Visual Novel / Piofiore: Fated Memories

The main Love Interests

Piofiore: Fated Memories, known in Japan as Piofiore no Bansho (ピオフィオーレの晩鐘), is an otome Romance Game set in 1925 in the fictional city of Burlone, Italy. It was developed by Design Factory and Otomate and originally published in Japanese by Idea Factory in 2018 for the PlayStation Vita before being ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019, and was later translated and released in English by Aksys Games in 2020.

The heroine (official name Liliana) is a girl raised in the church who bears a special mark. Burlone is a seaside city ruled by three mafia families—the Italian native Falzone, the multinational Visconti, and the Chinese Lao-Shu. For centuries, the city has enjoyed relative autonomy from the central government of Italy and has special ties to the Church. This peace is slowly disrupted by the entrance of Chinese mafia Lao-Shu and greater involvement from the Church. The otome game explores Liliana's personal mystery and the conflicts between mafia members and those who live in the city of Burlone.

The sequel, Piofiore -Episodio 1926-^note (ピオフィオーレの晩鐘, Piofiore no Banshou -Episodio 1926-) , is set after the best endings of the first game. It was published in Japan in 2020 and worldwide in 2022.

Love interests in this game are:

• Dante Falzone. The young capo of the Falzone family who has a special interest in the heroine.
• Nicola Francesca. Dante's underboss. A man who forms easy friendships but reveals little about himself.
• Yang. The boss of the Chinese mafia. He is confident and amoral, and gets easily bored.
• Gilbert Redford. The boss of the Visconti who is half-American. He is gregarious, but at times ruthless.
• Orlok. A Disciple of the Church. Trained to be physically strong and good at killing, but emotionally naive.
• Henri Lambert. A man who despises the mafia and whose past was tangled in the same fate that binds Liliana to Burlone.

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Piofiore no Bansho: Fated Memories provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Gilbert ended up with his eyepatch because he attempted to shield his mother from a beer bottle his father had thrown at her, and glass shards ended up in his eye.
  • Henri's adoptive parents kept him locked up where they beat and starved him.
• A-Cup Angst: Mentioned briefly in Yang's route when Lan forces Lili to wear her clothing and Lili remarks how tight the clothes are. When Yang buys Lili properly fitted clothing, Fei comments that Lili fills out much better than Lan, especially in the chest area. Lan is furious.
• Age-Gap Romance:
  • Former Key Maiden Chloe was in love with Dante's father Silvio, who is said to be at least over ten years older. Regardless, the latter treated the former more as a sibling due to this age gap, which the former did not take well. Dante's route in -Episodio 1926- implies that Silvio may actually have had a sexual relationship with her before marrying his wife, but doesn't give a concise answer.
  • Henri is in his early thirties, making him more than a decade older than Liliana.
• Alone with the Psycho:
  • In Nicola's route, Lili gets kidnapped and ends up in a room alone with Roberto who is clearly unhinged.
  • Subverted in The Finale. After Liliana is kidnapped, she wakes up in the Diretorre's lair. It is then revealed that Henri Lambert and the Direttore are one and the same, but during their time together, he never harms her.
• And the Adventure Continues: In the bonus chapters following the Best Ending for some routes, this occurs.
  • For Gilbert, he makes a mention of doing business in America and possibly visiting there with Lili.
  • In Yang's route, the Chinese mafia Liu Huang Hui sends Yang his next mission which was to go to London and he would be bringing Lili with him.
• Anger Born of Worry: In Dante's route, there are two times he becomes very angry with Lili. The first was when Lili attempted to climb out the window from the second floor, only to fall and if Dante hadn't caught her, she might have hurt herself. The second time was when Lili went out of the Falzone Manor against Dante's orders to visit the church, only to encounter the Lao-Shu and Dante was furious that she underestimated the danger she was in.
• Animal Motifs: The Lao-Shu have been compared to rats by both the Falzone and Visconti families.
• Anyone Can Die: In most routes, at least one or more of the love interests die.
• Arc Words: In Dante's route, "Key Maiden" comes up often. It refers to Lili who was chosen by the Church as part of the seal to guard the hidden relic in Burlone.
• At Least I Admit It: In Yang's route, he has this to comment about the Falzone and Visconti families in that at least Yang is honest that he is a monster and openly dabbles in unpleasant dealings where he feels the other two Mafia try to downplay their more shady businesses to citizens.
• The Atoner:
  • Henri at the end of his Forever Ending.
  • Emilio visits Henri and Liliana, and tells him that he can still find redemption beside her, and wishes them well.
• Badass Adorable:
  • Orlok, with his youthful looks and naïveté makes him a very endearing character, but he’s also a deadly fighter.
  • Lan and Fei are adorable children but they are capable fighters even against adults, not to mention sadistic.
• Batman Gambit: Yang in Orlok's route allows Lili to roam freely, knowing she would only return to the church, thus giving him an opportunity to station his men there to "guard" her where the Falzone and Visconti cannot attack on neutral grounds. He also encourages his men to spread the word to citizens that the prophesized saint (Lili) is with the Lao-Shu, to sway the people's goodwill towards them, knowing Lili and Orlok would be too passive to stop them. And once Lili and Orlok escape from the Lao-Shu, Yang calls a meeting with Dante and Gilbert to claim that it was Lili and Orlok who was spreading the lies and tricking his men. While Dante and Gilbert don't completely believe Yang, their own grievances against Orlok allows Yang to manipulate them into going on a hunt to kill Orlok.
• Beast and Beauty: All the love interests fit this trope with Lili to a degree, but Yang and Lili fits this trope to a T, or at least the more gruesome retelling than the Disney version of the story.
• Because Destiny Says So: Deconstructed. Previous Key Maiden Chloe strongly believed that she and previous Falzone boss Silvio were meant to be together due to "fate", even if he never reciprocate her feelings and was in love with another woman. To some degree, she was aware that once a new Falzone heir was born, the Church would begin looking for a new Key Maiden, meaning her "fate" with Silvio would be null and void.
