It's a challenge if she's ever seen one, and Ochako doesn't back down. She stares back at him, unblinking. Her body wants to tremble at the closeness of the fire and dark magic, her hands want to recoil from the fire. But she's able to keep up the brave facade and her hand still enough for her to reply, "Well... it is black. And it's on your face. What am I supposed to call it, your highness?"
He narrows his human onyx eye and lets her hand go. To her surprise the absence of his cold hand on hers leaves her skin feeling empty and odd.
"The other women who had the same bad luck as you saw nothing else but a monster," he tells her flatly.
He angles his head as if to show off the strange part of him, but from this distance she strangely does not feel afraid of it anymore. "I dunno 'bout any of those poor women that your King has kidnapped and left to die in your hands, but I never asked you what they say. I asked you what to call it."
"The indignation!" Iida shouts. "How dare you speak to the heir to the throne in this accusatory--"
"She isn't wrong," the Prince tells him sharply. His eyes remain on her, black and yellow flashing dangerously. "Or are you about to deny the lives of the women I had slain in the past because of my condition, Sir Iida?"
She flinches, despite willing herself to keep brave. She hates how self-satisfied he appears finally getting a reaction from her.
"... of course not, your highness," Iida replies quietly, standing down and looking mollified. He doesn't deny the killing part, Ochako notes with some uneasiness.
Shouto nods and addresses Ochako again. "You can call this anything you like, Princess. Monster or black-thing-on-my-face, doesn't matter to me. I don't think calling it a proper name will do anything to the curse placed on me."
"A curse," she repeats, flabbergasted.
He hums, and continues in a tone that only makes him sound mildly inconvenienced. "Yes. A proper one. Pure dark magic, placed by someone hurt and scorned, designed to consume me for the rest of my life unless it's resolved by true love. The stuff of boring fairy tales, in other words."
Dabi told her about this in her lessons: ancient magics that can corrupt and deform a person's body and eventually transform a man into a different creature entirely. That they're usually designed to last for years, in gradually worsening pain, before the inevitable end. From what she remembers, there are only rare instances that curses of that caliber are lifted, and they all have to do with the vague notion of finding a True Love.
"I didn't think these things were true," she admits with wonder, peering into that side of his body with morbid interest.
This earns her another odd look from him. "I'm glad it amuses you so, Princess. Apparently they expect you to solve this problem for me."
Her fascination instantly shifts into rage. "So is this why I was kidnapped?" she blurts out. "Is this why King Todoroki Enji ordered Hawks to snatch me from my home--all those other girls too?! Because you needed someone to lift the curse for you?"
His monster ear twitches, much like an annoyed cat. "King Enji ordered everything, yes, but not because I wanted him to. He needs the curse lifted more than I do, seeing as I'm the next in line to the throne and all."
She grit her teeth in anger. "People have actually died because of your father's schemes, and you didn't do anything about it! You... you're just as evil as--"
His eye flashes in that dangerous way again, forcing her into silence. "Careful how you finish that sentence, Princess. You are in the presence of a monster, after all."
Yoarashi steps forward uneasily. "A-anyway, I think yer really misunderstandin' the situation here, Princess Uraraka! It ain't as bad as it sounds, promise!"
"What do you mean?! Am I mistaken that you've killed all those women 'cause they ain't the Prince's true love, and that you got no plans to kill me tonight?!"
"W-well, you're not wrong, but--" Confused, the giant man makes a frustrated sound and mutters, "Iida, come on, yer better at explainin' stuff more than me! Tell her!"
Iida's glasses flash steadfastly as he says, "Your conclusions are indeed correct, Princess Uraraka-kun! We are given the responsibility of ensuring your silence through the termination of your life, should things not go according to King Enji's plan!"
"Nooo, you ain't explainin' it well! Yer just makin' her angrier, see!!" Yoarashi bellows in despair.
She looks at them bewildered, and back at Shouto, who merely shrugs. "It is as they said, Princess. I think it's easier at this point to just show you."
She swallows. "You mean--"
"Mhm." Glancing at Iida and Yoarashi, Shouto nods at them and orders, "Do it."
"Yes, Sire!" the knights bellow at the same time, approaching Ochako without an ounce of hesitation.
Ochako cries as she watches the knights descend upon her. She's sure that they're using magic--it's otherwise impossible that Iida, who stood at the other end of the room would appear before her eyes in a flash. Yoarashi, on the other hand, seems to summon the wind from outside to lift him up and fall behind Ochako, grasping her hands behind her back.
"What are you doing?!" she screams. She musters all her strength trying to pull herself from Yoarashi's grasp and kicking Iida away. But all her injuries from before leave her weaker, and the two of them are much stronger than her.
"I apologize in advance for my rougish ways, Princess!" Iida declares, as he grabs one of her sleeves and tears it off cleanly. With another struggle, the shirt is torn off, leaving her with nothing but her undergarments and breeches.
Oh, gods, are they going to have their way with her? And the Prince just plans to watch? How perverted is he, and can he blame it on the curse? Tears threaten to fall as Ochako lets herself scream bloody murder within their grasps.
