Character list for The Soulless Duchess.
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Main Characters
Yvona Azentine
It's not logical to annul the engagement because I changed my mind. I have to get my Abusive Dad and abusive husband to annul it instead.
The title character. After being abused and exploited by her father, her cousin, and her fiance, to whom she was sold, she winds up dying in despair, rage, and regret, but for reasons she doesn't know or understand, wakes up one year earlier and this time around is absolutely determined to not let them walk all over her again.- Abusive Parents: Her mother was driven out of the home by violence, fleeing in the middle of the night for fear of her life. Her father is a completely shameless hedonist that not only loved to beat her up for the slightest inconvenience, but sold her to Gaspar so he could settle his debts and continue living the high life without a care, even being introduced to the audience engaging in Hookers and Blow.
- Action Girl: She is a war veteran and has no problems going into the thick of battle when necessary.
- Arranged Marriage: Her father sold her to Gaspar Geize to cover his debts and maintain his hedonistic lifestyle, full of Hookers and Blow.
- Battle Couple: She has no issue supporting Claude not only in the mundane aspects of married life, but on the battle-field, and plays Her Sorcerer to his sword perfectly.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: In the original time-line, she let Tristan and Gaspar walk all over her, sometimes literally, because they initially treated her kindly and sheltered her from her abusive father, to earn her trust, and then treated her like crap once she was in a situation where she could no longer escape. In the current time-line, she falls for Duke Claude Azentine, in spite of herself, because he dotes on her, showers her with luxury, and gives her genuine kindness.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She is a total sweetheart, but she's a powerful summoner, and very cunning.
- Brainy Brunette: Though her father and Gaspar delude themselves into seeing her only as a Brainless Beauty, she is actually highly intelligent with brown hair.
- Dark Horse Victory: She wasn't even taking the embroidery contest seriously, genuinely thinking her embroidery skills were sub-par. But because all the other women were copying Lady Keldern, the crowd favorite, the princess was bored, until she came upon the handkerchief Yvona was working on, which completely ignored the flower motif to go with a mountain landscape featuring an eagle in the foreground. The fact that Her Highness picked Yvona's handkerchief stunned and surprised everyone, especially Yvona herself.
- Elemental Powers: Yvona's summons grant her various elemental powers. Asula is water (and ice) and darkness, Hurthlat gives her wind magic, Charlit controls plants and Lord Lucius presumably gives her fire powers.
- Endearingly Dorky: She spends her wedding night with Claude "indecently underdressed" but is so embarrassed that she wraps herself up in a bunch of blankets like a human burrito. Claude lies down beside her and goes to sleep. The next morning, Yvona and Claude wake up to find her arms wrapped around his waist. D'aww.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Particularly after the Fall Campaign, Yvona's dresses in purple. It emphasizes her graceful demeanour and invokes Purple Is Powerful.
- Happily Married: Just before going with Claude on the demon subjugation mission, she openly proclaims that she's happy to be married to Claude.
- Heroic RRoD: In the previous time-line, she was so desperate to earn Gaspar's affection that she performed all kinds of dangerous experiments so she could summon stronger and stronger divine beasts, and tore her own body to shreds in the process. The only one who realized something was wrong being Duke Azentine, but there was nothing he could do about it.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When she finds her mother's brooch on sale at the black-market auction house and Claude buys it for her, she goes into detail about her mother's abandonment, and can't be sure if she wants to meet her mother again. Rationally, she knows it's not her fault and her mother fled for fear of her life, but emotionally, she thinks it is, and she calls herself a terrible person for it.
- Lady of War: Yvona backed by her summons and experience is elegant and graceful in battle, able to take on monsters without losing her composure or poise.
- Marriage of Convenience: She draws up a contract to get Claude Azentine to marry her so she can escape the extremely toxic machinations of her father, cousin, and abusive husband. Once they're actually married, she and Claude are Happily Married Sickening Sweethearts.
- Mundane Utility: Yvona will occasionally use her summons to make flowers bloom or create water for drinking.
- Parental Abandonment: For reasons that have yet to be revealed, when her mother fled the house in the middle of the night for her own safety, poor Yvona was left behind.
- Nice to the Waiter: The very first morning in the Argestine estate, she's given a tour by the head maid, Jeanne. During that tour, Yvona goes out of her way to greet and meet every single servant, praising their hard work and efforts, especially the head chef, whose dishes she raves about. Many of them cry Tears of Joy as a result, relieved that they're being praised, rather than dumped on as is the norm in noble society.
- Red Baron: "The Duchess with an Empty Soul." Later she gains the moniker of "Master of Meteors" and even takes Gaspar's "the Golden Summoner"
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Her goal in the current time-line is to prepare herself to face the demon king and the summoners responsible for bringing it to the world on a much better footing than the previous time-line, and actually survive it, and that necessitates disowning her father, cousin, and former fiance.
- Sickening Sweethearts: She is so protective and supportive of Duke Claude Azentine and gets doted on so much that the fanbase tends to wind up in a diabetic coma, drooling sugar all over the floor.
- Strong Family Resemblance: In a flashback where Yvona and her mother were together admiring a fireworks show, Yvona's mother is the spitting image of Yvona in the present.
- Sword and Sorcerer: With her summoning magic, she serves as the sorcerer to Claude's sword.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: After waking up after having the last year of her life rewound, she makes her father, cousin, and abusive husband see what it's like to be on the receiving end of the abuse they heaped on her. They see her as having gone crazy as a result.
- True Blue Femininity: Her preferred color is blue when it comes to dresses and accessories, and she's a very effeminate woman.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Inverted. Most women who propose marriage to Claude run up to him and yell "I love you, please marry me!" or even "Please, just one night." and get turned down. Yvona walks up to him and says "I don't need love. I want a marriage with you based on mutual trust and self-interest" and lays out a contract. Yvona is the girl he winds up marrying and doting on.
- When She Smiles: Claude is madly in love with her smile and will go to extremes to see it.
- Workaholic: Yvona has a major flaw in that she has a tendency to push herself too hard, often putting herself in grave danger and/or overusing her powers as a side effect. Gaspar exploited this flaw to push her to her limits, overworking her to death
Duke Claude Azentine
Is this going to be more of the same pattern?!
The lord of the Azentine house. He is introduced being a strong candidate for the throne, but wants no part of it. The primary reason he receives Yvona's marriage proposal positively is that she points out being married to her would be the best, and most polite, way to show his disinterest, and get all his "love-struck" suitors to leave him the hell alone. Once he agrees, he begins to dote on and shower Yvona with luxury to the point she's clearly uncomfortable, but has no frame of reference to why this is inappropriate. He investigates Yvona's background and is often enraged as to how she was abused and mistreated. He becomes very, very protective and possessive as a result.- Abusive Parents: His mother was a Troubled Abuser who repeatedly thrust him into the jaws of death, demanding that he be "accepted" by the holy sword, because her father hated her for being born a girl and pawned her off to the first guy who showed interest, so she would sire a son to "complete the prophecy" that the house would have a wielder of said sword. Never mind the fact that said husband was an abusive playboy and she underwent a psychotic break, believing siring said child was the only purpose to her existence.
- Appeal to Force: Since Priest Kerda's rebukes consisted only of one ad hominem attack after another and the priest himself completely refused to acknowledge the current situation, Claude's logical appeals, the fact the temple's counter-measures clearly weren't working while Yvona's cure is, and utterly refused to respect both Claude's ducal authority and the emperor's decree, Claude quickly reached the end of his rope and threw the holy sword into the wall right next to the idiot priest, hurling the priest's own tautology back at him and stating in Tranquil Fury with a heavy dose of sarcasm "For you, being stabbed with the holy sword must be an immense honor." It is only at this veiled threat the the priest's brain finally toggles to the "on" position, and he flees the area in terror.
