Cardia Beckford

> *"Why should I be sad? It's a part of me."*
>
>

* Game
* Anime

**Cardia Beckford** is the story's protagonist and the player's character. She is a young woman with poison flowing through her veins that causes imminent death with a single touch, she was whisked away by Arsène Lupin escaping arrest by the Royal Guards after being deemed a monster and a threat to public safety.

As her memory only goes back two years, she is desperate to find Isaac Beckford (her father) who may hold the key to what came before .

## Appearance

Cardia is a very beautiful, petite and pale-skinned girl who looks very "doll-like". She has medium-length brown hair, and straight cut bangs that cover her eyebrows. Her eyes are blue teal and appear to be much more "melancholic" at the beginning of the story. She has a sizable bust that flusters all of the men around her when she displays the Horologium.

At the beginning of the story, she wears a white dress that is accessorized with a jabot. It is adorned with a brown leather corset and straps at the shoulders and neck. She is seen wearing a gear headdress and brown gloves. She also has a ruffled cream-colored skirt inside of which is an ombré of blue and sea green. On top of that, she has a puffy and ruffled outer gown lined with black ribbon, brown tights, leather straps over her knees, and black knee-high boots engraved with a golden design.

Later, a more practical outfit is made for her; a blue cap with white side-stripes and a long-sleeved white button-up with a black ribbon in the front. She wears brown pants held by a red and white belt with a golden buckle. She still dons black knee-high boots, but the gold designs are replaced by buttons and the gloves she wears here are now red.

## Personality

Due to her lack of experience with the world, Cardia is very unaware of social norms, such as when she begins stripping in front of Arsène Lupin to show him her Horologium. She is innocent with regards to romance and she has to be told of what she feels (e.g. love) in some routes. She is overall a sweet and innocent girl who wants to keep anyone from getting harmed, even those who try to harm her.

She is a selfless individual, putting others' needs before her own. This is partially due to her innate kindness, but it also stems from her own feelings of worthlessness as someone who is not even human. Due to her trauma from her condition, she would rather suffer herself than allow someone else to suffer because of her.

As the story progresses she becomes less sheltered and is able to defend herself, thanks to the skills the other main characters teach her. As the player continues to advance in the common story, Cardia can make choices in order to deepen her relationships with the other characters. After the player is on a specific character's route, Cardia will continuously grow closer with said character and will do anything to protect her chosen one, sometimes to the point where she will ignore her own well-being to save them. She learns to value herself as a person, regardless of her origins, because of the love she receives from those around her.

Despite being extremely sheltered from the world, Cardia is seen to be in sync with the emotions of those around her. She can tell, for example, when her loved one is hiding something from her or is upset, although she may not know the root cause of those emotions. Cardia is also deeply troubled by the fact that she is a Homunculus, and is often conflicted over whether or not her emotions are "real". Her primary struggle throughout the game, however, is to rid her body of the poison that prevents her from touching others.

## Relationships

### Isaac Beckford

Cardia spends most of the game searching for him, believing that he must have implanted the Horologium within her out of love. Unfortunately, it turns out that he never loved her, only his biological daughter whom she is based off of, and that he seeks to use her in his nefarious schemes.

### Rebecca Beckford

Cardia has never met Rebecca Beckford before, but she retains the memories of the previous Cardia, who was doted on by her parents.

### Finis

Finis despises his sister because he believes that Isaac loved her more than him, all while denying Finis any love at all. He delights in her despair and is determined to get her to cooperate with him to enact Isaac's plan. Despite this, Cardia recognizes the loneliness within him and tries to reach out to him, even after everything he has done.

### Arsène Lupin

After being taken from the mansion by the military he swoops down and rescues her. He takes her, alongside Impey to London in which the plot of the game happens.

In the anime, Cardia marries him (which makes her **Cardia Lupin**).

### Abraham Van Helsing

Helsing respects her and teaches her self-defense moves. He is a strict teacher, but won't hesitate to compliment her on her progress. He is afraid to let her get close, due to his traumatic past, but Cardia is determined to break through his walls.

