs Elric do help find the two of them while she stays in the tower. So Elric leaves for a few days and one day she hears a knock at her door. There, she finds Lavan and Levi. She’s immediately happy to see them and invites them in. After speaking normally they finally talk about what happened. With the two families in conflict, they both want revenge on the falcons. They decide they’re going to attack the falcons but don’t want Jed to get involved with their family affairs. After they leave, days pass and Jed is frustrated to the point where she demands Elric to find them and leaves the tower.
Jed notices a familar presence and suspects it to be Hugh. So she follows after him and finds herself in a place full of snowdrop flowers. Suddenly, Lugus appears demanding the Kaleidovere. Jed refuses and so they draw their swords and fight each other. Lugus has the upper hand in strength and manages to knock her down in defeat. He says he’ll spare her if he hands it over but suddenly Hugh appears, protecting Jed and saying its rude to draw his sword against a woman. He fends him off and he soon escapes. He starts talking in riddles of how he’s been interested in Jed ever since he talked to her at the bar (as the old man), but Jed doesn’t have time to think about it because Lavan and Levi show up. They notice she’s basically being embraced by him and Jed shoves Hugh away. Levi asks why two men are embracing each other like that and Hugh confirms one of them is not a man aka Jed.
Her shirt was slightly ripped due to Lugus almost cutting her, and her chest was slightly exposed revealing her gender as a woman. Lavan quickly lends her his coat and Levi stands there in shock. However, Lavan reveals he already knew, but Levi was shocked and clearly didn’t know. Lavan goes on ahead asking Levi to walk her back. Jed tells Levi that Francisca was the one who told her to live that way and knew about her secret as well. This makes Levi feel like he was the only one who didn’t know but Jed tries to tell him that she didn’t know Lavan knew too. Anyway, because of the circumstances their relationship is more awkward and distant. Jed wants the two of them to trust them so she consults Lawrence then decides to speak honestly with them in the church.
It starts off with a bad atmosphere, but Jed mentions a past memory they shared together as kids where they searching the forest and were scared thinking they heard the voice of a witch. Jed then finally reveals that she’s the witch, after making her eye glow red. After a long silence, Lavan says he considered this a possibility, but didn’t think it was true. Levi says that if she has power of destruction though, they can defeat the falcons. But Jed says she doesn’t, proving Levi’s point that she isn’t a witch then if she doesn’t have those sort of wicked powers. Jed is relieved the two of them accepted her. They both apologize for the way they acted and Jed suggests they go to her place eat to eat. When they arrive at the tower, suddenly they’re greeted by Haitaka. Levi and Lavan’s reactions are stiff and Levi immediately runs out the door. Jed tries to chase after him and ends up falli g and cutting herself. She eventually manages to find Levi near a river and tries to call out to him. He just gets more and more aggressive through and when he sees Jed’s blood he loses it and attacks her with the hawk’s dagger. He slashes her down and she falls into a river.
When Jed wakes up, she’s in her bed. Lugus comes in and notices she’s awake. Apparently he found her and tpok her to the tower, the nearest shelter. He thinks they’re in a stranger’s tower so Jed doesn’t reveal its actually her home. Jed is still hostile towards him, and he makes her a tray of food. She tries to decline bit the hunger gets the better of her so she eats it (even though it tastes bad lol). She then accidently spills her cup of water on her, so Lugus tries to help her change her shirt. Just as he’s unbottoning her shirt he says “they’re not there”. Jed is confused at first but soon realizes he’s talking about her boobs lmao. He then kicks him in the gut and says if he touches there again she’ll kill him lmao.
Finally, while Jed is able to move again she makes food for the both of them. She asks why he helped her and he says its because he wanted to. She demands to know why Francisca was killed and he says it was necessary. Jed gets pissed and Lugus tells her that Olga and Francisca were siblings. He tells her that Francisca was actually the one who started conflict by pulling the strings of the killings in the town. Jed can’t believe what she’s hearing, but considers the possibility that Levi was commanded by someone to kill.
After that, Lugus reveals that he used to live in the tower before being taken by Olga, who isn’t his real father. Suddenly, Hugh appears and teases them for a bit before getting to his actual point. He says there’s no point for Olga obtaining the Kaleidovere without the manastones intact. He says the manastones are powerful enough to take people’s negative emotions and basically make them go crazy. So the reason Levi, or even Olga are acting the way they are could be due to the manastones (depending on their willpower). There are 4 manastones in total. Levi, Olga, and evrn Lavan (who keeps it hidden somewhere) all have one. The last one is unknown but can be found if you have the other three. Jed then remembers it seemed like Haitaka knew something and so Hugh tells her she can meet him at midnight.
So that night, Jed leaves a letter for Lugus thanking him before departing into the forest on her own. Lugus is greeted by Tee and they end up leaving the tower. Jed follows Hugh deep into the forest until she reaches a graveyard. There, she finds Haitaka at Francisca’s grave. He remembered that he was close friends with her. Olga and Francisca were close so he doesn’t believe Olga would do such a thing. However, this makes Jed realize that its possible Francisca did everything of her own violation since she doesn’t have a manastone. She doesn’t want to believe it, but doesn’t know who the real Francisca was or if why she concealed the truth. Haitaka continues to distantly reminiscence about how he spent his time happily with “them”, basically unaware of Jed’s presence. Hugh asks Jed if she found an answer, and she says she has and is going to find out the entire truth somehow. Hugh says its possible and should use her ‘witch’ power which can allow her to feel the emotions and memories of people. Hugh tells her its possible she may see things she doesn’t want to see, but this is the way to find the truth she’s seeking.
Jed goes back to the church and Lawrence allows her to stay there in order to hide since she can’t go to the tower. She tells him the situation about the manastones, where she’s been, and her supposed witch power. So she stays the night there and tells Elric to let Lavan know she wants to meet him. So the night of the next day, Jed waits in the church for Lavan. When he appears, he has a ragged appearance and embraces Jed nearly in tears when he sees she’s alive. Suddenly, her eye turns red and she sees a glow on Lavan’s chest, where his manastone is. She let’s her power take over and she’s taken into a distorted world where she finds Lavan and his deep hatred for his father. But among the darkness, she finds light. A light where she’s with him in her childhood.
When she’s back into reality, she realized she’d seen Lavan’s heart for the first time. They then talk in her room and she tells him about Levi and how he’s the one behind the murders. She also tells him she heard Francisca was the one behind it. Lavan gets pissed at this accusation at first but then calms down and starts saying its his fault for not being a good enough leader of the wolves. He goes on about how his father abandoned them and that he’s just like him for not being able to stop Levi or Francisca. Jed tells him not to talk like that about himself and he calls her kind and strong. He then figures out she read his heart but in addition to that, she saw his feelings for her. So just as he’s about to leave, she tells him to stay. This in itself leads to him wondering if she knows what that means and draws closer to her. She says he can sleep in this room while she sleeps elsewhere, but he reaffirms she knows what he means. She then tells him that she wants him to stay with her since so much has happened already. He says he understands and kisses her ((only if you ask for him to stay he kisses her but he has feelings for her either way so… yeah)).
