Sophia Ascart

Sophia Ascart (ソフィア・アスカルト) is the daughter of Dan Ascart and Radea Ascart, the younger sister of Nicol Ascart and the rival character during his path in the game, although details regarding her story are sparse; since Katarina Claes never played that route.

It is eventually revealed that she is actually the reincarnation of Katarina's best friend from her previous life, Atsuko Sasaki.

Appearance
Sophia is a short girl with thigh-length, pure white hair, which Katarina said 'was as smooth as silk', and bright red eyes, which were 'red as ruby'.

Personality
Sophia is a shy girl. She was ostracized, bullied, and ultimately isolated because of her unusual features, so it takes her a while to open up to Katarina Claes. She is a bookworm, spending all her time reading in solitude. She is very self-conscious about her albinism, and was initially afraid of most people, convinced that she appeared monstrous, cursed to them.

She is usually very timid, but becomes very passionate when it comes to things that interest her, like romance novels. She has an act-first-think-later mentality, which she got from her father.

Background
Sophia is Nicol Ascart's sister and the rival for the Nicol route. Like her brother, she's also very beautiful. In the original Fortune Lover's canon, she had very little interaction with Katarina, but she’s now her romance novel 'comrade', and one of her best friends, just like Mary.

She was considered cursed due to her silver hair and red eyes, causing her to live a life of isolation until she met Katarina and opened up to her because of Katarina's genuine compliments and offer to be her friend. She used to shut herself in her room until she was almost ten, reading a great number of books, so her book recommendations have never missed their marks. She also has a great talent for discovering wonderful new works, which made Katarina call Sophia my teacher out of reverence. Sophia always loved Nicol from the bottom of her heart, she would often speak of her brother so fondly, saying “Onii-sama is so wonderful. I’d recommend him as a husband.” If a person that Nicol likes happens to appear, she might just start sulking.

Currently, she is working in the Magic Ministry's infirmary, as per her request to her father to assist him in his workplace, as well as her plan to continue to be around Katarina, who is also working there.

Game Description
Sophia is the younger sister of Nicol, who was ostracized by society ever since she was very young due to her appearance, leading her to become very attached to her older brother. She is the rival for her brother's route, so in order to gain Nicol’s favor, the protagonist must first gain Sophia's trust and friendship.

Nicol Ascart
In Fortune Lover, Sophia is very attached to her brother, as her only friend and solace in the Magic Academy. Sophia had no other friend or acquaintance that didn't find her appearance odd and disturbing, so she always desired her brother's attention, as it was her only source of social interaction.

In the present story, Sophia and Nicol are very close and are very supportive of each other's friendships beyond just themselves. Sophia desires her brother to be more forward when it comes to his feelings towards their friend Katarina, as she knows that being with him would make both of them very happy.

In Verge of Doom, similar to the Fortune Lover game, Sophia originally only had Nicol as her only friend and ally in the Magic Academy, until she gained a friend through Katarina. Nicol acts as her guardian during their reading sessions.

Katarina Claes
In Fortune Lover, Katarina did not care for the Ascarts, much less Sophia. Generally, Sophia didn't interact a lot with nobles from the academy, as she was cooped up in the library.

In the present, Katarina is Sophia’s first friend. Since Sophia looked different, she would always be called scary or a cursed child but when Katarina met her she held her hand and asked her if she could be her friend, despite her odd features, which to Katarina, were very beautiful. Sophia is very grateful for Katarina's friendship and acceptance, making her a little bit anxious when her friend is not around. She adores [and loves (?)] Katarina and supports a relationship between her friend and her brother so she can become her sister. Sophia would often act in her brother's stead to win over Katarina, by constantly advertising her brother's charms to her. Sometimes her actions and speech would remind Katarina of her friend from previous life, Atsuko Sasaki.

In Verge of Doom, when Sophia sees a poster about a meeting for novel readers, she reluctantly attended only to be bullied as she made her way to the meeting place. She was defended by Katarina, who she has not interacted with yet up to this point, and was grateful to her. The two became friends thanks to their similar interests in novels, and because Katarina was the first lady she has met who was not bothered by her appearance. Sophia slowly begun to make more friends through the other people in Katarina's circle.

Maria Campbell
In Fortune Lover, at first, Sophia would be very wary of Maria, as the protagonist would be taking time and attention from her brother. After appropriately interacting with Sophia, the two would become friends, and she would approve of a relationship between Maria and Nicol.

In the present story, Maria and Sophia are both parts of the student council and became good friends thanks to Katarina.

In Verge of Doom, thanks to Katarina, Maria and Sophia are able to get along and become friends while hanging out with Katarina.

Mary Hunt
In Fortune Lover, Sophia and Mary were fellow rivals for the heroine. They were barely acquainted with each other, and there was not much interaction between them

In the present story, Mary and Sophia are good friends thanks to Katarina. At first, Mary did not like Sophia because of how much she was stealing Katarina's attention, but eventually the two would become close through their small novel reading club.

In Verge of Doom, the two are acquainted and became good friends thanks to Katarina, and is seen hanging out together with her.

Wind Magic
Sophia can use Wind Magic, just like her brother Nicol. In her Character Profile, it says that her magical power is rated a 3 on a 5-point scale.

Delusions
In her Character Profile, it says that her special skill is her delusions or her very active imagination.

Trivia

 * Her likes are novels (especially romance novels).
 * Her dislikes are places where lots of people gather, which is due to the fact that she once thought everyone hated her appearance.
 * Due to reading so many novels growing up, Sophia has a very active imagination. This leads her to fantasize about reenacting scenes and romantic events from her favorite novels.
 * In the later parts of the series, it is stated that Sophia's tastes in novels have matured, growing up from the typical cheesy romance novels to those with more mature themes, such as BL (Boy's Love) novels or dramas with marital affairs.
 * It is implied that she has been reading such mature books in order to use them as references for Nicol’s use, which in addition to his devilish charm, is romantically terrifying.
 * Thanks to Katarina's positive attention and encouragement, many other nobles slowly changed their opinions on Sophia's appearance, leading her to gain a few admirers in the Magic Academy as implied in Volume 5.
 * When asked about what she would like her lover to do for her, Sophia has various ideas that are all inspired by romance novels that she has read.

"Perhaps whisper to me words of love before a grand field of flowers...? Exchange deep kisses under a night sky full of starts, or to be rescued by them from a terrible fiance, maybe even save me from an evil mage... etc. etc. (all plot points from romance novels.)"

- Sophia Ascart, Volume 5 Character Profile