Visual Novel / The Royal Masquerade

Hunter Fierro and Julia.

The Royal Masquerade is one of the many stories from Pixelberry's Choices: Stories You Play collection.

It's the night of the Royal Masquerade, but will a lowly scribe like you get to attend? Choose your House, change your fate, and pursue love in this romantic epic!

Tropes used in The Royal Masquerade:

• Abdicate the Throne: Played with.
  • Downplayed because Hunter was never actually crowned, but still counts. After acting as regent in the absence of a ruler and discovering s/he was named heir by Queen Kendra after all, Hunter gives up his/her claim on the throne and entrusts it to Julia before the conclave to show the utmost support for her.
  • After becoming queen, Julia can potentially give the throne to Kendra's only living relative, Fabian, to be free to marry her love interest. Whether she does that or stays queen instead is up to the player.
• All Animals Are Domesticated: In chapter three, Julia can potentially adopt an orphaned wolf pup, bear cub, or fox kit as her pet (depending on which animal is her House's sigil). Once adopted, it's treated almost exactly like a domestic pet and loves eating human-made foods like sausages.
• Always Identical Twins: Averted with Hunter and Renza Fierro, who are twins with distinct character designs (even if Hunter is female). Because Renza's design remains the same while Hunter's is customizable, how similar they look depends on which design the player chooses for Hunter. They can look somewhat similar (Asian male and female Hunter), slightly similar (white female Hunter), or nothing alike (white male Hunter).
• A Man and His Dog: A villainous example in the form of Cyrus Vescovi, who owns a pet Pomeranian called Lord Pompadour.
• Ambiguously Brown: This is one of Kayden's two possible looks in customization (the other being Black). The sprite files list this design as Hispanic, but there's no mention of it in the story itself.
• Animal Motifs: Each of the Houses that the player can choose for Julia to be from has an animal sigil and a trait associated with it (a wolf with loyalty for Aster, a bear with bravery for Everhart, and a fox with cleverness for Rosario).
• Arranged Marriage: Alluded to and discussed several times.
  • Renza Fierro mentions that she is married to a nobleman for her House's benefit, and her remarks that he was a "stranger" specify that it was this.
  • Julia has to entertain potential suitors from different Houses in order to get their votes, which means entering an engagement at some point. Early on, Renza tells her that no actual marriage is needed because they can simply break off the engagement after the votes go through and the throne is secured.
  • Annalisa, Julia's adoptive sister, agrees to go through with one to Hector/Olive Nevrakis to secure Theodosia's vote for Julia, though it's left up to Julia as to whether or not to accept the deal. Discovering the bargain the Nevrakis family made with the Cordonian royal family to replenish their wealth renders the whole thing moot, though, and Theodosia agrees to lend her vote to Julia without need for any marriage.
• Artistic License – History: The story takes place in 1600, nearly a century before Europeans first discovered Australia and emus, let alone brought any in captivity back home. Yet an emu appears as one of the animals intended for the carnival.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: When Julia wins enough votes to triumph in the inter-House fight for the throne, she is crowned queen by Hunter. In contrast, Fabian's coronation is not shown and is merely mentioned in the text in the epilogue.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Damon Fierro is one of the villains, being a cold and obstructive nobleman who seeks to bar Julia from the throne. The other main villain is his daughter, Renza, who masterminded the assassination of Queen Kendra that caused Cordonia's power vacuum and the subsequent fight for the throne.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Renza initially pretends to be Julia's friend at the beginning, but reveals in chapter six that she has been gradually poisoning her with cantarella and will only give her the antidote if Julia helps her become queen.
• Bodyguard Crush: Kayden is the Crown Shield and acts as a guard to Julia, and can be romanced if the player so chooses. S/he also turns out to have been protecting Julia with hidden magic.
• Cain and Abel: Several examples.
  • Lord Cranston Rhys was the Cain to Queen Kendra's Abel. He plotted to assassinate his sister to usurp the throne, but failed because his mistress, Elise, informed her about the plot. When Kendra ordered her Crown Shield to arrest him, he was killed in the ensuing struggle.
  • Heroic bodyguard and potential Love Interest Kayden is the half-brother/sister to Cyrus Vescovi, the scheming villain who seeks to cause trouble for Julia. Needless to say, they don't get along. In the end, however, if you take the diamond choice to reminisce with Kayden about his/her childhood with Cyrus in his/her childhood room, Kayden successfully petitions for Cyrus's life to be spared after he's imprisoned and sentenced to hang for his crimes.
  • Hunter and Renza become this trope after Renza shows her true colors as a villain, with Hunter opposing her and their father Damon's attempts to get rid of Julia.
• Can't Hold Her Liquor: Sunshine tends to go out of control when she has even a drop of alcohol, and she’s been known to cause a lot of property damage because of her great strength.
• Character Customization: Aside from the player’s ability to customize Julia’s appearance, both Hunter Fierro and Kayden Vescovi can be either male or female. Hunter can be either white or East Asian, while Kayden can be either black or Ambiguously Brown.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: At her party in chapter twelve, Theodosia's idea of punishing Cyrus for two-timing her with Emery is...unique. She gives every guest a room outfitted with their hearts' desires (or what she thinks they are), and for Cyrus's, she puts herself in only her lingerie in a human-sized bird cage, with the intention that she's taunting him with what he can't have. Unfortunately for both of them, Julia is the one who unknowingly walks in on this set-up.
• Dances and Balls: The story opens with Julia attending the Royal Masquerade Ball, where she meets her two prospective Love Interests and shares a dance with one of them.
• Dance of Romance: Julia can choose to dance with either Hunter or Kayden at the Masquerade Ball, though the actual choice as to which of them is her permanent Love Interest comes later in the book.
• Daydream Surprise: The first chapter opens with Julia sharing a moment with a masked admirer on a palace balcony at night, only for it to be revealed to be a dream when Julia is rudely awakened with a ruler slap by the unpleasant head librarian Kana.
• Deadpan Snarker: The dialogue options give Julia some witty comebacks, such as a possible response to Teapot's teasing over her noble status:
  Teapot: Careful, YOUR HIGHNESS. Benches at the Blue Dragon aren't polished twice a day by servants. We wouldn't want you to sit on a splinter...
  Julia: Yes, we wouldn't want two pricks at the table, now would we?
• Depraved Bisexual: Cyrus is shown to flirt with a lot of people, regardless of gender. He’s also a hedonistic lecher.
• Did Not Die That Way: Cranston Rhys was believed to have died of illness until Flora, Julia's biological mother, and Elise revealed the truth that Cranston was struck down by Kendra's Crown Shield, Valora, for trying to assassinate her. To prevent gossip and talks of dissent, his death was covered up.
• Elective Monarchy: The plot is based around the heads of the noble Houses fighting to gain the most votes among them to be elected the new king or queen of Cordonia after Queen Kendra's assassination. Julia initially works to help Hunter, the acting regent, but later enters the race herself as the head of her House and is ultimately crowned queen when she wins enough votes.
• The Faceless: Frisk's face is always completely covered by his helmet, which he wears to avoid public recognition from the furious husbands of the women he sleeps with. Because he does this a lot, Kayden muses about starting to forget what Frisk looks like.
• Family of Choice: Kayden's subordinates in the royal guard, Teapot, Sunshine, and Frisk, are a close-knit group that Kayden considers his/her found family.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Several examples:
  • Cyrus and Kayden Vescovi are half-siblings with drastically different temperaments. While Kayden is honest, humble, and a dedicated royal guard, Cyrus is a self-absorbed and hedonistic philanderer with a massive ego. It's also a case of Cain and Abel, as Kayden is a heroic ally to Julia and Cyrus is an unscrupulous villain.
  • Emery and Percival Beaumont, respectively. Percival is an intelligent and level-headed law expert (if also rather stuffy); Emery is an airheaded Absent-Minded Professor type who ponders trivial questions.
