Cinean and Yaling

• Cinean views Yaling as submissive to MC. Both in their overall behavior and in her views, she thinks Yaling is being submissive in her views in order to become agreeable to MC

• Realizes Yaling isn't actually apolitical - she's chosen MC over any independent views

• Cinean observes how Yaling adapts herself in some ways to what MC needs

• This makes her feel superior, Yaling is basically a puppet

• But she's actually very similar to Yaling in how they pursue what they want

• Both are willing to completely change themselves for power

• The difference is Yaling admits it openly while Cinean hides behind principles and incredible rationalization

• Cinean is dishonest with herself

• Cinean's rationalization: She thinks of herself as someone who's more of his equal and can challenge him intellectually. She thinks she can affect change, on him, and on the world at large through him. She can use his power in positive ways.

  • She thinks she wants to change MC, but what she actually wants is for MC to change her.

• Cinean's envy is a major factor their relationship, and its evolution is a major storyline.

  • At the start it's not so prominent, both internally and in behavior.
    • It gets worse over time as Yaling uses Cinean to achieve relationship goals with MC.
    • As MC shows off his charisma and Cinean gets more attracted to him.
    • As Yaling "gets away" with behavior that MC finds cute but Cinean thinks is inferior and causes her to think she is better than Yaling in some sense.
  • The envy grows within Cinean, but she tries very hard to not show it of course.
  • However over time it leaks out inevitably.
  • Yaling can sense it, the first times it leaks out Yaling picks up on it right away.
    • As a noblewoman she's grown up knowing about class differences and the difference between a Greater Solfrey and a noble is as prominent to her as that of a commoner and a solfrey.
    • A woman raised in the cutthroat politics of a ducal court can spot a social climber from a mile away. She recognizes the over-eager praise, the intellectual posturing, the way Cinean’s eyes flicker towards the MC. She knows exactly what Cinean wants.
    • Her parents and social circle at large have warned her about class envy and wealth envy, this is not news to her.
    • But still, Cinean is a very cool person, and Yaling would want to stay friends.
    • So long as the envy doesn't bubble up into a visible attitude of resentment, it is easy to stay in denial.
  • But it builds, and the by mid game it's visible to Yaling's conscious thinking, though she's still trying to ignore it.
    • At this point, an analogy to the envy is like that of an adopted child. Everyone knows they're not equal but tries very hard to pretend they don't know, but really they know that everyone knows.
      • Cinean picks up uncomfortably that Yaling knows, and Yaling does know and knows that she knows that she knows... yeah, but still everyone tries to pretend everything's fine.
    • Yaling's awareness manifests as amused condescension. She sees what Cinean is doing, and she plays along.
    • "Kindness" to Cinean is the most profound expression of her power. By treating Cinean with warmth and including her in intimate moments, Yaling is performing an act of benevolent dominance.
    • To some extent to see Cinean jealous is entertaining and feeds her ego.
    • She trusts both her privilege and her connection with MC to protect her.
    • Yaling can even "bait" Cinean. She might deliberately say something that appears shallow or submissive, knowing it will trigger Cinean's "critique mode." It’s a way for Yaling to reaffirm her own superior position by watching Cinean scramble to intellectualize her jealousy.
  • A common person feels envy and acts on it. An intellectual like Cinean, whose entire self-worth is built on being perceptive, rational, and ideologically "correct," cannot afford to admit to being primarily powered by a base, "common" emotion. So, her brilliant mind engages in a constant, subconscious process of transmutation. She takes the raw, toxic material of her envy and refines it into something sophisticated and defensible:
    • Envy of Yaling's effortless status is transmuted into a "Principled Critique of Aristocratic Privilege." She isn't jealous; she is a political philosopher identifying systemic flaws.
    • Envy of Yaling's romantic happiness is transmuted into a "Scholarly Analysis of Unhealthy Female Submissiveness." She isn't bitter; she is a concerned intellectual observing a dangerous social pattern.
    • Her raw, physical desire for the MC is transmuted into "Recognition of a Peer's Intellectual and Leadership Potential." She isn't a lustful homewrecker; she is identifying a partner capable of enacting the change she theorizes about.

• On an intellectual level, Cinean is sharp enough to know that her ambition must be obvious. She knows that a woman like Yaling has seen this story play out a hundred times before. This is the source of her private agony. Every attempt she makes to seem clever or indispensable is, she suspects, being read perfectly by Yaling as the pathetic striving it is.

• Willful Ignorance as a Shield: This is the core of her psychology. She senses Yaling's knowing condescension, but she cannot allow herself to fully process it. To do so would mean confronting the utter futility of her situation. So, her mind actively chooses an optimistic interpretation, that Yaling's friendship and kindness is genuine. This is a high-level psychological defense mechanism against a possibility too humiliating to bear. Good thing though she's overall right, but of course there's a complex mix of emotions, condescension with real friendship and appreciation.

Preservation of Narrative Goals

Yaling has a narrative position of "solace", and to achieve that she has this concept of "effortless victory". We do not want to write her as a nagging, insecure, constantly defensive wife who has to fight against every one of your dalliances all the time. At the same time, we don't want to write her as a weak, submissive cuckquean.

So our solution is "effortless victory", meaning she's so secure and powerful and in control that she wins without even trying. This primarily extends to her relationship with Cinean. From the outset she is the Lady of the house and Cinean's superior, and the superiority needs to be persistent. For the story we want, which is one where the inter-harem conflict is precisely choreographed in specific routes rather than in all the routes all the time, we're taking this approach to Yaling's character.