• Becoming the Mask: In the Finale, Henri only initially approaches Liliana out of curiosity to see what the new Key Maiden is like. He finds himself genuinely coming to care for her, and trying to protect her.
• Big Bad: For each route, there is usually a primary antagonist and secondary antagonist(s).
  • In Dante's route, Yang is the main antagonist while Dante also comes into conflict with Nicola and the Visconti and the Church.
  • In Nicola's route, Roberto holds a grudge against Nicola, with Yang pulling some strings in the background.
  • In Yang's route, Dante, Orlok and Gilbert all clash against Yang, while Lee is also trying to undermine Yang from within the Lao-Shu.
  • In Gilbert's route, the Direttore is the one framing Gilbert and causing trouble for all of Burlone, while a trial looms over his route.
  • In Orlok's route, Dante has a personal vendetta against Orlok, with Yang, Gilbert and the Church also having grievances against Orlok as well.
  • In the Final route, all the main potential love interests are portrayed as the good guys teaming up against a common enemy: the notorious Direttore of the local casino. The Direttore is revealed to be none other than Henri Lambert, whose older sister, Chloe, had been the previous Key Maiden, with her death setting him on the path to revenge against the Mafia. However, despite the circumstances, he and Liliana come to care deeply for each other during the route, and she doesn't see him as a monster, or an enemy.
• Big Brother Instinct: Deconstructed. Nicola is fiercely protective of Dante whom he sees as his younger brother. But he does several questionable things, including seemingly betraying Dante and attempting to (and can succeed in certain Bad Endings) to kill Lili and destroy all three Mafia families, so he could free Dante from his role and responsibilities as the Falzone boss and force him to leave Burlone, all to "protect" Dante. Meanwhile, Dante is left hurt and confused by Nicola's actions because Nicola never told him why he was doing this and he never wanted Nicola to do any of that for him, once the truth was revealed to him.
• Big Fancy House: The Falzone and Visconti Manors are both noted to be elegant and well-maintained.
• Birds of a Feather: Dante and Liliana. in his route, it is mentioned plenty of times by Liliana herself that she and Dante share a surprising amount of interests and beliefs as they bond more.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Gilbert in his own route is very cordial and gentlemanly, but in others he can be quick to choose violence and sacrifice civilians if it benefits him, some good examples of this is in Orlok’s route where he aims for Liliana and Orlok’s life over the sheer fact that they caused him to miss an important business deal, and in Yang’s route he even planted explosives on a ship full of kidnapped women in hopes to only just killing Yang.
  • The Direttore, for all his elegant attire, overly polite manner, and theatrical speech, he is singlehandedly causing a lot of trouble for the Mafia.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Roberto is convinced that the mafia is completely corrupt while the police is the side of justice, when in reality it isn’t all that simple. This comes to ahead in Nicola's route where he tries to kill Nicola for being involved with the mafia.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three mafia bosses have a variation with Dante (white/silver), Gilbert (brunette) and Yang (redhead).
• Blood from the Mouth: Happens to Dante in one of his endings after sustaining a major wound on his torso from Yang and he almost dies because of it. Thankfully, the healing properties of the relic were able to heal most of his life-threatening injuries.
• Bodyguard Crush: Orlok generally acts as Lili's guard across all routes, but in his own route is where he develops feelings for her.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: In the extra chapter following Gilbert's Bad Ending, in order to dissuade Lili from following him, where he would be a wanted fugitive for the rest of his life, Gilbert does not respond to Lili's Anguished Declaration of Love and refuses to look at her when leaving, partly to also convince himself to not break down.
• Break the Cutie: No matter the route and ending, Liliana who’s a normal church girl, gets exposed to a lot of unpleasant situations.
• The Casanova: Yang is mentioned to rotate from different women in short amounts of time due to getting bored with them quickly, he even frequents the red light distract.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys:
  • All the mafia bosses and their respective underlings are very young and handsome.
  • In Henri's route, Liliana notes upon first meeting him that he is very handsome.
• The Chains of Commanding:
  • Dante is revealed to struggle with this, feeling like he is an Inadequate Inheritor for the Falzone Family and trying to make decisions to protect his family and uphold the Falzone Family's mission.
  • It's downplayed with Gilbert but he reveals to Lili that he worries constantly about the Visconti Family and the men under his command and wants to expand his influence and power to continue protecting the people.
• Chick Magnet: Nicola and Gilbert are very popular with women and many have commented that the knowledge that they were with Lili would leave many heartbroken ladies.
• Churchgoing Villain: Liliana is shocked in learning that despite how devout both Gilbert and Dante are, that in some outcomes they are willing to sacrifice civilians and make shady deals in the shadows.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: In some routes, people get tortured for information. In Nicola's route, one man lost his fingernail and an ear.
• The Consigliere: Oliver is the Visconti's lawyer and also the voice of reason to Gilbert.
• Consummate Liar: Nicola is an excellent liar and often does it with a cheerful smile.
• Cruel to Be Kind: In Dante's and Nicola's routes, Nicola either kidnapping or attempting to kill Lili, as well as their attempts to destroy all the mafia families was all done to free Dante from the role they were forced into.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: In Yang’s good ending extra, Liliana’s hand is kissed by his client which caused Yang to be displeased at the physical contact and he immediately confronts Liliana about this matter right after the fact.
• Creator's Culture Carryover: The series takes place in 1920s Italy, and while it's probably excusable in the case of the Lao-Shu, as they're a Chinese-based crime organization, even the very-much Italian characters are shown often bowing to one another.
• Declaration of Protection: Almost all the love interests say this at least once to Lili in their route.
  • Dante admitted that he wishes to protect Burlone, his Family and of course, Lili.
  • Much of Nicola's actions stem from his desire to protect Dante. Later on, their desire changes to want to protect Lili instead.
  • Orlok also swears multiple times that he will protect Lili.
  • After escaping from a fight between the Lao-Shu and Falzone, Lili runs into Gilbert, and he freely offers his protection to her.
  • Henri indirectly attempts to protect Liliana from the Mafia and the church by constantly warning her away from them, while stepping in to help her once in a while so that she doesn't get caught in his revenge.