The next day, Jed dresses as a woman to take a look at the state of the town which is still full of conflict between the wolves and falcons. That night Elric tells Jed he may have spotted Levi. So Jed immediately runs out to the foggy town to look for him. Elric runs after her and leads the way. They find themselves in a dark alleyway where they find Levi in the state of a wild beast. He tries to attack them but she manages to get a chance to use her power and look into his heart. She finds him thoroughly trying to wash the blood of his hands in a river. Jed goes up to him and takes his hand, trying to warm it. When she’s brought back to reality, he lunges at her and stabs his own hand while pinning her to a wall.
He starts biting her shoulder to endure it and after a while, he finally regains control of himself. Elric calls them idiots and says Lawrence can treat their wounds. They head back to the church and after Lawrence treats them, Lavan appears thanks to Elric bringing him. After a long silence, Lavan finally asks him if he actually killed people. Levi confirms it to be true, but the first time it was just by chance. There was someone causing trouble in the town so he decided to confront them. He hit them to surprise them but as soon as he bled from the mouth, he went overboard due to an excitement welling up and ended up killing him. It was the first time he realized he liked killing. Not only that, but the first person he told was Francisca. And when he did, she praised him for it. But in order for him not to get caught, she gave him the knife of a hawk. So he came to love killing more and more because he also got praised by Francisca ((man that is fucked up 😨)). She told him he’d dirty his hands instead of Lavan and thanked him for it. So he murdered those who troubled them for the sake of his family. In Jed’s case when he saw his blood and attack him, it drove him to lose sight of himself and have a killing instinct.
Suddenly, Hugh appears, much to everyone’s surprise and asks since when Levi had the manastone. Lavan explains they found them when they were kids, and had them ever since. Jed also confirms that the manastone may have influenced Levi to kill, but it was still his own influence so there’s no way to know if the manastone is completely at fault. Hugh then takes his leave and Jed takes Levi’s manastone to keep him safe but Lavan keeps his with him. That night, Jed hears groans from Levi’s room and goes to check up on him. While being gnawed with regret, he starts trembling in fear of himself and how he wanted to kill Jed. So Jed comforts him and tells him its okay since she’s alive and well now. Levi starts falling into a trance and says how he’s glad she was there to help him and that he loves her. Jed didn’t know what sort of meaning was behind that, but Levi suddenly groans in pain from his hand injury and the atmosphere changes. He believes though that the injury to his hand is a sort of way to atone for his sins.
The next day, Olga is still searching for the Kaleidovere and the wolf sons and tells Lugus to be on the lookout. Tee seems more anxious noticing Olga’s strange behavior but Lugus comforts her. Jed spots Lugus and Tee hugging each other and strangely feels anxious about it (probably because they’re not blood related and she feels jealous). When she gets back to the church, she talks with Lavan and Levi their plans to strike Olga. They want to try and gather allies from the falcons as well as the wolves in order to take down Olga. Immediately after Lawrence suggests Lugus, Jed winces and they all wonder if something happened when he saved her lol. That night, Jed has a dream of when Lugus was taking care of her but then Francisca’s voice saying that man murdered her wakes her up.
The next morning, Jed decides to try and find Lugus so she heads to the place with the snowdrop flowers. There, she finds Tee picking flowers for her father. It’s then she decides to seduce Tee ((I couldn’t believe Jed did this omg)) and tell her she’s in a bad situation right now and needs her help. She scoops up her hair and places her hand on her chin and asks her to take the ring Olga has. She tells her it has a dangerous power and thats why her father is so gloomy all the time. Jed says she’ll be waiting and so Tee leaves. After that, Tee tries searching her father’s throne room while he’s taking a bath. Just as she peeks into a jewelry box, Olga finds her and angrily asks what she’s doing. She stutters in surprise and realizes her father is no longer the man she knew. He suddenly cuts her down and it fades to black.
Meanwhile, Jed waits patiently for Tee to appear. She then sees a distant figure; its Tee covered in blood. Jed immediately calls out to her and brings her to the church so Lawrence can tend to her wounds. Jed starts to hear a voice mocking her; telling she involved an innocent girl for her own selfish wishes. She yells out for it to stop then rushed outside and runs to where the snowdrops are. There, Hugh appears and notices her in distress. She starts bawling for a while out of guilt for taking advantage of Tee’s feelings. After that, Hugh speaks of a story of two butterflies that die while traveling through snow in search of spring. After Hugh leaves, Jed decides to go check on Tee.
When she checks up on her, she’s in a state of shock and won’t speak. Jed urgently apologizes and tells her she deceived her this entire time because she’s actually a girl but Tee has no response. Lawrence says it’ll take time for her to recover so she decides to check up on her in the morning. She’s slowly recovering but still not speaking. She’s also forgotten about Jed and Olga because of what happened with her own father slaughtering her. Lavan soon appears and hears the news that Olga killed Tee, but Jed instinctively denies it even though Lavan figured as much. Back in Olga’s throne room, Lugus is furious that Olga would do such a thing. He believes he’s become a cold-hearted beast. Even so, Olga tells him he’ll obtain his wish and if he gets in his way, he’ll kill him.
In the meantime, Lavan, Levi and Jed discuss their plans to attack Olga. Lavan leaves the job of speaking to Lugus to Jed so they can recruit him as well. After that, Jed continues to try and speak with Tee. That night, Lugus appears in the chapel to meet with Jed as promised. He talks about his past and how his father made stained glass and the church’s as well. Even Olga taught him to use power instead of power to lead people. However, his father is now corrupt and wants nothing but power. Its for that reason Lugus already decided he’d fight with them even before Jed had asked. After that, Jed brings Lugus to see Tee. When he does, she finally manages to speak and as Jed starts to cry, Tee thanks her for watching over her as Jed continuously apologizes.
A few days pass, with Lugus on their side they finally have more recruitment on their side. Lugus tells them not to show any hesitation regardless or not the manastone is controlling him. Regardless of his past with him, he’s made the resolution to kill him if he must. That night, they gather with about 100 men and swear that they will regain peace for the city. So they head towards Olga’s mansion and a maid tries to leave. Just then a soldier from inside calls her a traitor and murders her. It’s then the fighting starts and everyone begins fighting. Suddenly Hugh appears from the sidelines to guide Jed into the mansion. They fight through some soldiers and manage to sneak in through the window. From there, Hugh fends off some soldiers so Jed can head to Olga’s room. Once Jed makes it there and opens the door, she’s greeted by Olga.
