Rose

Rozario Wyldmeri, Crown Prince, Honorary Member of the Aurum

Rose is a perfect prince - he always holds his head high, exudes confidence, and greets others with a polite smile. He doesn’t make mistakes and he does not fail at anything.

Of course, he can’t completely mask his true nature. It bleeds through in every interaction. While he holds no ill will to strangers, it’s hard to gain his favor and easy to fall out of it. He’s not the type to forgive or forget, and it’s not recommended to cross him - he will return the slight tenfold.

Biography

Rose and his brother, Treze, were adopted by Mistress Erina very soon after their birth. Being the first born, Rose was the crown prince and heir to the throne that Mistress Erina held. There was no fanfare surrounding their adoption, and Rose was the only brother ever largely in the public eye. He, unlike his second-born brother, was the subject of everyone’s grand expectations from the moment he became Prince.

Mistress Erina was not looking for a child. She simply desired an heir that she could influence and mold in her image, an heir who would do everything correctly. Rose was taught from the moment he was born that failure resulted in scorn. If he wasn’t exactly what Mistress Erina wanted to see, he was worthless… Rose’s brother, who was treated unfairly by Erina for the crime of being born second, was an example of what “failure” led to. With that threat hanging over him, young Rose grew to fear the consequences of being less than perfect.

He made sure to never fail, never make a mistake, never show anyone any side of him other than a well crafted persona. Rose had to be perfect. He always had a calm smile and didn’t dare let his expressions reveal his thoughts. His tone of voice was friendly, and he studied the arts of discussion and small talk so he could always carry a conversation. It was everything a prince should need to present himself with confidence.

Behind this smiling mask, he hid everything. If Rose was not effortlessly perfect at something, he would not let that fact come to light. He would only show sides of him that reflected well on his abilities. No one was allowed to see the Rose that was bad at something or the Rose that practiced for hours in secret just to present the final result as if he’d always been the best.

Then came a certain grand ball (link). Rose wasn’t very approachable, but a courageous young lady broke custom by asking the prince to dance. She was beautiful and seemed so giddy when she asked - Rose was enchanted by that smile and those eyes. He couldn’t refuse the request… and so, they danced. It was the most amazing dance, but it came to an end all too quickly. He never even got her name before she faded into the crowd.

He’d see her again, though, at another dance. And then another. Her name was Esmeralda. They’d started meeting each other outside of the palace balls. When Rose was with her, he no longer cared about his mask of perfection. He genuinely smiled and laughed and loved. Unfortunately for the two lovers, this love would not be written in their stars for long.

While the relationship wasn’t public news, other members of the Aurum were aware of it. Mistress Erina had remained silent about it until she started seeing sides of her son’s personality that she detested. While it wasn’t obvious, she could tell there was a difference. He was less attentive. Distracted… by her. Erina never saw any benefit in love when it only made those involved become lax in their duties. She wanted Esmeralda gone.

The Mistress offered Rose an order: exile Esmeralda himself or both Rose and his lover would be cast out by Erina’s hand. Faced with the option of losing everything he’d lived his life for, Rose was too scared to make any other choice. As much as it hurt his heart, he felt that he had to choose self preservation over the woman he loved most. He put on his mask of smiles and deceit, and he told the girl who had done nothing wrong that she was exiled. He strained to keep his eyes dry while he told Esmeralda a lie: he no longer loved her. She had to leave the city. She was no longer welcome there. He burned that bridge and hoped it’d hurt less that way, but in reality he regretted everything the second Esmeralda left the room in tears.

Rose didn’t know what to make of his feelings. His mother told him to blame Esmeralda; he couldn’t. Searching for some explanation as to why his love was doomed, he turned on himself. It wasn’t Esmeralda’s fault he loved her, it was his for not controlling his feelings and letting them get in the way of his duty. It was a flaw that he could love - an inescapable defect that got in the way of his perfection. He just had to make sure that piece of himself wouldn’t see the light of day again.

After Esmeralda, Rose was content with hiding behind his mask and doing as he was told. It was simple that way, and he made his own fun by being an annoyance to his brother and whatever other unfortunate souls crossed him. He still longed in his heart for something more, but he suppressed that as much as he could.

He took up dancing and singing - because those skills were the only ones he felt truly proud of, and they subconsciously reminded him of happier times and the woman he once loved. He felt like he didn’t need a mask when he was up on stage, ironic considering he wore a mask when on stage. While it started as just a small thing that he just did for fun, it did eventually grow... he ended up pretty famous. This was entirely against his wishes, but he didn't stop and instead tried to hide this pasttime from his mother. Mistress Erina would not approve of her child becoming famous for anything she considered out of the ordinary.

It was at one of these shows of his that he met Holland, a secretive member of the Magistratus who never revealed his face to anyone. Holland yelled at Rose for being irresponsible, an act that bothered the prince so much that he assigned Holland as his personal guard just to get back at him. He thought that his presence would be punishment enough, but this plan backfired horribly… when he spent so much time with Holland, he found himself charmed in a way that was all too familiar.

Rose was immediately sent spiraling into a whirlwind of emotions he didn’t want to confront. He was back to being conflicted the same as he’d been years ago. In hopes of making the feelings he felt go away, he fired Holland and avoided him for weeks. This didn’t help, and Holland confronted Rose on the past he’d learned of in his time being fired. He said that he, too, had grown close to Rose - neither of them were doing anyone a favor by hiding from the truth.

Rose was so tired of hiding from his own heart - he wanted to love and be loved, no matter how much he said he didn’t. He warily accepted Holland back as his guard and they’d take it slow. Rose still felt guilty about Esmeralda, and he felt bad that he still loved her even after his past actions made that love hopeless. He couldn’t think about Holland without thinking about her as well.