- Battle Couple: When he and Yvona take to the battlefield, they complement each other perfectly.
- Birds of a Feather: Claude and Yvona may come from opposite ends of the wealth and lineage spectrum but their backgrounds are nearly identical, and their marital bond is very, very strong as a result.
- Commonality Connection: He quickly bonds to Yvona when he realizes they have eerily common backgrounds.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: He's very possessive of Yvona and gets threatening if he sees any other guy get close to her, regardless of the reason, and takes it as his own personal privilege to call her by name.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Until he met Yvona, he would rebuff all his "love-struck" followers coldly when they ran up and proposed marriage. The other knights in his retinue left a trail of broken hearts behind them as they accepted the confession, bedded the women, and then abandoned them, sadistically laughing at the women's distress.
- Demonic Possession: Due to the Demon King's heart sealed inside Claude.
- Dramatic Irony: He wants to tell Yvona about his muddled memories of the previous time-line but is scared of being rejected. Yvona wants to tell him about the Cosmic Retcon just as badly but is reluctant because she fears Claude would see her as insane.
- Endearingly Dorky: When he becomes Yvona's fiance and then husband, he goes out of his way to drown her in luxury, to the point that she's clearly very uncomfortable, and when she tells him that it's making her uncomfortable, thinks he's not making her opulent enough! But when push comes to shove, she clings to him like glue, in spite of herself, because he's sweet, sensitive, and kind.
- Every Scar Has a Story: The reason he's got a massive rugged scar on his chest is that he almost died because his mother forced him into a dungeon to "prove himself" to a holy sword.
- Healing Hands: Claude's holy powers grant him limited healing powers which he used to soothe Ivona's pain in his previous life.
- Marry for Love: The reason he coldly turned down a bunch of marriage candidates and accepted Yvona's proposal is that he doesn't want a fangirl, peerage, titles, or any of that crap. He wants a strong and equal partner to share the rest of his life with, so he ignores the huge social distance between himself and Yvona, since she showed him she wants him for him, not for what he can do for her, can see her ability to stand as her own individual and he has enough vague memories from the previous time-line to confirm Yvona is the partner he's been looking for.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: He gained a reputation for being a cruel and cold loner because he would rebuff marriage proposals coldly. In truth, he was actually concerned about the well-being of the women involved and didn't want to be responsible for the life-time's worth of suffering their impulsiveness brought them, unlike the many other knights who accepted the proposals only to literally screw them over. He turns out to be a loving and doting husband to Yvona
- Not So Stoic: Beneath Claude's stoic quiet exterior is someone who is actually deeply emotional especially where Yvona is concerned. And especially when remembering some of his vague past memories how he lamented being unable to do anything to save Yvona despite knowing what was happening to her.
- The Paladin: Invoked as The Master of the Holy Sword.
- Past-Life Memories: Claude has vague memories of the events prior to the Cosmic Retcon, most notably remembering what happened to Yvona and his laments how despite helping save the world, he was unable to do anything to help her, who was suffering right in front of him. It is implied to be one reason why he goes out of his way to dote on her when she becomes his fiance.
- The Perils of Being the Best: Because he's the wielder of the royal holy sword and is the best knight the kingdom has to offer, he's the constant butt of unpleasant rumors and jealousy, has to near constantly put himself in harms way to protect others, and even if there was nothing he could do to stop it, he'd be blamed by the masses if any event having large numbers of casualties just happens to occur anywhere near him. Yvona calls this "a miserable existence."
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In chapter 65, after Gaspar, once again, blasts the area with hot air, bragging how he's so, so much "better" than Yvona and Claude, Claude tramples Gaspar's superiority complex to the ground and states that it's perplexing how Yvona was engaged to "a thing" that is clearly way, way beneath her, and insists that Gaspar stop calling Yvona by name.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: His idea of trying to make Yvona happy is drowning her in luxury, to the point Yvona and the fanbase wonder how he manages to keep his estate afloat.
- Sickening Sweethearts: He and Yvona are so perfect for each other that even an industrial strength dose of insulin isn't enough to prevent the oncoming diabetic coma from seeing them interact.
- So Proud of You: In chapter 68, when the new local priest asks him if he's proud of Yvona's accomplishments, he happily beams with pride at his wife. The fact that he smiled stunned everyone present.
- Sword and Sorcerer: He plays the sword to Yvona's sorcery.
- Tranquil Fury: He has yet to fly into an uncontrolled rage. When he gets angry, he goes eerily quiet and simmers, striking back with utmost precision.
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Invoked. When he and Yvona go into a ruins, so she can get a much, much needed power-up, the dungeon's Secret Test of Character hits him with his abusive backstory as an all-senses illusion. Almost literally drowning in despair, Yvona's voice drags him back out.
- When He Smiles: It may be just a smirk, but when he smiled with pride at Yvona's accomplishment to finding an herbal cure for an artificially introduced plague, it stunned everyone in attendance, seeing as he's never smiled in public before.
Summons
Common To All
- Action Pet: They are all animals, faithful to Yvona, and can go into battle when needed.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Yvona's word is law, end of story. It helps that she cares about them and loves them greatly.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: As hinted by others and revealed by Lucius - the summons live in a separate dimension and thus were unaffected by the time rewind
- Undying Loyalty: They are faithful to Yvona unto death and care about her well-being.
Asula
Whee
The first of Yvona's on-screen summons.- Animal Eye Spy: What it sees, Yvona sees, should she desire it.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It's the summon of water and darkness and is a benevolent holy beast.
- Heal It with Water: Asula has the ability to heal minor wounds with their water magic.
- An Ice Person: Fights with ice-based magic.
- Invisibility: What Asula's shadow powers manifest as - it allows Yvona the ability to hide in darkness.
- Killer Rabbit: It's a cuddly rabbit that houses enough magical power to be a threat to all but the strongest monsters.
- Plausible Deniability: Yvona uses it to display a vision to her father, showcasing Gaspar and Tristan engaged in a tryst, to explain why she's suddenly hostile to Gaspar when previously she was desperately fawning over him, with the bonus of turning the three manipulative and abusive sots against each other.
Hurthlat
Grrr!
Among Yvona's strongest summons, this beast is a dog big enough for people to ride on and is shown, via flashback, biting monsters and demons to death.- Blow You Away: Hurthlat controls air and light magic. His attacks often comes in gusts of wind.
- Big Friendly Dog: It's big enough for Yvona to ride on, and as long as it's not attacked or given the order to attack is very friendly and playful.
- Canis Major: A dog big enough to ride on.
- Light Is Good: White fur, said to be strong with the light element magic, and completely benevolent.
- Sapient Steed: Hurthlat is Yvona's primary means of transportation
- Shipper on Deck: In chapter 40, it literally tries to push Claude and Yvona together while the two newlyweds are exploring a dungeon, and Yvona invited Claude to go to sleep beside her.
Charlit
Meow!
A pink-furred winged cat-like creature that Yvona summons to get Duke Claude Azentine's attention as she was proposing marriage to him.- Cute Kitten: Invoked. As a cat-like creature, it does its best to look cute.
- Green Thumb: It can manipulate the growth of nearby plants, even grabbing some rapist wannabes and throwing them into a lake.
- Mundane Utility: Yvona uses Charlit to make plants bloom and grow outside of battle.
- Something about a Rose: When first summoned on-screen, it manifests a bunch of white roses to get Claude's attention, showing that Yvona was serious about her marriage proposal and it wasn't an impulsive thing, like he's used to.
Lord Rukius
Yvona, it's been a long time.
Truly, humans are such bothersome creatures.
