𝒲𝒾𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇 𝒲ℴ𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹： 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓌 ℴ𝒻 𝓉𝒽ℯ ℱ𝓇ℴ𝓏ℯ𝓃 ℋℯ𝒶𝓇𝓉

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑒－𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑦𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡： 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 30 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑒

*
"Look, see the heat. Leaping on the scene."

**
Heartslabyul Dorm - Tea Garden

The Unbirthday Party began the very next day after
Y/n finally woke, and the relief that swept through the dorm was palpable. Twenty-four hours had never felt so long—especially for those barred from seeing her.

Because Isfrid had banned everyone from approaching her.

Even Vanitas.

The moment Y/n had regained consciousness, her brother whisked her away into her and Vanitas's shared room in Ramshackle dorm, layering it with his frost-warding magic. The temperature plunged so low that any ordinary human—or Grim—would've frozen solid. Vanitas had tried to break in three times.

He had been thrown out three times.

The last time, Isfrid had physically dragged him by the collar across the snow-slick floor and tossed him out the front gate without a shred of mercy.

~Flashback start~

"You are hazardous to her recovery," Isfrid had warned, his eyes glowing like glacier glass. "Stay away or lose something important."

Vanitas had hissed back, "You overgrown icicle... I am the closest thing she needs."

But even he couldn't get past Isfrid's boundary spells.

Fortunately for Anemone, she tended to Y/n quietly and peacefully, knowing the source of her headache would be gone for one night.

So now Grim, Vanitas, Ace, and Deuce all waited together—grimly, impatiently—knowing the Unbirthday party was their only legitimate chance to see her again.

And in Vanitas's case, his only chance to touch her again.

"Today," he muttered under his breath as he stood near the back of the tea garden of Heartslabyul, where he was forced to stay, gloved fingers tapping the spine of the Book of Vanitas, "nothing is keeping me from her. Not your barriers. Not your threats. Not your brotherly delusions of ownership."

His eyes glinted sharply.

"She is mine."

~Flashback End~

Trumpets rang through the air, signaling the entrance of the newly reformed Housewarden. The students gathered, attention shifting to the entrance of the tea garden. Trey and Cater stood on the sidelines, making way for the newly reformed Housewarden.

"All hail our leader, the Red Sovereign himself...Housewarden Riddle," a student announced.

"We salute you, Housewarden Riddle!" another student cheered, their voices echoing through the garden as Riddle walked in, surveying the scene before him.

"Hm. The garden roses are red, the tableclothes are white..." Riddle hummed, a satisfied smile on his lips as he made his way to his seat. "It's a proper unbirthday indeed. Is there a dormouse asleep in the teapo-" he began, his gaze drifting across the table before shaking his head.