They immediately begin to fight, sword in hand. Olga has the upper strength for the time being but Jed manages to over power him with the power of her eye, its then Olga loses all focus and calls her Aria. It’s then Jed aims her sword at his neck and demands the manastone since that is what’s causing him to go mad. After that he just laughs saying its the city that had gone mad when they deprived him of Aria and so now he’ll get her back. He gets back on his feet and regains his sword. Just before he can attack Jed though Haitaka appears asking if he’d kill his own daughter. In admist confusion, soon Levi and Lavan appear as well and once they see Haitaka, they call him father. It’s then Hugh appears and collects Olga’s remaining manastone and brings them together. Jed’s eye reacts to it and she’s pulled into the past, back when spring still existed.
It was just months before the masquerade. Aria was excited about her upcoming wedding ceremony with Olga on the day of the masquerade. She invited April (Haitaka) and Francisca as well. Olga who was head of the falcons and April who was head of the wolves. One winter night, Olga and April have a drink at the bar together. April said he made a kaleidovere with stones on it to give to their sons when they grow up. Unfortunately, Francisca’s marriage with April isn’t doing well and he keeps going on about wanting to be a free man. Olga is making a snowdrop pendant to give to Aria. Its then a traveler appears (Hugh) and explains to them the power of the kaleidovere. He says its a cursed tool that connects the real world to the world of the dead. The place between the two worlds is called–Psychedelica.
So as days pass the winter gets harsher. People start to make a rumor that it’s a witches doing, which some start to believe, even Francisca. One day, Franscia is waiting for April to return home since he never does (also suspects he’s out having an affair with Aria for some reason), and goes outside a bit. She runs into a man and his son who know Aria and who are having troubles because the weather is so bad and the dad has no job. She starts telling the man it’s the fault of a witch the winters are so harsh. She tells hin that they’re hiding their identity and has red glowing eyes. And, knowing Aria is someone with glowing eyes, insinuates he may know someone like that. And if someone did kill the witch, they’d be rewarded with luxuries and a warm home (basically she’s bribing him to kill Aria). The man finally speaks up hearing rumors Aria may be a witch. Francisca tells him that they must tell the townspeople but make sure it doesn’t reach the witch’s ears. She then gives the man money for telling him ((this woman is a manipulative bitch wow)). She tells him she’ll be alone and is more immobile since she’s pregnant.
That night, Francisca convinces her brother Olga to leave and pick snowdrops for the birth of his and Aria’s child. Olga doesn’t want to leave Aria alone but she manages to convince him since he starts to believe thats what April did for her when she was pregnant (obvs not). After that, villagers surround the mansion and light it on fire, demanding the witch be killed. Aria tries to escape the flames with her newborn she birthed while trying to escape. Her baby continues to cry so she gives the pendant Olga made for her. Just as she collapses on the ground, Francisca says she’ll take her and her brother’s child, or maybe April’s. She believes its a fitting end for her who took her loved one and brother from her. Regardless, Aria begs Francisca to take her child and make her happy. Franscia does so and leaves her to die in the flames.
When Olga returns to the mansion, he finds it in ashes. He searches the burnt mansion in search for Aria and finally he finds her scorched hand, but when he takes a hold of it, it turns to ash and he screams in despair. In the church, the townspeople that put the mansion on fire gathered there as if to atone for their sins. They continued to speak it was for the sake of the town they killed the witch. It’s then the door of the church opens and Olga appears. He begins to slaughter all of the townspeople one by one. Eventually he gets to the man who Francisca bribed and asked who said Aria was a witch. He tells him it was his own sister, Franscia. It shocks him, but he believes it, and then kills him as well. Olga then notices the Kaleidovere, kept in the church and remembers what Hugh had said about the power to see someone who died.
Soon April hears about the situation and immediately leaves his manor to search for Olga who had slaughtered people in the church. Its then he encounters Francisca, holding Aria’s newborn baby. Francisca smiles saying there was no other way for him and her brother to come back to her ((god this girl is a nut)). April leaves saying he’ll speak with her later and follows Olga’s bloody footsteps into the forest where he finds a tower. He climbs up it to find Olga there with the Kaleidovere and bloodied aword in hand. April demands answers and Olga says to ask his wife, whom is no longer his sister to him anymore. April wants to return to those happy times they had, but Olga says if he tries to stop him, he’ll cut him down as well. They then start to fight and slash at one another. April manages to slash Olga’s eye and Olga gouged out his in return ((ew)). Soon, Olga pushes April to a ledge where he fell off, calling Olga’s name. Olga felt no remorse and instead tried to use the Kaleidovere to see Aria again, but it didn’t work (it didn’t have all the jewels in place, but he didn’t know that at the time). He throws the Kaleidovere in despair and soon the entire city is continuously enveloped in snow and their memories of that day fade.
Back in the present, Jed snaps back into reality after seeing the past. Hugh explains to Olga the world they’re in is actually the psychedelica that he and april created. But since it was missing a manastone at the time, it was incomplete when created. Right now they’re between life and death, or rather their dead. Their town was crushed and destroyed by the snow. And they’re now ghosts living between life and death as they gradually forgot the events they wanted to forget. The people get riled up over this and don’t believe his words. They then chant they should kill the witch, or Jed, who’s eye glows red since they believe she’s the cause. It’s then Lugus restrains Jed (while she’s just in shock) and Olga. He takes Jed to an attic, where he says he’ll decide what to do with her later.
While Jed is thinking about what to do and everything she’s learned, Haitaka appears. He tells her that this world is most likely a fabrication of Olga and his wishes that never came true. He goes on to say he’s disqualified as a friend, a husband, and a father. Jed tells him otherwise though and that even if know one else believes it, he helped her in her times of loneliness. It’s then he suggests she run away with him so she can escape but she declines and wants to know the outcome of this situation.
She asks if Haitaka knows what this world is and he tells her it’s a place where dead souls wander in a sense. But it’s a world that’ll continue to cycle through despair and fear of a witch wven if she’s killed. She wonders if there’s a way they can live peacefully, and Haitaka mentiond if the Kaleidovere is completed there may be a way to disconnect the worlds. But connecting to the present world is accepting the death of the world their living in. In which their memories and everything will disappear. Jed doesn’t know what she wants, but she knows she wants the happiness of others. Before Haitaka leaves, he tells her to consider her own happiness.
The next morning, Jed is escorted outside by a solider with a crowd of villagers nearby. They all yell out to her how she’s a witch and that she deceived them by pretending to be a man. It’s then Lavan and Levi appear, held back by soldiers, exclaiming the townspeople should know better than anyone that Jed is no witch. Even when Jed tries to tell them otherwise, they won’t listen and even start to say Francisca’s death was her fault. They start to throw stones at her as Levi and Lavan yell at them to stop. She’s escorted by the soldier to a prison and Levi swears they’ll rescue her.