The first of Yvona's summons that can actually talk, he is very powerful and overprotective. He never liked Gaspar, and is initially suspicious of Claude, but becomes nicer to Yvona's husband once he realizes Claude is a man that actually cares for Yvona's well-being.- Awesome, but Impractical: Even after Ivona gains the power of the Northern Ruins, she rarely uses Rukius in battle. Primarily because Rukius consumes an incredible amount of mana, draining her completely and preventing her from summoning other beasts to defend herself.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Justified. He knows the hell Gaspar put Yvona through in the last timeline and doesn't want her to go through that again, so he's wary of Claude at first. He does warm up to Claude once he shows to him he loves and cares for Yvona.
- Parental Substitute: He looks after Yvona like a surrogate father.
- Playing with Fire: As expected of a phoenix king, he's a master of flames.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: He has fully intact memories of the previous timeline. The explanation for why that is remains vague, at best.
- Shapeshifter Baggage: In his normal size he has the size and weight of a house. When he's small enough to fit on her shoulder, he's light enough that he can do so without putting any burden on her.
- Sleepmode Size: His normal size rivals a house, but at Yvona's request looks like a rather plump sparrow that's small enough to ride on her shoulder.
- This Is Unforgivable!: He would have burned Gaspar and Tristan to ash for what they did to Yvona, but Yvona herself says that's too merciful and has her own plans.
Claude Azentine's staff
Stefan
Dear Lady, are you okay being among "one of my kind."
Claude's head butler and a demi-human in disguise. When he notices that Yvona has a very high magical talent and can spot the defensive magics and traps on Duke Azentine's "modest" mansion at the capital, he gets nervous and tests whether the two of them can get along. He is relieved when Yvona treats him with respect and kindness, despite his non-human heritage.- Allergic to Evil: When he and Yvona were near the scene of a demon-summoning ritual, he was visibly ill and suffering from tremors-nervosa. This immediately clued Yvona in that something was wrong.
- Battle Butler: The head butler and can kick ass when need be.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: He's loyal to Claude and Yvona because they treat him like a person, not with unbridled hatred like all other humans who realize he's a non-human.
- Curtains Match the Windows: His eyes and hair are the same shade of yellow.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Dirty blonde and a good man who is very loyal to the Azentine house.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: His yellow eyes are the only visual clue he can't disguise that marks him as non-human.
- Token Non-Human: Even though he's introduced in human disguise, he is the first of the demi-humans introduced to the audience.
- Undying Loyalty: Loyal to the Azentine house, especially Claude, unto death.
Sally
M-mistress Yvona?! Are you sure it's a good idea to keep Gaspar waiting?!
Formerly a maid in the Bote house, she follows Yvona to the Azentine house upon the marriage between Claude and Yvona.- But Now I Must Go: Leaves the Azentine household after the Fall Campaign as while Yvona forgave her, she can't forgive herself.
- Foreshadowing: There's a small hint early on as to where Sally's loyalties lie. When the maids are gossiping about Yvona's gifts, she doesn't stop them until they start talking about Gaspar
- Meido: She is Yvona's personal maid.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: When she overhears Gaspar brag about exploiting her to Tristan, she turns on him and goes back to serving Yvona.
- The Mole: Which she failed at. Yvona catches her trying to spy on her and Claude for the Bote house and Gaspar.
- Small Name, Big Ego: After Yvona and Claude are married, she acts as if the very fact that she's tended to Yvona for years means she gets to boss every one of the other servants around, and countermand Yvona's choices, even going so far as to rifle through and repack Yvona's luggage behind the latter's back. Yvona responds to the latter part with Tranquil Fury and the threat to send her packing, back to Bote household, terrifying her.
Jeanne
Lady Duchess, I am the head maid Jeanne. I will show you around the estate today.
The head maid at the Azentine main estate.- Meido: As the head maid, she definitely qualifies.
- Number Two: To Yvona once she wins her loyalty, Yvona trusts her to manage the household and the staff (including Sally)
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Jeanne acts mildly antagonistic towards Yvona but that's only because Yvona's personal maid spread malicious rumors about her and Jeanne's only trying to protect the Azentine household. Once Yvona proves to be a good duchess, Jeanne readily accepts her.
- Secret Test of Character: When she meets Yvona, she's rather suspicious of the Duke's choice in wedding partner, since he married Yvona at breakneck speed. So she watched Yvona like a hawk for a full day and was repeatedly shocked that the lady treated the staff with respect, and it was genuine.
Fayran Angretten
Lady Azentine, I will pay back your kindess.
A boy rescued from the deprivations of the Geisten auction house under Adolph Vergeni.- Death Seeker: His suffering was so bad in the Geisten auction house that he begged for death when Yvona and Claude found him.
- Debt Detester: He swears to repay Yvona's kindness for treating his wounds and rescuing him from slavery under Adolph.
- Karmic Jackpot: The auction house that abused him was destroyed by Yvona and Claude, and the mysterious backers of said house was greatly inconvenienced by it. Yvona, who rescued him, was rewarded with the loyal services of possibly the best alchemist in the country.
- Language Barrier: Raised in a slave cell, he doesn't know much of the kingdom's language, proficient only in his native tongue.
- Sole Survivor: Of the Tigre Clan and of the slaves in the Geisten auction house.
Antagonists
Baron Gaspar Geize
Erm, what?!
Yvona's abusive fiance and the king's nephew. Yvona was sold to him by her father so he can cover his debts and support his hedonisitc lifestyle, suppored by the Geize estate. In the original time-line, he abused and neglected Yvona, stealing the credit of her summoning magic to make himself a "hero" earning his seat as the crown prince, and then was caught having an adulterous tryst with Tristan. In the current time-line, he can't handle the fact that Yvona has seen through his self-proclaimed "benevolence" and isn't happily debasing herself to vie for his favor.- Ambition Is Evil: All his villainy is spurred by the fact that he sees himself as the most worthy candidate for the throne, and absolutely refuses to believe he's not regardless of who calls him out on it or even empirical evidence of his own incompetence. When the emperor himself brings him to task, denounces his credit-stealing, illness-faking, and that his failures would have caused many, many more casualties to the plague if Sehez didn't step up to the plate, Gaspar has the gall to see himself as the victim of some kind of conspiracy and Sehez as the Inadequate Inheritor instead.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: In Chapter 12, when Yvona is given the engagement ring that should have been rightfully hers the moment the king sanctioned her being a fiance with Gaspar; a ring which she knows Gaspar gave to Tristan instead behind her back, she shakes with rage, realizing that Gaspar would stomp over his lover if said "love" gets in the way of his ambitions, so she turns him down. In response, he grabs her by the hand and drags her to the royal pulpit where he declares that they're already legally married, because her father Collin already signed the marriage paperwork. Fortunately, Claude asked for Yvona's hand in marriage as a favor from the king, as a reward for a major act of heroism, which trumps the legal agreement between Gaspar and Collin, and then Yvona proclaims that the fiance status between Gaspar and her wasn't legit in the first place, selling Gaspar as "a fake fiance" to keep her out of the hands of unworthy suitors, in exchange for "helping" him be a better summoner.
- Domestic Abuser: He insults, humiliates, and beats up Yvona on every chance he gets and calls her "crazy" in the current timeline because she refuses to suck up to him.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He originally wins Yvona over by treating her kindly, but once she was in an actual engagement with him, the gloves came off and he began to abuse her, making her more and more desperate to earn his affection by pushing herself until she broke and died.
- Black Sheep: The rest of the royal family, especially the king, are all good and decent people. He's the only one with a raging superiority complex and an irrational need to abuse the people he sees beneath him.
- The Casanova: Tristan has an ability to charm and manipulate women aided by his social status and good looks. Yvona isn't the only woman he's ensnared.