### Impey Barbicane

She first meets him after she is rescued by Lupin, and he is immediately smitten with her. He is consistently flirtatious with her, which usually only earns him deadpan responses. Nevertheless, they are good friends, and he is supportive of whatever relationship Cardia enters, even if it is not with him. Cardia is supportive of his dream to reach the moon.

### Delacroix II

Cardia is deeply sympathetic to Delacroix's loneliness, and she is the one to invite him to live with the others at Saint-Germain's mansion. Out of Lupin's Gang, Cardia is the one with whom Delacroix is the most relaxed.

### Saint-Germain

Cardia is one of the few who can see through Saint-Germain's mask. He often protects her, such as when he sees her distressed by the auction and offers to cover the group's living expenses, explaining that he doesn't want to see her sad face. He goes out of his way to alleviate her pain, despite his mission. He feels a kinship with her due to their similar circumstances.

### Herlock Sholmès

Herlock is a gentleman to her, never shying away from her condition. She finds his rivalry with Lupin amusing.

### Sisi

While initially Cardia is afraid of hurting Sisi, his unconditional love warms her heart. He is very partial to Cardia, often sleeping on her bed, something that hurts Impey's feelings.

### Alexandrina Victoria

Victoria is interested in Cardia's origins and her Horologium. Cardia and Victoria respect one another, even if they are not always on the same side.

### Elaine

Elaine saved Cardia from angry villagers and was the first to treat Cardia as a human. Eventually, the mob, led by a zealous priest, forced Elaine to stay in a cave with Cardia for a week to prove that Cardia wasn't a monster. During that time, the poison from Cardia's body accumulated in the small space and killed Elaine. This deeply scarred Cardia, and is why she is afraid of getting close to people. Nevertheless, Elaine writes down in her journal that Cardia is a good person who doesn't deserve to be called a monster.

### Omnibus

Knowing that Cardia is instrumental to Isaac's plans, Omnibus seeks to kill Cardia, and sends her Apostles after her. Despite this, she has no malice toward Cardia on a personal level.

## Etymology

* The name **Cardia** means "Heart" in Greek.
	+ The protagonist's name can be changed by the player. If left as the default, it will be spoken aloud by the voice cast, but it will be left unspoken if changed.

## Trivia

* Cardia placed 5th in the official Code: Realize poll with a total of 761 (9.1%) votes.
* Unlike most of the cast, Cardia does not appear to be based on any other preexisting person, real or fictional.
	+ However, she bears some resemblance to Beatrice Rappaccini from Rappaccini's Daughter, a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about a scientist who raises **Beatrice Hawthorne** (Nathaniel's daughter) to tend to his poisonous plants. Beatrice later becomes poisonous to others, after years of tending them, much like Cardia
		- Cardia also has some similarities to Victor Frankenstein's nameless monster from the original *Frankenstein* novel by Mary Shelley (in particular, being an artificial human-like creature made by a scientist who then abandoned them to their own devices).
* Cardia is one of the six female characters in the game. The other five are:
	+ Omnibus
	+ Alexandrina Victoria
	+ Elaine
	+ Etty
	+ the Assailant
* Cardia makes an appearance alongside the other characters of Code: Realize in the Idea Factory otome card game *Sephirot ~World Tree of Time~* , which contains characters exclusively from otome games published by the company Otomate.
* If you look closely, you will see that the number 666 is marked on the sleeve of Cardia's clothing on her left shoulder, which represents Isaac Beckford's 666th attempt at creating a humanoid. The number 666 is also a number associated with the Devil and the Beast of Revelation in the New Testament  and it may represent her identity as a "monster". It is also a number heavily associated with alchemy, along with the idea of homunculi.

## Gallery

Cardia's front side view and left side viewCardia's back side viewCardia's facial front viewCardia's left side viewCardia's right side view
## References

1. ↑ http://aksysgames.com/code-realize/characters/cardia/
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number\_of\_the\_Beast