#rc astraea

[romance-club-daily]

Romance Club MC's as Greek deities:

Audrey as Astrea:

Titan-Goddess of justice, innocence and purity ⚖️🌹✨

Astraea, also known as Astrea or Astraia, is the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity, and precision. Often called the "Star Goddess" or "Star Maiden," Astraea was a cherished deity who embodied all that was virtuous in the world. She is best known as the last immortal to live among humans during the Golden Age. Sadly, this utopian era did not endure. Horrified by humanity's decline, Astraea witnessed misery and wickedness pervade, eroding the innocence once prevalent. Among the last to remain with humans, she eventually departed when redemption seemed impossible, vowing never to return. The Ancient Greeks, along with many other cultures that have since recounted Astraea's story, hold onto the belief that the goddess will one day return to Earth, heralding a new Golden Age for mankind. Audrey was selected to embody Astraea due to her apparent link to the goddess, a connection that remains a mystery to this day (update).

File Source | BeautifulCome | cr.nana | malbgt | tavernytkr |

Other skin colours under the cut:

[malbontesmrs]

New art, new art, new art!

Cassiel, my love.

[mila-bee]

Oh I’m in love 🥰

[malbontesmrs]

The cutest little coffee date. Cassiel is definitely my favourite LI of the story. 🥰

Accepting his feelings for Audrey, Cassiel was no longer afraid to show his love to her or to the world. No longer hidden or restrained, his affection for her flowed freely.

[fyexo]

아스트라이아 | do not edit.

[fychen]

© 아스트라이아 ↳ do not edit or remove the logo.

[fuckyeahsuchen]

astraea

[writinginthestars]

Wow, these theories are pretty much the same thoughts I've had since the new update! Thanks for putting them into this neat post, I'm way too disorganised to write an argumentation like that.

The only thing I'm still confused about is the connection to Astrea. Because so far, the story has focused mainly on Christian religion and Raphael's true form as well as the theories about Mikael, Cassiel, Felonia (and David's connection to demons and probably Hell) align with that. But how does the Greek goddess fit into that ?

According to mythology, Astraea is the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision. She is clearly very important because a) the story features her in the title, b) the detective agency bears her name, c) there's the prominent statue of her and d) Mikael and Cassiel are confirmed to come into the garden to sit with the statue and talk to her. It seems like the guys have a personal connection to the goddess, they might have known her from before she died. And I have a few theories about how Audrey might be connected to Astrea and therefore this important for the guys.

But right now it feels like there are two sides to the story. On the one is the whole part with the Christian religion that relates to most of the LIs and Audrey's backstory, on the other this one Greek goddess that seems to form a bigger link between the characters. I'm not criticising that, it just confuses me a bit, because Greek mythology is a whole different thing compared to Christianity or the other big monotheistic religions. I guess Elena only took some picks from the frist one and is going to blend it somehow into her lore, to combine everything. So far, I don't have any useful theories about how she might do that, so I'm excited to see the story progress and get more clues.

I don't think I've ever been this invested into any other RC book apart from the LIs. 😁

abh theory time🧐👻

(pic by @asilyn04)

Raphael, Mikael, and Cassiel are obviously Archangels. The word "Father" is always capitalised when they say it, and together with the fact that the father is so important, I'm convinced the father is God. This, in turn, would make the guys' bosses either Seraphims, Thrones or Cherubims (although I'm not convinced about Cherubims. Cherubims work right next to God so the management could be them but I'm gonna wait until the next update before I form a definitive theory).

We've seen Raphael's angel form so there's no point in speculating about it anymore, but when it comes to Mikael and Cassiel there's a lot to talk about.

In chapter 6, Audrey asks Mikael if he found a trace in Claudia's home, and he says he did, but that it doesn't concern the case—does that mean he found a trace of his father?

Mikael:

The voice in Audrey's dream describes Mikael’s true face by saying he's cold and calculating, that he stops at nothing to achieve his plan, and that he sits on a throne on a mountain of corpses which, to me, is already a confirmation he is the biblical archangel. It was stated in his file that the responsibilities don't burden him, that he knows everything that happens in the manor, and that it's very hard to get him to lose his cool—just as it would be in god's second in command.

the chief of the angels and archangels.

He is considered a champion of justice, a healer of the sick.

It's telling how important Audrey is, then, since he loses his cool within a week of hiring her:

HOWEVER, since he hasn't been revealed to have wings and a halo unlike raphael, I'm thinking he could be a fallen angel.

I find it interesting that Mikael's inability to heal mental wounds is emphasised twice (before visiting Claudia and after healing Audrey) because—as @secret-fungi noticed—wouldn’t “he who is like God” be able to deal with something like this? Is this the price of his fall?

Furthermore, the fact Mikael mentions father testing him again makes me fairly certain that his father has already sent dozens of such cruel tests/punishments at him to give him a chance to prove he is worthy of a second chance—which is what I think his link to Felonia is.