- Depraved Bisexual: He had sexual relations with Yvona to try siring an heir, but cheated on her with Tristan, another guy, and would marry Tristan if it was legally possible, genuinely smitten with the guy.
- Driven by Envy: The driving force behind all his villainy is a deep-seated loathing for Duke Azentine because the latter is actually competent and has earned merits by his own efforts.
- Entitled Bastard: He has a habit of showing up unannounced and then expecting Yvona to drop everything to make herself ready for him. When Yvona wakes up, having her life rewound by a year, and he does this to her, she decides to make him see what he's like by taking her sweet, sweet time getting ready for him, and when he complains, throwing his favorite insults back at him, leaving him confused and enraged.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: "Fake it until you make it" might make for great song lyrics, but it is terrible career advice. People who continuously steal the credit from others will trip over themselves and be found out sooner or later. He ignored his wake-up call at the royal ball, so when an epidemic hits the kingdom and he suddenly finds himself being tasked with using his non-existent summoning magic to provide the cure, he proceeds to fake illness to buy time and excuse his incompetence, but even this fails him when the crown princess stops by his estate and finds Tristan answering all her cure and summon related questions instead of him.
- General Failure: Especially seen during the Expedition, where he pretty much just stands around while his knights die. In chapter 80, he literally uses one of his family's knights as a Meat Shield. His men have never liked him but put up with him for being the "Golden Summoner." This action cements their HATRED of him.
- Hate Sink: He's clearly written to be hated. He gains glory for himself by stealing the accomplishments of others, abuses the people he gets those accomplishments from, especially his fiance, Yvona, has a completely insufferable superiority complex, going into angry rants the moment someone dares to point out his flaws, and he's completely unfaithful, getting into a homosexual adulterous tryst with Yvona's own cousin, not caring a whit how his wife tore herself to shreds trying to be of use to him in the past time-line, and trying to cage her in the current time-line for "being too stupid to realize her once in a life-time opportunity to be his bitch!".
- He-Man Woman Hater: Despite being surrounded by women more competent and powerful than him, Gaspar looks down on and underestimates women only viewing them as disposable tools.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Which the emperor calls him out on. The emperor blasts him for his incompetence and declares that because of her accomplishments, Sehez is on the fast track to being the first empress, ever, while Gaspar himself has been stripped of his position and removed from the running.
- I Reject Your Reality: Anything and everything that doesn't agree with his self-proclaimed superiority is the mad utterings of a total idiot.
- Jerkass Has a Point: His angry rants at Tristan are not without merit. Tristan is the one who advised stealing Yvona's accomplishments, so he bears some responsibility for the fallout, and when Gaspar gave the order to try and smuggle curative herbs across the border, delaying action only made things worse by letting the plague spread and having to spend more on said herbs, since the demand spiked. What's more, it's Gaspar's money that's paying for said herbs since Tristan is a parasite who doesn't have his own wealth, but can only leech off others.
- Laser-Guided Karma: At the royal ball, after he tries to drive Yvona to despair by forcing her into marriage with himself, she names and shames him, exposing the fact that he's nowhere near as good a summoner as he boasts, and has been stealing her accomplishments. He has no choice but to fess up because if he doesn't, his homosexual adultery will also be exposed in a very, very homophobic society.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Although it was very, very poorly executed, he tried to run over Claude with a carriage, intending to pass it off as an unfortunate accident. After Claude bisected the carriage, front to back, and let the innocent horses escape, he throws this ill-conceived plot right in Gaspar's face before breaking his arm to get his attention away from his delusions of grandeur before curbstomping his superiority complex to shreds, and then secretly heals the arm so Gaspar can't run and whine to his uncle emperor, with a cock and bull story that Claude is the one who attacked him.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: The masculine to Tristan's feminine.
- Narcissist: He is madly in love with himself, believes that the public should worship him as an unrivaled "genius" despite the fact that he has no talent in anything, simply because he's the king's nephew, and absolutely can't handle it when he's called out on his bad behavior, even when it's behavior he has called out on others.
- Psychological Projection: While he thinks himself completely innocent of it, the only reason he gets any pull at all is the fact that he's the king's nephew, and that he steals the accomplishments of others. So when someone outshines him, he happily presumes that someone is undeserving of his accolades and just lucked into it.
- Red Baron: "The golden summoner" due to his golden blonde hair, the fact that he dresses in gold-colored clothing, and the fact that he presents other people's summons as his own.
- Revenge Myopia: After putting Yvona through a lot of grief, including screwing around on her, he has the gall to demand vengeance when she so much as calls him out on his narcissism and scummy behavior.
- Sarcastic Confession: In chapter 63, he finally realizes that he's been caught red-handed faking his summoning prowess, so he angrily shouts at Yvona, in public, and right in front of Duke Claude Azentine, that he's got no ability as a summoner, at all, and dares her to report him to the emperor, to Tristan's blue-faced chagrin.
- Self-Serving Memory: Wearing bandages on his forehead, he screeches that Claude attacked his carriage for no reason, and crippled him by breaking his arm and a few ribs. Nobody believes him because not only did Claude heal his injuries with magic while he was unconscious, but Gaspar's credibility is already shot because all his lies and credit stealing were already exposed, so the knights that arrest him and drag him to the public dressing down by the emperor pay no heed to his protests, actively pointing out how if his injury claims were true, he couldn't even shout and struggle in the first place.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Granted he is the king's nephew, but he's only a Baron. The man he sees as an insolent upstart is Duke Azentine.
- Stealing the Credit: He is no summoner. In fact, he has no magical power at all. In the original time-line, he stole the credit for Yvona's summons to make himself a fabled "hero" and take the throne. In the current time-line, he takes the credit for Tristan's summons to preserve what little of his reputation remains as Yvona is married to Claude instead.
- Stupid Evil: All his vile acts are ultimately self-destructive, but as a victim of his own superiority complex, he utterly refuses to believe it, calling anyone and everyone who disagrees with his self-righteousness a moron.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: After burning all his other bridges, he turns to the corrupt Grand Priest Benedict for sanctuary and the promise of self-righteous vengeance.
- Unknown Rival: He wants to exceed and bury Claude's name in the eyes of the public. Claude does not know nor care.
- Unwitting Pawn: He's genuinely smitten with Tristan, and believes it's mutual, but Tristan is merely playing him to gain the crown's influence for revenge over his Evil Uncle and all of aristocratic society.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He thinks Yvona should be on her hands and knees, thanking him, because he gave her a cheap ring as a gift to prove his affection, after she begged for it.
Collin Bote
It's all your fault! How dare you not cover my debts and support my hedonism!
Yvona's father.- Abusive Dad: During her childhood, he beat up on Yvona for any reason, real or imagined, and also subjects her to Financial Abuse in the present, striking her across the face if she so much as dares to complain.
- Domestic Abuse: When Yvona was very small, he drove Yvona's mother out of the house with life-threatening violence, forcing the poor woman to flee for her life. The reason Yvona was left behind has yet to be mentioned.
- Entitled Bastard: He honestly believes that Yvona is duty-bound to cover all his debts and support his hedonism.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite trying to slap Yvona across the face just seconds before for daring to offend Gaspar and cut off the funds for his hedonistic lifestyle, when Yvona shows him hard evidence that Gaspar is in an adulterous relationship with Tristan, he turns on both Gaspar and Tristan and calls them both out on it, even disowning Tristan for his part.
- Evil Uncle: He is one to Tristan, responsible for the collapse of Tristan's household and the boy's father drinking himself to death in despair.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He flies into rages at the tiniest provocation, real or imagined.
