About

Hemlock is a young woman who serves as Charlotte's highest royal knight. Every part of her is laced with poison but her lips are the ones that end her victims' lives; although her other parts contain the poison as well, they are not as deadly as her kiss but in prolonged contact with her, it can also cause serious harm or even death.

Background

Hemlock came to be who she is when she wished at the ancient Willow for the ability to be able to protect everyone she loved. She found the Willow when she came running to the forest after the attack at the marketplace that killed hundreds 12 years ago. Her wish, however, came with a price. Her real name has been lost in history and Charlotte became the only one immune to her poison since she was the only one left of those that she loved. As she grew up, she found out that even if she learned to love other people, her poison still affected them -- meaning that the wish only applied to those she loved when she was just 9 years old.

Personality

Hemlock's personality is different for the princess and for everyone else. She shows a softer side to Charlotte and occasionally jokes around with her. She is also quite overprotective of her and vows everything she does in Charlotte's name -- no matter who it is, if it is the princess' wish, she will kill them.

Around others however, Hemlock shows a more distant personality, this is because she conditioned herself to believe that Charlotte is her only friend and therefore does not see anyone as precious as her (except in the later parts of the story where she meets Emil and falls in love with him).

She is almost always seen with little to no emotion present on her face, this leads to her exuding an intimidating aura. On the rare occasions that she does smile, it is only seen by Charlotte or Emil since she can't help herself from smiling when around them. Although many view her as highly independent and many of the townspeople even idolize her for what they see, she does not do well without the princess' guidance.

She is also very stubborn when it comes to listening to other people aside from those she truly cares about but she does not usually show it through actions and let her retaliations play in her head.

Upon her capture, she would discover new things about herself. Being locked up in a dark cave with only one person coming routinely to feed her brought out the curiousness in her. In her mind, she was just a knight and a friend to one person, being in the presence of someone else other than Charlotte for a prolonged period of time showed her a different kind of world. She found out that she enjoyed being around other people, learning their lives and their interests was entertaining to her. Although she remained mostly quiet and stoic for entirety of her life, she did become quite playful after meeting Emil.

Morality

As mentioned before, Hemlock is a killer and agrees to kill anyone the princess wishes to be gone. She has already killed a number of men and women (mostly men) who she seduces in order for her to kiss them to kill them. She does express remorse but does not show it, she often spends the night after her kills, thinking about the possible future of those she had killed; oftentimes she hears the voices of the dead calling out to her.

She knows what she's doing is wrong but she owes her life to the princess who saved her life when they were both children. She offered Hemlock a home within the castle when she had lost her only family at the orphanage during the attack at the marketplace 12 years ago. In the same event, Charlotte also lost her parents so both women find solace in each other.

Relationships

Charlotte Marie Evergreen / "Lottie" [ Dearest friend ]

Charlotte and Hemlock have been friends for over a decade. She serves not only as her loyal knight but also as a valuable friend. They became even closer when they both lost the people that meant the most to them as a child and ever since, they have been inseparable.

For the longest time, Hemlock valued Charlotte the most and only began to accept people in her life after her death.

Emil Louis Farstead / "Darling" [ Lover ]

During her imprisonment, Hemlock decided to talk to her jailor, Emil, to relieve her boredom. Eventually, she started falling for him because of how he reacted to her romantic advances -- rather, the lack of any sort of reaction. She found him respectable and that's what struck her interest towards the man.

After months of her feelings being unreturned, she decided to stop pursuing him abruptly to not annoy him but he took notice of how distant she became and found himself pining for the attention she once gave him. He started asking for her company when doing a mundane task such as checking on the crops and even went as far as attempting to touch her multiple times as if forgetting she was poisonus, when this happens, Hemlock is usually the one to quickly pull away; often flinching at his touch -- scared that she will cause him harm. When she was trying to pursue him, she never tries to touch him and oftentimes distances herself from him. After much confusion and uncertainty of accepting Emil's subtle flirting, her feelings returned tenfold, eventually, they get married and had two kids, their oldest being a boy they named Cecil and their youngest they named Charlotte.

Quinn Leonard Siegfried / Farstead [ Friend / Subordinate ]

Quinn entered the knight's circle after leaving the Forest Settlement and trained under Hemlock's supervision. Although they have clashing personalities, both enjoyed being in each other's presence. Much like Charlotte, Quinn likes teasing Hemlock about random things when they are off duty and though she may not admit it, she liked being able to banter playfully with others just like she did in her younger years.