I know it’s 1 days late but hey, finally i’m not alone xD
She doesn’t care about kingdom and stuff and only work because she’s… there, because she’s given the role to do so. Hell, she doesn’t even hate Mireil and want to reunite again like before she wants to kill her if possible. So currently she only want to be always by Eli sides and will follow whatever Eli told her to
9 Likes
Oh definitely. I’m sure she’ll spin it that way, so when that happens, all bets are off. But as SPYMASTER, it’s her job to be suspicious of anyone and everyone close to the king. Even Julias shared the same view of MC until…well, MC’s sister came along.
6 Likes
Ante is an obnoxious little bug, but she’s doing her job and is not a friend of the MC.
Leon however has no such excuses.
11 Likes
Even Julius was better than Ante because he straight up tells you that he’s suspicious of the MC since they were so elusive about their past. He doesn’t really pressure the MC into telling him but if you picked the evade question with legal bs route, he’ll say that he would have to change the loopholes for it but doesn’t push it.
Ante, however, did push the line especially when she was spying on the MC taking a bath and nearly got her head impaled by a ice spear/bolt or whatever it was.
18 Likes
So, to all my fellow Ante-haters, how would you like to kill Ante if given the opportunity?
For me, I’d like to kill her with a crossbow, preferably with an arrow coated in a deadly venom that causes painful, excruciating death in a couple of minutes. Of course, said arrow will be enchanted to never miss its intented target, and I want it to either pierce one of her lungs or her abdomen, so it won’t kill her outright and the venom can burn through her veins as it kills her.
I haven’t forgotten how she and her subordinates cut Ilya’s cheek with a paralysing dart back in Calinger when they persued both the MC and Ilya. This is why I want to kill her with a poisoned arrow.
9 Likes
God damn, thats some graphic and very specific death. I never really put much though into it, since I still don’t know with how much bullshit can I get away with in terms of “I am being mind-controlled” and “I actually have amnesia” etc. Since she is a spymaster, I think she would appreciate a simple Intrigue:99% stab in the back from a fellow Cloak and Dagger enjoyer.
2 Likes
Get real poetic with it. Cripple her and set a fire under her, tell her that what she is experiencing now is the result of her mistrust and suspicion towards us. After all if her leaders solution to mistrust even if the person punished is to insist upon innocence is burning. Is it not just to treat her mistrust the same?
3 Likes
I’m also leaning towards putting her on a pyre lol
12 Likes
As much as I despise her, she’s guilty of mostly just incompetence in my eyes, nothing more, but I still want her dead. Black son is probably the most efficient and graphic way to do it
12 Likes
But death is such an easy way, constant unbearable pain would be quite more enjoyable, a pain that would make death a blessing
12 Likes
Why, thank you for asking! Personally, I would prefer for her death to be poetic. It would be cool to negotiate with the king and ask for Ante’s death in exchange for, let’s say, magical and/or political assistance from the MC. This way Ante would feel betrayed by the king and the country she tried to protect so much. I would arrange the entire thing like a private execution. First step is to immobilize her with an enchantment glyph, make her kneel. Second step is to slice her head off in one clean cut. Third step is to laugh like a madman.
6 Likes
I wouldn’t call her incompetent, if anything she’s maybe overeager. I tried to explain it like 1000 posts ago xd, so in summary: she has too little time in book 1 compared to the influence she has on the finale, and her suspicions are inconsistent with what MC does throughout the war effort, followed by Leon saying she was reporting MC suspicious behavior that we as the readers know nothing about. So in conclusion there are scenes missing, of MC doing stuff that Ante can misunderstand and build her suspicion upon.
I would also like to add that the fact that she is opposed to MC does not mean we can’t like her at all. What comes to my mind is Captain America: Civil War (the movie), where two heroes are in opposition to each other but neither of them is presented as right or wrong. It’s their contradictory ideals that will inevitably lead to conflict between them and not because one is evil or stupid and must be stopped by the other. Both sides have valid arguments and are not willing to relent on their ideas. The audience members might have their favored side in the conflict but they understand where the other one is coming from and, therefore, can’t hold that against them.
Now coming back to Ante let’s look at things from her perspective (With a lot of assumptions on my part)
(Edit: it’s super longer than what I intended. Again. To those who bothered to read through: sorry and thanks.)