- The Hedonist: All he cares about is his own pleasure. He stole his brother's title and inheritance, spends cash and valuables on hookers like it's going out of style, and eats luxurious meals far in excess of what he can afford, but if Yvona doesn't happily suck up to Gaspar to give him more and more money to pay for it all, she's a useless girl that serves no purpose.
- Hookers and Blow: He is introduced to the audience in a brothel, surrounding himself with prostitutes and indulging in luxurious wine. The only reason he realized something was wrong is that the valet told him that Gaspar had cut him off, instead of bringing the jewel he had ordered prepared for his oncoming tryst.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Shortly before Claude walks Yvona down the aisle, he shows up one last time, insisting that it's his right to present the bride as her biological father. When Yvona emphatically refuses to let him anywhere near the wedding venue, he tries to smack her across the face; she makes him back down with a Death Glare. At that point, she disowns him, and walks away. Now he's got no options as his hedonistic lifestyle must come to a screeching halt, Gaspar has no reason to give him a single coin, and his creditors are still going to come after him for payment on his outstanding debts.
- Never My Fault: The fact that he repeatedly drives himself into debt with his hedonistic ways is never his fault, the blame must surely lie elsewhere.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He loves to paint Yvona as an Ungrateful Bitch whenever she calls him out on abusing her because he provided her with food, clothing, and shelter as she grew up.
Tristan Bote
Yvona, you need to grow up and just bear with it.
Yvona's cousin.- Ambiguous Situation: In chapter 63, after Gaspar has angrily "confessed" how he's been deceiving the emperor by claiming to be a summoner when he's not, Tristan flips back hair from his ear in a manner that could be construed as trying to shamelessly flirt with Claude. Is it a nervous tic or was he really trying to flirt with a married man, right in front of his wife?
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He pretends to be madly in love with Gaspar, but he's really only playing the guy like a fiddle. He also pretends to be kind to Yvona so he can exploit her.
- Depraved Homosexual: He's in a sexual relationship with Gaspar, another guy, and is an enabler for all the abuse Yvona's suffered.
- Did Not Think This Through: His plans to smuggle the herbs Gaspar needs to cover his lack of summoning ability were foiled by the fact that he decided to use carriages camouflaged by invisibility and inaudibility magic through a crowded city square, in broad daylight, nearly getting a couple of children run over and killed. Yvona and Claude, on a hot-springs vacation, happen to spot said carriages and trace them back to the source, the herb market and then Yvona finds him right at the center of the smugglers. He also didn't realize that his constant speaking up for Gasper when the Crown Princess visits him to see how he's doing with the plague situation would clue her into just how incompetant her cousin truly is and how Tristan is clearly the brains of the duo, though then again, she herself was doing a fantastic job of playing dumb around them and getting them to make the mistakes themselves.
- Double Standard: Whenever Yvona's in trouble, he refuses to help saying he has to remain neutral, but when Yvona retaliates to the abuse of her father and fiance, suddenly he intervenes.
- Driven by Envy: The end of chapter 62 reveals that he pointedly turns a blind eye to the pitfalls of Yvona's life because he covets what he sees as her perks. He's pointedly envious of the fact that as a woman she can be married to a higher rank, he sees all the luxuries Collin surrounds himself with, and notices how much success Yvona's managed to earn with Duke Claude Argestine in a mutually beneficial commitment and deludes himself into thinking she somehow stole those things from him, just because she was born with a womb that can bear children while he wasn't.
- Driven to Villainy: His father, Collin's brother, had his inheritance stolen and his name ruined by Collin, and as a young child, he could do nothing but watch as his father drowned himself to death by booze in despair. He believes he has no other option for his survival and vengeance but riding Gaspar's coattails to gain access to the crown. Yvona's suffering is merely unfortunate collateral damage.
- Entitled Bastard: In chapter 63, his internal monologue reveals that he genuinely believes he is owed the fruits of Yvona's labors, even though he smirked and laughed as everyone else happily insulted her and put her down, not to mention he himself called her efforts to earn the affection of her father, her fiance, etc. "stupid."
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Gaspar comes to him, expecting to get solace and comfort for being humiliated in the royal court as a direct result of ambushing Yvona with a marriage decree that was signed behind her back, even Tristan himself can't help but call out how stupid, self-destructive, and ignorant that is. Rather than learn his lesson, Gaspar instead angrily threatens Tristan, seeing himself as the wronged party and Playing the Victim Card.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: He hates Yvona for the fact that she exists, and twists himself into pretzels to "justify" it by deluding himself into thinking that she's the one trying to steal everything from him and ruin his life, not the other way around.
- Freudian Excuse: Because Uncle Collin was born a few minutes before his unnamed father, his house was in abysmal poverty, due to Collin using his rights as first-born to strip everything away from his younger sibling to support his hedonism, leaving Tristan no choice but to suck up to Collin to survive. To escape Collin, he tried to curry favor with Duke Azentine, but since the duke doesn't respond to empty flattery, and Tristan was only one of many who had done the same before, he missed out. Then he saw Gaspar and immediately realized the latter's envy, so latched on and began feeding the narcissist's ego to manipulate him.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Despite his horrid childhood, where he was forced to go suck up to his Evil Uncle to survive, he has no excuse for taking out his grudge on Yvona, who he blatently saw was treated worse yet ignored completely while he stole the fruits of her labor, and laughing at her when the noble lords and ladies mocked her for the fact that she was stuck with hand-me downs and left-overs as a result of her father's hedonistic lifestyle.
- Gold Digger: Gaspar isn't the only one he leeches from. He is on-screen shown schmoozing women for money too, and when he got caught, blamed Gaspar for it.
- Hate Sink: Whatever sympathy he got early in the story for the fact that his father was driven to poverty and to drink in despair by the actions of Collin Bote completely evaporates when taking into account his current actions and his own flashbacks where he is treated kindly in the Bote house, does not take his studies seriously, and blames Yvona for all his suffering and misfortune that he willingly brought unto himself by trying to screw her over in the first place, just to make himself feel superior to her.
- Hope Spot: In chapter 64, Claude stomps off after Gaspar for "a little chat" after the narcissist insulted his wife right in his face, leaving Yvona and Tristan together. At this point, Tristan approaches Yvona seeking to suck up to her and reproaches her "for being mean after all he's done for her." Yvona turns his own tricks on him, using cleverly worded lies and half-truths to make Tristan believe there's an opening at Claude's estate and highlighting that the abusive Gaspar is beneath him. Tristan visibly lights up as Yvona skulks away, pondering how she has now effectively driven a wedge between her two abusers and has no plans to ever welcome Tristan if he dares show his mug at the Azentine estate. Later on when he confronts Yyona for suposedly not giving him what she promised him, she instead drops the mask, tells him that she KNOWS everything he did to her, and that no amount of attempting to deny it will work anymore, as she casts him aside and tells him to now fend for himself like the parasite he is, even as he continutes to falsely cry innocence at what she's talking about.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: He's got a completely unjustified persecution complex, genuinely believes he's gone though a lot of hard work and struggle to climb the social ranks, only for Yvona to have everything he wants easily fall into her lap, and throws himself a pity party, saying how "unfair" it all is.
- Lack of Empathy: His ability to care for others died with his father.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Two of his genuine strengths are his soft, pretty features and his charming words and personality. In chapter 114, the Big Bad makes a point of insuring he loses his looks AND his words with no way of recovering them.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: The feminine to Gaspar's masculine.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: In chapters 65 and 66, he's the one who reports Gaspar to the emperor, after being yelled at and insulted one time too often, being shouted down as inferior to Yvona, even though Gaspar himself calls Yvona all sorts of unpleasant terms like "that trash I threw away."