While stuck in a cell, Jed almost attempts to gouge her eye out since it’s the cause of this but Hugh appears and stops her since it”s meaningless. He asks if she still wants to save the town even after what they’ve done. With the Kaleidovere, she can erase and end the sorrow. But if she continues down the path she’s in, she’ll only suffer until someone else takes her place. He reminds her though she can’t do anything without the remaining manastone. And, since she’s forgotten, he reminds her of a past memory that’ll give her the answer. It was when Jed, Lavan, Levi and Lugus were kids.
They found the Kaleidovere Olga dropped from the tower and noticed their jewels matched the inside of it. It was then the manastones react with one another and just before the world could open, it was closed off by a voice. It was then Jed’s pendant broke and the manastone went inside her eye. Which is why it turned red and reacted to the other manastones. Jed asks how to use it with the other manastones and he says she’d have to die since it’s connected to her soul now. So if she dies, she can’t use it, so she’d have to entrust it to someone else. Not only that, but if she does die in this world, her soul would be lost forever in hell (Naraku is what they called it in Kokuchou too which means hell). Although there is one other option he has for her and that’s to stop thinking about it all and go with him. But she tells him she won’t run away. And so, he makes for an opportunity to go meet those she wants to meet and shapeshifts into her. He gives her woman’s clothing to disguise herself while he stays in the cell so she can try and meet the others.
So, she disguises as a woman and hears the town talking about what should be done with her. She visits rhe church where Lawrence and Elric were waiting to finally see her again. They already heard from the townspeople what happened. Elric wonders if its really true and Lawrence confirms his believes because he’s experienced Psychedelica himself. He explains there was a girl he knew that was forced to make a choice of reality or illusion. And she choice reality, which she’s living right now is what he believes. But regardless of the fact he’s not with her, he’s happy that she’s able to live happy. Elric though, wears a questionable look and doesn’t seem to understand what Lawrence is referring to. After that, Jed goes to visit Tee who asks her to save her father.
Jed visits Haitaka at the top of the tower. He knew about the situation regarding her and that she’d die in order to regain reality. He tells her he could love or rather didn’t know how to love Francisca, so the two could never overlap their feelings. Jed then requests he gives her a charm like he did before and he kisses her eye.
Jed goes back to the prison and Hugh says she has a guest whom she should speak with. Olga was in the cell next to hers so she decided to speak out to him. She said she’s similar to Aria and then she asked if he’s her father, whereas he declines saying he only has one daughter, that being Tee. Olga calls out to Hugh (as Haku, someone who served Olga but was actually Hugh) and asks him what would happen to this world if he died. Hugh tells him the world may disappear, but its unlikely since its a world made by memories of the people and April. Olga then asks Jed to kill him, since he wants to be free free from the world he’s currently in and see Aria again. Jed hesitates but decides to take some time to decide first.
Jed walks down the pathway and suddenly Levi pulls her into an alleyway, scaring her lol. He was surprised to see she escaped, but she tells him only temporarily. She’ll have to go back or she’ll be looked for and it won’t change anything regardless. But Levi won’t accept it and tells her that she’s not a witch and she should consider her well being more. He starts crying saying that her being a witch is irrelevant and she’s still her, she’s still the Jed he’s come to know. He begs her to think of herself more and her own well-being. His hand starts to bleed from his wound opening up but he doesn’t care because unlike him, she’s being punished even though it was him who committed so many sins. Jed starts to say being under the sun suits him, before leaving. As she runs off, he promises he’ll save her.
Jed heads towards the field with the snowdrops and finds Lugus there. She’s afraid if he sees her, he’ll take her back to the cell. But she decides its for the best if she tries to talk with him. So she slowly approaches him as he spots her. Just as they meet slowly without speaking, he strongly grabs her arm. He doesn’t say anything but instead draws her close and kisses her. He reveals he captured her so she wouldn’t be killed ((this is honestly what I speculated)) since confining her would be the best way to avoid her getting murdered in a situation like that. In addition, the boy who told his father he heard Aria say she was a witch was Lugus. Which is how Francisca was able to have Aria killed. So Lugus blames himself for what happened and the fact that he gave his manastone to Olga ((in reality it’s all Franscia’s fault 😑)). She asks what he wants and he says he wants to save the town. But not in the state its in, he wants it to be bright again. Regardless, if she chooses to run he’ll let her, but if not, he’ll kill her with his own hands.
Jed meets Lavan in the middle of the night in the town plaza. He immediately grabs onto her and desperately apologizes for not being able to do anything even while being the head of the wolves. Jed tells him its okay but he just holds her tighter and tells her he loves her. He tells her he doesn’t need a world where everyone calls her a witch. She can’t answer his feelings right now so she leaves to go back in order to make a decision.
— Characters + Ends —
Lavan (CV: Satoshi Hino) is the kind reliable older brother type and the leader of the wolf clan. He he’s kind, smart, and has a strong sense of responsibility. He’s always known that Jed was a girl. At first he was jealous of how his mother treated her (plus he thought she was his father’s mistress’ child probably because of Francisca believing this) but came to like her over time. His feelings are more obvious in scenes since its not hard to figure out he knew she was a girl because of this (I think they purposely tried to make it obvious though). He’s had a deep hatred for his father ever since he was young and always believed he abandoned them before dying and left Francisca alone which is why he tried so hard to become this perfect leader. When Jed looked into his heart, that’s pretty much what she saw aside from his intense feelings for her lol. Lavan was clearly the straightforward type and his feelings for Jed were immense and true. I thought his ending lacked romance but then I remembered all of that was literally in the common route. Tbh, I didn’t really understand his hatred for his father aka April at first. Then I realized it made sense because he was never around and didn’t show the affection his kids deserved (which is what April was so regretful of and why he was so lonely).
Lavan End
—
Jed is brought to a mansion that looks similar to Francisca’s (the one burned down) where Lavan and Lugus greet her. Lavan gets straight to the point and asks Lugus to release her since it’s only speculation she’s a witch. However this isn’t enough so Lugus asks if there’s any grounds to believe him and he says there is. Next, he states that Jed is his wife. He tells them the wolf’s leader’s wife cannot be a witch. He asks if he’ll kill the wolf’s leader’s wife after already having the falcon’s leader’s wife murdered (this would probably cause even more conflict is my guess). He tells them it’d be the same situation as Francisca, where they murdered her even after she ended up not being the witch. Murdering someone innocent on mere speculation. So if they do attack or try to kill Jed, or his wife, the wolves would get revenge. Lugus asks to confirm it from Jed, and she goes along with it and says its true. Lavan will not cooperate with his wife confined. Lugus wants to avoid conflict as much as possible, so he decides to release Lavan’s wife to him.
