Carthia van Canten

Carthia van Canten (born based on her being 18 during the events of ), also known as Cantarella, was a Nilfgaardian woman with an excellent memory, a lively intelligence, and a mercurial wit working many times as a spy using her beauty to allure important men.
== Biography ==
=== Working for Assire var Anahid ===
In , while she was still a student, Vattier de Rideaux, the head of Nilfgaardian Secret Service of Imperator Emhyr var Emreis, took her as his mistress. Vattier merely saw her as beautiful and pleasurable when it came to sex and liked that she barely spoke, mistaking this for her being not so bright. Unbeknownst to Vattier, she was actually very intelligent with a remarkable memory and everything he told her about his intentions, she passed to Assire var Anahid.
The following year, when information from Vattier was no longer needed by Assire, Carthia left him - suddenly and unexpectedly, without giving any argument or explanation.
=== Spying in Novigrad ===
In , Carthia van Canten appeared at the Passiflora in Novigrad where she partook in a high-stakes gwent tournament under the pseudonym Sasha, where she used the Nilfgaardian Empire deck.
: During the event, she offered Geralt of Rivia a deal in which they would split the winning. It turned out her participation in the tournament was a cover to allow her to gain enough money to travel back to Nilfgaard after her cover was blown.
:Geralt, however, had no time to accept or reject Sasha's proposition, because before he could do, another double dealer stole the coin set aside for the reward, beating Sasha to the punch. This thief turned out to be a halfling Bernard Tulle. The witcher raced after him and defeated him in a final showdown. They split the money and Carthia returned to Nilfgaard.
=== Mission regarding Prince Anséis ===
At one point in , when Prince Anséis of Lyria and Rivia, Queen Meve's son, was in Beauclair because of a knightly tournament that would come to pass, Carthia received a mission from Fringilla Vigo to allure him. She did just that and made him her lover but before proceeding to anything more she got a letter where her mission got cancelled, so she left him. Anséis was heartbroken and left his own message to Carthia questioning why she left him. - 
== Associated quest ==
* High Stakes
== Trivia ==
* The name Cantarella is itself a reference to a supposed poison used during the Renaissance period, specifically under the Papacy of the Borgia family.
== Notes ==
* The command enables an additional dialogue with Fringilla Vigo about Cantarella. For unknown reason it is not working automatically if High Stakes secondary quest is completed.
** This has been fixed in .
== Gallery ==
Gwent cardart nilfgaard cantarella.jpg
== References ==
== External links ==
*
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ru:Картия ван Кантен
uk:Картія ван Кантен
Category:Humans
Category:The Witcher 3 characters
Category:The Tower of the Swallow characters
Category:The Lady of the Lake characters