This is lovely!! I love the way you write and I can’t wait to see more of Von Kessler 
10/10
2 Likes
Damn am I slow I didn’t get that shadows might imply supernatural BUT now this is healing up to become a favourite!
Damn, PLS yes, where’s the Fae, werewolf and vampire because I’m very tickled that I cannot yet point Rach out to great job author!
At this point I’m still trying to enjoy the ride, will turn on my brain once you start introducing more hints to this mystery.
2 Likes
Okay, so a couple things. First of all, this is by far one of my most anticipated WIPs. I love the Regency era, and there’s hardly any ifs that actually focus on the time period. I’m working on my own script that takes place in the Victoria era, and your if has been not only inspirational but also incredibly insightful.
Second of all, I am absolutely, pathetically in love with Quinn Wallace. I am a complete sucker for the snarky, intelligent, kind of bitchy, rich girl characters, so when I read Quinn’s description, I was immediately hooked. Chapter Two was great, but I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I couldn’t stop anticipating the meeting with Quinn lol
Third of all, I don’t know if you’ve considered it yet, but I think you should consider starting a Tumblr blog. The if space on Tumblr is huge, and it could really help boost your story’s popularity. Which brings me to my next point. If you decided to start a Patreon at some point in the future, I would immediately subscribe lol. I adore this world and these characters and I want to see more of them.
My final point is actually a bit of a critique. The story is still amazing, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little frustrating how often we get “saved”. Maybe it’s different on other routes, but I play as a Broke Male MC, and every time my MC goes to do something, someone else intervenes. It first started when our sister was robbed by the thief. I was hoping we’d get to help out, but immediately after Lancelot swoops in and saves the day. This isn’t that bad, since it serves as a great introduction to his character. But then later, at Blevins’ party, we’re stopped again right as we were about to say something to his father. Then the same thing happens at the dinner party when we try to go after Griffith/Ginevra.
I get that MC is new to London, but it does get a little frustrating when everyone else acts for you. In the future, I hope there are more opportunities for MC to stand their ground and speak/act for themselves. Again, this is just a small critique I have in an otherwise flawless story. I can’t wait for the next update!
19 Likes
I’m not entirely convinced that Lancelot didn’t set up the cutpurse situation to introduce himself to us while painting himself as a hero. In the instances with the Duke and at the dinner it felt as if it’d have been really dangerous for MC to get involved. When we learn more about what is actually going on around here I’m sure there will be more instances for MC to stand up for themself
9 Likes
That’s an interesting theory, I never even thought of that before. I just assumed Lancelot was the “himbo” character lol, but it would make sense if he had a secret side like everyone else seems to. And yeah, that’s fair. I know it’s still really early in the story, so I’m not expecting to play hero right away or anything, it’s just how frequently it happens that frustrates me a little.
5 Likes
This was a really fun update, great character progression all around. I have so many theories, I can’t wait to see how it plays out. My biggest theory is how my gay gent mc will find happiness at the end. My jilted MC is athletic and rakish and very much enjoying Blevins. My financially ruined, bookish and inexperienced mc is annoyed/intrigued by linden, but the cursed count gets his heart racing lol.
I’m hoping with Blevins, we can marry his step-sister (I love her as a friend), he can marry my sister, Esther and Hester will be a thing and I can carry on with Will and we will all be happy with our true and fake relationships lol while saving our family. I don’t expect it will be this easy, but I like to dream. I also appreciate that we can be extremely, erm, scandalous with Blevins so soon. That was fun with my rake mc.
2 Likes
Congrats on getting me out of lurking lol. I don’t usually go on the forums anymore and just play WIPs directly on the cogdemos site, but I just have to stop by and say that I absolutely adore this!
