There is a whip-like sound effect during Crowley and Grim’s interaction in the prologue, and in the same moment Grim is bound and gagged by something in the game that the novel explains in more detail.
While the situation is vague on both EN and in the original game, it is possibly moreso on EN because of untranslatable wordplay: after the whip-crack sound, Grim reacts as though he is in pain and Crowley says, “Consider it tough love.”
And the kanji being used to express “tough love” is love (愛) and whip (鞭) (literally, “whip of love”), but it is just a form of expression and (usually) doesn’t mean literal whipping is taking place.
We’ve never had an official, visual representation of Crowley with a whip (not in the game guide, manga or the game itself, though the novel may have solved the mystery), but this is not the only time Crowley’s “tough love” comes up:
Later on in the prologue Grim refers to Crowley’s “whip of love” binding him, using the katakana for “whip of love” rather than the kanji for “tough love,” possibly because he only knows the attack by the name that Crowley used for it.
Crowley repeats his, “It’s tough love!” line again, possibly for the wordplay.
While sometimes things happen in the novel that don’t happen in the game at all (and vice verse), it can be useful as a reference, and the violence of the “tough love” scene is described as follows:
A long, black cloth wraps around Grim, binding his limbs and torso in an instant. The fabric stretches and contracts, moving as if alive.
“What the…! What is this rope?“
“It’s not a rope. It’s my tough love.“
The masked man points the end of the staff he holds at Grim.
“You tried to use magic just now, didn’t you? We cannot have you thrashing around in a cramped place like this.“
“If you’re gonna take it this far–grr.“
‘Tried to use magic again, did you? You may not.“
Now with his mouth covered as well as his body, Grim bounces around at their feet. Every time the man waves his key-shaped staff, the wriggling cloth he refers to as ‘tough love’ tightens around Grim. It is not unlike a large snake devouring a frog.
-Twisted Wonderland the First Novel
And something similar might be happening in the game. While “lashings of love” is great localization, it means that EN loses Grim’s actual line of, “He’s gonna bind us up,” as if something similar happened to Grim in the game as what happened in the novel—he was tied up—but due to the limitations of the visual novel medium, we weren’t able to see it.
And right after Grim gives this warning there are two whip-crack sounds, and Grim and Ace are suddenly closer together on screen:
This might be to represent that they were tied together by Crowley’s cloth.
While it might also just be Grim hiding behind Ace–visual novels can leave a lot to the imagination–Ace and Grim getting tied up by Crowley’s cloth is exactly what happens in the novel:
Though he, too, tries to flee, Ace finds himself magically bound along with Grim, perhaps for being seen with his pen in his hand.
–
Still bound, Ace desperately shakes his head.
–
The laughing Grim is bound even tighter by the cord.
–
Crowley nods as he unties the cord from around the shocked-looking Ace.
–
Looking exhausted, Ace stands up and brushes the dirt from his uniform.
– Twisted Wonderland the First Novel
If you have ever seen fan art of Crowley with a whip, this might be why. But the weapon he is using has maybe never been portrayed on-screen, in the form of a whip, magic cloth or otherwise (as of this writing).
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 