• Decapitated Army:
  • In some routes, if Gilbert died, his family disband quickly afterwards after losing their leader.
  • Downplayed if Dante dies, his family is still able to function to some degree due to Nicola's leadership, though not to the same extent. If Nicola also died, then it's played straight.
• Defector from Decadence: Played with. In some routes, Nicola does betray the Falzone Family and their goal is stated to dethrone Dante and destroy the Falzone Family, because they disagreed with their outdated traditions and practices. However, Nicola had good intentions as he genuinely cares for Dante and wants to free him from being the Falzone boss.
• Diving Save: Marco tackles Dante in Nicola's route to save them from being shot.
• Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Henri’s sexual abuse at the hands of the oldest daughter of the family that took him in after the death of his sister is one of many things that have caused his issues as an adult.
• Downer Ending:
  • All the Bad Endings do not end well for Lili or the love interests.
  • Yang's Good Ending is notable for having this kind of ending compared to the other Good Endings. During the final fight, Yang hesitated long enough when Gilbert was using Lili as a Human Shield for Gilbert to shoot him and he died in Lili's arms. Although Lili returned to her old life in the church, she is completely heartbroken.
• Duality Motif:
  • Orlok is noted to have two different colored eyes, one gold and the other hazel, showing his conflicting nature, one as a disciple and trained assassin and the other as a shy, emotionally naive boy.
  • Henri has two identities: Sebastiano Galliere, the flamboyant, eccentric Direttore of the local casino, and Henri, a quiet, reserved, cynical, yet kind man whom Liliana often encounters.
• Easily Forgiven: Lili, being the Nice Girl that she is, is quite forgiving of others.
• Enemy Mine: In the Finale route. The Diretorre is revealed to be a government official who was plotting behind the scenes for the fall of the mafia and church altogether, which causes the Visconti, Falzone, and Lao-Shu to team up against a common enemy.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: In Gilbert's route, there is a rare scene where all five love interests meet and interact with each other without trying to kill one another.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Chloe Lambert, Henri's older sister, who was also the previous Key Maiden, and his only remaining family after their parents were murdered by the Mafia.
  • In Henri's route, he comes to care deeply for Liliana, even if he won't admit it.
• Extreme Doormat: Orlok, who only acts upon orders and never on his own will. Subverted in his route due to Character Development.
• Eye Patch Of Power: Gilbert wears an eyepatch and it goes without saying that being the Visconti boss comes with a lot of power.
• Fake Relationship:
  • In his route, Nicola tells Roberto that he and Lili are in a relationship and that is why she is staying at the Falzone Manor with him when the truth is a bit different. This however has the unfortunate effect of resulting in an increasingly jealous Roberto to attempt to kill Nicola in revenge.
  • In his route, Yang indicates to his gang that Lili is his woman and even tells Dante and Gilbert that he has fallen in love with her, so people wouldn't ask too many questions, when in reality Lili was kidnapped to be used as a bargaining chip against the Falzone Family and the Church.
  • Gilbert also uses this in his route when Lili comes into his protection, as it would be easier to tell the Creta citizens that she is his woman than mention how the other mafia family are after Lili.
• Falling into His Arms: Lili falls into Dante's arms near the start of his route when she tries to escape from the Falzone Manor from the second floor, only for her rope to rip and for Dante to catch her from below. It also marks the start of their relationship.
• Faux Affably Evil: Almost all the love interests can act kind and civil one moment and capable of the most inhumane deed without batting an eye the next, but it is more of a necessary evil in their perspective.
  • The Direttore is overly polite, theatrical, and eccentric, but behind all of that...
• First-Name Basis: In almost every route, there comes a moment where Lili is asked by the love interest to call them by their first name instead of "signore (last name)". Likewise, Lili would then ask them to call her "Lili" instead of her full name or "signorina".
  • Subverted in the Finale leading up to Henri's route. Despite being aware of people addressing Liliana by her nickname, he never follows suit. He clearly prefers to address her by her birth name.
  • Henri tells Liliana at one point to never address him by his childhood nickname of Riton since it clearly causes him pain.
• Fish out of Water: All the love interests, having lived a life of crime are somewhat clueless in their respective routes on dealing with their affections for Liliana.
  • Liliana also finds herself in unfamiliar waters in each route with each love interest since theirs is a world she is unsuited for; the one exception is Henri since he seems to be the only ordinary civilian among the love interests until she learns his secret...
  • Henri finds himself out of his element as he constantly goes out of his way to meet Liliana, and help her on more than one occasion, something he never would have done for anyone else. He admits at one point that he is used to sacrificing others, but finds himself unable to do the same to her as he had come to genuinely care for her.
• Flaw Exploitation: Yang is great at doing this. In certain endings for his route, he notices and exploits Dante's reluctance to hurt Lili and uses it to his advantage to kill Dante.
• Foreign Language Title: "Piofiore" is Italian for "pious flower."
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the prologue, Sister Sophia speaks to the church children about greeting the mafia politely and makes a specific reference to the Falzone Family. She actually works closely with the Falzone Family as discovered in Dante's route to protect Lili as the Key Maiden.
  • Roberto acts unnecessarily hostile to Nicola when meeting him in the prologue. This would foreshadow the latter's role as the main antagonist in Nicola's route.
  • Henri's nightmare after his Best Ending is of him coming home to find Liliana and the children they are taking care of tortured to death, and mutilated. His route in -Episodio 1926- has the children murdered while he and Liliana are away from the house.
• Friend on the Force: Marco is on friendly terms with the Falzone Family. Dante openly trusts him, remarking to Marco that Marco's talents are wasted with the police. Marco even tackles Dante to protect him from an assassination attempt.
  • Marco later reveals he and Dante's father were close. Marco reminisced how Silvio used to call him over to the Falzone Manor, not as a police officer, but as a friend.
• Friend to All Children:
  • Lili, on account of being used to taking care of the church children.
  • Orlok also gets along very well with the church children and later with the street kid Luca.
  • Gilbert interacts well with Luca in his route.