Yaling is magnanimous with Cinean, seeing her as a friend and as a project.

• While Cinean does end up being jealous and trying to steal MC away from Yaling, she still respects Yaling highly and outside of the competition, still would try to help Yaling in any way possible to thank her for her generosity. It's a complicated feeling.

As a result of these goals, Yaling just completely destroys Cinean casually in social competition in front of the MC.

There is a huge danger of this framing making Yaling naively kind, and that is something we want to avoid at all costs. Yaling has a benevolent, crushing condescension and a self assurance that comes not just of some amorphous privilege but actual power. She's a trained and capable noble educated and used to high politics and being a countess, she's the symbol of the Acasa alliance, deposing her would destroy MC's standing in Piyse.

We need to show that Yaling is NOT stupid, for this reason there cannot be a route where Yaling is shown to be wrong. Even if it's not her route, Yaling must still win, otherwise Yaling's naivety would reflect poorly. So this is a constraint on the direction of the Cinean story.

However, we're trying to balance with giving Cinean a full romance worthy of a major LI. While she's darker character (not F0I0), she's not a sacrificial one to prop up Yaling either.

Let's just mention a couple of possibilities for how to structure their story.

Dismissed Ideas

These ideas all don't work but is here to show why.

Cinean Succeeds in Beating Yaling in Seduction of MC

Straight away this is the simple case that reflects poorly on Yaling. Maybe in another VN this would make sense, but not this one.

Yaling Dies or is Deposed Due to a Scheme

Cinean kills Yaling, physically, due to a scheme, or Yaling dies in combat or some other issue. Cinean uses necro magic to sabotage the Aegium of Yaling's child and humiliates her.

All of these options basically means the MC ends up with Cinean without choosing Cinean, falling victim to circumstance or schemes, kinda a horrible unsatisfactory romance.

Cinean Wins Politically, Abolishes Aristocracy

For example, destroy the social system completely with a giant unimaginable transgression. This is the solution we have for Weilan. Cinean convinces MC to abolish the aristocracy or something and cast down Yaling.

The way to think about this solution is that under normal circumstances Cinean cannot hope to compare to Yaling's status, but by changing the entire setting of the world it's an attack and a loss that Yaling cannot even imagine. She's not stupid, the attack is just so far beyond what felt like the realm of possibility.

That being said, while this is a possibility in a vacuum to solve this problem, it's not the story we want to tell for Cinean. In her victory route she becomes a social conservative and wishes to preserve the aristocracy after becoming a noble.

Current Plan

The current plan is a to maintain Yaling primacy by making Cinean's canon true romantic victory ending one of psychological cope and delusion.

Since that ending isn't a 100% victory, we'll offer a non-canon alternate "Good Ending". This abuses the meta-narrative as a gameplay mechanic to get us the solution to the issue. We'll just have both but calling the out of character one non-canon solves the issue.

Redefine victory for cinean, rebuild her victory route into one of coping that she's the one mc REALLY loves despite being a concubine and not a wife

For someone like her, showering her with material goods and a noble title might be enough to convince herself. It's also about convincing the player that she's convinced. Narratively we can stack the screentime to help sell the romance.

It's a romance dating sim not about getting a job. The desire is for romance, not to work. Becoming a worker, an employee, is a loss, not a win. Do not give her a job, she never becomes relevant his military conquests, her role is sexual and being part of the harem and becoming a conservative tradwife.

Remember that dou rong is the keeper of the esoteric, not cinean.

The title she gets is a noble title like Countess not a job title.

Of course not actually wife but it's about coping that its as good as a wife. In reality she's just a mistress like shuqin, deng yu, etc, but for the mechanical gameplay purpose of a victory ending we dress it up for the player through the execution of the ending.

It is not about intellectualism, it's about sex romance and seduction.

She convinces herself that her efforts worked and pickmeism bore fruit.

No council meeting and necromantic secrets, all of that is harmful to the tradwife end. She is also not the exclusive holder of his Intimacy, ultimately in canon she is just one of many mistresses and lesser than yaling, but TO her personal story since she started from low and got a title it feels like a win to her emotionally.

Making it from the low status of employee and advisor into the harem is a win.

Being the favored concubine is the false cope, but she can convince herself and we can convince the reader that she's convinced while still hinting at the truth. The MC is still seeing other women, and treating her as one of many, all less important than the main wife. But she convinces herself that it's all worth it and special.

Non-Canon MC Goes Crazy Path

Lean into MC agency by opening an option for the player to embark on a Cinean path.

This would also unlock Yaling defensiveness and a full Yaling vs Cinean fight story where Yaling decides to try to fire her and MC keeps her around.

It's not that Cinean wins, the MC goes crazy/the player is trolling, we can label this as a non-canon path. Elevate Cinean and have some of femdom where she turns the tables on yaling and tops her. Alternatively write that mcs character changes and he experiences a novel love that makes him abandon all reason. But remember that in route 3 she turns conservative tradwife, but here she actually does successfully supplant as primary sex partner, he cherishes and wants to fuck her more.

This doesn't reflect poorly on Yaling because it's a crazy outcome that's out of character for the MC, he would never actually do this. In reality, Cinean doesn't pose a threat to Yaling.