Hello!
BEHOLD ALL THE SPOILERS
Definitely my favorite route overall, second would be Leopold's.
I ADORE Iolanthe's agency in this route, how clever she is, how she uses her skills and uses the preconceived notions of what the princess should be to her benefit. I believe she is honestly at her best here, such, such fun.
Not only do I believe Iolanthe is at her best here, I think Guillaume shows the most opportunity for growth, and this is also the first time we can learn about Leopold without the lens of the devoted husband; it's quite a bit of different characterization that was interesting to see.
In part I totally understand why Leopold would avoid Iolanthe if they were previously lovers; because he knows she's smart; knows she has the capability of manipulating him; thus he won't give her the time of day, she's the enemy now, but GOSH it would have been so satisfying to work as allies alongside him with that romance in the backlog; wanting to be queen, even as he said; he'd make her queen; simply because she wants him to not get his revenge, perhaps in part thinking it's all consuming for him; in part because his thoughts of revenge have gotten in the way of considering how he'd actually be a good king, but I recognize, that's what fanfic is for! XD I did have moments though; where I was surprised Leopold didn't see through her, especially given how clever she can be at the early parties, before committed to his route. Is there a mechanic for this?
As per Guillaume, given the difference between his love route good ending of Iolanthe standing next to the throne and loveless with romancing Guillaume and good ending has them both with their own thrones, I do wonder if normal romance Guillaume will ever come around to the respect loveless Guillaume slowly can achieve. Indeed, I'd argue Guillaume has far crueler moments in his romanced route, because there he still believes he is acting with love; with care; it's not only cruel, but it's a lie. At least loveless Guillaume doesn't have those airs.
And in between all of this Iolanthe is staunch, she is clever, she does whatever she can.
Mathys' route is very satisfying, a believable not-so-slow-burn, especially with the interplay of Iolanthe potentially lying to him/manipulating him, I do wonder, with his pure romanced ending, how much long term power Iolanthe could have with him as her consort. She'd need to keep that military in place, she'd need to always keep control. Wouldn't the people demand she marry; have children, so on? Would she ever be able to actually marry him, would he ever want to be actually married to her; given what he'd be expected to do in that position? (Presumably as prince consort?)
I found Vesala's route a little less satisfying; while the manipulation of Ozol and following up on Leopold's backdrop was interesting, it felt in part that we were repeatedly seeing Vesala's faults, learning about her people, and less about who Vesala actually is. The romance itself; though not as romantic as Mathys', still felt very stilted, I think I saw Iolanthe pine for an off-screen Vesala a few times, there was the scene with the pastries, and then moving of the hair at one moment, and rescuing her, otherwise not much else. With Mathys, the interplay was 'is it manipulation, are you convincing him you care for the commonfolk, and do you care for him as well', and with Vesala it felt like 'look, Leopold's route from the other side, do you trust her, even though she's repeatedly shown to be naive and none of it seems to work, but she's a professional, don't worry!'
I think in part this is a little true for all the lesbian routes so far; Iolanthe is always rescuing them; Iolanthe is the politically savvy one, but their skills don't seem quite as equal in comparison to hers; or if they have skills of their own (Sofia), they don't really have a place in the game.
Couple smaller thoughts:
SO SATISFYING TO GET TO ONE UP MOTHER DEAREST. Oh my gosh, so lovely.
Why is Frederique so helpful/supportive this time round, but not in the romanced Guillaume route?
Who was sending the false notes in the beginning of the route?
Your writing quality and the quality of the situation; the cleverness of Iolanthe's manipulations are on clear display, and have only gotten better with each subsequent route release; to the point I actually worry somewhat for the earlier routes; Bastien's route seems so tame and somewhat empty compared to this for example; different stakes, different situations, of course, perhaps Iolanthe can't always have her high drama.
Otherwise, thank you so much for such an amazing release, the Rose of Segunda is one of my favorite visual novels, and I do believe the Loveless route release has quality that competes with and occasionally exceeds the former.
Thank you for the amazing game!!!!!!