Jed thanks Lavan for helping her but Lavan tells her its fine if she doesn’t become his real wife since its a title that’ll keep her safe. After that, she goes outside and the townspeople treat her as though she’s not a witch anymore. Although there are still people who give her wary eyes so she tries to avoid their gaze. So after that, Jed starts to live as the wolf’s leader’s wife. She doesn’t go outside often since she’s still afraid and unfortunately she doesn’t see Lavan much because he’s usually busy with work and has become a lot more distant. Soon even Levi leaves the mansion since things are awkward with them as newlyweds and he has a lot to think about. After that, Lavan comes home noticing Levi left. He also sees she’s looking at an old picture with Haitaka, or April, his father. He takes it and slams it on the ground. She realizes he still hasn’t forgiven his father and his worse fear is becoming like him. He starts saying he’s bound Jed into his own affairs with the wolf’s family but she assures him he saved her and she’s not bound by anything. She believes Haitaka still love him but Lavan doesn’t want to accept him. So, unsure of what to do for Lavan she decides to go meet Haitaka personally.
When she goes to the tower, she finds Haitaka after calling out to him. She immediately starts yelling out how he said he loved Francisca so he must love his sons as well. She wants him to go convey how he feels to Lavan. However, he gets her to explain her situation first. Regardless, he believes her words are whats best since he probably won’t forgiven anyway. He knows this is her love she feels for him, so she needs to convey her own feelings to him first if she wants to help him. After she leaves, Haitaks notices Lavan was listening. He gives him his ring back now that he has the resolve to protect the city he abandoned.
On Jed’s way back from the forest, Lavan calls out to her. Jed then says there’s something she wants to talk about with him, so they go to the church to talk privately. She reminds him of when they mimicked a wedding ceremony although Lavan knew at the time she was a woman. And even though it was pretend, they’ve become husband and wife now. He confirms its just a title, but she tells him he’s wrong. She’s realized she’s always longed for him and confesses she loves him. He then formally asks for her to become his wife and she says yes as they kiss under the moonlit church.
—
Levi (CV: Saitou Souma) Lavan’s younger brother and part of the wolf family. He’s very brash and outspoken, but also usually pretty cheerful. He can be lazy when it comes to his duties so he’s not as responsible as Lavan in that regard. Unfortunately for Levi, he’s always scolded by Francisca unlike Lavan who’s always been praised. This goes beyond favoritism between brothers though because this is one of the reasons Levi started killing people. Yep, this cheerful boy is a serial killer! Color me surprised. At first I was totally wtf at this but Francisca is actually the one who encouraged him after finding out about his first killing. She made him into a killer to rid of unnecessary people. Pretty screwed up, honestly. Even so, he’s always admired Jed for basically being his best friend, regardless of gender. Unlike Lavan, he never knew that Jed was a woman. When Jed looked into his heart, she saw him constantly wash his hands in the river to wash off the smell of the blood. Jed took them and warmed them up, making him forget about the hypothetical blood on his hands. Levi’s situation is the most fucked up because his own mother turned him into a serial killer for her own selfish reasons.
Levi End
—
Jed is escorted to the town where she has her hearing and is judged by the townspeople. She’s accused of being a witch because of her red eyes and the reason for many killings including the “black shadow” ones. After this is mentioned, Levi speaks up and yells out to the townspeople he’s the one behind the killings. The town riles up in confusion and fear as Levi stands up at the podium declairing his crimes and showing his murder weapon as proof. He’s willing to pay for the crimes he’s committed but won’t allow Jed to be judged for doing nothing. Lavan confirms it to be true as well. Lugus tells them that there was never any witch to begin with and Jed is just a mere girl.
After that, Lavan comes to the prison to let Jed out since there’s no longer any reason for her to be held captive. He takes her back to his new mansion and tells her Levi has been locked in the same prison as hers as ordered by him. He doesn’t know what sort of punishment he’ll receive though. Jed asks if she can see him but Lavan recommends she doesn’t visit for a while otherwise it’ll draw suspicions since she was just suspected of being a witch. Nevertheless, he’ll let her give him letters that Lavan will give personally when he sees him. So she writes a letter to him and gives it to Lavan to deliver it to him. So after a month of sending each other letters, Lavan says she can finally see Levi.
When Lavan and Jed make it to the prison he’s locked in, Jed happily greets Levi after a long time. Lavan reveals that he wants Jed to prepare Levi’s meals each day. She happily accepts since its an indirect way of letting the two of them speak and see each other. So days continue to pass as Jed brings Levi his food everyday and they talk about various things. One night, Jed made a soup that took a while so she left pretty late to see Levi. After giving him his meal, it was already late and cold outside so she decided to stay the night with him. She stayed next to him as he was behind bars. They talked about realizing their feelings for one another and Levi brought up how he’ll probably be executed. Jed is devastated, but its only natural after what he’s done. She starts crying saying she doesn’t want to lose him. He says that if he does manage to get out of his situation he’d want to live with her. He grabs her hand and kisses it and tells her he loves her.
The next morning Jed goes back to the mansion and encounters Lavan. He tells her Levi has been sentenced to be banished from the town. Although his life is spared, in a town where there’s nothing but a forest and harsh weather, he’d merely die a slow and painful death alone. Those who help him as well will suffer the same fate which means Jed helping him would mean she’d be banished as well. Nevertheless, Jed runs back to the prison even after Lavan tries to stop her. There, she finds a letter left by Levi that said sorry and thank you. She immediately runs after him and finds him by the snowdrop flower field. She runs up to him telling him she wants to go with him. Regardless of where they go, she wants to be with him because she loves him. They embrace in the cold and he thanks her.
—
Lugus (CV: Furukawa Makoto) os the adopted son of Olga and older brother of Tee who was also adopted into the Falcon family. Only he’s very serious, strict, and intimidating to a lot of the townspeople. His father was a stain glass maker and made the stained glass in the church. His father was eventually killed by Olga due to revenge for the townspeople. With nowhere to go, he almost killed himself on top of the tower where Haitaka resided. Haitaka stopped him and told him to go to the orphanage. That’s where Olga picked him up and adopted him as his son. He was raised to become strong, worthy of becoming the next falcon head. The reason Olga adopted him in the first place is because he claimed he had eyes of a falcon. His first real encounter with Jed is when she’s dressed as a girl. From then on (after mistaking her for someone else and kissing her) he was drawn to her. He’d often request to meet her and would have the cutest encounters. I think my favorite was when he was trying to make his way somewhere using a map but he has literally no sense of direction whatsoever lmao. During the masquerade he asked for her real name, which she told him only ((he was also literally the only one who called her by her real name even in the more true end)). Lugus is the obvious ‘true route’ or ‘canon route’ I guess you could say. Which I’m totally fine with because he ended up being my favorite. Not even because his story felt ‘finished’ but I adore kuuderes and types who act cool and calm but are actually really adorable when you get close to them.