  • Downplayed with Dante. In one route, he puts himself in danger and gets killed without hesitation to protect a child but in another, he had no trouble torturing someone (Fei) who everyone believed is a child (though in reality, Fei is older than he looks).
  • Henri after the Best Ending of his route is shown to get along well with the children he and Liliana are taking care of, despite claiming that he isn't good with them; the children are also said to adore him and Liliana.
• Friend Versus Lover: Subverted. In their Best Ending, Nicola becomes torn between trying to decide who to protect, Dante or Lili when both are put into a dangerous situation. It's Dante who tells Nicola that they are fine and to go protect Lili instead. Meanwhile, there is no tension between Dante and Lili even prior to this.
• Friendly Enemy: Among the Mafia, Dante and Gilbert have a cordial relationship majority of the time in the Good/Best Endings. Both respect each other and known each other at least prior to becoming the heads of their families, if Gilbert's remark that Dante is still a sweet innocent kid underneath his cold exterior indicates anything. If there was a need of an alliance, Dante usually considers Gilbert first and vice versa with Gilbert. In Nicola's route, Gilbert freely walks into the Falzone Manor without any of his guards to speak with Dante alone, even if Dante was annoyed that he did so. In Orlok's route, Gilbert also checks in on how Dante was doing after Nicola's death and kept him updated that Gilbert found out the location of Nicola's killer, Orlok, out of respect that Dante would want to know.
• From Roommates to Romance:
  • Dante and Lili end up living together in a Falzone hideout for several weeks in his route. While they do develop feelings for each other, they don't act on it during this time. It's not until they move to a second hideout/hotel that they do.
  • Henri and Liliana end up living together during the Best Ending of his route, although they still haven't acted on their feelings for each other.
• Fugitive Arc:
  • This is what happened to Gilbert in his Bad Ending, as he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit and had to break out of jail in order to escape. But he has to leave Burlone and the country or else he would be killed if caught.
  • Downplayed in Henri's route. Due to his revenge plot almost succeeding in bringing the Mafia down, the Falzone, Visconti, and Lao-Shu are all out for his blood, and he is more than ready to accept the consequences of his actions. Liliana, however, gives him a reason to live, and as a result, they leave the country, and make a home together in the south of France.
• The Gadfly: Yang all the way. His main victims are usually Dante and Liliana, with the former it’s more with the intent to make an enemy of, while the latter is more of an endearment.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: In Gilbert's route, he freely visits the other mafia base of operations without any notice and invites himself to either coffee or a meal, much to Dante and Yang's irritation, even if the latter do not kick Gilbert out right away.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold:
  • Lili has blonde hair and a very sweet woman.
  • Averted with Chloe Lambert whose actions are less pure and kind.
• Happy Ending Override: Orlock's route in the first game ends on a positive note, where he and Lili spend their time in the central church and happily care for the orphans there. Come Episodio -1926-, Orlock is back into dealing with a church disciple in training with him and Lili going back to Burlone and the mafia.
• Hates Being Touched: Henri as a result of severe physical and sexual abuse. He's barely able to bring himself to hold hands with Liliana in a bonus scene. Subverted at the conclusion of his Forever Ending. Henri shows signs of slowly beginning to heal when he takes a heavy laundry basket from Liliana, and kisses her on the cheek.
• Her Heart Will Go On: In Yang’s good ending, when Gilbert has Liliana placed right in front of him as Yang starts going for the kill, he hesitates for a moment which buys Gilbert enough time to shoot Yang and this results in a heartbroken Liliana.
• He Who Fights Monsters: In Nicola's route, Roberto is revealed to be the one killing various members of the Mafia, even attempting to assassinate Dante and killing Marco in cold blood, by claiming it is justice to do so.
• Held Gaze: Lili has moments when she and the love interest simply stare into each other's eyes for a long time.
• Hellish Pupils:
  • Henri's gaze more than once during his route. When this happens, Liliana notices how his eyes become cold and shadowed, even devoid of life.
  • Henri's eyes are especially like this once he reveals his identity as the Direttore to Liliana.
• Hidden Heartof Gold:
  • All the love interests, despite living a life of crime and bloodshed show traces of decency and humanity, especially where Liliana is concerned.
  • Henri in the Finale. Despite his deep hatred towards the Mafia, his alter ego as the Direttore, and his desire for revenge, he goes out of his way to do small things for Liliana, and protect her.
• Idiot Ball:
  • In Nicola's route, Marco, normally a calm and rational person, runs into an alley without any backup after rescuing Dante from being assassinated in broad daylight to chase after the shooter. This only leads to Marco's death and Nicola being framed for it.
  • In Orlok's route, while being hunted by the Mafia families, Lili asks Orlok to bring her to the church one last time before they leave the city. Orlok has his misgivings but agrees anyways. Because they returned to the church, they were ambushed by the Mafia and forcing Orlok, who did not want to kill anymore, to kill Dante.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In Yang's Bad Ending, Yang throws Lili at Dante. The moment he is distracted, Yang stabs through Lili to get Dante, killing both of them.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Yang would very much so for the sake of the thrill and appeasing his boredom. In Orlok’s route he even goes through the effort of having Orlok and Liliana cornered just so he could challenge Orlok in a fight.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Liliana prefers to go by Lili.
  • Marco nicknames Roberto "Robbie" to Roberto's annoyance.
  • Gilbert frequently asks others to refer to him as "Gil".
  • Subverted in the Finale leading up to Henri's route. Henri never addresses Liliana by her nickname.
  • After Liliana reveals that she knows that Henri was - and is - Riton, he tells her not to ever address him by the said name.
• Indirect Kiss:
  • In Gilbert's route, he takes a bite from the gelato that Lili was eating from.
  • Throughout Yang’s route, Yang has a habit of eating the food Liliana has eaten.
• Instant Sedation:
  • In some instances when Lili is being kidnapped, her kidnapper often use a chloroformed cloth to knock her out within seconds.
  • Subverted when Dante and Lili drink a tampered wine without realizing it and they both continue to carry a conversation for some time well before Lili even begins to feel drowsy.