- Moral Myopia: He schemes to manipulate Gaspar to marry Yvona and steal her accomplishments so he can be the power behind the throne, engages in a homosexual and adulterous tryst with Gaspar to keep the manipulation going, turns a blind eye to all the abuse Yvona suffers from her father and Gaspar, but when everything goes to hell because Yvona dared to marry Claude Azentine and actually be happy, and Princess Sehez notices how inept and incompetent Gaspar really is, making her strongly consider taking the throne herself, and then Gaspar starts being violent and abusive to him personally, it's Yvona and the princess that are trying to steal everything from him, denying him his happiness.
- Never My Fault: In chapter 63, his own flashbacks show him not taking his studies into summoning magic seriously, calling it "boring," he gave Yvona the idea to take up summoning magic as a lark because he was treated better while learning said magic while her existence made both her parents angry, and she struggled to learn said magic in spite of her father yelling at her for it, thus putting in more effort than he did, and when she inevitably got better results, he throws himself a pity party saying that "What's the point of doing all of this if you got everything so easily. It's so unfair... How pathetic my life is."
- Psychological Projection: Though he completely deludes himself into thinking he's innocent of it, since he's out to steal away everything from Yvona in Revenge by Proxy against his Evil Uncle, he sees Yvona's struggles and the fruits of her labor as stealing everything away from him, and trying to prove herself superior "despite being dumber and uglier than he is."
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: While the early chapters showed that he was only manipulating Gaspar as a Meal Ticket so he could be the power behind the throne, chapter 62 reveals that he did indeed start to have feelings for Gaspar at some point.
- Selective Obliviousness: He completely turns a blind eye to all of Yvona's hardships so he can be self-righteously jealous of her accolades and accomplishments while throwing himself a pity party.
- Strong Family Resemblance: A minor, early plot point. Tristan and Yvona look practically like they could be brother and sister and did in fact grow up together, which is one of the reasons why Tristan pushed Gaspar to pursue her. If the two had a child, it would look like him.
- Trans Tribulations: Deconstructed. Not only does he live in a society that doesn't even comprehend the concept of gender dysphoria, but he's got a raging case of Venus envy, frequently fantasizes (at least verbally) about actually being a woman, deeply resents being male, and completely ignores the glaring downsides of being female in the very Empire he is a citizen of, like the fact that they have virtually no legal standing, can't choose their wedding partners, and have no means to flee abuse, focusing on what he sees as "perks," such as being a Gold Digger, and having the means to marry into a higher social strata, rather than having to earn it by merit.
The terrorist bomber
Protect them? Don't joke with me!
A no name anarchist who attempted to sabotage the fireworks display with explosive magic for reasons that remain unknown.- Never My Fault: He blames the people trying to stop his arson and terrorist attack for the fact that he put a knife to an innocent child's throat and repeatedly made threats against the child's life.
- No Name Given: His name is never mentioned, and now that he's blown himself up in chapter 11, there's no need to know.
- Nothing Personal: He had no grudge with any of the people at the festival, he just tried to blow the place up because it was "his job" and had the gall to be enraged that the fireworks he and his buddies were sabotaging were disarmed.
- Spiteful Suicide: After Claude Azentine beats him down, he casts explosive magic on himself, looking to ruin Claude's name and cause as many casualties as possible. Fortunately for everyone else present, Yvona uses Asula to smother the explosion, making him the only casualty of his actions.
- Terrorists Without a Cause: He never mentions a reason why he had to blow up the festival square, aside from it "being his job" or what his group had to gain from all the casualties. He just got angry that he was thwarted and blew himself up to spite the man he thought responsible.
- Virtue Is Weakness: He calls Claude an idiot for dropping the royal holy sword in exchange for the life of the child hostage and then attacks Claude with an enchanted knife. Unfortunately for him, Claude didn't need the sword to thwart the attack and beat him down.
- Would Hurt a Child: He put an enchanted knife against a child's throat, used the child as a shield, and repeatedly made death threats against the child because someone was "interfering with his job" ie, trying to stop him from blowing up crowded festival grounds.
Adolph Vergeni
Come this way, sir. Since you've purchased so much for your lovely wife, perhaps you're interested in our "special items"?
The head auctioneer of the black-market Ginesti auction house.- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The auction house's "special item" is a bunch of eyes taken from an oppressed race and treated as jewels. Where have we seen that before?
- Greater-Scope Villain: It was his men that launched the terrorist attack near the start of the story, but even he doesn't know why his backers wanted it, and he was told that it's above his paygrade.
- He was also behind the attack on Yvona's carriage while she was inspecting Claude's fruit forest for the ingredients she needs to boost her mana capacity.
- The Hedonist: His Fatal Flaw. He is easily enticed by the prospect of money and his personal pleasure. It leads to his end when he tries to fleece Claude.
- Neck Lift: He is introduced getting lectured by his backers, dragged into the air by a magic circle around his neck.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He traded in enslaved Tigre Clan members, sold their eyes like jewelry, tortured the Sole Survivor for "training" and had a couple of human children locked away at his auction house, for untold reasons. The Tigre clan boy was the only one to be successfully rescued.
- Would Hurt a Child: In addition to the eyes of the Tigre Clan, he also had several small children enslaved and slapped with a death-curse, which he used as hostages to try and secure his escape. Although he and his men were killed before he could trigger the curse, his backers triggered the curse remotely from a great distance.
- You Have Failed Me: He is berated for failing in his assigned task, twice, once being the terrorist bombing and the other being the attack on Yvona.
The Temple
Vadran Palmgren
Divine spirits are not like people. Just as summoners are different from us...
A royal knight that has an intense hatred for summoners due to unstated reasons that go beyond bigotry.- Good is Not Nice: He's rather ascerbic, but when push comes to shove, his top priority is helping the innocent and the downtrodden.
- I Owe You My Life: He comes to the realization that not all summoners are bad when Yvona saves his life while investigating the criminal "auction house."
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Though she's his cousin, not sister, he warns Yvona not to draw the adorable little girl into the dangerous world of summoning magic.
- Noble Bigot: He does want to protect the weak and innocent people of the kingdom, but he has an intense hatred for summoners as a whole.
- Noodle Incident: Why does he hate summoners so much? It's not simple bigotry. He has some kind of personal, first-hand experience, and alludes to a murder committed by summoners disguising their identity through the use of summons.
- The Paladin: He's an official paladin of the temple.
- Red Is Heroic: Sports red hair and is a genuine hero.
- Spotting the Thread: Even though all the terrorists who targeted the fireworks festival were found dead in custody before they could be questioned, he recognized them as workers from "the auction house."
Priest Kerda
Duke Azentine, you are the wielder of the holy sword. How dare you turn your back on the temple! Can it be you've let yourself be seduced by that vile witch and led astray?!
A lower-ranked priest that gets a letter from Gaspar trying to use the temple's influence to undermine Yvona's efforts in fighting an epidemic purely to keep from being outshined. Rather than go to his superiors, Kerda takes it upon himself to go to Duke Azentine's home and rebuke both Claude and Yvona for "the blaspphemy" of distributing a cure for the disease without the temple's sanction, even though the cure is working and the temple's actions are already shown to be ineffective.- Ad Hominem: Rather than rebuff Claude's genuine assertions that the temple's counter-measures to the epidemic have proven ineffective, people are suffering and dying as the temple scrambles to find its own solution, and the situation is desperate enough to justify Yvona providing an alternate cure, he condemns Claude as a "heretic" for not blindly falling into lock-step with the temple's dogma and decries Yvona herself as a witch that led Claude astray. That last part rightly pissed off Claude.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: He must have had to trade in his brain to get his frock.
- Didn't Think This Through: After his ill-advised lecturing of Claude and insults towards Yvona, at what could be argued as the worst possible time, his superiors in the temple fire and excommunicate him, to try and mend relations with both the Parama empire and the Argestine house.
