Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure (Part 1)

(26) TCT: Increasingly Harsh Judgment

"Laws of the Queen of Hearts Number #249: One must wear pink clothes when feeding the flamingos." Riddle stared down at the poor Heartslabyul student with his staff in his hand. "You were supposed to be in charge of feeding them today. Why are you not wearing any pink clothes?"

"I'm so sorry, my clothes were in the laundry..." he tried to reason with him, but Trey knew all those pleadings went deaf in Riddle's ear. "Prefect! Please, I'm begging you... Don't cut off my head!"

"This makes the second time you've broken the rules. I can't overlook any more than that." The gem on the staff glowed as a magic circle appeared around the boy's neck. "[Off With Your Head!]"

As the poor boy screamed as Riddle slammed his staff to the ground, locking the collar like he had done many times before. The child was trembling but Trey couldn't make a move to comfort him. He didn't dare to make the situation worse and trigger Riddle even more.

Riddle turned around, his side cape flying behind him. "Write me a 5000-word reflection essay, and do weeding in the garden for a week. After that, I'll remove the collar." He gave him a cold glance. "I'm not doing this because I enjoy it. It's your fault for breaking the rules. Nothing will become of you if you don't learn to follow the rules, you understand?" He sighed turning back to the window of his room. "Trey, Cater, please take him outside."

And like always, Trey just answered. "Yes, Prefect..."

Some friend he turned out to be...

-----

"Senior Clover."

Trey turned his head to the side. The first years from yesterday stood in the small hallway between the library bookshelves. Deuce and Ace were the closest to him, while Johan and Grim on his shoulder stood behind them, leaning against the shelf.

"How did you know I'm here?" Trey asked.

"A lucky guess, actually," Jonah said. "We hope that you haven't returned the cookbook after yesterday's party, so we just took that small chance."

Trey sighed, pushing the book onto the shelf. "Alright, you got me cornered," he said, turning toward him, arms crossed in front of his chest. "What do you want?"

"We still can't be convinced with the way the Prefect does things," Ace said. "What do you think? Have you always been enabling him like this since you were kids?"

Trey frowned. "Who did you hear that from?"

"From someone called Che'nya," Deuce answered. Trey noticed how Jonah hugged himself tighter. Of course, it had to be Che'nya. What was he doing here? Being a nosy cat like he always be.

"Hey, you're older than Riddle, ain'tcha?" Grim asked, flying to land on Deuce's shoulder. "Why don't you get mad at him?"

Trey held his arm tighter. "I'll do that if there's a need to, but..." he sighed. "I can't bring myself to scold him."

Ace frowned at him. "Why?"

"Everything that Riddle is right now is because he was raised with very harsh rules," he answered. At that moment, he could see the first-years was surprised.

Trey pushed his glasses up his nose and he continued, "The Rosehearts family is a family of doctors who is very close to the Rose Kingdom Court, even if they aren't noble themselves. Riddle's parents, especially his mother, Lady Mira, is the Rose Kingdom's Queen's private doctor and one of the strongest magicians in the kingdom. It's especially well-known that she wished for Riddle to be the same, maybe even surpassing her one day. That's why everything from what time he wakes up to what time he goes to sleep, and even what academic programs he'll do is decided for him."