Now, this is 100% a maaaassive stretch but hear me out. All we know about Felonia is that she's done a lot of bad things, she tries to earn a second chance from (probably) god, and that she has no friends or family left. My theory is that the Astrea employee that Cassiel failed to protect was related to Fel. That would explain why she doesn't get along with the guys and, if that employee was also a victim of the Beast, why she's “forced” to work with them.

Her bad relationship with Mikael being emphasised indicates two things:

She's done something very evil

It's another confirmation that Mikael as the “champion of justice” can't accept her disobedience and that's why he treats her so coolly.

Appearance-wise Archangels Raphael and Mikael look similar to our Raph and Mikael (okay, maybe just hair-wise but. Still!)

Cassiel:

Coming back to the voice in Audrey's dream’s descriptions, let's look at Cassiel's. The voice says Cas is always deep in thought, brooding and protective.

Archangel Cassiel is the angel patron of those overlooked, of orphaned children and enslaved people (which is why he feels so sad after spending time with Audrey and why he's so protective of her):

"Out of the darkness came light, and from that light were born the archangels, those who would lead the orders of God’s angels; those who would perform the most important tasks in God’s great plan for his greatest creation, mankind."

It was revealed in the last update that Audrey spent her early childhood in a religious sect, then was placed in an orphanage at the monastery, and while studying in college she didn't get to unwind too often. It's also said she's always felt terribly lonely—no wonder Cassiel is so protective of her.

During this update, Cas called ‘god’ Father, which could mean two things:

A confirmation that him, Raph, and Mikael are brothers > if they're all Archangels then in a “all angels are one big family” sense.

Mikael was tasked with finding Father and got to assemble his own avenger squad himself.

The question of Cas’ eyes remains—if he's an angel/archangel/heavenly being, why do they turn red?

Raphael:

Archangel Raphael is the voice of god which we saw in chapter two already. It's emphasised that his voice changes and he has trouble pronouncing words when Audrey eavesdrops on him—I believe that's when his father was speaking through him.

I've also been thinking about this emphasis on Raphael being condemned to death by his Father, and so far, that's all I've found:

Raphaël name means "God heals." This identity came about because of the biblical story that claims he "healed" the earth when it was defiled by the sins of the fallen angels in the apocryphal book of Enoch.

I think his death might be dependable on your stats and choices. There could be a good and a bad ending for him, for instance on high reputation he survives and doesn't have to die because you managed to defeat the beast, and on low reputation he dies for the sins of his brothers who lost the battle.

Now, look at this:

He is also a Patron of young people, Godly love, and people suffering from nightmares that may need protection that is supernatural.

After the poisoning, Mikael asks Audrey about her nightmares and whether he can help. I think Raphael could help her. Easily. But I'm also fairly certain they're looking for something in her nightmares OR the nightmares are necessary for Audrey to learn something.

So far that's all I have (I probably forgot about something). Shout out to @agattthaa and @secret-fungi 🦄

[malbontesmrs]

Does anyone know if Audrey’s parents match her race, or is it a Vicky sitch?

[malbontesmrs]

I had a dream last night that Mikael and Raphael were the sons of Shepha, and Malek was the son of Shephamalum.

I realize dreaming me is totally off-base but how funny would it be if it was like “surprise! ABH is part of the HS universe too!”

(But seriously, please don’t 😂)

[malbontesmrs]

Man, I cannot tell you how much I struggled with Mikael for who knows what reason. Anyway he’s finally done.

Turns out I just needed to listen to smutty audiobooks while drawing 😅.

[malbontesmrs]

Highlights from this update (so far):

ABH! The story, and the cute little date with Cassiel! Ugh, my heart 😍 I want good things for him and Audrey. Haven’t done the other routes yet but I saw the Malek screenshots 😩🥵. Also, that cliffhanger!

Soulless. It was short, but so good; filled in some backstories and we got some long awaited answers.

The Missing. Very intriguing so far. Both the male LIs have grabbed my attention. I don’t romance females but they’re both super cute, and Safaa has quite a bit of screen time so far. Very promising!

Shakespeare’s Code. Edward looks so cute in his cloak 😂. And Edmund still exists. I haven’t done his route yet, but all I need is to see him to be happy 😍.

Haze. The ice starting to melt with Dragan, the cliffhanger?!? OMG. (Two great ones in one update!)

[malbontesmrs]

Probably the last thing I’ll post before the end of the contest.

Malek from abh

[malbontesmrs]

I’ll be the first to admit he’s not my favourite LI of the story, but this smile could melt an iceberg istg.

🥹

Like.

Those dimples?! His perfect teeth?! The way it reaches his eyes and lights up his whole face?!

I… am blown away that this is Raphael. It’s a crime that we don’t see him smile more. An actual crime.

[malbontesmrs]

Not biased at all 😂

[malbontesmrs]

What in the AI is this outfit?!

The more I look at it, the more confused I am.