Summary
You find the princes after 2 years of absence in the company of some nobody. Ok, no big deal, let’s do a background check. Huh? that’s weird, nothing’s here (which is weird to me considering MC is from another country with a separate language and somehow speaks perfect parami with no weird accent, and didn’t even change their name which we learn from book 2 is a common Salantrian name, what’s up with that Mr Fugitive? But I think it’s more due to the author missing it that the spy’s inability). The King must be informed. The King makes MC the retainer and decides their identity is not an urgent matter and can be solved later. You feel uncomfortable with that decision but you follow orders and leave MC alone. Sometime later the princes come back with MC having cured the moonvein plague. Your suspicion somewhat decreases, maybe they are trustworthy after all.
Then the King gets murdered, the capital invaded, Saintess captured, everyone else has to flee and the one responsible seems to be hunting especially for the new retainer. During the fighting, MC uses a form of magic you never saw, and neither did everyone you know of, except for the invader. That can’t be a coincidence. During the war you struggle like everyone else on your side, your coworker spies die, and some may have even been your friends. This includes your superior officer, Parami Spymaster, after whose death you are asked by prince Leon to take his responsibilities. That is when you learn where MC’s history they shared with the White Fang, that they are from Salantria themselves and are family with the woman destroying your home.
How can the princes still trust someone with that history? They knew from the start of the war and didn’t restrain them? No interrogation or at least banishment? Is the MC somehow working with the invaders realizing some insidious plan? Somethings wrong. MC uses unknown types of magic, could they have somehow influenced the future king for him to be so quick to trust? I’m the Spymaster now and it’s my responsibility to keep the Royal Family safe from such threats, but if the princes even can be convinced, I will need evidence. Better to keep watch for now.
During the rest of the war, you collect evidence strongly suggesting MC’s ulterior motives and systematically present them to prince Leon. To your disappointment, he dismisses your suspicions time and time again but your increasing reports seem to slowly erode the trust MC implanted in him. Before the final battle, you reveal to MC your distrust toward them and they don’t seem to take your worries to heart. Do they not believe me to be a threat to their position at this point? Are they so confident in their hold of the King that they can just dismiss me like I’m irrelevant ( that is if MC is not aggressive towards her)? Have they actually done something to the brothers? I need to be more vigilant.
During the battle, you watch MC fight alongside Param, like always but at some point, they disappear in the fray of battle. They are later found in a chamber with the Saintes unconscious and the invader woman dead. The battle was won and the MC seems to have dealt the decisive blow, but they don’t share anything about their encounter with the enemy leader. Even weeks after the war was over and many questionings, they still disclose no details about their encounter. They don’t even try to lie, just never answer. If their fight was genuine and they truly fought for our cause why do they refuse to answer? Suspicious. Did they plan the war together but in the end MC betrayed that Salantri woman? But to what end? For power and influence? After all, a war hero has incredible sway over people, and our victory was to no small part thanks to their effort. Do they want to attain nobility? With their close relationship with the King, they could easily ask for a title. What if nobility is not the height of their plan? Do they want to rule the kingdom with Leon? Or… in his place. All that’s left to do for them is to eliminate the King and his brother. Then the people will have no one else to look up to for guidance with the saintess in a coma other than the great hero of the recent war and a close friend of the late royals (or even the late king’s lover maybe so almost a queen anyway). I can’t let that happen, I have to find a way to prove their ill intent.
Then MC leaves. Of course, you send people to follow them. According to reports MC is headed to Salantria. The King didn’t send them with a diplomatic envoy. Why do they secretly travel to our invader’s territory? For the next weeks, you receive reports that MC is staying at some destroyed mansion previously belonging to a Salantrian mage and a noble. If what MC claimed their history to be you imagine they wouldn’t be eager to return there, and right after the war ended at that. It’s only logical they were lying about their time as a test subject. Or at least about their hostility toward their supposed captor. Something is not right. Shortly after you receive information that MC is rushing to Param. By the time you receive the info, they must be close to the capital if not here already. You send all your available personnel to keep watch on the city borders and key figures. You find an empty carriage close to where Saintess is taken care of. Why would they go there in such a hurry and secrecy and not openly greet their “friends”? With your entourage, you rush to the Saintess fearing the worst only to have your fears confirmed by the state you find the paladins in ( maybe blood smeared all over the walls xd). At this point you are sure. All your suspicions are confirmed. You were right after all. Now you must capture MC and then reveal their true colors to everyone, then even their friends won’t be able to ignore it. You catch the traitor right outside the Saintess’s room. Thank god you made it in time. You throw a dagger to stop their advance and demand their surrender and compliance. You won’t get talked out of it by them, no words can sway you from your conviction to protect the Saintess and all of Param, not after such blatant treason. You thwarted their plans and won’t let anyone dance to their tune any longer.