It’s kinda rare for me to like ALL the ROs, when I usually just go for the guys (and maybe one or two girls). Well, right now my girl (and me) is having a bit of bi panic rn 
. Everyone’s really fascinating in their own way. Altho I’m kinda partial to Linden cuz the guy’s hilarious, but his weirdness during the dinner party makes me wanna keep an eye on him…
My current run is the Broke route and I am soooo into this new update! I’ll have a go with the Jilted Ex route soon (I swear I did a save sometime ago, but it’s missing 
) but I just had to tell you that this update is 
. The plot thickens, and it is delicious…
And now for the errors that I caught.
Those are just the ones that I caught so far on my first run, might have missed more. I’ll try to look again in my next.
3 Likes
Wow, thank you for your thoughtful comments everyone, really appreciate it!
@NessieNom Oh no, sorry, I was joking! @LiliArch and @BlueShayde were pondering vampires and fairies in the comments below you so I used my reply to you to tease them. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to deceive you. That does not mean that there are no supernatural happenings, or that there are any. But there are definitely no Lovecraftian monsters, I can at least promise that.
@girlfromthecrypt Thank you, I’m so happy with your reply, the mutual fan-girling society just keeps growing <3, if you let me be a musician in your world I’ll give you a pass to follow Von Kessler in mine. Ah man, I wish I could tell you what’s going on with Lancelot, but I really have to keep mum with him. And with most of them, they are such a shady bunch - but some are up to good shady things. I’ll definitely work our dear Queen Charlotte in more, she is magnificent. I really wonder what she was really like 
@vpolsinelli Thank you! Ooh, a Quinn fan! She is super fun! And I am planning to open up a Patreon. I often write little side stories for this world if I find something amusing in my Regency research (mind you, most of them are absurd and are about lung goats at dinner parties) so I thought that could be a great place to share them. I’ll curb the amount of lung goat stories and give people what they want - romance and Morning Slander too.
Your criticism is absolutely fair. I’ve been prioritizing giving the RO’s their time in the sun, and poor MC is being blocked, but I’ll be mindful of it hence. I’m also aware (not that you said this, but it is somewhat related) that there are not quite enough choices in the game, I’m highly focused on giving MC more of a voice in my next update, and thank you for reminding me of this 
@MadAdam Ooh, your athletic MC and William sound like a match made in heaven. And your bookish/inexperienced one has great taste - I’ll admit I’d go for Christian and Lance in my first playthroughs too (though I love them all very much.) It’s going to be a rollercoaster, please strap in for many twists and truns.
…I’m unfortunately not a smut writer, and I fear if I try you will all have to wear goggles from the horror of it XD I’m aroace IRL, and writing smut makes me feel very awkward. I adore romance though, from afar. I’m probably going to keep it pretty PG13, sorry (although there will be a lot of un-PG things happening off-screen if the reader chooses to indulge, especially with that rakish Will and a rakish MC.) I may try to be more adventurous on Patreon someday - although it might be awful. And thank you!
@LaReveuse Ah, I am honoured I lured you out of lurking! I’m a lurking pro myself! I hung around this forum for almost a year before gathering up the courage to post. (I’m still that way about the politics thread, everyone there seems too smart and intimidating lol.) Thank you so much for the error reports, I make plenty, which is a bit embarassing, but I’m so grateful to people like you, @AnneWest and many others that make editing easier by helping out <3 I’ll address all errors next week, right now I’m on a break.
Ooh, I’m glad you’re having an RO dilemma. I’m absolutely biased so I can’t help you choosing, but they each have their own plot, I think they’re all interesting (once again, massive bias) so I say choose them all!
Thanks again everyone. I’m a happy author to have so many lovely comments.
7 Likes
I have no idea what is a lung goat but I want to read that now.
1 Like
Of course you do. We are both attracted to the absurd. 
The goat’s name is Minerva. She lives on a Duke’s balcony. Interest piqued even more?
4 Likes
It’s still early in the story, so we’ll likely have the opportunity to say or do more later. But I think the reason we weren’t allowed to interfere at the game or dinner party is for much the same reason as why we weren’t allowed for the cut purse scenes: those scenes were our introductions for the antagonists.
