Weekly Progress Report [30/APR]

Hey everyone, it's the last day of April!! Hope your week (and your month) is ending on a high note.

It's been a minute since the last progress report, but I'm more or less satisfied with where we're at so far. The word count came in at ~35k words, so about 10k short of my goal for April, but I think that can be rectified easily in May. I took a 1-week break from writing due to some uni stuff I had to take care of, so my writing pace took a hit lol.

Specifically, I've finished the first draft for X's route for CH11 and am mildly exasperated by my inability to properly estimate how long these sections will be. I thought it would amount to 10k at most, but X's route ended up with 17k words 😭

I do think that's a fair exchange, considering X romancers didn't get any romance content in CH10 beyond the letter exchanges. So it makes sense that X's and D's routes in CH11 would end up higher in word count compared to A and R. I'm guessing for A and R, their word count will be closer to 12k instead. I already have 6k written for R's route, so we're halfway to finishing theirs as well!

Still, this means that my goal for an early June release was rather optimistic, to say the least, since the LI routes will need a total word count of ~60k, potentially. I'll probably need June to write the non-romance scenes considering the LI content is taking up sooo much space this chapter haha. 

CH11 will probably end up being close to 90k words, the largest chapter so far with the most variability in terms of LI routes and political choices. It's shaping up to be crazy. 

I hope you'll be patient with me as I work towards finishing it in the coming months!!

Progress so far

I'm gonna give a few more details on R, A and D's romance routes this time since I've finallyyyy gotten past the enormous hurdle that was X for this chapter lol

First, here's another preview for R's route:

Your hands are not your own. They are much smaller, fingertips and nails stained with dirt, bony knuckles poking up from beneath deep brown skin that seems as thin as a delicate veil. 

Without your permission, they reach up, towards the surface of a counter that’s taller than you. Your fingers curl around the edge of a book—a voice drifts in from beyond a hallway, words too soft to make out. 

You freeze, holding your breath, hands still clinging to the book. Your heart is pounding in your chest. 

The voice goes silent. 

Quietly, quickly, you pull the book off the counter. You hold it to your chest, encircled within your arms, and hurry back out the way you came. Ducking beneath a thick curtain, you find yourself on a familiar street. Not only familiar to the small body you inhabit in this strange dream, but familiar to you.

This is where you found Perjin’s shop.

A strange dream... wonder what that's about 👀

Aside from working on R's route, I've also written out the structures of A's and D's routes, and they are both equally juicy. 

A's romance route doesn't initially have much variability in terms of high/low romance, but the major romance choice you make in their route has an ENORMOUS effect. 

Unlike the other LI routes, this choice doesn't seem directly related to their romance or relationship either, but rather, it's about your Crown's priorities. A's romance has always been a slow burn partly due to A being naturally reserved, but also partly because of their hesitance due to your MC's position as the Crown.

As a result, the decisions your character makes as the Crown has a much bigger impact on how A views you compared to the choices you make on how to treat A directly. From A's perspective, sure, your Crown can act sweet towards them, comfort them, be good to them in however many ways--but how much is that worth if their reign as the Crown causes suffering and harm for others?

Maybe that's giving away a bit too much, but... yeah. If you're romancing A, your MC is going to have to win their trust as the Crown first, before A will feel comfortable enough to commit to them as a romantic partner.

D's romance route, on the other hand, much like X's route, has a lot of variability in terms of low/high romance, and the choices you make also adapt a little. A low romance choice set will be slightly different compared to a high romance choice set, because a low romance Crown approaches D differently compared to a high romance Crown.

Chapter 10 already hints a little bit towards the differences between a low/high romance as well. You can see it a bit in the letters your Crown writes to D, as well as from D's perspective. 

The Crown's letter in a low romance refers to D as "the general", and confessed to feeling insecure about D not being there to guide them. As a result, D in a low romance is pretty much fussing over the Crown. They feel pressured to make sure the Crown is doing well as a ruler and is worried they won't be able to handle the Imperial Court on their own, which fuels their desire to return.

Meanwhile, the Crown's letter in a high romance refers to D as "a friend" rather than the general, and focuses more on how the Crown misses D's presence as someone they like, rather than their rank. As a result, D in a high romance has more confidence in the Crown's ability to handle themselves and their court, and feels free to think about their own attraction towards the Crown, which fuels their desire to return.

This thread will be continued in D's CH11 romance scene and made more apparent, especially if your Crown chooses to lean into it with the choices they make. 

So, X's and D's routes focus a lot on the high/low romance variants, while A's route has a big focus on the choices your Crown makes, and I'd say R's route is a balance between high/low romance variants and their romance choices.

Aaaand that's enough insight from me before I completely spoil the entire chapter haha. Hope you like the way it's headed so far 👀

Until next time!! 💖