• Interservice Rivalry: It's noted that the local Burlone police do not get along with the military police from the kingdom of Italy. The military police gave orders from afar while they stay in Rome without sharing any vital information with the Burlone police and without extending any protection to the local police, who fear retribution for arresting a Mafia boss on such flimsy basis.
• Intimate Hair Brushing: In the Short Story for Yang, he decides to allow Lili to braid his hair and he liked it so much that he demanded she does it for him from then on.
• Irony:
  • Yang mockingly referred to Lili as a cat. Later on, it's revealed that his real name is Mao, which can be pronounced like "meow".
  • In the Finale route, as part of the Malicious Slander against the Mafia, Dante is falsely reported as going to many brothels and having strange taste in women. Out of the Mafia bosses, Dante has only ever loved one woman and that is Lili who is one of the nicest people in the game.
• It Amused Me: This is the usual motive behind all of Yang’s actions, good or bad. Even the reason for why he kidnaps Liliana in his route was mostly to satiate his boredom and curiosity.
• I "Uh" You, Too: Yang is the only love interest to not profess his feelings for Liliana in a normal way, the closest we got was him acknowledging his ‘attraction’ for her. Likewise, in his route before they were about to sleep together Liliana tells him that she doesn’t hate him.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • In Orlok's route, when Gilbert confronts Lili and Orlok for deceiving the town about her status as a "saint" and allying with the Lao-Shu, even if it was done unintentionally. When they argued that the church was being held hostage, Gilbert asked that means they were fine if everyone else in the town could be sacrificed so long as the church was protected.
  • In Yang's route, Lili naïvely approaches Lee in hopes he would simply let her friend Elena go. Lee asks if she would switch places with Elena and be his Sex Slave instead. Lili isn't able to answer him and Lee mocks her for asking him without offering anything in exchange, let alone sacrifice herself in Elena's stead.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Yang can be nice as seen with how he treats Liliana in his route, though most of his actions aren’t bought on by the goodness in his heart as it’s more of him trying to find a way to amuse himself, and make no mistake that if he deems you boring he will waste no time getting rid of you.
• Kick the Dog: In Yang's Bad Ending, Yang tells Lili, who had fallen in love with him, that she was only good for "killing time", after he had stabbed through her to kill Dante.
• Knight Templar:
  • Roberto thoroughly believes that the root of all crime is the mafia and that Burlone would’ve been better off without them. This gets subverted due to Character Development.
  • Henri is so blinded by his hatred of the Mafia to the point that he convinces himself that his older sister’s death was by the Falzones, which he uses to justify his selfish revenge plot and even ruling out the sad possibility that she may have committed suicide.
• Kuudere: Progressing in Dante's route reveals that underneath his aloof persona, he is actually quite shy and kind-hearted, enjoys sweets and can become flustered when Lili is assertive with him.
• Lack of Empathy: All the love interests feel nothing (for the most part) when torturing/offing their enemies. Though this trope fits perfectly to Yang, who doesn’t feel anything for even his allies, though in all fairness his subordinates aren’t the most kindest people around.
• Lap Pillow: Nicola uses Lili's lap to rest at one point.
• Like Brother and Sister: It's revealed that Dante's father Silvio saw the previous Key Maiden as this when taking her in. However, the latter wanted more than just a sibling relationship.
• Living Emotional Crutch:
  • Dante, to some extent, is this for Nicola. In certain endings, when Dante is killed, Nicola quickly spirals into despair and becomes mentally unbalanced by the end of it.
  • Liliana is this for Henri to a certain extent in his route even though he tries to keep his distance from her.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy:
  • Yang has long asymmetrical hair.
  • The Direttore, or actually Henri, though its revealed to be a long haired wig.
  • Henri's hair is shorter than Yang's, but is shown to be much longer than Dante, Nicola, and Orlok's hair.
• Love at First Sight:
  • It's revealed that Dante developed a crush on Lili when meeting her for the first time at the church as children. While Lili doesn't remember the encounter, Dante does and it brings a different perspective into many of his actions in his and other routes.
  • Roberto also falls for Lili when encountering her at the church for the first time and seeing her smile and comfort a young child. This influences many of his actions in Nicola's route.
• Loved by All: Gilbert gets along very well with the locals and his relationship with Dante and Yang are fairly tame as well.
• Love Makes You Evil:
  • In Nicola's route, seeing Lili willingly stay with Nicola and protect him is partly why Roberto, who many characters note is fixated on Lili, goes off the deep end, join forces with a Mafia group that he despises and is determined to "rescue" her and kill Nicola, no matter the cost.
  • In the Finale route, it is revealed that the Direttore is actually Henri Lambert, the younger brother of the previous Key Maiden, Chloe Lambert. Her death sets him on the revenge path against the Mafia, and he makes it his mission to bring them down. Deconstructed later as Henri wishes to protect Liliana from the Mafia, and free her from her role as the Key Maiden so that she may live a long, happy life.
• Love Martyr: In Yang’s route, Liliana is very much ’in love’ with Yang despite the fact that he refuses to ever change his violent nature for her.Though he does occasionally fulfill to her wishes. However this can go both ways as Yang doesn’t want nor like if Liliana decides to change for him and is only interested in her for staying the way she is and persevering against the odds.
• Love Triangle:
  • In Nicola's route, this plays a huge role. Nicola and Lili are falling in love while Roberto attempts to kill Nicola.
  • Previous Key Maiden Chloe was madly in love with Dante's father Silvio who did not share the same feelings and married another woman.
• Love Redeems: In all of the good endings this seems to be the case along with Character Development for each of the respective love interest thanks to Liliana.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Bishop Rosberg is revealed to be Orlok's biological father, though the latter only finds out moments before Dante kills Rosberg. In other routes, this is never brought up at all.
• Malicious Slander: Happens often in order to tarnish the image of certain love interests.
  • In Nicola's route, he was falsely accused of attempting to assassinate Dante, murdering Marco and that he was involved with the death of Dante's father.
  • In Dante's route, the Lao-Shu spread false rumors about the Falzone Family to sway the public's trust against them.