2 Likes
I love being a scandalous, gun-toting lady in regency era london
6 Likes
How could you do that to them! (teasing)
Both of y’alls interactions were amusing to read
My spoiler blurring isnt working.
Soo i give up. You can read it from the edit button author if you wish (edit 2 or 3 should be the easier to read ones)
1 Like
Great update, really enjoyed the second chapter. My MC is going through it.
Spoiler(?) Below
6 Likes
This might be the best thing I’ve ever seen 
Thank you.
Edit: I shared it on my Discord, hope that’s ok?
@Aoyama_Blue_Mountain Ooh, I didn’t know there were edit versions. I’ll try to figure it out when I’m on my laptop, thanks.
1 Like
I have 0 clue how it works on desktop but should work via hitting the orange pen next to their time of their comment that is edited.
(kinda scary tbh but very rarely like this kind of scenario, that it can be helpful)
I shoulda edited this into my previous post instead of making a new one…oops
1 Like
Wow, you have taught me something new! I had no idea people could see each other’s edits! That’s making me cringe a bit, I’ve definitely gotten a bit heated once or twice on the forum and typed something and then backed down and decided it was too mean (it wasn’t very mean, I think, I just get very uncomfortable if I think I might have hurt someone’s feelings.) Now I know people could see it anyway 
Summary
The success of Fem MC’s shots depend on whether she told her aunt she knew how to shoot. It’s pretty silly, but yeah. If she said she was a good shot, she’ll aim true. Male MC has a bit of a more involved route with this, because he served he can shoot so it depends on what pistols he chose.
Actually, that reminds me, I was going to make Fem MC’s route more involved, tying it into how good her escape out of the window was - whether she was injured or not She got points for it - Embroidery MC got the highest points. And I completely forgot about it, I can’t believe it. I’ll fix that in my edit next week.
And Lancelot moves in mysterious ways. You’ll have to wait and see what’s up with him.
I’ve tried both path in chapter two. I’ve got satifaction from wounding Levi (at least MC does something even when everyone was trying to stop him) and I liked Colonel Pendry, he is more charming than any RO. Non-duel path was less interesting.
Some typos
prologue
To escape the weight of it all, you’ve been spending most of your time:
There are three activities that add to Athletics and zero for Languages or Math
chapter 1
The peaceful surroundings, the soft rustle of the leaves, the serene ripple of the Serpentine - feel oddly out of place next to the tension in your companion’s posture, the tightness in their jaw.
You’re half tempted to sink into the velvet green seat cushions. Lord Linden’s coach is dramatically festooned in green and gold. It is quite comfortable though, you’re half tempted to sink more deeply into the well-cushioned seats, soothed by the rhythmic clip-clop of the hooves of his four black horses.
chapter 2
The Wrexfords’ ancient, embittered Persian cat, Lady Mephista, narrows her eyes. - should be Haines’
He’s pacing restlessly as you pull up on Griffith’s purloined horse - it was MC’s horse
So did my second, Mister Griffith Haynes
They say [MC] showed restraint and honour. I say restraint is the refuge of cowards
When the sun begins to sink, you abandon your embroidery to lean out the drawing room window. - My male MC is not into embroidery
Basil beams, missing the sarcasm entirely. “I knew you understood me.” - it was a Lord Horatio Something, not Basil
Also, choosing horse riding in prologue sets talent “horses”, but in chapter 2 there is some text with condition talent = “equestrian”
I had a lot of fun writing the stat boost scenes. All of them are ridiculous. I think maybe my favourite was the beauty scene where MC eats the cucumber slices that was meant to beautify their face. I really like absurd humor
@winters_socaro thank you, I shall tackle those errors next week. Ah yeah, Pendry is a good egg. Personally I prefer the non-duelling path, different strokes for different folks, I’m glad you enjoyed the duelling
2 Likes