Rodele

Rodele Aiwood is the third prince of the Kingdom of Aiwood. His father is the king, and his mother, though a side-consort, is a princess of the friendly Gaiselle Empire. Born as a living bridge between the two realms, Rodele grew up in luxury under the wing of the all-powerful queen dowager, who adored the grandson who resembled her and spoiled him without limit.

Nature gifted him richly with magic — some said he might one day become a sage. But beyond that gift not a single admirable trait could be found in him. Arrogant to the core, from childhood he heaped abuse on his fiancée Celestine Crocus, and as he came of age he took to women: harassing maids and forcing girls who caught his eye into private rooms. He genuinely believed himself worthier than his elder brothers, for on his mother's side he carried imperial blood while they were merely sons of a duke's daughter.

At the academy his violent temper brought disaster: he burned a low-ranking noble classmate who stood up for his own fiancée, and was placed under house arrest. It was then that Rest secretly taught him a lesson — wrapping the classroom in a smokescreen, knocking him down in the confusion and stunning him with an electric shock, all while remaining unidentified. Stung by the 'cowardly attack', Rodele swore to find and execute his attacker along with his whole family, never suspecting who it was.

The turning point was Sabnock Plains. Egged on by his patron, Marquis Aiger, Rodele used a forbidden 'monster-luring' to wake the demonic beast Sabnock for glory — but was utterly crushed, lost his two retainers Goura and Tony who had been with him since childhood, and for the first time in his life tasted defeat and guilt. His self-assurance shattered; for the many students who died in the monster-surge he silently condemned himself.

Hollowed out, Rodele became merely the banner of a rebellion raised by Aiger and secretly backed by the Gaiselle Empire. At the final war council he realised with horror that neither Aiger nor the others saw him at all — only the shadow of the dead queen dowager behind him. In battle the rebellion was swept away by the very first magical strike of the royal army, and Rodele himself was overcome in honest single combat by Rest. Naturally strong but catastrophically inexperienced, he fell — and Rest bitterly admitted: 'Had he not strayed from his path, he could have been a hero.'

Rodele is convinced he is the noblest and most righteous man in the kingdom, and no punishment ever brings him to reason. By blood he places himself above his elder brothers and secretly dreams of one day toppling the 'pretender' crown prince and the second brother to seize the throne he believes is his by right.

For his fiancée Celestine Crocus — a duke's daughter and the realm's foremost beauty — the betrothal was a curse: it was arranged in childhood at the queen dowager's request, without the consent of either Celestine or her father, and sealed with a magical contract her house cannot break. Rodele insulted her, nearly raised his hand against her, and flew into a rage when she outscored him on the exam.

Defeat by Sabnock broke Rodele. Losing the two only friends of his childhood and realising that the monsters he had roused had killed his classmates, he felt guilt for the first time and lost all his confidence. Hollowed of any inner core, he became a will-less figure in others' hands.

Marquis Aiger made him the banner of the uprising — but Aiger served not Rodele but the memory of the dead queen dowager, and so did her whole faction. Behind the rebellion stood the Gaiselle Empire, which had secretly sent troops disguised as mercenaries. In the decisive battle the royal army disabled a tenth of the rebels with a single strike, and Rest finished Rodele in single combat — piercing him with his 'Amaterasu' light-lance and his blade. Of all Rest's foes, Rodele proved the most worthy.