Alice has this way of biting her lower lip when she's concentrating on sword forms that makes me forget Cathy exists for a solid three seconds. Not proud of it. The game knows what it's doing with those CGs too, the artist definitely had a thing for the whole "innocent noble girl who's secretly curious" vibe because every time she leans forward during training there's this deliberate framing that's basically softcore medieval fantasy. My wife's portrait is beautiful but static, while Alice and Lydia get these little animation flourishes that feel almost unfair.

The servant girl Lydia caught me off guard though. Wasn't expecting her route to be the one that actually made me feel something. There's this scene where she's helping you remove armor after a tournament and her hands linger, and the dialogue tree gives you this option that's just "say nothing" and I sat there like an idiot for maybe two minutes. The cheating tag is earned but it's not the sleazy kind, more like watching someone slowly rationalize terrible decisions. Cathy's trust is this heavy thing you carry through every conversation with the other women and the game never lets you forget it, even when the CG scenes are doing their thing.

Wish the history setting mattered more beyond costume porn. You're a knight but the medieval stuff is basically wallpaper, could've been set in a modern office with the same dynamics. The visual novel structure is rigid too, no real branching until late game which means you're railroaded into being a certain kind of unfaithful. Still booted it up three times this week though. Something about Alice's training sessions, the way she calls you "Sir" with that slight smirk. My save file is a mess of choices I can't take back.