Yesterday I mentioned that the heroine thoughts about Phelan are very different depending in which stat is the highest, and today I intend to show it to you.
But before laying my cards, I want to make something clear: I am playing without dice mode because I tend to reset a lot to get different reactions, and it means that you must pay for the dice throws every time you reset, and screw that noise because I won't be paying everytime I want to see something different.
If Logic is the highest stat, Fran will make a comment about how Phelan demeanor and overall attitude is very different from the usual servants when he makes his declaration of protection. She wonders what kind of guy Phelan is because she never saw a servant like him before.
Which in turn makes the heroine to distrust him if either Persuasion or Resilience are the highest stats: Persuasion because the heroine thinks that Phelan is hiding something and pursuing a secret agenda while with high resilience she feels uneasy because of how shady he has been.
With high logic it tracks why the heroine couldn't understand Phelan motivation: he saw the corpse in the chest, put 2 and 2 together and is driven to protect the heroine...despite being the responsible for her husband demise.
Intuition and the next reaction are my favorites because intuition and empathy being the most "emotional" stats means that the heroine can grasp Phelan motivation better...and still feel that something it's wrong about it.
And this stat is the one I was talking about when I said that a certain prompt wasn't lying because it feels like foreshadowing to what would happen in ep 7.
I think Phelan cares about the heroine to a degree if you pursue him, but that care means a certain harm to the heroine because when it comes to whatever agenda Phelan is pursuing vs the heroine...the agenda would be the thing Phelan would prioritize first because it seems this is the most important for him and when faced with that choice... Phelan will feel guilty and apologize profusely for it.
This in no way justifies what he did in this update, and if anything, it serves as a reminder of how you shouldn't trust everyone even if they have your best interests in mind. Everyone is hiding something, and no matter how many apologies Phelan gives and how guilty Phelan feels, you shouldn't be trusting him wholeheartedly because he will take your agency away if he thinks that is the right thing because he thinks he knows best.
I hope this helped to shed a light about Phelan and his motivations.
A lot of theories have been made about him since his intro, and... this update gave us even more questions than answers lol!
Before starting, I want to share something: I noticed that the heroine's thoughts and a lot of his scenes are tied to the logic and persuasion stats.
A logical Fran will notice the holes in Phelan's arguments and how different he is from other servants; she still trusts him if you choose because… well, that is Fran for you, and Phelan helped her when she was at her lowest, so Fran tends to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, a Fran with high persuasion will notice his lies more easily, but contrary to the logic one, she admires Phelan for being cunning and able to hide his secrets (you will see it soon).
So, without further ado, I will share my impressions about Phelan in this update.
TW:Drugging.
I honestly feel bad for Nora in this update because she is forced to relive her trauma even if you can choose to forget Nibras and let his memory go, and this is without getting into how risky it is to leave the castle because of Dante and Xander making sure that proper security measures are put around her.
But this right here? This is when I started to give Phelan a good side-eye because how dare he! I hate when an LI takes the heroine's choice/agency away because they think that they know what is good for the MC, and it doesn't help that Phelan is not exactly giving good reasons to be trusted...just like almost every single LI in this story.
This moment it's something you can get if MC pass Josephine's check and when you start to see the differences between your choices because MC won't talk about the potion unless you fully trust him.
Also, don't think I didn't notice how you tried to change the subject so blatantly, Phelan 🙄.
This scene highlights something I like: trust. And why might you ask?
Because with how weird Phelan has been, you might start to doubt his words, moreso when it comes to Nora condition and how hard it is to get the potion.
But Josephine DID warned MC about how useless this potion is and while she is another shady character, this is the second time someone talks about what a bad idea it is to drink it.
To me the whole potion business reminds me of the poppy milk in Dragon Saga and how hard it screw you long-term even if you drank it once...but hey, like I said before, Phelan and Josephine are very shady so is up to you if you should trust them.
Back in the ranch castle, there is when I want to take a detour and point out Nora choice of words.
Notice how she says that she used to admire Phelan's cunning? I liked this because it goes to show that even if you choose to trust Phelan, Fran will start to doubt his words because he did a whole 180 when she met him again compared to the guy who hugged her and tried to comfort her when the whole truth was out.
This is a good moment to mention that I am following Dark!Persuasion, but the following scene only takes persuasion into account and not the light/dark side.
Oh honey...
I have my good share of cunning LIs I have romanced before and every single one always played my heroine and broke her heart one way or other.
I wanted to snark and scoff at Nora because this is the most naive thing I have read, but... I want to give her some leniency because this kind of mentality is no stranger to me and reminds me a lot of how often some people tend to be blind on purpose when it comes to certain red flag traits because they try to make the best out of a bad situation/try to see the good side in something bad, and it tracks with how MC is even if you play the dark route.
And to no one surprise, Phelan plan sucks badly and our poor heroine is endagered once again...hurray! I am thrilled and looking forward to Xander reaction once he sees Nora acting weird once again and with another man 🙄.
Of course! You know what is best for her, right? Yellow heart my ass; Phelan acts and behaves like a purple heart LI if you ask me.
Poor Nora...if only you knew what this kiss will cost you...
Oh Phelan! The only good thing I will say about this scene is that at least the prompt I saw in ep 6 about a certain stat with him wasn't lying (I will post it when I am free) and this made the blow a tad softer.
He will need more than a good apology to make it up for this! This scene made me so torn because the drama itself it's good, but I am too angry at Phelan because...
HE FUCKING DRUGGED NORA!
This scene made me even more annoyed because you get this with low resilience...which shouldn't happen because Nora resilience is high and I will show it to you later.
You better find a good way to fix this, Phelan...I am doing your route but it doesn't mean I am totally okay with all the stuff you are pilling and pulling towards Nora.
My poor Nora...you don't deserve this.
And now with the episode over a big question is...
Who is Phelan?
So many fans think that he is either the Nameless God, Nibras brother, or just another demon and honestly? All are valid theories since we barely know him.
But in this update, I want to propose another theory: he might be a human which is planning to revolt against demons and that is why he wants to know so badly how MC managed to kill one.
His familiarity and obsession with wanting to protect MC might be tied to him being someone which used to know her until that whatever happened to her made her forget everything...and made Phelan to hate the demons even more.
God knows what Phelan is but one thing is for sure: you can't trust anyone in this story and this is just the beginning and honestly? I won't blame Nora for this moment being the one which kickstart his dark journey because she has been put through a lot already.
Final stats so you can see I am not lying! This update is buggy so I advice you to wait for the technical update if you want a more smooth experience.
