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caffedrine · 2 years ago

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Keith Howell - Chapter 22 Romantic - Summary

I pretty much have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t trust me, and you shouldn’t either. This summary is not guaranteed to be accurate, it’s mostly written for myself to follow along with the route.

Emma has been taken hostage by Keith’s Evil Uncle Fernand and locked away in a mansion on what must be the top floor. If she stripped the bed and tied every linen, she could find in the room end to end, she would never be able to make a rope that would bring her even close to the ground.

But she could make a rope that reached her to the window of the room below hers.

Emma looks down at the dizzying height, looking at the river rushing by directly beneath her. She grabs the fireplace poker and lowers herself to the next floor and breaks open the window.

Her rope-burned hands smarting, Emma tries and then successfully opens the new room’s door to a wide hallway. There is no one around, almost suspiciously so, and although Emma is afraid, she continues forward. She rushes towards the stairs she can see at the end of the corridor.

A soldier appears out of a blind corner and upon noticing her, yells at her to stop. Emma runs faster, knowing that if she was caught, she would not be able to escape. Even though she runs with all her might, she can hear the soldier’s footsteps come closer and closer.

When she passes another nook in the corridor, there are several more soldiers waiting. This is when Emma slips and falls on the carpet. She got so far, but now she’s going to be caught for sure.

A new voice shouts out for everyone to stay back, that they’re frightening Emma. Emma realizes it was coming from the stairway she was heading for and sees someone knocking down soldiers with his bare fists, cloak fluttering with movement. Emma stands up, trying to comprehend what she’s seeing.

He looks like Keith; his voice sounds like Keith’s, but his demeanor is completely different.

Keith calls out to her and embraces Emma, his body as hot as if he had a fever. She is enveloped by the smell of forest and trees. She realizes that this is Nice!Keith with her, and the fear and tension in her chest seem to fade away.

Emma tells Keith that she missed him, and Keith notes that she didn’t seem surprised to see him. Emma replies that she never doubted that he would come and rescue her. Keith thanks her for believing in him.

Keith breaks their embrace to look over Emma, asking if she is okay. Emma lets his kindness permeate her heart. She admits to being shoved around a little bit but assures him that she is fine. Her voice fades as she gets a good look at Keith’s clothes, and how much blood was on them. She asks Keith where he is injured, and if he’s okay to go onward.

Very awkwardly, Keith admits that this is not his blood. He apologizes for frightening her and then apologizes for not taking her into consideration when he barged into the hallway.

(Only Keith would apologize for rescuing someone)

Thanks to the books she read, Emma has envisioned the heroic prince rescuing the captive maiden plenty of times. However, she never imagined that he would be so bloody and obviously violent.

However, Emma is pleased to know that Keith isn’t wounded. If he had gotten seriously hurt, especially on her behalf, that would have been far worse than anything he would have done to rescue her. Keith tells her not to worry about him, and just focus on herself. But he’s thankful to her for being happy to see him.

Keith soothes Emma’s hair, arranging it out of its disheveled state. Emma thinks that his face looks very troubled, and she thinks about how easily he puts off concern about himself.

Keith asks Emma if she recognized anyone in the mansion. Emma tells him about his uncle Fernand, and the other man whom she recognized from Sonia’s party, but she doesn’t know his name. Keith muses that the other person would probably be the owner of the mansion, a Duke who was a fervent supporter of his younger brother.

Keith knows that the Duke hates him, but it is difficult to accept that he joined Fernand’s supporters. Emma thinks back to the look of hatred on the Duke’s face back at Sonia’s party. Keith looks bitter and resigned to the circumstances.

Emma asks Keith how he came into the mansion, and Keith tells her that he can’t tell Emma about it. He glances at the sword at his waist, and Emma looks too, seeing how it was especially bloody, saturating the clothes at his waist. It occurs to Emma that Keith came to this mansion alone, and wonders what he went through to reach her. Without thinking, Emma reaches out to hold Keith’s hand, and her hand is held back.

It’s so strange. This fight was not at all quiet, but neither Fernand nor the Duke appeared to investigate. In addition, there are no other soldiers coming their way. It’s like the calm before the storm.

Keith suggests they take advantage of this and just leave. They walk swiftly but alertly through the remainder of the hallway, with no sign of anyone coming. Emma wonders if they’ll just be lucky and escape the mansion without running into anyone else.

