Rod/Profile

**Rod Benedikt Widdensov** is one of the romance options in Cinderella Phenomenon. He is the stepbrother of the main heroine, but does not consider her family, as he hates her for being cruel to his family. Due to his Fairytale Curse, he is mute and cannot speak without the help of his magical stuffed rabbit, Sebby.

## Appearance

Rod has somewhat messy blond hair with bangs long enough that they fall just above his eyes. His eyes are a bright aqua colour. He wears a white dress shirt with gold lining and white pants. Over his shirt he wears a slate purple tailcoat with double buttons that's left open. The coat also has gold details, buttons, and shoulder straps, and folded cuffs. Over the left breast of his coat, he has a golden flower (possibly a daisy) broach attached to two chains that link to his shoulder strap. He also has a loose dark purple bow tie and white gloves. The slightly off black boots go just above the knee and also has some golden detailing. There also appears to be small heel to his boots.

As he can't speak without Sebby, the rabbit plushie is constantly seeing hanging over his left shoulder.

## Personality

Rod initially is assumed to not have given much mind to Lucette as he never attempts to communicate with her in the palace. However, he quickly reveals this assumption to be false, and that in reality, he hates her for the cruel way she had treated his family. Immediately, he makes it clear how important his family is to him, that he kept his dislike of Lucette to himself to keep his sister, Emelaigne, happy. Though he also takes any slight against his family very personally too, as Lucette had never wronged him directly but he still treats her very coldly. From this, it is immediately made clear that family is very important to Rod.

The beginning of the game also shows signs of his overprotective nature. An example being in the prologue, when Lucette goes into town with Emelaigne and Rod, then begins to tell Emelaigne off at the end of the their outing. Rod grabs Lucette to pull her away from Emelaigne, telling her to stop. His initial hatred of Lucette also stems from this overprotective nature, as he states that he wants the people he loves to be happy and Lucette actively made his mother and sister unhappy with her harsh comments. Once he gets more attached to Lucette, he also becomes protective of her and will stand between Lucette and anyone who says any mean comments to her, telling them to stop on her behalf.

Even without his curse, he is a man of few words and doesn't like to talk much. Though when he does speak, he is very blunt and direct with his words. This is a similarity that he shares with Lucette in how they speak to others. Rod can also be exceptionally harsh and cold when speaking to others too, though it's notable that this is mostly directed towards people he doesn't like. However, he also is easily frustrated when talking to the people he does care about, often doing this to hide his true feelings from that person, which is inline with him being the tsundere route. This behaviour has Emelaigne admit that Rod can speak the opposite of what he means.

As Lucette gets to know Rod more, she sees that beneath his cold exterior he is a very selfless who doesn't want to see others suffer. When it comes to those he loves, he admits that he would rather carry the burden on his own than to do something that could cause someone he cares about to be hurt in the process. This is the reason for why he refuses to break his curse, as he cannot win Viorica's heart, he can only cure himself by killing here, which he genuinely would rather die than to kill. He also chooses to keep silent about his curse as he believes nothing can save him and he doesn't wish to see his family upset by learning that he will die soon.

There are hints to him being diligent in his work, as he is regularly studying for his lessons in his own time. It's noteworthy as he much rather spend his time with his family or out in the town, yet he'll keep up with his lessons despite that he is dying. He shows signs of high levels of intelligence when in the beginning, he was able to deduce that Lucette had been cursed when she was forgotten although no one had informed him of the plan to curse her beforehand. He also has memorised the knights' schedules to evade them in the palace when he sneaks out to visit the Marchen, and has memorised this schedule well enough that he was able to tell the Marchen this in Karma's route, so that they could sneak into the palace. Additionally, he can be very competitive, seen mainly when it comes to dancing. While he doesn't want to be judged for his skills in it, he also has enough pride in them that he feels confident he can perform a dance better than Lucette.

## Curse

*Main article: Fairytale Curse*
Rod's Fairytale Curse is **The Mermaid's** Curse based on *The Little Mermaid*. He traded his voice in order to become a prince to make his childhood friend, Viorica, fall in love with him. If the one he loves does not return his feelings and were to marry another man, he would turn into sea foam and die, just like the mermaid in the fairytale.

Yet, if his loved one was to return his feelings and confess, it would break his curse. In the event that he cannot get the intended woman he loves to return those feelings, he can also break his curse by stabbing that woman in the heart with a knife that is given to him by his sister, Emelaigne. The intention of this curse is not to teach any lesson, but to put Rod into a hopeless situation, in which his negative feelings would power the Tenebrarum.

### Fairytale References

Rod's eye colour may be a reference to his curse, as they look like the colour of the sea.