The next thing you feel is a mana spike of a magnitude you never before had directed at you. But you react faster. You trained mercilessly for this exact scenario. Your cast mage bane sigil you were preparing since before you entered this chamber, only for it to take no effect. You are stunned to witness your men being gruesomely killed in front of you, so much so that you are late to evade yourself. The attack you receive leaves you helplessly on the floor but still alive. Your trusted men are dead or dying all around you. If only you were faster or prepared better, if only… You hear the door to the saintess chamber open. With the last ounces of strength, you crawl to prevent the inevitable. You then watch MC plunge your own dagger into Saintess’s heart and lose consciousness along with the traitor.
After a week you are active again. MC in the dungeon still refuses to explain their actions. You failed to stop their plan to assassinate the Saintess but you managed to reveal their actions to everyone and foiled their final plan to take over Param or whatever other misdeeds they were up to. The King eagerly lends you his ear and again listens as you list all the clues and evidence you gathered against the MC which now, in new light seems to crumble any and all influence MC had over the KIng. With the traitor’s resistance to torture, you deem gaining information from them impossible and suggest they be executed at the earliest convenience. With the memory of your companions’ mangled bodies still fresh in your mind you feel relief hearing the King giving the order.
So there is more to Ante’s story than " I hate MC and I can’t do my job hurr durr…". Yeah, she wasn’t in the book as much as I would like so this is a criminal level of assumption on my part I confess. She gets too much hate since her “incompetence” is due to the lack of “page time” she receives and not flaws with the character. In MY opinion (Yess… Safe)
Ps: is this post too long? I feel like I’m breaking some rules.
16 Likes
It does not make sense. What secret goals could MC have if Sister technically won the war on the first day? Why go after some super complicated plans when the MC could just channel their magic on Leon’s forces and destroy them and then just join to Sister.
I don’t have a strong hatred or sympathy for Anta, but I honestly think she’s incompetent because she’s too preoccupied with her paranoia and hasn’t shown ability to look at facts objectively. But I agree, she had too little screen time, maybe if we saw her in moments when she shines, she would not look so plain.
26 Likes
Maybe put it in like a summary. So people can open it up to read it but otherwise it remains hidden
Summary
Like this maybe
4 Likes
i don’t think ante is wrong at all to suspect the mc, but the way she went about it seems so… dumb? to me. like why was she so obvious? she’s supposed to be a spymaster, man. the opposite of obvious. 
7 Likes
If MC wanted to take Param over for themselves they couldn’t straight up kill the princess and take over by themselves. They would need help. So MC used Sister to have her attack and in the process weaken both Salantria and Param. Then betray Sister, side with Param for a while then kill her in the final battle and later take over weak Param.
Just speculating away.
…ok. But that sounds paranoid af. By this point, I want to meet Ante almost as much as I want meet Leon. After these posts, I really want to see this story from her perspective.
11 Likes
Yea, I kinda have to agree with @AdelSad. Why go through the problem of fighting a 5 year war if Sister already made everything happen? To look good in the eyes of Param? Even if we were in cahoots with Mir and still wanted the throne for ourself, why not deal with her later. I can see your point, its just that, if I remember correctly, Parivir said in Tumblr that he plans to reveal more about Ante and he said that the paranoia might be personal. There are no specifics, obviously so we gonna have to wait for it in Book 2.
About Ante: I never really thought about her much after our Mage becomes the retainer. During the ball, we notice that a lot of Paramian Nobles are not really happy about us. Some random shmuck from Salantir becomes Prince’s retainer. It’s a “Who the hell is this new guy” situation, and I always thought that Ante is just another person who didn’t like that about us. I never thought about her as incompetent, In our first meeting she completely played us with a Magebane spell that didn’t let us use mana. I’m still sad that Author decided against having a War chapter in Book 1, I think Ante could shine there a lot more.
But, we have to work with what we get, and right now Ante is just another reason we had to kill Saintess and she is another reason which led to our ultimate demise.
I will have to reread to answer to that, but unless i’ve been spreading misiformation this whole time I distinctly remember the flashbacks talking about a 5 year war.
4 Likes
Wasnt it 2 years? or am I wrong?
MC might suspect Sister wants to kill them too and just to be safe they want to use Param to eliminate her as the threat to MC’s future rule. The thing about the traitors they tend to betray all the time and everyone as long as it is in their best interest.
That’s a fine arc she could be on. To overcome her unhealthy paranoia and learn cautious suspicion.
Unfortunately, she is not in the main cast so I don’t expect we will see her before book 3 or book 2 finale and probably miss all the potential development.
Yes the war lasted 2+ years. Overall the game currently spans 5 years. MC was 19 at the start and is 24 at the beginning of book 2. Although a few months have now passed in book 2 as well
3 Likes