A voice from a closed room calls out, begging for help.

Emma and Keith both come to a stop, and check in with each other that they definitely heard the voice. They approach the door and can hear a plaintive voice definitely calling out for help out of a door that was held shut with a chain.

Without hesitating, Keith unwraps the chain. Even though he doesn’t know what is inside, he doesn’t hesitate to help, something Emma admires about him. It suits him, as the future King of Jade, to not even consider ignoring the voice.

Keith tells Emma to stay out of the room and in the hallway. There’s a good chance this is a trap, and if he’s right, she needs to run to the stairway and escape the mansion. There are people outside who can help her, as long as she escapes.

Emma tells Keith that she understands, she will escape, find these helpful people, and bring them back. Keith tells her that she’s mistaken, he wants her to run away, but Emma refuses. When they run away from the mansion, they’ll run away together. She refuses to leave Keith alone if he needs help. Reluctantly agreeing, Keith finishes unwinding the chain and drops it to the floor, and then opens the doors.

Inside the room is a man lying on the floor, wearing the uniform of a Rhodolite servant. He is bound by both hands and feet, completely unable to move. Keith recognizes him as the missing messenger, the one who kidnapped Emma.

The messenger pleads with them, they have his daughter and were threatening her if he didn’t obey. Keith asks if he means Fernand, and the messenger nods with tears in his eyes. Keith asks if he’s willing to testify in front of the king, and the messenger agrees, as long as Keith saves him before Fernand kills him.

Looking dubious, Keith unsheathes his sword and cuts the rope. Emma considers the situation, wondering why Fernand didn’t kill this messenger. To put it bluntly, he has no value alive to Fernand, and is a loose end.

Once he could move, the messenger rushed to the entrance at full speed, nearly barreling over Emma just beyond the entrance. He slams the doors shut, wrapping the handles in the discarded chain. Emma yells out for him to stop; Keith is still in the room. She grabs the messenger’s hand, but he shoves her away strongly, apologizing all the while.

Behind her, a familiar voice praises the messenger.

From the beginning, they had known that there was a chance that this was a trap. So the praise and the applause from behind her do not surprise Emma. She turns to face Fernand and the Duke. From behind the door, Keith shouts at Emma to run away, before coughing.

Fernand tells Emma that it’s fine if she leaves, her only purpose was to lure Keith here, to this very room. Emma asks what Fernand is doing to Keith.

Poison. Right now, there is poison slowly being pumped into the room through the air vents. He imagines that Keith has about 10 minutes left. Emma goes cold and quickly turns to unwrap the chains from the doorknob, ignoring the messenger’s broken apologies.

Neither Fernand nor the Duke do anything to stop her. If anything, they’ve backed away from her.

Once Emma gets the doors opened, Keith slowly exits, warning Emma to stay back. He collapses to the floor, the poison already circulating through his system. Even though Emma tries to get closer to him, he holds up a hand to stop her.

Fernand is amazed, to be able to move that much despite the poison showing how monstrously big and healthy Keith truly is. Keith agrees that being big and healthy is something he’s good at.

With a flat voice, Fernand laments that his nephew is going to die now. He is sad, even though Keith did try to assassinate the king, no one deserves the agony of prolonged death via poison. He turns to the Duke beside him and asks if he would like to do the honors as revenge for the death of Keith’s younger brother.

Emma shouts for them to stop, and Fernand tells her to stay out of this. Behind her, Keith stumbles back to his feet, his fighting spirit not yet gone. Speaking of which, shouldn’t Alter!Keith have taken control by now? A glance tells her Nice!Keith is still in control.

Keith proclaims his innocence, announcing that he refuses to die here. He calls out to Emma, asking if she remembers what they discussed earlier. Emma recalls their discussion about finding help outside the mansion and assures him that she does remember. However, it is a bad plan, she’s not going to be able to get help in enough time to save him.

Besides, if she leaves, Keith will have to handle two – no – three people. Instead, Emma turns to Fernand; she knows he’s the type who would already have the antidote prepared. The method of delivery for the poison was haphazard, with a high chance of accidents. Even if he didn’t care for the servants, she has no doubt that Fernand would preserve his own safety at the very least.

Well, Emma is right. Is this what she wants? Fernand holds out a vial from his pocket, laughing. Emma is a little surprised, she hadn’t realized that he would carry it on her.

