"Leonardo Cassius, a butler with many secrets. He is usually seen accompanying the darling of the aristocrats, Viola Adelais, catering to her every whim. Many said he was as terrifying as his mistress — perhaps even more. As her servant-turned-confidante, there was nothing Leonardo wouldn't do for Viola...even if it meant making certain people disappear, like Rosanna Castus, for example."
-About Leonardo "Leo" Cassius, The Black Rose Wiki
***
There was a reason why Felicia Maure did everything she could to prevent Rosanna Castus from attending Cyrilla Academy.
In all the routes, Rosanna's life would drastically change as soon as she attends the Academy, meeting powerful people that would soon play a hand in Maure's undoing. There she would meet the Crown Prince, Damian Vespera, then the genius artist, Sebastian Verda, and finally, heir to the empire's booming confectionery industry, Oswald Mirande. Each would race to Rosanna Castus' heart by helping her get back at the family who abused her and her little brother, along with everyone that had a bone to pick with Rosanna.
At first, it had been fun to watch these boys trip over themselves to win the heroine's heart, and by extension, Amelia Sola. Even better were their personalized methods of declaring their love for Rosanna — what with Damian and his occasional power trips, Sebastian and his tendency to invade Rosanna's privacy, and finally, Oswald's habit of flaunting his wealth. Amelia herself had enjoyed getting the female lead, but soon she realized what a waste of Rosanna's abilities to have her sit back and let the boys do all the work, relying on them to save her.
Rosanna, who graduated top of her class and actually ended up as one of the Imperial Scholars...reduced to a sniveling maiden clinging to the arms of her lovers. It was sad. Most of all, it was pathetic, given that Amelia still held on to the belief that Rosanna could rule the empire if she wanted. It was definitely not because Amelia saw a little bit of herself in Rosanna — no, Amelia was too ambitious, too driven, that love wouldn't have been enough to deter her from her goals of dominating the corporate world. She simply thought it was a waste of great potential, especially as Rosanna started as a pretty cool character. She had a good premise going on, good dialogues, and even a good character design.
The game might as well have killed her, she thought irritably.
Either way, Amelia ended up admiring the villainess more, Viola Adelais, because of it. Viola, who was petty and haughty in all the ways Rosanna wasn't, yet needed no man to get what she wanted. Viola, who only ever loved the Crown Prince, just to be upstaged by the flat saintess main character. Even now, Amelia still thought she deserved better.
Amelia knew that they would meet soon enough. When that time comes, she would make sure to apologize to her on the heroine's behalf — for taking the man that was rightfully hers, and everything else that Viola Adelais has worked for in her entire life.
Amelia didn't know that they would end up meeting sooner than planned.
***
Cyrilla Academy lived up to its prestige.
For her entrance examinations, Rosanna was invited to attend the Academy in person and take the test with everyone else, much to Felicia Maure's dismay. She would never pass the examinations, Felicia said, insisting that the Castus siblings were better off sharing tutors with their cousins.
At that point, Amelia didn't even know Rosanna had cousins. She also learned that Rosanna's mother, Elizabeth, had been Felicia's biological sister, which explained the same blue eyes yet completely different hair colors. It took Rosanna a few days before she understood that three things must never be spoken out loud in Maure's household: one, her mother's name, two, her father's name, and lastly, why the Maures are helpless to the demands of the Headmaster despite their obvious disdain for each other.
***
Greetings!
I hope this letter finds you well. As the headmaster of Cyrilla Academy, the most prestigious institution in our land, I am beyond ecstatic to announce that your ward, Rosanna Castus, has been invited to take our annual entrance examinations.
Should she pass, she would be joining all other aspiring Imperial Scholars and achieving the best education this empire has to offer.
The examinations will be held three weeks from now. I am looking forward to seeing Miss Castus on the roster.
Respectfully,
Sir Horace Pryor
Professor and Headmaster, Cyrilla Academy
***
Felica Maure almost lost it when the letter arrived. Amelia, who was miraculously allowed to continue resting because of her fever, fell on the receiving end of this anger — as her aunt had launched into a tirade of how the Headmaster had always been like this. She ripped the paper to shreds and told Rosanna to go clean it up, before lighting a cigar on her way out.
Amelia had spent the night putting the pieces together, until Rosanna's little brother, Maximillian, had ordered her to go back to sleep. She hadn't talked to the young boy since the morning she woke up, unsure where to even begin. His affections were reserved for Rosanna, not for this stranger that now occupied his big sister's body.
For the past three weeks, Amelia debated whether to escape the mansion and completely fuck off the plot, or stay and watch how things develop from here. Time and time again, Felicia Maure tried to bribe her from attending.
However, it had been Maximillian that fully convinced her to go.
"Don't worry about me and go, sister," He said. "Didn't you say this was your plan from the very start? I'm sure you'll pass the exams. Get in the Academy, graduate, and then get rich. Buy me some candies on your way home!"