  • In Gilbert's route, he was accused of selling counterfeit money. While many Creta citizens supported him, depending on the ending, there are several Creta citizens who believed the lies.
  • In Yang's route, while he does sell drugs in Velano, the Chinese mafia Liu Huang Hui, along with Lee, deliberately sell "red peony", a much more powerful and addictive drug, across Burlone in order to sow distrust from the Falzone and Visconti families.
  • In the Finale route, this happens to all three Mafia groups.
• Manipulative Bastard: Yang is very much this as his love for chaos often makes him the Big Bad in almost every route.
  • The Direttore is this in Gilbert and Henri's routes, considering how much trouble he's singlehandedly causing the Mafia.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Emilio has a strange knack of suddenly appearing and disappearing without anyone noticing. He also made a comment that it was good to live as long as he did, possibly hinting that he might not be entirely human despite his appearance.
• Morality Chain: Liliana is this to Yang. He doesn’t take a serious interest in Lili’s convictions or beliefs but is still willing to comply with her wishes due to his attachment towards her, as shown with how he rescues Elena from Lee only because he values Lili’s will to save her friend.
• Multiple Endings: For each route, there is a Good, Bad and Best Ending.
• My Greatest Failure: Marco mentioned to Lili that he feels guilty for the death of a young girl who had been involved in the Mafia, even if he was a young cop at that time and did not know the full details of the girl's death. It's partly why he is concerned about Lili, whose current circumstances are similar.
  • Henri also feels this towards his older sister, Chloe, which is the reason why he approaches Liliana in the first place.
• Mysterious Protector: Emilio plays this role in some routes, as he is well aware of events happening to Lili and the love interest and guides them without becoming too involved.
• The Neutral Zone: The Arca district where the church, casino, district court, police headquarters and hospital is located is considered a neutral zone where the Falzone and Visconti families agreed to not involve with their business, especially the church where Dante and Gilbert are held in high regard. But in some routes, this neutrality becomes broken.
  • In Nicola's route, Yang and the Lao-Shu kidnap girls or target Lili specifically in Arca.
  • In Orlok's route, the church is essentially held hostage by the Lao-Shu and later becomes a battle ground for the Mafia families.
  • In Gilbert's route when all three Mafia families have to work together and cannot use the casino, their usual meeting place, Lili suggests to use the church which they do.
• Nice Girl: The protagonist, or Liliana, is a church girl who lives a peaceful life and very unsuited to the criminal lifestyle.
• Noble Demon:
  • As much of a jerk Yang is, at the very least he's honest about his misdeeds and desires, he never tries to outright attack anyone innocent if it can be helped either.
  • In Henri's route, he appears to constantly try to protect Liliana, while working behind the scenes as the Direttore to bring the Mafia down.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In Nicola's route, Marco defends Roberto after the latter attempted to shoot Nicola, despite some of the Mafia wanting to kill the latter. Roberto is allowed to live but would return the favor to Marco by murdering them because in their eyes Marco betrayed them by siding with the Mafia.
• Not a Morning Person:
  • To Lili's amusement, she finds out that Dante is usually a bit dazed and sleepy in the mornings.
  • Yang is also not a fan of mornings, though he usually wakes up whenever he wants.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In Yang’s route, after fleeing from the boat, Liliana remarks that Yang had probably predicted that Gilbert and Dante would attack them during the trade, which causes Yang to see how similar he and Lili are. Lan and Fei were admittedly impressed since Yang almost never compliments his women before.
• Not So Stoic: Henri. During the Finale and his route, he appears almost expressionless on more than one occasion. However, at one point, during Nicola's flashback on a conversation where he taunted Henri about Liliana, Henri became so angry that he raised his voice at him before turning and walking away.
• Not What It Looks Like: Lili was trying to wake up a sleeping Dante on the couch when her cat Carlo jumped at her feet, causing her to fall over onto Dante. When Dante inevitably wakes up, he sees what appears to be Lili leaning over him, about to kiss him. She even stammers out the line word for word.
• Old Cop, Young Cop: Marco and Roberto have this dynamic. Marco has lived in Burlone all his life and is fully aware of the Mafia dealings that occur and tries to reign Roberto's more zealous actions. Roberto is the new, overly eager officer from Rome who is obsessed with law and justice and despises the Mafia.
• Older Than They Look:
  • Funnily enough, Yang. Liliana offhandedly comments that Yang still has his whole life ahead of him being around her age, which leads to him revealing that he’s 29 much to Liliana’s shock.
  • Lan and Fei, though this is only informed by other characters in-universe.
  • Emilio is a high ranking member from the church but he physically resembles a young child.
• Only Known by Their Nickname:
  • Yang claims to not remember his real name, and only reveals it after the credits. It’s Mao.
  • In the Finale, Nicola recognizes Henri from many years ago, and often addresses him by his childhood nickname: Riton.
• Parental Substitute: Sister Sofia is this for Lili.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: While organized crime is a overarching factor of the game, there are some routes where romance takes precedence which results into this.
• Plot-Induced Illness: In Dante's route, dealing with Nicola's betrayal and Lili's kidnapping in rapid succession caused him to fall sick and develop a fever, resulting in Lili having to leave his side to call for a doctor.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: All the Mafia leaders (and Nicola as the Falzone underboss) are the best fighters of their respective families.
• Rape as Drama: There are quite a number of bad endings where this is Lili's unfortunate outcome.
  • Henri suffered severe sexual abuse at the hands of the daughter of his adoptive family after his sister died, although the former's parents and brother didn't treat him any better.
• Rescue Romance: In certain routes, Lili is rescued by the love interest.
  • In Dante's route, he stops Orlok from taking her in the prologue and later on, bargains with the Visconti to return her to him.
  • In Nicola's route, Lili and Elena were about to be kidnapped by some Lao-Shu members when Nicola and Orlok arrive to stop them.
  • In Yang's route, when Lili gets kidnapped by Lee, Yang manages to get to them in the nick of time right before Lee can do anything else to Lili, and he kills him.