Rod's plush rabbit, Sebby (short for Sebastian), is a reference to Sebastian the crab, the assistant to Ariel in Disney's version of *The Little Mermaid*. Additionally, Sebby plays a similar role of matchmaker like Sebastian the crab does.

Andersen's Little Mermaid was known for her skills at dancing during her time with the humans. Rod is shown to have knack for dancing and he and Lucette do bond while sharing a dance. In *Evermore* his skills have developed fast enough that he has become a dance instructor.

Rod makes sacrifices as he says that through his pain, those he loves become happy. When the Little Mermaid becomes human, she suffers because her walks are painful but she endures it so the prince she loves will be happy.

Prior to being cursed, Rod was skilled in singing. This refers to the original fairytale where the Little Mermaid had the sweetest singing voice of all the mermaids.

Rod saved Viorica from drowning in a river during a storm, much like how the Little Mermaid saved her prince from drowning in the sea during a storm. Also like the Little Mermaid, Viorica never learns Rod is the one to save her. It goes even further, where it also references Disney's version of the story, as Rod's rescue is attributed to another person.

Rod seeks out a witch for help to win Viorica's heart, exactly how the Little Mermaid seeks out the seawitch to help make her human so she can have her prince. Rod also loses his voice in the process of his deal, just as the Little Mermaid did.

In the original story of *The Little Mermaid*, the mermaid would turn into sea foam and die on the morning after her prince were to marry someone else. This is Rod's fate if he cannot be saved before Viorica's wedding with Decimond happens.

## History

Rod grew up with his older sister, Emelaigne, in the town outside of the palace. It's stated to be specifically close to where Viorica's shop is. His mother, Ophelia, owned a bakery there. Nothing is mentioned about his father, and he is gone long before Ophelia and Genaro get together the second time. Based on a tumblr post, his father appeared to have died during the Great War.

As he was growing up, he and his sister were close to a friend of theirs, Viorica. The three were inseparable and constantly playing together. It's noted by Emelaigne that back then, Rod was still the tsundere we all know him to be, bullying Viorica for crying despite that he also was a bit of a cry baby. Over the years, Rod developed a crush on Viorica, which even Emelaigne noticed. Although it's not clear for how long he harboured these feelings, he never got around to ever confessing anything to Viorica as she is completely in the dark about his unrequited crush on her.

Then a year ago, on a stormy night, Rod went to look for Viorica when she didn't return home. He saw her as she was walking along a riverbank then fall in, so he dived into the river to save her, pulling her back ashore. However, it looked as if she wasn't breathing and he went off to look for help. Though once he got back, she was already gone. He eventually went to her home and found her there with a doctor and a man that she eventually came to love, Decimond. When she told him that Decimond had been the one to save her, Rod decided to keep quiet, as he didn't want to ruin her happiness. This led Rod to turn to magic for help to win Viorica's heart.

He found a witch and asked her to turn him into a prince, since he believed Viorica would love a prince when she fell for a nobleman. The witch took his voice from him, inflicting a Fairytale Curse on him without him knowing it until it was too late. It led to the king, Genaro, finding their home the next day and getting together with Ophelia. Once they were married, it made Rod a prince to fulfill that part of his curse. He and his family was then brought into the palace to meet Lucette, who had treated them horribly. For the year that Rod lived in the palace, he kept quiet on his dislike of Lucette at his sister's request. He appears to keep himself busy with all the new studies he has as a prince now, though he tends to make enough time going out into the town when he can.

It is unknown when he found the Marchen, but it appears before he was moved into the palace, he had met Parfait and obtained Sebby from her. While he doesn't want to break his curse, he often does visit, normally to speak with Parfait privately. However, it is indicated that he also spends time there socially, as Annice insists he join with enough familiarity that she admits to having made too much food *as usual* as this is not the first time she's done so when he is there. In his route, he regularly sneaks out at night to visit the Marchen, implying that he has been visiting them frequently in the time he's known them.

## Relationships

### Love Interest

Lucette

Description to be added.

### Family

Ophelia

Description to be added.

Emelaigne

Description to be added.

Genaro

Description to be added.

### Friends

Sebby

Description to be added.

Viorica

Description to be added.

## Trivia

* He doesn't like the palace, he prefers being out in town.
* He doesn't dislike being mute. He uses the condition as an excuse to not speak to people he doesn't like.
* He used to like singing before going mute.
* He prefers non-fiction books.

## References

1. ↑ Tumblr post by Dicesuki
2. ↑ Tumblr post by Dicesuki
3. ↑ Tumblr post by Dicesuki
4. ↑ Tumblr post by Dicesuki