Fernand will give it to her, but only if Emma becomes his mistress. Right here, and right now. Before she can say anything, Keith tells Emma to reject it.

Pulling out his sword, Keith hurls himself towards Fernand, who parries Keith with his own sword at the last minute. Even though his life is at stake, even though he is weak with poison, Keith is evenly matched with Fernand. However, his complexion was pale, and Emma wonders if he will collapse at any moment.

While fighting, Keith calls out to Emma and repeats that she cannot accept Fernand’s offer. He would die if he saw Emma forcing herself to endure Fernand’s attentions for his sake. Besides, Fernand is a liar and wouldn’t save Keith and would instead just toy with Emma.

Still fighting, Fernand praises Keith. Even though he is stupid and a failure, he does understand Fernand’s plans.

For the first time in Emma’s life, a strong anger wells up from within.

Fernand has one last lesson for his stupid nephew. He breaks away from Keith and opens a window in the hallway as the Duke engages Keith. Emma realizes too late what Fernand is intending, and her mind goes blank as her body moves on its own.

Fernand has no need for the antidote any longer.

The vial is thrown out the window like trash. Emma recalls the river she saw beneath the mansion – the vial won’t just hit the ground, but it will be washed away. Desperate to save Keith, Emma reaches and jumps out the window.

From behind, she can hear Keith shout at her to stop.

#keith howell #ikemen prince #ikepri #keith route #main route

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memoria-99 · 4 months ago

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IkePri routes short comments and personal rankings

* All of these are my personal thoughts.

1st Gilbert

Traumatized villain with death wish. Not a fun route, relatively heavy plots, twisted romance, but a good "villain" route. Emma has real great mentality and very brave, loved how she handled the situation and the relationship. Also the best adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" theme.

2nd Clavis (Tie)

Four-dimensional troublemaker. The first half was funny thanks to all sorts of weird events and the second half was interesting to see dealing stuff this guy was secretly doing. I liked the romance and chemistry between the two. Emma was very cool and proactive.

2nd Silvio (Tie)

Sharp tongued, materialistic brat. Endless bickering between the two was overall fun to read and though there were moments that I wanted to punch this guy, eventually grew to like him. Used to wonder why so many people love this brat but I get why. Loved how sassy Emma was too.

3rd Nokto

Sly playboy. I think I like these kind of foxy character. Has a sad past. I liked the route because the guy was very smart and Emma was quite cool. What I didn't like was that the romance seemed to be leaning toward too erotic after the two became official.

4th Yves

Star-crossed tsundere kitty. The guy himself was very cute, and the romance between the two was cute and heartwarming as well. But they are both grown ass adults in their 20s and yet their romance was like that of teens.... why.

5th Chevalier

Coldhearted genius. The second best adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" theme. I liked the process of Emma taming him. But didn't quite like that the guy has the upperhand still. This was the only route that Emma didn't call her suitor only by given name till the very end, so...

6th Licht

Severely depressed one. I liked the heavy story and realistic romance. But, although he's kind he has almost no self-esteem, is a master of self-deprecation, and his past is seriously dark, making me feel depressed as well. I know he's loved by many, but just not my cup of tea.

7th Leon

Charismatic, good-natured brother type. Typical fairytale prince. Has a sad past, but speaking of past, there're handful who are worse than him here... The most ordinary route. I don't remember much honestly.

8th Keith

Double personality. One is very kind and the other is rather bratty. Whole premise itself was interesting but two are so different... and made the romance look like a weird love triangle.

9th Rio

Loyal doggo who always loves Emma. But the route was kinda disappointing, I think it's only meaningful in a way that his love met a happy ending for once.

10th Sariel

Felt more like a "common route" in other games where romance does not exist. I didn't see much meaningful interaction between the two. At least I liked that Emma did best in her role as Belle in this route, but that's all.

11th Jin

Seriously remember nothing about the route except that it was very boring.

12th Luke

A sleepy bear turned into a crazy bear.

PLUS

1. I love the ways "sinner" LIs are written in this game, including Gilbert and Licht, and how Emma deals with those. Instead of trying to just reassure it's okay don't let that bother you, she's like "I know what you did cannot be forgiven, nothing can change that, but I'll embrace even that part of you and lead you to step forward"

2. I love that in the two bastards' route Emma ended up 'winning' them. In Gilbert's it was mentioned that he's the one who was conquered, and Silvio's he thought that it looks like he's the one with the collar.

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