Ashio

Ashio is a servant junior to Belle.

He usually tends and maintains the mansion’s garden.

Like Belle, he has known Weda since childhood.

He was once very close to her, and there was a period when they held mutual affection for each other.

That affection, however, was closer to familial love than romance.

Because Ashio and Weda are so close, Clive regards him as a rival on his own initiative.

Ashio speaks in an Osaka dialect.

He is also one of the few relatively sensible characters in the story, even after accounting for his odd habits.

Ashio’s most striking feature is his unusually long eyelashes.

They are so extreme that he was once said to have nearly died because of ingrown eyelashes.

As a boy, however, his eyelashes were apparently normal in length.

This contrast is one of his more memorable quirks.

He also has a strange tendency to unconsciously bathe outdoors on nights of the full moon.

Even so, he still comes across as a rare voice of common sense in the cast.

Ashio has known Weda from a very young age.

Their bond is deep, warm, and long-standing.

When they were children, he would sneak out of the mansion and use his saved allowance to buy gifts for Weda while she was hospitalized.

He would then give them to her while claiming they were from her parents, without telling her the truth.

Weda, however, saw through the lie.

She still pretended not to notice, moved by the fact that he came to visit and care for her for her sake.

This episode highlights Ashio’s quiet kindness and emotional closeness with Weda.

It also helps explain why Clive sees him as a personal rival.

Ryoutarou Okiayu voices Ashio.