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 Geordo and Alan.

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.

Appearance
Nicole is a tall man with shoulder length black hair and eyes. He possesses stunning beauty, and is described to be as pretty as a doll. He usually wears a neutral and stoic expression in his face.

Personality
Nicole is a quiet man who generally keeps to himself. Ever since he was young, he refused to speak up and open his heart to others because he is aware that the other party would only see him for his handsome face. He prefers to keep a stoic expression all the time, to prevent people from misunderstanding his intentions. He would share words and smiles with only the people he is closest with, such as his family and friends.

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.

Game Routes

 * If the heroine captures Nicole successfully, she will become friends with Sophia and gain her blessing to marry Nicole. The two will live happily ever after.
 * If the heroine fails to capture Nicole and gets the bad end–Nicole and Sophia isolate themselves from social interaction and will only find comfort and safety in each other's arms for the rest of their days.

Present
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.

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

Fortune Lover
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.

Present
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 Geordo, which Nicole subconsciously agrees.

Geordo Stuart
He was childhood friends with Nicole, the son of the Prime Minister. He would often interact with Nicole due to the nature of their fathers' work. Geordo is one of his rivals for Katarina's affection, but this is a fact that he keeps to himself as he respects his friend too much to dare to pursue his fiancée.

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

Wind Magic
Nicole's magical element is wind. As such, he is able to use rich wind magic, albeit not very powerful. In his Character Profile, it says that his magical power is rated a 4 on a 5-point scale.

Alluring Charm
In his Character Profile, it says that his special skill is knocking people senseless with his charming aura (he is not aware that he is capable of doing this though).

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

Trivia
"I am not very good at small talk, and may be unable to entertain my partner. If possible, I would like her to initiate the conversation. I would also like for to forgive me even if my responses are bland."
 * His likes are studying on certain subjects and solitary breaks.
 * His dislikes are private conversations and often avoids them. He also unintentionally tends to talk to his friends as if they weren't close.
 * Nicole is weak to mornings.
 * When Nicole reaches adulthood, his father Earl Dan congratulates him with a fountain pen.
 * Dan notes that Nicole should use the pen to "get the rank he wants" and to "get the woman he wants".
 * 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 his friend Raphael.
 * During work, Nicole would often visit Raphael and hand him gifts from Katarina and the student council while their friends were still in the Magic Academy.
 * He feels very uncomfortable when he is the center of attention.
 * 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.

- Nicol