Rosanna's little brother was remarkably practical and extremely persuasive, Amelia noted. Had this boy been given the chance to grow up, he probably would've been able to gatekeep his sister from those troublesome men and convince her that she didn't actually need them.
But Amelia didn't have the heart to tell him that — much less the fact that she can barely read and write. She had spent weeks trying to make sense of the answer sheet to no avail, and so she ended up bringing the papers with her, hoping to rely on photographic memory up until the last minute. That was the plan — at the very least — until she found herself lost in the Academy's beauty, which looked way better in real life than it did with 2D.
Tall buildings, lush trees, and the rose garden that witnessed many confessions in all 20 endings — Amelia couldn't stop gawking at it, the reality of her transmigration finally settling in. This would be her school if she actually managed to get in (and let's face it: she will). She would finally get to enjoy her high school and college life in ways she was never able to before.
No more scholarships! No more part-time jobs! No more joining extracurriculars for extra credits, volunteering for resumes, no more ass-kissing—
"Out of the way, my lady is going to be late!" A harsh voice called out, just in time for Amelia to be shoved into the sidewalk. She stared wordlessly as a young boy and a young girl about her age rushed towards the building for the examinations. The young boy was fussing over the girl as if she was the one who got shoved down, not Amelia.
"What the fuck?" Amelia hissed, in an equally nasty voice. The young boy seemed to have heard her, and he looked back just to shoot Amelia a nasty glare.
This kid—has he no respect for his elders?
"Hey, you!" Amelia called out, struggling to get up. Curse these puffy, frilly dresses! She jabbed a finger at the boy. "Where are your parents? Who let you run around—"
She never got to finish her sentence, as the young boy instead whispered something to his companion's ear and ushered her to run. Amelia felt her blood pressure climb.
The answer sheets almost flew out of her hands as she stood there, wondering if it was worth the effort to chase those kids down and report them. In her distress, she completely missed the telltale red hair of the young girl and the intense, purple eyes she'd come to associate with another favorite character.
After all, who else can they be but spoiled brats who thought they owned an entire walkway?
***
The next time Amelia saw the young boy, it was literally right before the examinations started.
She stood frozen by the door, unable to turn the knob thanks to the hand now pulling her wrists. "Wait," that person said. His cheeks were flushed, and he was heaving as if his life depended on it.
A smirk made its way to Rosanna's face.
"You didn't have to go all this way to apologize, you know?" She said in the most gracious way possible. She had puffed out her currently nonexistent chest as she said it, the way she did whenever an employee consciously recognized their mistakes without her having to reprimand them.
To her surprise, the boy only scowled.
"What in the word are you talking about?" He asked, wiping the bead of sweat off his forehead. "As if."
After that, he stole the handle from Amelia's grip and waltzed inside the room, leaving her behind.
"My apologies for being late, sir." The boy said in front of the proctor, perfectly composed. He gestured towards Amelia, who was left standing outside the door in bewilderment. "One of the examinees was loitering outside, and I had to escort her back here."
The proctor checked her list of papers, then glanced at Amelia. "What's your name, little girl?"
"R-Rosanna Castus, ma'am."
At the sound of her name, the proctor's lips seemed to purse even more in contempt. "Miss Castus. Care to explain why you were loitering around when you were supposed to take your exams?"
All around them, all the other examinees began whispering. Amelia caught a few of them calling her shameful and embarrassing.
"But I wasn't loitering!" Amelia shot back, exasperated. She jabbed a finger at the young boy, praying to all the gods that the protagonist halo somehow magnifies her image and makes her more pitiful than she felt. "He was every bit of late as I was, and I-"
"That's enough, Miss Castus." The proctor cut her off. "Go to your seat."
Beside her, the young boy was gloating.
She made a mental note to find the boy's parents later, or maybe report him to the headmaster for lying. Even as a child, Amelia had never fallen so low as to pick a fight with kids. She would deal with this with maturity, as any person her age would do.
Amelia cast the boy a dirty look from where she stood.
NPCs like you don't get to mess with the heroine, she swore. You're so dead.
***
Amelia was so dead.
(Well, she WAS, but that's not the point.)
Three hours into the exam, the once full room had long emptied by now, leaving her and the young boy who got her into trouble earlier. It should feel rewarding, except Amelia was every bit as fucked as he was, only having filled half of the test. As more students turned in their papers and left the room, the more Amelia grew conscious of the cheat sheet tucked in her pockets, begging to be let out in the world.
In her old life, Amelia was able to cram her tests and come out with decent grades, but that was only because she could read the language and write it. Now, stuck in a new world with an entirely new writing system, she had to make inferences from the spoken language and memorize the characters. She couldn't ask help from the mansion either — otherwise, people would think something was up.
For weeks, Amelia had done her best to memorize the cheat sheet. Thank God the characters were monosyllabic and were somewhat similar to how the Roman alphabet worked. But as much as Amelia could recognize the characters, she couldn't cram in so much information at the same time!
She snuck a glance at the other examinee from the corner of her eyes and was relieved to find him struggling just the same. As long as she wasn't the last one to turn in her papers, it would be okay.