  • Though they never actually interact on-screen, Theodosia Nevrakis seems to have this dynamic with Hector/Olive. Theodosia is a vain and attention-seeking socialite who loves throwing extravagant parties; Hector/Olive is an unsentimental, hard-nosed businessperson who seeks to be the royal archive keeper.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In chapter two, Renza asks "What's your poison?" while offering Julia drinks. Then it is revealed in chapter six that the drinks were really poisoned!
  • In chapter fourteen, if you take the premium scene to visit Kayden's childhood room with him/her, Julia finds a broken stick which s/he says is a wand. In the next chapter, Kayden is revealed to have magic powers.
• The Ghost: A few characters are referred to, but are never shown.
  • Renza mentions that she's already married to a nobleman for House Fierro's benefit (and her comments about how he was a "stranger" indicate it was an Arranged Marriage), but her husband is never named or seen.
  • Queen Kendra had a brother, Lord Cranston, and he serves as something of a plot point because he fathered a son with Julia's adoptive aunt Elise. He doesn't show up at all, being a Posthumous Character who died years prior to the story.
  • Kayden talks at one point about his/her and Cyrus's father, a nobleman who treated Kayden as inferior (though he did at least give him/her a noble's education) and mostly paid attention to Cyrus. He's never given a name or appearance, and whether or not he's even still alive in the present is never addressed (though the fact that Cyrus is the head of House Vescovi implies that he's no longer around).
  • The catalyst for Kayden and Cyrus's estrangement was a minor lord's daughter named Raven, who stayed at the Vescovi estate for a season and spurned Cyrus in favor of Kayden when they were teenagers. She's only mentioned by Kayden and doesn't appear in person.
• The Good King: After being crowned, Fabian is described to be this in the epilogue. It is said that when he died, the bells of mourning chimed for seven whole days in his country.
• Gorgeous Garment Generation: This is the magic ability of the House Treasure given to Julia's family, the Jade Mirror. It creates ball gowns for Julia to wear (which serve as the premium choices).
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Teapot is extremely short-tempered.
• Happily Adopted: Julia is an adopted child of her House and gets on well with her adoptive sister Annalisa, despite her aunts' disdain for her.
• Has a Type: Frisk, one of the guards under Kayden's command, has a thing for married women. This obviously gets him in trouble with their enraged husbands, so he always wears his helmet to avoid recognition from them in public.
• Heel–Face Turn: Julia's adoptive aunt, Zya, is cold and contemptuous towards her for being adopted and was responsible for having her sent away to the library when she was a child. After Julia helps her negate Renza's blackmail in chapter nine, Zya warms up to her from then on and shows her support by attending her coronation.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player has the ability to name the protagonist, with the default being Julia. Her surname is determined by which House you choose for her (Aster, Everhart, or Rosario). They can also name the regent and Crown Shield, with the defaults being Hunter and Kayden, respectively. And you can choose the name of your house sigil you can adopt, with the default being Valiant.
• Hidden Backup Prince: It’s revealed that there’s a nephew of Kendra, Fabian, alive and living as a commoner. Putting him on the throne resolves the issue of succession and keeps Cordonia from going into civil war.
• The High Queen: From what little is seen of her, Queen Kendra is indicated to have been a kind and benevolent sovereign who truly cared for her people before she died. Julia also becomes this when she is crowned queen. In the end, whether or not she actually stays queen is up to the player.
• Hopeless Suitor: Emery Beaumont acts infatuated towards Cyrus and truly seems to want his hand in marriage. Cyrus, for his part, doesn't return the affection as much and only seems interested in him/her for the alliance with House Beaumont.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • In chapter four, Julia can inflict one on Cyrus at the Lunar Banquet to get him to leave after he rudely disrupts her blind date with Emery and steals her dinner. She first kicks him under the table, and can then potentially embarrass him in public by causing Lord Pompadour to act out against him (by luring the dog with a forkful of meat and throwing it at either Emery's lap, Cyrus's face, or Damon's plate), tampering with his food, or both.
  • In chapter seven, after being returned to her room to wait for Vasco to come back with the antidote, Julia is forced to hide under her bed when Cyrus and Renza come in. While they have sex on her bed, she overhears their plot to take the throne and their conversation about being behind Queen Kendra's assassination. After stealing the antidote from Renza's discarded dress, she can also choose to steal their scattered clothes to throw into the ocean and take their House Charms to give to Hunter and Kayden (in Hunter's case, she returns the Sun Pendant that Damon took from him/her to give to Renza instead). Later, Cyrus and Renza are forced to appear in public in their underwear, and Damon is infuriated at the implications of them both missing their clothes at the same time and chews out Renza for losing the Sun Pendant. None of this has lasting effects other than Cyrus's hair being disheveled without his magic comb for the rest of the book, as Damon still supports Renza's bid for the throne. Cyrus and Renza's sprites also remain unaffected and they continue wearing the clothes that were ostensibly thrown away, though it's justified by the lack of coding and art assets to take that into permanent account.
• Identical Grandson: Being an interquel of The Crown & the Flame and The Royal Romance, there are examples of this going both ways.
  • Percival looks identical to his descendant Maxwell, only with a beard, while his sibling Emery resembles Bertrand even if female.
  • Hector and Olive Nevrakis respectively resemble their ancestor Diavolos and descendant Lucretia.
  • Queen Kendra is identical to Queen Adriana, her ancestor and Kenna's mother.
  • Fabian looks like the Caucasian appearance for Liam, only with longer hair.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Theodosia has a huge one.
• Interquel: It takes place between the events of The Crown & the Flame and The Royal Romance.
• It's All About Me: Cyrus Vescovi is an arrogant, loutish lecher who only cares about satisfying his own hedonism. Theodosia Nevrakis is also incredibly spoiled and self-absorbed, though she does eventually become Julia's ally. Renza also shows this when she and Cyrus talk about what kind of king and queen they will be while conspiring to take the throne in chapter seven.
• Kick the Dog: After the Royal Hunt in chapter three, Damon kills the hunt's quarry (a wild animal that is either a wolf, bear, or fox, depending on the sigil of Julia's House) with a crossbow in front of Julia purely to show how much he wants her gone. The kill leaves the animal's cub orphaned, and Julia immediately has it taken in.
• Knife-Throwing Act: In chapter twelve, Theodosia's final party game to determine which guest wins an alliance with House Nevrakis entails Julia and Renza (who both won the previous game) throwing knives at a giant wooden wheel, which has either Hunter or Kayden strapped to it in underwear.
• The Lady's Favor: At the Tournament of Flowers, it's considered customary for a participant to receive a favor for luck before a jousting match. Cyrus promises Theodosia his House's flower as her favor before her match to win her back after she dumped him at the Lunar Banquet, and Julia has to steal the flower so that he won't get House Nevrakis's support. Julia can also choose to give her favor (a floral handkerchief) to either Hunter or Kayden before their jousting match; whoever receives it will be the victor.
• Love Dodecahedron: Definitely not as complex as other examples, but it's still present. Hunter and Kayden are both attracted to Julia, and whichever of them she chooses is up to the player. Cyrus is Kayden's half-brother and makes unwanted come-ons to Julia, who finds him repulsive. Theodosia is in a secret relationship with Cyrus while he publicly courts Emery, who wishes to marry him, and Theodosia's sibling, Hector/Olive, briefly pursues an engagement with Julia. Emery's brother Percival is with Julia's adoptive sister, Annalisa, who is almost betrothed to Hector/Olive to secure the Nevrakises' alliance after the engagement with Julia fell through. And finally, Hunter's twin sister Renza is married (though her husband is a complete non-entity), but is secretly sleeping with Cyrus.
• Magic Mirror: The Jade Mirror, which was bestowed on Julia's House as a symbol of their ascension to nobility. Its magic ability is to create gowns from the reflection for Julia to wear.
• Marriage of Convenience: Julia can choose to continue being queen of Cordonia by marrying Fabian after his coronation solely to keep power. She's free to continue being with her love interest, but in secret.
• Masquerade Ball: The book begins with this in the first chapter. Julia's adoptive sister, Annalisa, takes her away from her job as a library scribe for one night to attend a masked ball, which is where she first meets Hunter and Kayden.
• Mean Boss: Head Librarian Kana, whom Julia works for as a scribe, is the strict, overbearing kind who piles on extra work as punishment for daydreaming. He doesn't show up for most of the book afterwards because Julia leaves her job in the first chapter to go to the ball with Annalisa. But he does attend Julia's coronation when she becomes queen, so he might not be all bad.
• Mister Muffykins: Cyrus's pet Pomeranian, Lord Pompadour, is a dog of this kind. His owner dotes on him and takes him along almost everywhere he goes. Other than snarling at Julia's pet once at the Tournament of Flowers, though, he doesn't seem actively malicious most of the time. Kayden notes that Cyrus has a penchant for owning dogs of this type; before owning Pompadour, he had another one named Lady Pumpernickel before she ran away.
• The Mistress: One of Julia's adoptive aunts, Elise, is later revealed to have been the mistress of Queen Kendra's brother Lord Cranston, whom she had a son with out of wedlock.
• Morality Pet: Cyrus may be a slimy and scheming villain, but he genuinely loves and cares about his Pomeranian dog, Lord Pompadour. He eventually goes so far as to ask Julia to adopt his dog after he's imprisoned.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Queen Kendra owned a pet falcon called Princess Astralla, who can potentially become Julia's if the player takes the premium choice to bond with her. She's only introduced near the end of the book, however, and doesn't appear again after her introduction.
• Noodle Incident: Percival claims to Julia that he once taught Renza how to throw knives when they were at a party long ago. The most he says about the incident is that it involved an "ill-advised" amount of red wine, and Renza has used knife-throwing as her party trick ever since.
• Once More, with Clarity: When Renza reveals in chapter six that she has been poisoning her the entire time, Julia flashes back to every time that Renza offered her a drink out of seeming generosity and realizes that the poison had been in every one she gave her.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Unlike Kayden (whose nickname is "Chief"), the real names of subordinate guards Teapot, Sunshine, and Frisk are never revealed.
• Pimped-Out Dress: The diamond option dresses are all appropriately lavish, but special mention goes to the deep blue and gold ball gown with ruffles and a sapphire belt that Julia wears on the cover (and can wear in the first chapter if you take the diamond choice). Even the plain black dress, which is the free option, has puffed sleeves, gold trim, and bodice lacing.
• Pintsized Power House: Sunshine who is super strong.
• Plot-Triggering Death: The assassination of the reigning Queen Kendra, and her subsequent lack of a named heir in her will, is what kicks off the story's fight between the noble Houses for votes to claim the throne.
• Poison and Cure Gambit: This is essentially the villain's Evil Plan. Renza, who has been pretending to be Julia's friend up to this point, reveals that all the drinks she gave her out of seeming generosity were actually laced with a slow-acting poison called cantarella, and Julia must help her in her schemes to become queen if she wants her to give her the antidote for it. When Julia refuses, Renza locks her in a room to die from the poison. She only survives because she's able to steal the antidote later and give it to Vasco, so he can develop a permanent cure from it.
• Really Gets Around: Cyrus seems to treat promiscuity as his main pastime, rivaled only by pampering his pet Pomeranian. On top of his past sleeping around, he's in relationships with both Theodosia and Emery. He also turns out to be sleeping with Renza, his co-conspirator.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Fabian Rhys lives as a commoner for a long time until Julia and her friends come to him and reveal that he is Queen Kendra's nephew, and thus the last living member of the royal familly.
• Removing the Rival: What Renza wants to do to Julia, in order to prevent her from winning the crown.
• Rewatch Bonus: In chapter six's premium scene, where Julia joins the other nobles on the trip to Rebus Isle, Cyrus propositions Julia for an alliance and then goes over to Renza after she refuses. Their conversation isn't shown because Julia immediately joins Hunter and Kayden afterwards. This seemingly throwaway action becomes much more meaningful after the reveal that Renza and Cyrus are co-conspirators who masterminded Queen Kendra's assassination—they were likely talking about their plot together.