  • Subverted in the Finale where Luca falls ill after arriving at the church. After learning that they can't call the doctor since the phone isn't working, Liliana and Orlok go to personally summon him despite the ongoing riots in town. At one point, a member of the mob is about to punch Liliana while she is separated from Orlok. Henri steps in between them in time to take the blow meant for Liliana who was already interested in him, and whom he was already falling for, even if he won't admit it.
• Revenge by Proxy:
  • Roberto is filled with hatred towards Nicola and decides to get revenge on him by targeting people close to Nicola, starting with an assassination attempt on Dante.
  • Henri is filled with hatred towards the Mafia, particularly the Falzones due to the deaths of his parents and older sister, Chloe.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • Playing through Dante's route reveals that he developed a crush on Lili when they first met as children. While Lili doesn't remember the encounter, he does. Even in other routes, it influences a lot of his actions. Dante isn't just determined to protect Lili and wanting to rescue her from other love interests because she is the Key Maiden and important to the Falzone Family but because he has been in love with her all this time.
  • When encountering Lili for the first time in the prologue, Dante had an awkward conversation with Lili and left just as quickly. On second viewing, it's not because he was being rude or aloof but as discovered later in his route, he was actually trying to strike up the courage to speak to her but was too shy to.
• Satellite Character: Elena. She doesn't contribute much to the plot and is mostly present for hijinks or getting into trouble that would cause Liliana to try and do something about it.
• Save the Day, Turn Away:
  • In Nicola's Good Ending, despite killing Roberto and putting an end of the Mafia killings, the police were still hunting for Nicola as he was unable to prove his innocence and due to acting out on his own, the Mafia gangs did not trust him. For his own safety, Nicola decides to leave town.
  • In Henri's Best Ending, after he and Liliana escape the burning casino, they leave Burlone and settle in a remote village in the south of France to make a life together.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Happens to Liliana in Orlok's bad ending courtesy of Dante. She agrees on the condition that Orlok’s life is spared, and Dante rapes her in front of the heavily injured Orlok.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Dante, Nicola and Gilbert are dressed quite nicely, befitting of their status as high-ranking members of the mafia.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Gilbert is rooting for Nicola and Lili in Nicola's route.
  • Lan and Fei also are quick to support Yang and Lili when they notice Yang being in better moods when she is around.
• Shipping Torpedo: In Dante's route, Nicola disapproves of his and Lili's growing relationship and tries to force them apart, not out of malice but because Nicola knows Dante is very dedicated to the Falzone mission of protecting the Key Maiden and being too attached to Lili would jeopardize Nicola's own mission of wanting to free Dante from being a Mafia boss.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • There is a CG where Dante steps out of the shower, mostly naked.
  • Yang likes to sleep half-naked, as Lili finds out to her mortification when she has to stay in his room.
  • Lili has Orlok take off his shirt after being injured by the Visconti.
• Slasher Smile: Yang tends to have one of these. In many routes, Lili remarks how frightened she is in Yang's presence when he smiles like that.
• Slipping a Mickey: Dante and Lili are both knocked out in a laced wine that Nicola brought for them at one point, with the goal of kidnapping Lili.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: In the Finale route, there is one instance of Yang and Nicola interacting and attempting to gain the upper hand on the other through their words alone.
• Sociopathic Hero: Yang in the finale and his own route, as although he’s on the “good side” he’s still very morally bankrupt and only does things to his own accord. Though it can also be the case of Liliana being his Morality Chain.
• Stating the Simple Solution: After the false rumors of Nicola attempting to assassinate Dante on the Visconti's orders continue to spread, Gilbert comments on the simple solution of just meeting with Dante to clear things up. Everyone thinks it is a terrible idea. Until Gilbert reveals he already met with Dante on his own and they formed a plan to get the real culprit.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Played with as Lili is a civilian with no experience with any kind of fighting and the love interest wants her to stay away from any violence out of concern for her safety but she is still shown to be more proactive than the average women in that era, such as insisting to join the love interest in potentially dangerous situations and not flinching when she had to use a gun in one route. She will also jump in to defend or shield the love interest if she sees they are in danger. Meanwhile, no one bats an eye at Lan fighting in the frontlines.
• Stockholm Syndrome:
  • Played with. In some routes, the love interest takes Lili into their custody without giving her much choice and have to restrict her movements, out of a desire to protect her from the more malicious people who want her. Lili is generally treated quite well by the love interests, interacts with others aside from the love interests and there are times when she will disobey their orders and talk back to them if she disagreed with them and their actions. She only falls for the love interest once they start showing their real selves to her rather than as her captor.
  • Yang's route is the only route that plays this straight, as Lili is no position to deny him anything and spends half of the time terrified of what Yang would do to her and fearing for her life. But slowly, she falls for him when he treats her kindly and becomes angry when others try to take her away from Yang and even defends Yang.
  • Elena in one ending becomes madly in love with the man who had captured, drugged and abused her, even leading her friend into a trap for the Visconti to kill Yang.
• The Stoic: Henri. During the Finale, Liliana notes on more than one occasion that he seems almost expressionless. Subverted at one point where Nicola taunts him about Liliana, which causes Henri to become so angry that he drops the said facade, and raises his voice.
• Stronger Than They Look: Orlok is the youngest and smallest of the love interests, but can easily fight through hordes of people like they’re nothing. He’s as close to being a One-Man Army than anyone else.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Dante and Lili both drink a tampered wine but they are not knocked out instantly. They continue with their dinner and conversation long before Lili even begins to feel drowsy.
  • Orlok, despite being a One-Man Army, eventually slows down and gains several injuries when the Mafia sends men after men to ambush him without any rest.
• Switching P.O.V.: The game frequently has "Meanwhile" cutscenes that shows the love interests or other characters in other events that don't involve Lili and it reveals many of their thoughts and motivations. Also many of the Short Stories of the love interests is written from their perspective.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • The knife, anyway. When Dante confronts Orlok about killing his father on the latter's route, a fight breaks out. Nicola intervenes right when Orlok is about to land a killing blow, taking the attack in his place, dying a few hours later. This, naturally, makes Dante even angrier towards Orlok.