Lugus end
—
Jed is asked by Olga to kill him but she doesn’t know how to react or what she should do. Eventually, Lugus appears before Olga to announce his crimes and decide how he’ll be punished. Olga just tells him he’ll eventually lose the trust of the people who believe in him now. Nevertheless, he leaves saying he’ll soon decide on how to dispose of him. Jed tries to speak with Olga, but he gives her no answer. A couple days later, Lugus appears and tells Olga they’ve decided on an honorable death for him and when to choose it. He hands him a bottle poison to kill himself with. As Olga takes it, Jed begs him not to do it and bangs on the cell’s bars. Olga says there’s a chance this world will end as small as it may be if he dies. Nevertheless, Jed doesn’t want him to throw away his life so easily or see his own son declare his death. It’s then Olga finally speaks up and says Jed has become a fine daughter.
Olga goes on to say he found Lugus in an orphanage and he suffered from the guilt of his parents so Olga ordered him to burn his arms as a sign of penance. Jed wonders why he took him in as his soon and he says it’s because he had cold hard eyes like a falcon. He grew up to be strong because he made him as such. After that, Olga takes the poison swiftly and falls to the ground. He mutters “this is best” before dying on the ground. Jed cries in despair and Lugus, who witnessed it all, appears. He knew his father wanted to die and this was his wish. He also goes to explain that he planned out the scenario for him to die and the bottle of poision to be rolled over to the witch who kills herself, or so that is whats told to the townspeople. In the end, Jed is able to live in the attic of Lugus’ mansion. Eveyone believes she’s dead so she’s only able to go outside during the masquerade. On the day of the next masquerade, Lugus apologizes to her but she says it’s fine and she wants to make use of the life they gave her ((some life it is though…)).
People end
—
During the masquerade Jed chooses to change out from her woman clothes into her normal clothes. She talks with everyone from the wolf and hawk family happily as she hopes the town can continue to be happy together.
Hero End
—
Jed slashes at Olga when she has an opening. As he’s bleeding, he still refuses to hand over the ring and jumps out the window, killing himself. Everyone soon arrives to see Olga was defeated by Jed and cheer for victory. Hugh appears and picks up Olga’s ring which he left behind, saying he’ll tske it since she no longer needs it. From then on, peace was regained between the wolves and hawks. On the day of the festival, High viists Jed and asks if she’s happy about becoming the hero of the town. She doesn’t believe she’s a hero but is happy nevertheless.
Bad End
—
An illusion of Francisca (or maybe her ghost) appears and drags Jed into darkness after convincing her she’s dreaming.
Lord End
—
Haitaka asks Jed if she wants to run away together with him, and so she does. He puts her into a deep sleep ((I really don’t get how but… eh)) and she wakes up back in the tower in her bed. Haitaka greets her and speaks with her as she slowly drifts off into sleep again. As the winter continues to be harsh, she continuously wakes up with Haitaka greeting her. He then tells her a story of how he lost everything but now he won’t lose her as a witch like he lost Aria and Francisca. He holds her in his arms, telling her she can stay with her from now on until the snow stops.
Hugh End
—
Hugh offers Jed to escape with him, and she accepts. He tells her in that case, they should fall in love. Until now he has always traveled alone. While doing so he’s slowly started to lose sight of who he is. He offers again and she finally accepts. Its then he gives her a kiss and says she chose him. He takes her back to the tower and shows her the kaleidovere. A light emits in his hand and she’s taken to another world (didn’t really specify where idk). Haitaka appears pissed and demands what he’d done to her. Hugh merely tells him he let her go and she’s no longer in this world. She chose him which makes her his. He reminds Hugh that he killed him and finally leaves to follow after her as a bunch of butterflies disperse when he fades away.
Wolg End
—
Jed still hasn’t come to a decision and continuously waits in the cell as she receives mysterious notes from someone. One night, she overhears a commotion and the guards are slaughtered. When someone heads down to her cell, its Lavan there to rescue her. Although his atmosphere is different. He’s melancholy and cold but nevertheless he gently leads Jed out of the prison. As they walk through the cold forest, there’s bodies and blood covering the snow. Jed notices a man is a alive and calls out to Lavan. Her intentions were for him to help him, but Lavan instead kills him by stabbing him in the neck. Jed is shocked but nevertheless follows Lavan into town. There she finds the town in flames and the townspeople slaughtering each other. Levi had started the flames and were slaughtering people left and right. Jed demands to know what’s going on amd Lavan explains they’re killing the wolves. Now, Jed being the witch no longer matters. Levi has his ring back and both his ring and Lavan’s ring on his neck are glowing a dull color. They promise that’ll protect her and no one will ever hurt her. Jed realized they’ve been corrupted anf grabs both of their hands while falling to the ground ((the most fucked up yandere ends here, lmao wow)).
A Girl End
—
Jed is taken to the town square where she’s to be judged. She accused of causing chaos to the town and bringing misfortune. Levi angrily denies the accusations but Lavan tells him to stop. Just as Levi is about to reveal about his crimes, Jed begins to laugh. She starts confirming the accusations against her and that she is the witch and her red eye is proof of it. The crowd starts to yell in dismay and Jed takes in all the hatred of the town. In a flashback, Jed told Lugus her answer of what she wants to do. She wants to end it all and free the town. For that sake, she wants Lugus to kill her as a hero who defeated the witch and also to use the power of the kaleidovere. Only by dying she use the power of the last manastone in her eye since its already connected to her soul. Lugus tells her he’s not sure he’ll be able to use the Kaleidovere after she dies, but she tells him she believes in him. Nevertheless, Lugus tells her that no matter what world he or she may end up in, he’ll find her no matter what. However, Jed purposely didn’t tell Lugus that once she’s killed, her soul won’t be released but sent to Hell.
Jed continues to laugh and tell everyone he deceived them all. Lavan and Levi are in disbelief but Jed continues her act for the sake of the town to hate her. It’s then Lugus draws his sword and lunges at Jed. They clash swords until finally, Jed lifts her sword and Lugus swiftly stabs her in the chest with one fell swoop. As her body falls and she dies on the spot, Tee immediately screams realizing the sight in front of her. The manastone falls from her eye and Lavan and Levi call her name in despair. After that, Lugus takes her lifeless body into the church. There, he spots the Kaleidovere where he has the manastone from Jed’s eye, the one from his dad, and Levi’s that was left in the church. Lastly there’s Lavan and its then Lavan and Levi arrive in the church.
[His eye on the left looks so pained in this CG; fucking depresses me… poor bby.]
They angrily shout at him for what he’d done to Jed. However, they immediately stop after realizing Lugus was crying, but hadn’t realized it himself. He begins to tell them about Jed’s last request which devastates everyone. So Lugus asks for their help to fullfill her last wish. Finally, Lavan accepts and says she chose Lugus and gives him the final manastone in his possession. Lugus remembers that Jed had lied about her soul being able to leave that world. He was told by Hugh that a soul that dies in a closed world cannot pass on to the same world as him. Even so, he wants to save her soul. And so, he takes the same sword he stabbed Jed with and stabs himself in the heart just like her. After that, Jed wakes up in darkness put is pulled out by someone; by Lugus.
