Nicole Ascart

Nicole Ascart (二コル・アスカルト) is the fourth capturable character of the otome game Fortune Lover. He is the son of Dan Ascart and Radea Ascart, the older brother of Sophia Ascart and the childhood friend of Alan Stuart and Geordo.

Details regarding his story in the game are sparse since Katarina Claes never played his route. Not only this, but the main rival in his route is Sophia as he is quite overprotective of her. Despite this though, he seems to have developed a crush on Catarina after she got him to open up to her.

Background
He’s the taciturn, expressionless son of the prime minister, and also a capture target. With black hair and eyes and a perfect doll-like face, he’s a handsome boy with a devilish charm that can even capture men as well as women with his unique atmosphere.

Just like the others, in the game settings, Nicole wasn’t supposed to have any contact with Katarina Claes at all, but after Katarina became friends with his sister by chance, he also started coming over to her house almost every day. He was taciturn and expressionless like usual, and only spoke up when he had to, but his devilish charm seems to be increasing in strength every year. Nicole did laugh at more things than he did before, that Katarina misunderstood as the smile’s a trap.

What’s more, it’s rumored that Nicole is very popular with women and men alike. Everyone will be seduced by him once he smiles at them. The damage has already spread to the Claes mansion, several maids have already fallen victim to him and lost themselves to him completely. Then again, Katarina misunderstood it and decided to defend Keith and Mary from his devilish charm and save them from such a fate.

It was later revealed that his emotionless face and quiet nature is a result of extreme trauma. From a young age, people of all genders and ages would tend to do absurd things, as well as assaulting him.

While on the outside he may look perfect, deep down Nicole is insecure but a sweet man. He struggles with waking up without oversleeping.

Game Description
Nicole Ascart, the prime minister’s son, Alan, and Gerald’s childhood friend. He’s one year older than the heroine and is a taciturn senpai type of character.

Katarina Claes
"Katarina has a fiancé, so I backed down reasonably. But I really want to make her my own."

- Nicole

In the present timeline, Katarina and Nicole are good friends. Katarina remains immune to Nicole's charm but is still swayed most of the time, Katarina often refers to Nicole as the devilish Earl.

During their childhood, Katarina was the only person who acknowledged his family and told him how lucky he was to have them. Nicole realized that they were the words he had been waiting to hear for a long time. Before he knew it, Nicole found himself falling in love.

In Katarina's birthday party, he tells Katarina while dancing that his beloved person is not someone who he is allowed to fall in love with, because they were engaged to someone else. This led Katarina into the misunderstanding that Nicole must have had an affair with a married woman.

Sophia Ascart
Sophia is the rival from Nicole's route who he dotes on and is very protective of. In the game, Nicole's protectiveness over Sophia makes her a rival for the heroine.

Since childhood, Nicole would try his best to protect Sophia from jealous aristocrats. He cares a lot about her and would often court her at parties. The two have an understanding, deep brother-sister relationship and support each other's ideals.

Sophia respects her brother and is extremely proud of him. She also stated how he looked like the Earl from Sophia's romance novel. She respects him to the point of supporting Nicole's relationship with Katarina and would often brag to others about how Katarina would become 'her big sister'.

Unnamed Woman
The Unnamed Woman is one of the few female friends Nicole has and is comfortable with. In the light novel, the two first met in a marriage interview where the woman tells Nicole how Sophia would brag about her future sister-in-law Katarina. Eventually, the two started to get along and had a long conversation about Nicole's love life. The woman then suggested Nicole steals Katarina away from Giord, which Nicole subconsciously agrees.

Giord Stuart
Giord is Nicole's childhood friend and one of his rivals for Katarina's affection.

Rafael
Rafael is Nicole's childhood friend and one of the first to notice Nicole's changing behavior upon meeting Katarina.

Volume 5
Nicole tries to move on from his love for Katarina and find a fiancee for himself. He went through the trouble of meeting many women and failed all the engagement interviews terribly each time. He then met an unnamed woman from the Academy's student council who was 'unique' from all the other women, who tells him how she does not desire an engagement. She states on how Sophia has talked so fondly about Katarina to the point where she wants him to be her brother's betrothed. She then says how she supports Nicole on his unrequited love. Nicole, albeit embarrassed, tells her about his unrequited feelings toward Katarina though she was his friend's fiancee. The woman then told her to snatch her away. Nicole started to think the idea of 'stealing her away' wasn't so bad. It is shown that even his parents knew about his unrequited love.

Abilities
Wind Magic: Nicole's magical element is wind. As such, he is able to use rich wind magic, albeit not very powerful.

Intelligence: Nicole has a high intelligence. His intelligence is on similar levels with Raphael and Giordo, making them the smartest characters among the main cast.

Trivia

 * Nicole is weak to mornings.
 * When Nicole reaches adulthood, his father Earl Dan congratulates him with a fountain pen.
 * Nicole's inability to express his emotions from the heart is the result of trauma.
 * After graduation, Nicole works in the Ministry of Magic, the same workplace as Katarina.
 * He feels very uncomfortable when he is the center of attention.
 * He dislikes private conversations and often avoids them. He also unintentionally tends to talk to his friends as if they weren't close.
 * Nicole likes to study on certain subjects and values his solitary breaks.
 * Although he knocks people senseless because of his charm, he is completely unaware.
 * When asked what he would want his marriage partner to do, he states that he would want her to initiate their conversation as he is incapable of entertaining in a talk. He also states that he would like her to pay no heed to it even if his responses are bland.