Plot[]
Set in Victorian England. The series follows Cain Hangreaves, the son of Alexis Hangreaves and heir to the aristocratic family. Cain is physically and mentally abused by his father, who whips him every night and says it's for his own good if Cain wants his sins to be cleansed. Cain is hated by his stepmother, who sees him as the thing preventing Alexis from loving her, and tries to kill him but she is poisoned to death before Cain's eyes. At age twelve, Riff is hired to be Cain's valet and becomes his first and only friend. Cain confesses to Riff that he knows his father hates him and suspects that his father has been secretly poisoning him with arsenic. While secretly visiting his father's older sister, Augusta, in a mental institution, she thinks he is Alexis and jumps out of a window, killing her. As she lays dying, she confesses to Cain that he is the child of incest between her and Alexis, and warns them that Alexis will kill him. Cain returns home and fakes being poisoned to death as he hears his father confess that he hates Cain, whom he blames for Augusta's insanity, and that he had killed his wife. Cain taunts him for thinking he could kill him without him knowing it and admitts that he had been poisoning his father. Alexis tells Cain that he will never be loved because he is a child of a sin, before jumping out of a window and presumed dead. After his father's "suicide", Cain inherits his father's title as Earl. At age seventeen, he and Riff travel together to collect poisons and solve murders. He also adopts Mary, a ten-year-old girl he thinks is his half-sister.
After crossing paths with various characters, ain meets Jizabel Disraeli, his illegitimate half-brother who works as a sadisitc doctor for an organization called Delilah. Cain eventually learns that his father had survived his suicide and is the leader of Delilah, which he creates dolls to gather bodies in order to ressurect Augusta. After meeting a doll that resembles the woman Cain once loved, he is determined to destroy the organization and defeat his father. However, Alexis reveals to him that Riff is actually another one of Alexis' dolls, created to get close to Cain and then abandon him. Before leaving to confront his father, Cain promises to Mary that they will have a tea party together. He arrives at the tower Delilah has been hiding out and faces his father. He also encounters Jizabel and Riff, who intend to defeat Cain. However, Riff realizes how much he respected Cain and wants to destroy Alexis for turning him against Cain. Alexis tells Riff that he will die soon if he does not fulfill the goal to kill Cain, so Riff turns back into his cold self and tries to kill Cain. Jizabel, too, realizes that he wishes to defeat Alexis since he, too, was abused like Cain. In midst of the battle, Riff is morally wounded and will die. Unable to heal him, Jizabel committs suicide and lets Riff live a bit longer. Alexis dies as the tower collapses, saying to Cain that he hated him and yet wanted happiness for his sons, surprising Cain. Riff, close to death, tells Cain to leave for his own safety. However, Cain chooses to stay and is presumed dead. With no other heir, Mary inherits the title Earl, even though she is not blood-related to Cain and the Hangreaves family. She refuses to believe that Cain is dead and says that she is holding onto the title until he reappears. She goes to the mausoleum Cain had built and finds a suspicious tomb. Alexis suddenly appears, but it turns out that it is Augusta possessing his body, and she confesses that she manipulated Alexis into torturing his sons and setting out to ressurect her for her own amusement. She tries to kill Mary before a trap (set up by Cain) kills her and falls into the tomb that has a sculpture of Alexis on it. Years later, Mary marries Oscar, a friend of Cain's, and is expecting his child. She continued waiting for Cain to one day reappear, but he never does. One day, she finds a tea party set up up a medium who is a friend of Cain's and cries that he remembered their promise. The medium remembers when he went to the tower and found Cain being held by Riff, and how Cain had a peaceful smile on his face when he died. In the epilogue, Mary, now at an old age, has a dream as she dies. She dreams of her ten-year-old self surrounded by Cain, Riff, and other characters she encountered, as well as a young boy, who is hinted to be her grandson.
Characters[]
Cain Hangreaves:
The antihero of the series. He is 17-years-old. He is a very mysterious person who is famous for his family name and him collecting poisons. He is very handsome and intelligent, but what is more interesting is that he has gold-green eyes, which he inherited for being a child of incest. He discovered at age 12 that his parents had been brother and sister, and the woman he believed to be his mother was his his stepmother whom his father murdered. Cain intially believes that his father raped his mother, but she actually seduced him and faked insanity to make Alexis hate Cain. He was physically and mentally abused by his father; the abuse included nightly whips and the constant reminder that he will never be loved due to him being spawned from a sin. He was not allowed to make friends, go to school, or leave the mansion as a child by his father. The first friend Cain ever had was Riff, whom he trusts the most to the point that he allows only Riff to see and touch the scars on Cain's back. As a child, he fell in love with his Augusta's daughter, Suzutte (who is his cousin and half-sister), but she never returned his feelings. After discovering his parentage and Alexis' intents to kill him, Cain poisons his father and becomes Earl after Alexis goes missing. He travels with Riff collecting poisons and help solve murders. When he encounters Mary, he thinks she is his half-sister, and even though she isn't, he adopts her and loves her regardless. He is very protective of Mary, to the point that he will not allow another man (particularly Oscar) come too close to her, and he tends to spoil her. After discovering that his father is still alive and plans to resurrect Augusta, Cain makes it his goal to destroy Alexis and the organization Delilah. At the end of the series, he not only succeeds in defeating Alexis and Delilah, but he even forms the good in Alexis, Jizabel, and even in Riff. He dies as Riff holds onto him and had a smile on his face, showing that Cain had died peacefully.
