#and invidia's a demonstration of what that change can look like

[atopearth]

Court of Darkness Part 5 - Roy Invidia Route

I'm looking forward to Roy's route! Especially since Sherry is his sister and I think it would be great for the heroine to spend time with them~ Anyway, it seems like even though Roy is the "nicest" LI, he's listening to Guy's orders to kinda suss the heroine out? It's kinda sad to think about that when the heroine trusts him so much though. I think this route is moving in a very different way than I expected lol! Roy making magical weaponry and possibly using ancient magic to control someone into making it?? I dunno~~ The fact that Malik doesn't even seem to know if he's controlled or not is weird too... I understand that it must be rough for Roy, and if he's willing to manipulate someone he trusts and has a bond with to help with magical weaponry to get into an important alliance that will kinda decide their kingdom's future and sustainability, then it must be something that cannot be helped. However, I am still on Malik's side and I feel so bad for him. I'm sure Malik trusts Roy and for Roy to do that to him regardless of how valid his reasons were, it's pretty disconcerting and disgusting tbh. Considering what Rio said, making magical weaponry is obviously something that goes against Malik's beliefs, so forcing him to do such a thing is pretty disgusting tbh and I don't think I would be able to forgive Roy if I was him. The idea of waking up and realising later on that he made stuff like that would definitely hurt him and can break him...

I am so disappointed in Roy right now. Not only did he actually control a whole group of people alongside Malik to create the weaponry, but he also ended up using ancient magic on the heroine to make her "love him" when she already does. Honestly, I was already annoyed that the heroine was so forgiving and understanding towards everything Roy does "for his kingdom", but I think what Roy did to her has really crossed the line. I thought he wouldn't do it to her at least but I guess not. In the end, I find it so ridiculous anyway. Like, if his kingdom is so in need of this alliance or whatever but it requires him to practically brainwash people to do his bidding, then what is the point of being the prince and future king? What would make him trustworthy and worth respecting in the future if he does stuff like this? If he can't even convince his own people of the importance of this alliance and get them to work for him willingly, what is the point? And if he can't even trust the people beside him such as the heroine who so unconditionally believes in him and trusts him, only to be used to his advantage, then what kind of kingdom and people does he even want to rule over and watch over when he can't even believe and love them? I don't know, but after he did that to the heroine, I immediately lost all my love and trust for him, and I don't know if he can really "redeem" himself in my eyes.

Honestly, the whole thing about how Malik and them actually "woke up" from the magic a while ago already because Roy's magic weakened from his change of heart or whatever, and they just kept going along with it because they wanted to support Roy just felt like an excuse to make Roy seem like not a bad guy. Like, you know what, they knew all along and just kept with it because they like him and respect him! Yeah, it pisses me off. Anyway, the alliance with Voleri was pretty forced especially with them randomly wrecking Roy's demonstration of his magical weapons etc. Like, everything just came out of nowhere in order to make things work out for Roy lol. Yeaaah, the ending was very meh.

Overall, to say Roy's route was a disappointment is an understatement tbh because I quite thoroughly hated it😅 I think I'd rather take that little part he had in Lynt's route instead lol. As I've complained throughout the whole route, Roy manipulating everyone with ancient magic using something akin to mind control but probably not as bad depending on your own will and stuff, since the heroine seemed to just "not feel completely there" is the worst. But I think the thing that made me mad and disturbed me the most is that aside from Rio (only initially), no one thought it was unacceptable. Everyone was so understanding of Roy using his ancient magic to basically force people to do his bidding. The heroine was always so understanding and on his side that I'm just like ??? I don't know, I found it disturbing that in a sense, they basically agreed that because of his princely responsibilities to his kingdom, they shouldn't blame him at all, like uhh, I'm sure he has other ways to help his kingdom, as shown through the ending, and it was so annoying how they made Malik be so accepting of it just to make Roy "look better" when there was the whole drama about Malik not wanting to make stuff like that. Anyway, everything Roy did annoyed me because it felt like his princely duties were not excuses to do such stuff to the people of his own kingdom, and honestly, if he can't even convince people of his own kingdom to willingly participate and work for the future, I don't know how he will be king in the future but whatever. The romance was very superficial because aside from not knowing what the heroine even liked about him, it was mainly her trying to understand him and doing everything she can for him, but he still uses ancient magic on her until he realises she already loves and cares about him. I'm also disappointed that Sherry wasn't important in this route at all, and I feel like I saw her even less in this route than others lol. Anyway, I didn't like anything about this route and I'm honestly glad it's over.