『Schadenfreude』▷ jaesahi。

t a l e

"Well, now that the unbelonging one has gone," Jaehyuk spoke as though it wouldn't hurt anyone, albeit he knew that Haruto's cursed heart was but a lie. "Shan't we begin?"

Orbs of burnt umbers and flickering red willows lost their warmth and faded into grey as Yoshinori made his lips part for pearly teeth, and if there was an idiom that could ever delineate him, Asahi supposed that would be a sheep in wolf's clothing. He and Jaehyuk were merely two sides of one coin, different on the surface yet all the same nonetheless. However, Yoshinori was the Korean's unalloyed opposite, from the pelt he donned to the depths of his osseins, unalike was an understatement of them.

Jaehyuk wore a smile synthetic yet perfect, every moment he should, for all that he could. He wore it like constituent of the everlasting mask attached to his face as it were a wound that never healed, a part of the costume everyone saw but never realized was there. Yoshinori, however, brandished his smile like he did his sword, raised it like a weapon as if it would make his weak self strong. The Krneluce had a smile that he wished he didn't, but Yoshi's was one he chose to don.

"Of course," the prince nodded.

Henceforth, Asahi begun the tale of a boy, his name, and the star in the morning sky; his scarlet eyes seemingly glittered with orange and gold.

-----

"Disgraceful," Ciel sneered. "Straighten your back, tuck in your stomach. Roll your shoulders backwards and drop them, then keep your chin parallel to the ground. How many times must I repeat?"

"Pardon," the girl ducked, embarrassed of her faults.

"Keep your head up!"

At the young man's bellow, she flinched like she was hit by a bolt out of blue, quivering in fear of his tone. If he had noticed, he may have chosen not to care, simply grimacing at her with repulsion.

"Hear me, Diana," his voice was hollowly calm. "You were nothing but the daughter of a poor count, a Starikov, a mere branch of our clan. However, now that your family has gone, the Calhalev has accepted you in our walls. Must you be such a disgrace to the family that took you in?"

Diana avoided his gaze, unable to find any words that could argue to his.

He wasn't incorrect, after all, for she was indeed just a distant relative who had received the benison of being taken in by the Calhalev Duchy after an unfortunate accident. Her parents had gotten into an accident along with her brother, the carriage they rode to the city turning over and plummeting down a precipice to their deaths. Left with a small amount of inheritance, she woke up to the sight of a man with blood red eyes that were short naught of sepulchral. From the roots of his hair to the tips of his lashes, all she thought of were the bars of bittersweet chocolate that her older brother used to give her as it was precisely the same color.

The curls that befell his face formed an oxymoron with his square form much like the cupid's bow of his lips with its straight state. He neither scowled nor gave her a smile, proffering his gloved hand as though it were an undesiredly practiced routine. Afterwards, she had learnt that his name was Ciel Alejandro Calhalev, the heir presumptive of the duchy and from that she concluded that perhaps the act of offering his hand was truly an unsolicited deed.

"Alejandro," she called, voice meek as she halted him from exiting the room. "May I call you that?"

It had been a month since she was brought to the manor, and for all thirty days it was only him that ever visited her. Depsite of the disgust that caused his nose to scrunch each time she failed miserably in etiquette lessons, it always seemed to be nothing more than emotions he displayed forcefully.