Riffael "Riff" Raffit:
Cain's valet. He was hired by Alexis to tutor and provide company for Cain, and in the process, discovered the abuse Cain suffered at Alexis' hands. After Alexis' "suicide", Riff vowed to stay by Cain's side. They traveled together collecting poisons and assisting in solving murders. He ties Cain's shoes, dresses him, and is the only person Cain allows to touch and see the scars on his back. Those close to Cain note how his and Riff's relationship is that of father and son. Cain trusts on Riff so much that he is fearful of losing Riff. Halfway through the series, it turns out that Riff is another one of Alexis' dolls he created to get close to Cain and then abadon him. Riff had actually murdered a former lover before coming to be Cain's valet, and wants to kill Cain because he had always despised him. However, during the final battle with Alexis and Delilah, Riff remembers his devotion and respect for Cain and betrays Alexis. He is fatally injured in the battle and asks Cain to leave for his own safety, which Cain refuses and stays behind with Riff, who dies holding Cain.
Mary Weather Duke:
A 10-year-old girl who Cain adopts as his younger half-sister. She is actually not related to Cain; she is the daughter of a former maid and head butler from the Hangreaves family. Her father died around the time she was born and her mother, too, died when she was young. Mary supported herself by working as a fortune teller before meeting Cain. Due to the rumors of his father's affairs with the family maids, this makes Cain believe that Mary may be his sister and adopts her. Even though he later finds out that she is not his sister, he loves her dearly and dotes on her. Mary loves Cain as a brother, even calling him "older brother". She gets jealous of Cain's closeness with other women and gets frustrated of his overprotectiveness over her. She also does not like that he won't allow her to go out and be around other people, but she understands that he is just worried about her. She eventually catches the attention of one of Cain's friends, Oscar, who immediately falls in love with her, despite their age difference. While she is annoyed with Oscar, she sees that he genuinely cares for her. After Cain's disappearance, Mary becomes Earl, only because she is waiting for Cain to return. As an adult, she marries Oscar and is expecting his child.
Jizabel Disraeli:
A doctor working for Delilah. He is actually Cain's illegitimate older half-brother. Jizabel's mother had an affair with Alexis, as a result, Jizabel was born. Jizabel initially believed that his father loved him, despite that Alexis killed his pets and abused him. Alexis later killed Jizabel's two sisters and removed their organs as part of his plot to ressurect Augusta. Alexis later told Jizabel that he would never inherit in the Hangreaves family and that Jizabel was never loved by him. This caused Jizabel to believe that unconditional love does not exist and he becomes cruel and sadisitc. He works for Delilah in order to win his father's approval. He has an antagonistic relationship with Cain, partly because he believes Alexis loved Cain more than him. However, he realizes that Alexis had loved him all along and wanted him and Cain to be happy, depsite the abuse. He committs suicide at the end of the series
Alexis Hangreaves:
The antagonist of the series. He is Cain and Jizabel's father. He is the former Earl and head of the Hangreaves family. He is a skilled manipulator, who physically and mentally abused his sons and enjoys causing them misery. He had always been in love with his older sister, Augusta, and consummatted with her, making Alexis Cain's father and uncle. He blames Cain for Augusta's insanity after she gave birth to him. He killed his wife by poisoning her and planned to kill Cain in the same way before Cain found out and poisoned him in retaliation. Alexis faked his suicide before reminding Cain that he will never be loved. Alexis formed Delilah so he can resurrect Augusta. He collects dead bodies and creates various dolls in order to fulfill his plot. At the end of the series, as he is defeated by Cain, he implies to Cain that he wanted him to be happy.
Augusta Hangreaves:
Alexis' older sister and Cain's mother. Initially, it was believed that Alexis raped her and she gave birth to Cain, causing her to go insane. She had been in a mental instuition ever since Cain's birth and her hair went all white due to the trauma of her incest with Alexis. When Cain comes to visit her, she mistakes him as Alexis and kills herself by jumping out of the window. Then she tells him the truth of his birth and of his father's murderous intents. At the end of the series, it turns out that Augusta was not raped by Alexis, but she had seduced him and faked her insanity so Alexis would hate Cain. She even killed herself, knowing Alexis would try to ressurect her, for her own amusement. She possesses Alexis' body and tries to kill Mary, before being killed by a trap set up by Cain.
Suzette:
Cain's cousin and half-sister; she is Augusta's daughter from her arranged marriage. She had been Cain's love interest since childhood, but she never returned his feelings. As an adult, she planned to elope with her lover by faking her death. However, he abandoned her and left her to be buried alive so he could marry someone else. She was nearly dead when she escaped and was found by Cain. She died later on and remained on Cain's mind. Alexis would later use Cain's love for Suzette against him by creating a doll that resembles her and ordering it to pursue Cain and produce a child with him. The doll later on dies when it goes against Alexis' orders.
| Manga Information | |
|---|---|
|
Title |
Earl Cain |
|
Alternate Title |
Hakushaku Cain, Count Cain: Godchild |
|
Author |
Kaori Yuki |
|
Chapters |
47 |
|
Status |
Complete |
|
Publication |
1992 - 1994 |
|
Publisher |
Hakusensha |
|
Magazine |
Hana to Yume |