• Rhymes on a Dime: A premium scene in chapter two features an after-party where Julia joins the other nobles for a drinking game. The game involves drawing cards and inventing rules that lead to drinks; the rule invented when Theodosia draws her card is that everyone present must rhyme after what she says:
  Theodosia: There once was a lady named Cleodosia, who ate only the finest fruit!
  Renza: Until one day it was discovered, Cleodosia was a lady of ill-repute!
  Theodosia: I—she begs your pardon.
• Right-Hand Cat: Lord Pompadour is a dog version. He serves as Cyrus's doted-on companion, and seems to be the only living thing other than himself that he cares about.
• Sibling Rivalry: Renza first appears to love her twin sibling, Hunter. But it turns out she's been secretly jealous of Hunter for being the head of their House and the regent, and plots to supplant him/her by taking the throne for herself.
• Sibling Triangle: What soured the relationship between Cyrus and Kayden. Cyrus fell in love with a minor foreign noble girl who loved Kayden instead, but Kayden didn’t return her feelings. Despite this, Cyrus found out and, in a jealous rage, became everything their father told him he was and should be.
• Sneak Attack: In the final chapter, Renza, along with her hired assassin, tries to murder Julia in her sleep. It fails because Kayden prepared a trap to protect Julia, who is unharmed because of Kayden's magic.
• Solar and Lunar: Hunter wears a sun-like mask and Kayden wears a moon-shaped mask at the masquerade ball in the first chapter. Hunter also owns House Fierro's charm, the Sun Pendant, and Kayden wears a crescent moon pendant for Beltane.
• Succession Crisis: What kicks off the plot. Queen Kendra is assassinated with no known living blood relatives and her will seemingly not naming an heir, meaning a competition will ensue between the noble houses who seek the throne.
• The Tourney: Chapter five features a jousting tournament called the Tournament of Flowers. If you take the diamond choice, Julia can even participate in it in disguise as a knight to defeat Cyrus in a match.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: A premium scene in chapter six focuses on Renza taking Julia, Hunter, Kayden, and the other nobles on a trip to the mysterious Rebus Isle to search for a rare bottle of wine that ended up there in a shipwreck. Due to the wine being hundreds of years old, it obviously doesn't taste good when it's found, and Renza brings out bottles of palace wine for everyone to drink instead.
• Undying Loyalty: Annalisa, Hunter, Kayden, Lord Percival Beaumont, and even Theodosia Nevrakis stay loyal as Julia's friends and allies.
  • Vasco has known Annalisa and Julia since they were kids and he stays loyal as their house's steward.
• Unholy Matrimony: Discussed by Renza and Cyrus, who conspired together to assassinate Queen Kendra and talk about ruling as king and queen while doing the horizonal tango in chapter seven.
• Upper-Class Twit: Played with in some cases.
  • Cyrus is an unpleasant and foppish piece of work who seems like one because of his lechery and mindless hedonism, but he turns out to be a subversion because he can be dangerous when he wants to be. He helped Renza in having Queen Kendra assassinated by covertly hiring the assassin, and he nearly kills Julia and Kayden when he catches them escaping from the Vescovi estate.
  • Downplayed with Theodosia. She's not outright stupid, but she's clearly more interested in living extravagantly and showing off than being a real player in the court intrigues for the throne. Her idea of campaigning to be queen is throwing a massive party for the other nobles to win favor, rather than actually working to get on their good side or agreeing to meet potential suitors like Julia does.
  • Played somewhat straight with Emery, who is ostensibly a scholar but seems too absent-minded and airheaded to really be good at the job.
• Why Won't You Die?: Renza says this to Julia while attempting to kill her again in the end. It leads to her voluntarily falling to her death from the balcony to avoid admitting defeat.
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Despite having a reputation for being promiscuous, Hunter is seen to be this when informed that Queen Kendra appointed him/her to succeed her.
  • Fabian Rhys assumes this trope when it's revealed to him that he is actually royalty.