When he confided in Holland, a surprising solution came to light. Holland’s face, which Rose had still never seen, had a curse upon it. It made anyone who saw the bearer’s full face fall deeply in love with them, something that had ruined Holland’s life in the past. Holland warned against it, but Rose was so intent on getting rid of the pain he felt that he would do anything. Rose hoped it could make him forget about Esmeralda.

So he took the chance… the curse worked. Rose no longer felt anything about his past love - no happiness and no sadness about losing her. It was bittersweet, how happy he could be only because of what he lost. But now he could be imperfect with someone again. He could love and laugh with a genuine smile again. Although his memories of Esmeralda now lacked any passion, he could freely dance with Holland without his heart feeling waves of sadness.

Relationships

Mistress Erina, mother

Erina hardly ever filled the role of a mother for her sons, and she didn't dare let them call her anything but her title. She was more of a mentor, at least to Rose - he took her word as gospel. He'd belive anything she said. At least, he did until Esmeralda. Once he was made to exile Esmeralda, Rose was much slower to trust his mother's words.

Trezerius, brother

Rose and Treze always had a very strange relationship. They hated each other, but they also respected each other as brothers. To them, getting on the other's nerves is a game of sorts. Since they were young, they've kept an ever growing list of rules that neither brother should break. These rules originate from past wrongs, and could be as innocuous as "no removing bookmarks from the other's books" to something like "no poisonings."

When they were 16, Treze attempted to poison Rose in order to take his place at a banquet. There was no intent to kill as it was just a mild poison that would make Rose unable to attend. This went poorly and resulted in Erina burning Treze's face, although Rose thought the attempt was fair game - Erina had taught them to use underhanded methods, after all. While neither of them harbored ill will from the event, it did make them wary of their mother. They added a rule just in case.

Once the brothers have a rule established, any serious infractions will lead to all rules being void... essentially mutually assured destruction until they've gotten sufficent revenge. Everyone thinks they are weird for having their interactions governed like this, but they've always done it like this and plan to continue.

Treze is planning a coup d'etat and Mistress Erina's assassination - Rose is fully aware of these. He really doesn't care either way since at least being in on the ordeal means he can have Treze promise his safety.

Esmeralda, past partner

Rose really fell in love with Esmeralda the moment he saw her at that ball, and when they danced she was able to match Rose's perfected movements. While he didn't get her name the first time, she sought him out repeatedly and they did eventually have a steady relationship outside of these brief encounters. It was the first time Rose experienced love... he was totally unlike his usual self when he was around Esmeralda. He was happy. They loved dancing together and reading and chatting. He spent all of his time away from her thinking about her.

He was only 18 at the time and this was his first love, he didn't know how to keep it or how not to be selfish or how to defy his mother. Becuase of the order from Erina, the relationship never came to a natural end (if that would've even happened). Rose's decision destroyed it while he still loved her and they never spoke afterward. He never got any closure and instead was stuck in his feelings, no matter how hidden they were from view, for years.

Holland, partner

Rose originally detested Holland, after all their first interaction was him being yelled at. He really only told Holland to be his guard as a punishment because he was annoyed by Holland's attitude. This arrangement remained for a few months before Holland suggested he give Rose some combat training - the guard claimed he was tired of being away from his real job but he couldn't just leave Rose to be attacked by villains in his absence. Rose agreed to finally let Holland go, but only if the tradeoff for learning how to fight was teaching Holland how to dance.

Rose was surprisingly terrible at any form of combat, and Holland was equally terrible at dancing. Once again, Rose found an environment and a person he could be himself around, and he eventually realized that Holland made him feel the same as Esmeralda had. It scared him so much that he ran away. He didn't dare to talk to Holland, he avoided him. He hid from him to the point where everyone assumed that Rose was sick and bedridden. He hoped that Holland would go away and Rose would forget about him in time. Instead, Holland investigated the full story of Rose's past and contronted Rose. He said that he liked Rose but had his own reasons for being secretive about it - the "teaching Rose to fight" excuse was only because he cared about him too much to leave him alone.

They both agreed to get together and maybe talk things through, although Rose would keep the relationship secret this time. This didn't help the fact that Rose's heart was still partially taken by someone else in a way that he couldn't help and would never be rectified. He really didn't know how to handle being in love again, and this stressed him out a lot. When Holland finally told Rose about the curse he had, Rose thought that he could use it to his advantage and forget about his love for Esmeralda. Holland was against this, said that it was a bad idea - but Rose pulled down Holland's mask anyway and Holland couldn't stop him. The "singularly loves the curse-bearer" part of the curse effectively took all of the love from Rose's memories of Esmeralda.

As a partner, Rose and Holland's relationship involves a lot of lighthearted teasing. They hated each other for a while and were thoroughly convinced that each hated the other long after they'd both fallen in love... they know what levels of meanness their partner can handle. It was over a year after they'd started dating that Holland revealed the secret about his curse to Rose - before that, Rose had just thought he was hiding some scar or something that he'd show in due time.

Egoe

Egoe, the local trader of secrets... he knows all of Rose's. In order to gain leverage in his social interactions, Rose is usually in with the latest gossip. The tradeoff for that is paying Egoe in his own secrets, and paying a premium to keep those secrets from being spilled to anyone else. Since Egoe happens to be the only one other than Treze to know all about Rose's relationships, the side effect of that is Rose constantly asking Egoe for relationship advice when he has no one else to turn to.

Marion

Egoe's assisstant who Rose often ropes into being his own errand runner. They are... almost friends?

Triva

• He tends to hold onto things too tightly when he sleeps, and this results in his claws/nails tearing stuff up. His bed and pillows are covered in claw marks. Heck, Holland is covered in claw marks.