  • In Nicola's route, when Roberto attempts to shoot Nicola, Lili immediately jumps between them to shield Nicola just as the gun goes off. Thankfully, Gilbert manages to knock the gun away and Lili is only grazed by the bullet.
  • The punch, in Henri's case. In the Finale route, Liliana is about to get punched by a member of an angry mob, but Henri steps in to protect her, which results in him taking the blow meant for her.
  • In Gilbert's Bad Ending, an enraged civilian attacks Lili with a knife but Orlok steps in to shield her, only to take the hit instead and later on, is revealed to have died from their injuries.
• Tastes Better Than It Looks: Lan And Fei make some Chinese fried dessert that looks horrible and everyone refuses to touch it. Lili is the only one brave enough to try it and finds that it is actually pretty delicious.
• Through His Stomach: All the love interests are very fond of Lili's cooking who is an excellent baker.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed, but in Yang’s route it’s obvious that as Liliana slowly grows on Yang he begins to treat her more kindly despite gaining nothing out of it, examples include him insisting that they hold hands in the forest as so she doesn’t trip, gifting her a panda plushie, and embracing her on more than one occasion for the sake of her comfort.
  • Downplayed in Henri's route. He tries to keep his distance from Liliana, but finds himself constantly stepping in to help and protect her at certain moments. He later admits that he had been used to sacrificing others but at some point, decided he would not sacrifice her.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Betrayal of one's family is deemed a cardinal sin among the Mafia. So when Nicola betrays Dante and the Falzone Family for the Visconti Family, everyone is shocked and furious and there are many in the Visconti Family who do not trust Nicola due to this.
• Unequal Pairing: This occurs with Lili and the love interests who are the Mafia bosses, as they are very powerful and influential in Burlone while she is an ordinary civilian.
• The Un-Reveal: In Dante's route, it is never revealed what exactly the relic is after Dante and Lili break the seal and choose not to use it.
• Walking Spoiler: The Diretorre’s true identity. It is easy to risk spoiling significant plot details when discussing his character. His identity is Henri Lambert.
• We Need a Distraction:
  • In one Ending for Dante's route, during the fight with Yang, the former has Dante pinned down to the ground, about to stab him when Lili, on Dante's earlier instructions, fires a shot into the air. She was never intending to shoot Yang but the gunshot sound distracts Yang enough for Dante to shoot him in the chest.
  • In one Ending for Yang's route, when cornered and losing the battle, Yang throws Lili at Dante as a distraction. It works and it allows Yang to stab through Lili to kill Dante.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: It's been remarked that Dante and his father have a tense relationship as Dante was growing up and Dante struggled with trying to live up to his father's expectations. Dante felt that his father preferred Nicola over him, though Nicola feels that Dante's father does love Dante in his own way.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Lili spends quite a bit of time mesmerized and gushing to herself how beautiful the eyes of certain love interests are. Of note, she remarks how the blue in Dante's eyes resemble the Adriatic Ocean and how bewitching Yang's golden eyes are.
• What You Are in the Dark: In Nicola's Bad Ending, this happens on two occasions.
  • A shooter starts firing at innocent civilians. A child trips in the middle of the road during the chaos and Dante, despite the danger, runs to protect the child, only to be killed.
  • Similarly, when a grief-stricken Nicola points a gun at Gilbert, the latter's first reaction when Lili tries to defuse the situation is to protect Lili without any regard for himself. He would get stabbed and killed by Nicola.
• When She Smiles: Lili is said to have a lovely smile. In fact, seeing her smile was the start of Roberto falling in love with her.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Subverted, despite being a “cruel” mafia boss Dante has an abundance of standards and rules when it comes to harming innocent civilians. Double subverted in Orloks’s bad ending where he rapes Liliana.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Roberto develops this as a sign of his descending madness in Nicola's route and Lili notes how hate-filled and insane his eyes appear whenever they encounter each other.
• Would Hit a Girl:
  • Some Mafia underlings have no trouble threatening or physically hurting Lili, Elena, Lan or other women.
  • In Yang's Bad Ending, he uses Lili to kill Dante by stabbing through her to get to Dante.
  • In Yang's route, Lee beats up a captive Elena whenever in a bad mood. It's also mentioned that Yang tends to have many lovers but things never end well for the women after Yang gets bored with them.
    • After Dante is killed by Yang, Nicola threatens to kill Lili to send a message to Yang and shoots at her later.
    • Also in one ending, Yang kills an unbalanced Elena who was firing wildly at him. It's noted by Lili it is more done as a Mercy Kill than out of cruelty.
• Yandere: Seen in two bad endings.
  • In Nicola’s bad end, he becomes paranoid of losing someone else he cares about after Dante’s death. When he becomes afraid of Liliana leaving him, he rapes her in an attempt to confirm that she’ll accept whatever he does. He also destroys the other mafia families so there’s no risk of her being harmed by them, but it’s not enough. Nicola starts to gradually increase control over where Liliana can go, ultimately restricting her to only her bedroom suite in the manor and not allowing her to meet with anyone else.
  • In Orlok's bad end, Dante, having finally gotten his father’s (And Nicola's) killer right where he wants him, issues a Scarpia Ultimatum to Liliana, which gets carried out right in front of said killer. The extra scene after the ending drives it home, where Dante, upon catching Liliana with Orlok, tells her that the tendons in her legs are going to be cut to keep her from running away.
  • The previous Key Maiden, Chloe Lambert was this toward Dante's father, Silvio. Because she was utterly convinced that they were meant for each other, she did not react well when he got married, to the point of pushing the woman down the stairs.
• You Killed My Father: In Orlok's route, Dante holds a particular grudge against Orlok for assassinating his father and later for killing Nicola. Strangely, in other routes when Dante does encounter Orlok, it doesn't get brought up at all.
• You Must Be Cold:
  • Gilbert offers his coat to Lili on a walk in the evening.
  • Henri drapes his coat over Liliana's shoulders during their escape through the underground passageway in his route to protect her from the cold.

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