- The Fundamentalist: He proclaims that the temple is infallible, and going against the temple's offical policy for any reason is blasphemous at best, heretical at worst.
- It's Probably Nothing: When he reads Gaspar's letter, he immediately has suspicions regarding the latter's motives and intentions but prioritizes sanctioning Claude and Yvona for daring to actually fight the epidemic themselves rather than sit back and wait for the temple to get its act together.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He has no clue how the temple's "statues of purification" work, why they're ineffective in dealing with the epidemic, and hasn't the faintest clue regarding the cure Yvona researched, or the nature of the epidemic, yet he storms into Claude's mansion and starts barking orders and condemnation because Claude and Yvona are handling the epidemic in a way the temple has yet to investigate.
- Lawful Stupid: He'd rather let people die in huge numbers rather than let a "witch's brew" be distributed in the empire because "only god can decide who lives or dies."
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He may have gone to Duke Azentine's home to lecture him for the "blasphemy" of using an herbal cure to fight the plague strangling the kingdom, but he was unintetionally right to check up on the duke since there is something seriously wrong. Not only is the holy sword starting to reject Claude, but chapter 63 has Yvona worried because Claude is acting as if something is speaking by borrowing his voice, and their romp through the ruins in the Azentine estate did, in fact, have them make contact with some kind of powerful entity with a less than pleasant history.
- Tautological Templar: Because the temple's belief in god is noble, the temple's actions are noble, no exceptions, and going against the temple's mandate, for any reason, is an unforgiveable sin.
- Too Dumb to Live: He goes to Duke Azentine's home, alone, to berate a Duke and slander his wife to his face, in his territory, and refused to back down when Claude calls him out on how he doesn't have a leg to stand on, especially since Claude is armed, he knows Claude is armed, and because he is no longer in the safety of the Temple, Claude has the legal right to respond with force, including deadly force if need be, to any slander against his house. How, just how, did he expect that to go well? Was he expecting God himself to suddenly descend and intervene or something? Naturally, when he is sent back, he ends up fired as a priest and is excommunicated from the temple for his stupidty.
Benedict. The Grand High Priest. Warning. Unmarked spoilers.
The pope of the Church of Harenthal.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He's first seen from behind in chapter 53. He's fully unveiled in chapter 114.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Benedict knows what a coniving little parasite Tristan is, and how he has unrightfully earned his influence by mooching off of others who are more talented or wealthy while whinning about still deserving more. He tells him as such after Tristan is left disfigured by the Bote forbidden texts.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He's behind the terrorist attack against Claude and Yvona. He's the backer to the auction house. He sabotaged the "anti-plague" church statues with dark magic, and possibly introduced the plague itself. And he is directly responsible for the demon king's summoning in the previous timeline, seeking to do the same in the current timeline, because in the original timeline, the demon king's revival and subsqeunt eventually caused the temple to slowly lose influence and threaten to render it redunant in the public eye.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He's responsible for pushing Tristan into using the Bote forbidden magic texts and grievously harming himself, and when the plot fails, is more than happy to tell him that using those texts have left Tristan disfigured, voiceless, unable to write, and dragged away to be paraded around in public, forced to try and garner sympathy, after internally musing about all of Tristan's horrific acts and then trying to paint himself as an innocent victim.
- Light Is Not Good: As the grand priest, he specializes in light magic, but he's trying to summon the demon king, with little, if any, care for the huge loss of life that would require because he wants to ensure the demon king's return will make the temple remain important in the public eye.]]
- The Man Behind the Man: Was the secret benefactor backing Gaspar.
- The Reveal: He reveals himself to Tristan and the audience in chapter 114.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Or Peggy Sue. He has memories of the previous timeline and speaks as if he's also a regressor. It's because he's the one responible for the regression in the first place, by using Claude's feelings for Yvona and desire to save her following her death in the original timeline to set the stage for the demon king's revival in the new one.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to mention him without spoiling the late chapters of the story.
Azentine house
Racheal Azentine
Don't be lazy! Be accepted by that damn sword already!
Claude's mother.- Awful Wedded Life: Her marriage was not a happy one. Because of her father's obsession with fulfilling a prophecy that his bloodline would give birth to the holy sword wielder that would save the world, she was forced to marry a man named Gerald who was inferior to her in everything, except for swordsmanship and had a wild personality without any ducal dignity. He made up for his inferiority complex by abusing her. When she protested her treatment, her father just told her "all women have it like that. Be patient, once your son is born, he'll come to his senses." This, of course, never came to pass.
- Despair Event Horizon: Trapped in a marriage with an abusive husband with no recourse, options, or means of escape, she began to wonder why the hell she should be alive.
- Gilded Cage: As can be seen, she is surrounded by luxury, but she can't enjoy it. She's trapped in a family of male abusers, including her father and her husband. It's a miracle Claude has any semblance of sanity.
- Post Humous Character: Long time dead by the time she's introduced.
- Troubled Abuser: Because of the pressure her father put on her to sire the "hero who would save the world" as a result of a hundred-years-old prophecy and her husband who would abuse her to vent his feelings of inferiority, she turned and took out her frustrations on Claude, her son, pushing him harder and harder to try and earn the respect of that damn piece of metal called a holy sword.
Gerald Azentine
Do you think anyone would marry you if it wasn't for your family name, huh?!
Rachel's husband, chosen only for his proficiency with a sword. He's wild and inferior to her in every way and abused her to vent his feelings of inferiority.- Domestic Abuse: He abused Rachel purely to drive away his feelings of inferiority to the woman he was forced to marry.
- The Ghost: He is never shown in the story. His only appearance is a rough sketch like a diary that details his actions.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: He abused Rachel to make himself feel superior because he knew he's actually inferior.
- Karmic Death: He loved to abuse Rachel to make himself feel better. When his son turned six, a random monster killed him while he was out hunting.
- Posthumous Character: By the time he's mentioned, he's long dead.
- Took the Wife's Name: It's implied he married into the Azentine house because his wife Rachel kept her maiden name and her son Claude is also an Azentine.
Roussef Azentine
All women are like that! Be patient. Once his son is born, he'll come to his senses!
Rachel's father. Going by a 100-year old prophecy, he proclaims that he will sire the wielder of the holy sword who will save the world. He abandons his first wife who was barren and remarries, but that woman died in childbirth, giving him a daughter. Focusing all his hate on the dead woman, he raises his daughter to believe her only purpose in life is to sire a son who can wield said sword. To facilitate this, he chooses for her Gerald, the man with the best swordsmanship of all the available candidates. When Gerald starts to abuse her to vent his feelings of inferiority, he pooh-poohs Rachel's suffering and treats her as if she's insane for not being willing to persevere through it to give him that heir he wants so badly.- Abusive Dad: He's both emotionally abusive to Rachel and an enabler for Gerald's abuse towards her.
- The Ghost: His actions are never on-screen. Just like with Gerald, he's only referrenced by a rough sketch, in a diary showcasing his actions.
- It's All About Me: He doesn't give a crap about his wives, children, grandchildren, in-laws, etc. All he cares about is his own personal legacy and authority. He pushes so hard for an heir to wield the holy sword, not because the world is at risk from an unspecified threat, but because he would be inconvenienced if the prophecy he boasted of doesn't come to pass.
- Posthumous Character: By the time he's mentioned, he is long dead.
- Stupid Evil: Rather than remarry, get a concubine, or even a mistress, he abuses his daughter and forces her into a marriage with a brute who abused her to vent his feelings of inferiority. It's amazing Claude was born at all.
Viscount Bennett
Duchess! We're in the north! How could there be any bugs here?!