—
It’s summer time in a city like world. A girl transferred to school and had been helped a lot by a girl named Ai and they became good friends. Ai talks about how Aki’s birthday is coming up and the girl asks how the twins are doing, Kazuya and Takuya. Ai tells her they’re doing fine and she smiles saying everyone is living happily. They pass two people ((YES ITS LIKE LAWRENCE AND ELRIC REVERSED AS HIKAGE AND KAGIHA)) talking about a mansion that was torn down. The young man talks about how his little sister had been wanting to visit there ((I think this references the end of his route??? when Ai passes him with Usagi???))
[STOP PASSING HER DAMMIT HIKAGE LOOK AT YOUR GIRL FOR ONCE IN UR LIFETIME]
[LUGUS BABY HAS BLACK HAIR AND HE LOOKS LIKE OLGA NOW HES SO PRECIOUS]
After that, Ai and the girl they walk past someone while crossing the street talking on the phone about his brother ((fucking Lavan)). When they make it to school, the girl bumps into someone. He says he just transferred as well so she wishes him her best regards. After that, it shows Hugh on top of a building saying that the two were able to reunite after ripping a page out of his book and fading away.
THIS ENDING GAVE ME LIFE. First of all, I am so glad Lugus was the one to save Jed. Also, he called her by her actual name when he came to get her. Something about this ending was so… bittersweet. It’s like, they have no memories of each other, but they met each other again in such a cute, cliche manner. AND THE WAY LUGUS STABBED JED WAS SO HEARTBREAKING AND BADASS AT THE SAME TIME. Like, holy shit the emotions from just those CGs were breathtaking. It makes sense they’re on the front cover now. I honestly nearly lost my shit though when I saw reincarnated Hikage and Kagiha. This ending paralled with the fucking last game so hard. Ai being friends with Jed was such an interesting turn of events. I can only guess this takes place after Ai was able to leave Psychedelica as well. Since, Hikage mentioned his sister wanting to visit the mansion. At the end of Kokuchou, she visited it and passed Hikage and Usagi. I love the connections here and it really makes you think.
Hugh (CV: Daisuke Namikawa) a mysterious traveler who writes books and stories about his travels. He doesn’t appear until the plot actually starts, but he was actually an old man in the tavern and Haku (Olga’s servant). So he can shapeshift into people and animals as well. Hugh is the one who gives Jed the Kaleidovere to Jed after she speaks to him in his old man form about it. It’s also hinted that Hugh is the one who gave Hikage the Kaleidoscope in the past since he mentioned giving it to someone on a boat (Hikage mentioned in Kokuchou he used his fortunes to by it on a trading boat). Honestly, Hugh in general is just one big mystery. He usually pops up to tell the characters secrets on how to solve their problems or what should be done next. He’s sort of like the narrator or writer of the story. That being said, it was revealed he was taken care of by an Ash Witch as a hawk, where Haitaka accidentally killed him. This may be his origins, but it didn’t really explain in detail where he came from exactly and how he came to be who he is. Regardless, he’s obviously a sort of mystical being that observes others while writing down the events that took place. He was obviously somehow present in the first game somehow, because he knows of the events of Beniyuri and friends and even tells Jed about it at one point.
Traveler end
—
While dressed up as a girl, Jed met someone who said their name was Ash. He often came to the tavern so she’d frequently visit him. He’d talk about the various stories he writes and places he’s visited. So as days pass, one day Jed visits Ash and she asks about the cut girl he met in one of his stories. He then says she’s also cute and so she blushes furiously to the point where her eye turns red. She realizes her eye may be red, but no one in the tavern says a word and Ash acts like there’s nothing wrong. She rund out of the tavern and visits Francisca who knows about her red eye, and even tries to show it to her. While she admits it does, she doesn’t notice it being red. This makes Jed have thoughts of living a life of a normal girl. So she heads back to the tavern dressed as a woman. Suddenly one of the workers leaves the tavern, leaving it in chaos. Thats when Jed steps in and decides to the serve the customers. It had already gotten late by the time she was done, so the manager begs her to work there and lets her stay the night if she’d like. Ash also lives there so this motivates her to stay so she can talk with him. So from then on, Jed continued to work at the tavern, living like a normal girl like she’d always wanted. One night, Ash tells her about himself and how he doesn’t know who he truly is and was saved by a witch long ago. Now he’d taken an interest in them and their story, which is why he came to her town. He tells her she’ll forget what happened though and leaves. The next morning, there’s a commotion in the bar with the girl who left the bar and her boyfriend. Jed intervenes and helps. Later that night, Ash takes Jed to the flower field full of snowdrops. There, he confesses he’s fallen in love with her but apologizes for taking part of her story. But she tells him its fine and she’s happy. She also confesses she’s probably in love with him as well as they embrace.
Link End
—
Aria is seen talking to Hugh as Hugh shared his story with Aria. She talks to him about him finally being free and no longer being a hawk owned by the ash witch. After what he told him in his book ((I assume it was about Jed so… he knew the future?)) and Aria believed he was in love with this girl he was describing and now he’s free to write a story about himself. She also remembers a flashback where Jed ((I think this was in the future or some vision she saw of Jed)) saying her real name is Eiar. This is what gave her the idea to give her that name (which itself is a bit confusing since she named her after a vision of her or something? I was kinda confused about this so I may be wrong). After that, Hugh leaves and Aria greets Olga, ready to tell the name of her child. He says he has something to show her so he takes her to the field of snowdrop flowers. That’s when he gives her the pendant with the manastone in it and she laughs at the way he does it (since it’s so unlike him I guess). She then tells him she came up with a name for their child, Eiar. Olga wonders how she knows it’ll be a girl and Aria says it’s because she’s a witch so she knows the future. She always knows she’ll be strong like Olga, but Olga hopes she’ll be as kind as her. I really liked Olga and Aria’s story, it was so sad.
Elric & Lawrence
—
Gee, I wonder who these characters are? It was pretty obvious at first glance who these two characters actually are, although I would’ve definitely like to know more about how they came to be. First of all, Elric, has no memories of his past and somehow ended up traveling in the snow with just him and Usagi. He mentioned how he had a strange feeling of wanting to protect Usagi for as long as he can remember. However, he has no recollections of his past as Hikage. Lawrence on the other hand, does have memories of his past life ((as Kagiha)). It never explains why Lawrence remembers what happened in the previous game, but we never got to find out much about it unfortunately. In this game, Lawrence and Elric kind of have a father-son relationship which is pretty cute. Honestly, when they appear I naturally smile because I just like their interactions with each other and Jed. They also appear with reversed bodies in the true end, which was pretty hilarious imo.
