Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Episode 1-19: Punishment Escalation!

~Heartslabyul Dorm - Lounge~

"The Queen of Hearts's rule 249: "Flamingo caretakers are to don pink attire."  It was supposed to be your turn to feed the flamingo's today.  Why aren't you wearing pink?", Riddle.

"I'm sorry, Housewarden.  My pink clothes were in the laundry...  Please, sir, not the collar!", a Heartslabyul student cried out.

"This is your second rule violation.  I cannot forgive a repeated offense.  Off With Your Head!", Riddle

"Gaaaaaaah!", the collar was put on.

"Write me a 5,000-word apology and weed the garden for one week, and I'll remove it.", Riddle.

"*Sob*...  But...", he couldn't bring out words.

"Do you think I enjoy having to do this?!  You're the one who broke the rules!  As much as I would like to, I cannot ignore these infractions.  It's for your own sake.  Understood?  Trey?  Cater?  Remove him from the premises.", Riddle.

"...Yes, Housewarden.", both of them comply solemnly.

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Black ink inches further to almost full......

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~Library~

".....", Trey is in thought to himself, just standing while he returns his book.

"Hello, Trey.", Deuce spoke.

"Your four!", Trey.

"We figured that if we waited at the library, you'd show up to return your tart cookbook eventually.", Deuce.  "We still got a problem with the way Housewarden Riddle is handling all of this.", Ace.

"Yeah, I thought you might say that.", Trey.

"Come clean with us.  What's your take on Riddle?  Is it true you've been pandering to him since the two of you were kids?", Ace.

"What?!  Who told you that?", Trey.  "A guy who called himself Chenya.", Deuce.  "Chenya...  Huh.  That explains it.", Trey.

"What I don't get is, aren't you older than Riddle?  Why haven't ya told him off already?", Grim.  "I do when I need to.  I don't think the situation calls for it.", Trey.

"Why not?", Ace.  "These sorts of strict rules...  They're what created Riddle.", Trey.

"Huh?", Deuce.  "His parents were famous magical healers.  Everyone where we're from knew their names.  His mom was especially talented, and she really wanted Riddle to live up to her legacy.  So, from the moment Riddle woke up to when his head hit the pillow at the end of the night...  Every aspect of his life was planned, down to the minute, by the education program she made for him.", Trey explains shortly.

"Sounds pretty lame.", Grim.

*(!) Not to mention harsh.... (!)*

"What he ate, what he wore, what soap he used, who his friends were- every last detail had been predetermined for him.  And to please his parents, Riddle obediently completed every task they'd laid out for him.  He mastered his unigue magic by age ten.  He's been the top student in all of his classes.  I can't even imagine how hard he must have had it.", Trey.

"......", Ace was silent but his expression was still sort of the same from what I could see.

"So it's his parents' fault he's like that?", I ask Trey.

"Riddle sees the enforcement of strict rules as a service to his dorm members.  In his eyes, being bound by rigid guidelines- by fear- is a fast-track to personal growth.  Because that's how it worked for him.  And on the flip side, he sees the violation of those rules as an inexcusable offense.", Trey.

"I guess that makes sense, since rules made him who he is.", Ace.  "Look, I totally get why you see Riddle as a tyrant, and why you disapprove of his methods.  But for me...  I can't hold that against him, you know?", Trey.

"Myah...", Grim.  "So that's why he's like that.", Deuce.

"......  All right, now I get it.  It's YOUR fault Riddle's like this.", Ace said bluntly.

"What?!", the rest of us had the same reaction.

"Riddle didn't get to choose his parents.  But you know what his parents did to him, and you know it was wrong, right?", Ace looked to Trey.

"I mean, yeah...", Trey

"Well, now Riddle's making the exact same mistake that his parents did.  You're going easy on him because he had it rough as a kid?  Don't you see where that's leading?  You're letting him make a pariah out of himself!", Ace.

"......", Trey was silent but from his face expression, it didn't look like he couldn't deny it or answer him back with something.

"Ace, man, come on...", Deuce tries to stop Ace.

"So why don't you say something?  Are you just afraid you'll "lose your head" too?  That's pathetic!  You guys are supposed to be childhood friends?!  Then act like it.", Ace.

"You there!  Be quiet!  You are in a library!", out of nowhere, the voice of Crowley disrupts the tense atmosphere Ace started.

"You're yellin' louder 'n any of us, though!", Grim pointed out unphased.  To be honest, it gave me a little startle.

"Oh!  *Ahem*  Yes, my apologies.  But let us strive to maintain the library as a quiet place for reading.", Crowley lowers his voice.

"I'm sorry, Headmage.", I apologize just to be on the safe side.

"Well, at least you know better now.  Incidentally, what are you all discussing with such grim faces?", Crowley.

"Well, since you asked...", Deuce.

We then took turns explaining of what's been going on to Crowley.