HINTS SHOW THAT OSCAR IS A MAN FROM START (MAYBE YOU ALREADY KNOW)
When Oscar revealed that he is a man, many people must have been very surprised, including me. Well, now I read the manga again, I notice there are actually many hints, we just don't pay much attention to them, so let's take a look at those hints 👇
First thing is the name. At first I thought sensei chose a random name or didn't know English names well, so Oscar has a name commonly used for boys even though he looks so feminine and pretty. Turns out, it's a big hint.
Second thing is Oscar's way of addressing him. In many scenes (for example, these above photos), Oscar calls himself 僕 ("boku", meaning "I", often used by men, masculine female characters can also call themselves like this). Many people who read the English version will miss this.
Finally, Dunward often seems to dislike him and even said that Oscar's blood would make him vomit. Anyone who reads the manga knows that Dunward likes women and only drinks women's blood, not men's blood (it isn't his thing), plus he treats men much more harshly and rudely. After forging a pact with Oscar, Dunward definitely knew that he is a witch, and witches' blood is very valuable to vampires, so why didn't Dunward drink it? The answer is because Oscar is a man.
This part is really surprising, because from the beginning of the story until this arc, we had all assumed that witches are females, so we totally ignored the possibility that Oscar is a witch (and if he was both a witch and a woman, Dunward would have drunk his blood from the beginning :v). This is such a good twist, sensei.
Don't know how but recently I came up with a theory that Guideau had been an executioner or was related to executioners, some kind of associate or collaborator. I have 2 reasons for this (with spoilers):
1. In Falvell's arc, Guideau knew clearly how the executioners worked even though Guideau was not part of any organization at that time, it was as clear as if Guideau had done those things. As we have known, executioners are shadows, even someone like Matt Cugat wasn't aware of their existence.
2. In chap 50, there is a part stating that Angela was believed to die 10 years ago, in a fight with an executioner who also lost his life. In this scene, the executioner looks quite similar to Guideau's true form. Furthermore, if this person is Guideau, then there is a high possibility that after the war, Guideau's soul was transferred to her body by Angela, the old body became a soulless corpse so it was considered dead.
One thing I absolutely love about Ashaf's character is that it takes for the plot to move on a bit for readers to notice that, like Guideau, he's also high game.
That's done very smoothly and efficiently, because the story at first naturally tends to focus on introducing Guideau as a monstrous force to be reckoned with. So during the first arcs, Ashaf is often "reduced" as their supervision and support. But the more the plot moves on, the more we realize Ashaf is even more mysterious than Guideau and might as well be considered as dangerous.
Finally, in the on-going arc (spoilers+++), we're introduced to the summoning of Dragons (plz that scene was absolutely epic) being one of the highest feats of magic...
...and they speak of "only one person who managed to summon an entire Dragon in history".
Later, in the latest published chapters, we're also introduced to the concept of Witche's Disciples through 2 new characters...
and Ashaf is once more rudely looked down upon by another magic user (Dunward was also hella rude during Orlencia Sett), which leads him to say this :
So now I ask you : could it be that Ashaf, the first class mage with many animal familiars, is the one man who once managed to summon an entire Dragon ? Considering I also believe it's not far-fetched that Ashaf may know Angela from a time long past, I wouldn't be very surprised if it was the case (maybe he too received a Witch's favor). :D
Anyway, while we wait for the answer, I gotta show you Ashaf brilliantly beating that fake dragon's ass in a very classy and satisfying way ! :D
It was so not a challenge to him that he managed, mid-fight, to send crows to deliver Guideau's coffin (that lil exchange made me smile a lot xD)
TL;DR let's all agree to stop underestimating Ashaf. x) He's not Guideau's partner just because they randomly met 3 years ago.