Francisca/April & Olga/Aria
—
These characters pretty much had their own backstories that were more well-written in the log book stories that Hugh has. First of all, I want to talk about Olga and Francisca. They were both born in the falcon family and had abusive parents. Francisca would often disobey her parents and go play with the wolf family even though she was forbidden to. It was due to that her mother would physically abuse her and whip her… with a whip. Her dad pretty much ignored it and locked her up in the attic where she couldn’t eat. Her brother, Olga brought her food and was the only one kind to her in her family. This is why Francisca sort of had a ‘brocon’ in a sense where she admired her brother to the point of when they grew up and she got engaged with Aria, she felt he was being taken away from her and things were changing. The only reason she married April was so they could show that both Wolfs and Falcons could get along. However, while Olga expressed his genuine feelings for Aria, April never really gave that much affection to Francisca. Nor did she want to accept she may be falling for him because everything she’d done was pretty much for the sake of Olga and she didn’t want that to change.
Before reading this, I always thought Francisca was just a mere heartless bitch, but its clear it stems down to her abuse and no one being as kind to her except her brother. To be honest, I sympathize in the sense that she literally had no one and even her husband pretty much ignored her half the time. Even so, I don’t think that justifies her actions at all. The fact that she basically told everyone to kill Aria is pretty cold-hearted considering Aria didn’t do shit to her and was always nice. And even if she’d gone past that, and wanted to atone for her sins by raising Jed (the one thing Aria had left behind), why the fuck would you make your own son murder people?? Like, you have to be pretty fucked up to do something like that. Which is why I definitely think Francisca got what she deserved cause, come on girl it was long overdue. I don’t blame Olga for taking a while to do it though, I mean they were brother and sister and had a pretty rough past together. It’s a pretty shitty situation.
What was ironic though, is that Francisca, who is seemingly this kind mother, is actually like an evil witch herself. And then there’s Olga, who at first glance was evil-looking, but he was actually more gentle than most of the characters (his young counterpart resembled Lugus a lot even though they aren’t related). So in that sense, the contrast in characters was amazing. Francisca was a very complex character, it’s hard for me to determine whether or not to she was supposed to be liked or hated. Still, I do think she genuinely liked Jed. I mostly felt bad for Olga and don’t blame him for what he did. Yeah, massacring an entire village isn’t exactly the answer, but I can’t exactly blame him for it. They did kill his wife who was pregnant with a fucking baby I mean jfc come on. It was all based on words alone too with no proof and they just casually burned their mansion on fire. Like, shit.
The most heartbreaking part about their past though is Olga and Aria. Don’t even get me started on it. Olga was adorable and so gentlemanly. I honestly. He’s one of the sweetest characters until Francisca shat on his happiness and so to speak, froze his heart. I found it interesting that the Psychedelica world they were in was actually created by Olga since at first, I was thinking Hugh was the one who created it. Also, it was clear in Hugh’s end that Olga did care about Jed. And I’m really glad we got to see that. BUT, I am really interested to know what happened to Olga in the true end. Like, was he taken back to the real world like Lugus and reincarnated with Aria? Idk. Even so, I really liked these characters and I can now see why Haitaka wasn’t a route lol.
Story/Characters:
The strong point of this game would be the story. Although the first half of the game is very cheerful (especially comical side events) when the plot picks up, it really does draw you in. From start to finish I was curious about how the events would play out and how it would end. The common route itself was the bulk of the story; so the events and character’s feelings were usually the same for the most part. In that sense, it’s slightly disappointing for certain characters in certain ends because they don’t all get the happiest of endings. Even so, it’s clear what the ‘canon’ route is, and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
Music:
Eiko Shimamiya strikes again! Honestly, the soundtrack of this game was very pretty and fitting to the medieval atmosphere. Some of it reminded of me of some Tales of tracks, but mostly Higurashi since its Eiko Shimamiya and Shikata Akiko in the same game. There were specifically a few tracks that I could literally listen to on repeat. I literally hope for a sequel just to hear Eiko again for a third installment (also when I heard Kokuchou music in this game I nearly screamed).
Artwork/Voices:
It’s so strange to see the difference in style Yuiga used to for this game. There’s a lot of darker colors (with diamond shades on their heads) and the colors aren’t nearly as vibrant and bright as Kokuchou. It makes sense since Haitaka is full of snow the entire time. Not to mention it’s a good contrast in games. Also, thank you otomate for using more diverse seiyuu? I felt like I hadn’t heard Satoshi Hino in a while tbh. And Makoto Furukawa isn’t in much from what I know, I mostly know him from One Punch Man. He had such a nice voice for Lugus, it was so refreshing. Saitou Souma has only recently been in more otoge (CxM for example) so him as Levi was really nice. Toriumi Kousuke and Kaito Ishikawa returning obviously made sense, and I was so glad to hear them again.
Overall Thoughts:
I played this game thinking it wouldn’t be as good as the original (I heard mixed things from different people) but damn, I actually liked this one more than the first. I think the main difference people will find is that this didn’t have as much ‘despair’ as the first game did. Even so, it’s honestly one of the best otome games I’ve played in terms of story. Don’t get me wrong, Kokuchou was great, I loved the characters tremendously. But the medieval atmosphere and story really drew me in. I think the main reason I really enjoyed it was also in addition to learning about the characters themselves, you learned about their own relatives and their past. This is clearly the type of series that focuses on it’s story, which is why the romance seems lacking. But to be honest, I’m fine with that. There’s plenty of otoge with enough romance as it is, I love a good story.
Although you don’t have to play the first game to like this one, I think it’s highly recommended you do. Trust me, the true end won’t have much as an impact if you don’t. Plus, I think the connections to the first game is what makes this one really appealing. It’s because you grew to like the characters from the other game you’re curious to know how it connects with this other story. Also, Jed is probably one of the best heroines yet. Not just because she’s physically strong, but because she makes difficult choices that most heroines don’t. I’m not saying that all heroines are bad or anything, it’s just refreshing to see a heroine who is capable of being gentle and strong.
Anyway, I really hope this series gets localized one way or another. It’s a fantastic series with an impacting story. I’m already hyped for a third game and I have no idea what to expect. I know they’ll probably definitely incorporate both titles somehow, but I can’t wait to see a whole new cast of characters.
Otome Adventures 
Hi. I really appreciated this review, especially with how detailed it was. The game was a very complex one and so your review helped me keep everything in line.
I did have a few questions-
1) Were April and Aria siblings or were they both nonblood related members of the Wolf clan?
2) The game mentions that the town the story takes place in is a “closed world” called psychedelica. I was under the impression that if the kaleido via was completed, then the closed world would be released and all the souls would pass on (either to the abyss or into a new world). In the scene where the manastone gets embedded into Jed’s eye, Aria is listening to Jed, Lavan, Levi, and Lugus while they stand around with the kaleido via in front of the tower. Because they all have their manastones with them in the presence of the kaleido via, the closed world starts opening up. However, Aria stops that from happening by screaming. In that scene, was Aria dead? Where was she? Was she in the abyss? Why did she not want the closed world to open if the implication was that the world would get released?
If you could answer any of these questions, I’d really appreciate it. Also, you always post such awesome reviews. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!!