One of the sub-houses of the Azentine estate. He is introduced when Claude is hosting an emergency meeting to deal with a pandemic hitting the empire. He is initially very dismissive of Yvona' presence, both because she's a woman and a commoner, but changes his opinion quickly once he sees that her contributions to the discussion are valid, and shows gratitude when Yvona's proposed treatment shows immediate results.- Ad Hominem: He first decries Yvona's input because the source is both a woman and a commoner until Claude points out that Yvona's research comes from his own library.
- Jerkass Realization: He happily eats crow when Yvona's plan proves effective at easing the suffering of the people in his territory caused by an epidemic.
- Straw Misogynist: Like most of the aristocrats of the empire, he's very patriarcal, but he at least has the decency to apologize when Yvona's propsals prove effective, and shows gratitude when the people of his territory wind up benefiting from the cure she provides them.
Others
Morganne
Duke Azentine, could you repeat that? Did you say 'all of them?!
The owner of a new and not-well known boutique that Yvona stumbles upon as she's looking to buy a dress for the yearly festival and then the royal ball. While the rest of the boutiques stared down their noses at "the upstart commoner," she's the only one who gave Yvona a fair shake. When Yvona returns with Claude in tow, looking to expand her wardrobe, the duke notes her interest and buys up every single dress on display.- Enlightened Self-Interest: It only makes sense from a customer service perspective to offer customers a fair deal on their first visit, if you run a new establishment, especially in a setting where the only advertising is word of mouth. So Yvona returns with a duke in tow promoting the business, and the fact that he buys out the entire inventory is bound to make waves.
- Honest Corporate Executive: She's an honest and fair merchant, selling Yvona a classy yet humble dress that Yvona wears for days until she's Claude's fiance and returns for others.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Because she treated Yvona kindly, she gets a major windfall from Claude on a return visit, as Claude buys every single dress on display, so Yvona can wear whatever she likes, whenever she likes.
Princess Sehez Noha El Parama
Gaspar, why is Tristan answering all my questions? That is very strange. It's almost as if he's the summoner, not you.
The crown princess.- Cultural Rebel: Although the empire's well-being is of primary importance to her, that doesn't mean she's just going to always quietly go along with the empire's patriarchal culture without complaint. Yvona thinks she might just become the country's first empress when her father starts recognizing her potential, and is looking forward to it.
- Gold and White Are Divine: Sehez dresses primarily in elegant gold and white dresses, emphasizing her dignity, goodness and royal nature.
- Good Is Not Dumb: She is actually quite intelligent and sees through Gaspar's credit stealing antics with ease.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde and a good, kind woman who treasures her kingdom's subjects.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: How she manipulates Gaspar, who believes she's just a sheltered princess. She acts dumb while calling him out on his lies and expertly maneuvers him into a no win situation proving to her he's been taking credit for other people's work.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Her normal attire as the crown princess.
- Princess Classic: As intelligent as she is, the kingdom rules only allow her to prance around and look pretty most of the time. However, after her contributions to countering the plague in the kingdom and seeing how unworthy Gaspar is with Claude being completely disinterested in the throne, her father starts to seriously consider making Sehez the next ruler instead.
- Realpolitik: While Sehez genuinely wants to be friends with Yvona, she stands to gain a lot from the support Duke of the Northern Territories and the "Master of the Golden Sword" and the current "Golden Summoner". Yvona eventually cottons on to the political machinations behind Sehez' friendship.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: When a plague hits the kingdom, she takes to the front lines and offers her help, personally. Though she contracts the disease and collapses, the moment she's well again, she goes and investigates her cousin, Gaspar, who is falling behind on providing the needed cure, claiming sickness. She quickly picks up on the fact that he's faking the illness and his summoning abilities when Tristan answers all her summon and cure related questions instead.
- Silk Hiding Steel: An elegant and weak princess who nevertheless hide a core of steel and the wits to be an empress.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Subjected to this by her father, although it's done more out of care for her since he wants his daughter to have the choice in her husband rather than forcing her into a political marriage. However, he also later starts to seriously consider making Sehez his successor when her contributions to countering the plague make clear she has an aptitude for ruling that Gaspar lacks.
Lady Julia Keldern
Just what does Duke Azentine see in that commoner summoner anyway?! I've been groomed to be the perfect bride most of my life and as a Marquis, I'm clearly a better match!
One of many noble suitors looking to take Claude's hand in marriage, purely for the sake of politics. She takes an immediate dislike to Yvona as a result of Yvona becoming Claude's fiance.- An Aesop: After being rescued by Yvona's magic from a rape attempt, she realizes that there's more to being a woman than simply being "the perfect bride" and begins to ponder that maybe there's something she can do to carve her own mark on the world, rather than trying to simply live in some man's shadow. She later goes on to help the princess distribute the cure to the plague and eventually decides to attend an academy overseas to expand her horizons and worth as an individual.
- Attempted Rape: When Princess Parama's birthday party is over, as she's bemoaning how Claude has chosen Yvona over herself, one of the male, presumably drunk, retainers corners her, pins her down and makes very explicit demands for sex, and fear for the loss of her noble reputation keeps her from fighting him off. Fortunately, Yvona, of all people, comes to her rescue, tossing the yahoo into the nearby lake to cool his head, using plant and vine manipulation.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: On the wrong end. She was certain that her best skill, embroidery, would blow Yvona out of the water. Yvona shockingly beat her without even actually trying, and this shattered her delusions of grandeur.
- Chekhov's Skill: Julia's status as the head of high society makes her an effective leader and she can organize nobles during a crisis, allowing her to help with the plague.
- Crippling Overspecialization: She's mastered all sorts of bridal and maiden courtly etiquette, like embroidery, table manners, and so on, but when she's dragged to the ground by a drunk letch who tries to rape her, she has nothing to fall back on to deal with it. After getting rescued by Yvona, she begins to realize how limited she truly is, which leads to her assissting the princess when a plague hits the kingdom and later going overseas to attend an academy.
- Freudian Excuse: She spent her whole life being groomed to be "the perfect wife" and her entire identity revolved around being the marriage candidate for the highest rank of noble she can find. When she's passed over for a commoner with little, if any, knowledge in the way of noble etiquette, it's a complete anathema to her existence.
- Heel–Face Turn: She was introduced being highly antagonistic to Yvona, but after her epiphany, she's shown doing works of charity, and when an epidemic appears in the kingdom, teams up with the princess to help distribute the cure
- Ignored Enemy: Yvona pointedly ignores all her attempts at slander, malicious gossip, and insult. Compared to the crap Yvona's had to endure from Gaspar, Tristan, and her own father, she finds Julia's antics "cute."
- Jerkass Realization: After being rescued by Yvona, she comes to realize that her assessment of Yvona was completely wrong, and she was being antagonistic for no good reason.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be a vicious slandering gossip, but deep down, she is a good and kind woman who would devote her all to her husband and family.
- Put on a Bus: In chapter 68, Yvona hears that she's gone to an unstated academy overseas so she can contribute something to society without having to latch on to some man purely to sire his kids.
- Unknown Rival: All her attempts to demean Yvona are motivated by trying to take Claude for herself. Yvona simply does not care about it.
Lillian Palmgren
Wow! So cute! Can I be a summoner too, Miss Yvona?!
A little girl Yvona meets at the princess's birthday party who takes an immediate liking to her.- The Apprentice: Eventually becomes a lady-in-waiting to Yvona who begins teaching her summoning.
- Cheerful Child: Happy and upbeat.
- Children Are Innocent: Not a trace of malice in her body.
- Fangirl: She adores and almost idolizes Yvona, seeking the duchess out for etiquette training, especially embroidery, and wants to learn to be a summoner.
- One Degree of Separation: She's Badran's younger cousin (sister).
- Pink Means Feminine: Wears pink and is an absolute cutie.