"30 minutes left before you pass your papers," the proctor announced.
What?!
"But ma'am, with all due respect, I thought we can take the exam until afternoon?" The boy called out a few seats away from Amelia.
The proctor didn't even bat an eye. "It IS afternoon."
This made Amelia turn to the windows sharply. She was right. Outside, the skies had begun to turn a rustic shade of red, preparing for sunset.
Amelia never failed a test in her old life. It was only to be expected, after spending most of her years being sustained with scholarships. She couldn't afford to repeat her classes or drop her grades.
But Rosanna Castus was different. The protagonist halo would somehow find a way to still get her to Cyrilla Academy, by hook or by crook. Amelia wasn't sure how exactly it worked, but of all the transmigration stories she'd read, the world will always, ALWAYS revolve around the protagonist.
As if on cue, one of the fellow professors had barged inside their room, demanding their proctor to come with them for an emergency. The proctor had shot them a dirty look and threatened them not to pull anything funny.
"I WILL know if any one of you cheats," she gritted out, without even leaving a substitute proctor to watch in her stead.
The moment she was gone, Amelia immediately pulled out her cheat sheet and began scribbling down the answers. Knowing and having proof of cheating are two different things! Even if the proctor barged in at this moment, Amelia could easily rip the sheet to shreds or even eat it. After all, she'd already died once. There is a worse fate than trying to digest paper.
She was almost completed with her answers when she heard a sniffling sound all the way across the room.
"H-hey," she called out to the young boy. "Are you crying?"
The boy's shoulders shook, yet still, he made no response. He turned his focus back on his paper, only to set down his pen again.
Oh no.
Did Amelia mention how bad she was when it came to crying children?
"Hey!" She called out, louder this time. "It's just an exam, you shouldn't..." Her voice trailed off. What was she supposed to say? Don't cry?
The boy hung his head low, furiously scribbling at his paper. Even from the distance, Amelia could tell that it was nonsense.
She'd seen that sort of desperation before, back when she took entrance exams in college.
Back then, I didn't have the privilege of a cheat sheet. No protagonist halos. Just the paper, months of review, and prayers for a god that may or may not even exist.
Out of instinct, she blurted out, "Do you need help? Maybe I can—"
"SHUT UP!" The boy cut her off, providing a clear view of his tear-stricken face. Amelia didn't understand how someone could be so riled-up at a simple test — he clutched the piece of paper like someone's life depended on it, eyes red and his nose dripping with snot.
Amelia glanced at her own paper that didn't have a name yet — a habit formed from signing papers last.
It was hopeless, anyway. There's nothing that could be done. There's nothing in it for me, too. She thought. Since when did I go around helping people?
All of a sudden, Amelia was reminded of that cold night she spent bleeding out in her car. By now, her death was probably labeled as an accident or suicide, given the circumstances. Doesn't matter how the news or the company sees it — to Amelia, her death could have been avoided if she didn't make way for another car crossing the road, one that had slipped on the ice.
Helping people only ever brought her trouble.
Before she knew it, she found herself walking toward the boy. She took a good long look at his shaking figure. Then, faster than he could react, she snatched his paper and replaced it with her own.
"This isn't for free," she said, watching the boy's expression undergo different expressions in a matter of milliseconds. "Someday, you'll have to pay me back for this."
Not that she had any means of collecting, but it sounded cool enough. For Amelia, that was the highest priority.
"I-what—"
But she had already gone back to her seat, afraid of being caught by the proctor. She spent the remaining minutes trying to check how many items the young boy had missed, and was not surprised to find almost half of the paper blank.
He wouldn't be able to catch up even if I handed him the cheat sheet, he thought. She might get the headmaster in trouble too, for distributing illegal goods. As the protagonist, the world will just have to find a way to get her into the Academy with her failing scores, but for others? Not really.
When the proctor finally came around, Amelia had just finished decoding the name written on her stolen paper. She had hoped to at least find out who the boy was before this name was completely erased and replaced with Rosanna's.
Leonardo Cassius.
Amelia almost dropped her pen.
***
USER: Petition for Leo Route
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Status: (EDITED) INCOMPLETE
[UPDATE] WHAT IS HAPPENING. IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS.
Replies:
Sebastian's ring: holy fuck the all caps makes my eyes hurt
oZONE: i still can't believe there's bonus content
Damian's hand holder: @/oZONE i'm halfway through and this doesn't feel like bonus content AT ALL
Potatoflies: @/Damian's hand holder same it actually feels like we're gonna see the true ending
Sebastian's ring: @/Viola's hand holder wake up bitch this is your wish coming true
Damian's hand holder: @/Sebastian's hand holder WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING FOR THAT BITHC WHEN I'M RIGHT HERE
Sebastian's ring: @/Damian's hand holder i thought you hated me
Damian's hand holder: when did i ever say that
Petition for Leo Route [OP]: @/Damian's Hand Holder @/Sebastian's ring GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY REPLIES THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU