ROSES HAVE THORNS

Scrambling backward against the propped-up pillows, Everett prepared to let out an ear-splitting scream that would alert any nearby doctors and nurses.

"Oh no you don’t!"

"SE–!"

Thud!

"Mphff! Mmmph!"

Before the first syllable could fully escape his throat, Kurt’s arm shot forward like a striking viper. His hand slammed violently over Everett’s mouth, driving the noble head straight back into the mattress

"Shhh... Keep your damn mouth shut and listen. The reason I’m here right now is because–"

"MMMMFF!!! MPHFFF!!!"

"....."

"MMHHMMMM MMMMPPHH!!!"

Completely losing his mind, Everett began flailing his legs wildly beneath the sheets, twisting his torso side to side as he desperately tried to pry the iron-grip hand away from his face.

"... Yeah, that’s it. That’s much better. Honestly, I love it when my targets pull a desperate last act of survival. No matter how useless it is, it really puts a smile on my face."

In another effort to escape, Everett tried to force a surge of mana in an attempt to enhance himself. But the moment the mana began to gather, it almost immediately faded into nothingness.

Kurt’s grin widened. His tone dripped with cruel mockery as he tightened his suffocating grip on Everett’s mouth.

"Aw, what’s the matter, buddy? Still feeling the crushing effects of yesterday’s beating? I messed you up pretty good, huh? It was a new trick I learnt. Though, I still need to properly get the hang of it."

"MPPHHHH *SOB* MMHHMMMMM!!!"

"Anyway, as I was trying to say before you started throwing a tantrum," Kurt continued in an emotionless tone. "The reason I’m here is because – as you’ve probably already guessed – I came up here to kill you."

Everett’s muffled whimpers grew hopeless as his hands began to weakly hit Kurt’s forearm in vain.

"Before you "sleep", how ’bout I tell you a quick little bedtime story, Ev? Once upon a time, there was a greedy, arrogant little piggy called Everett Herst. And this little piggy thought that just because he had a fancy name, he could–"

"MMPHFFF!!!" At the sound of the word "sleep", Everett let out a sudden, violent thrash of his body,

Kurt’s brow twitched. "... he could–"

"MMMM-MPH–!!!"

"Shut the hell up!"

THWACK!

Feeling his patience thinning and his irritation growing, Kurt abruptly let go of Everett’s mouth, curled his hand into a tight fist, and delivered a lightning-fast punch straight into the noble’s jaw.

"How the hell am I supposed to narrate your pathetic little life story to you when you keep making all that goddamn noise?!"

Although in pain, Everett finally found his mouth free. He quickly sucked a deep breath of air into his lungs and turned his head toward the door to scream.

"HEL–!"

But Kurt was quicker. He jumped on top of the bed and clamped both his hands fiercely around Everett’s throat, digging his fingers deep into the noble’s windpipe as he lifted his upper torso straight off the mattress.

"Ghh-k-k... L-Let... g-go..."

Watching the pompous noble reduced to a thrashing, gagging animal cracked Kurt up. A raspy, and dark laugh rumbled from the depths of his chest, echoing chillingly through the room.

"Look at you. Poor little Icarus reached too damn far for the sun... and now you’re gonna fall. Fall all the way down to the deepest, darkest depths of hell, you pathetic piece of trash. You should have never messed with me. And you should have never, ever dared to think you could take Diana from me."

Everett’s hands lost their strength. He weakly started tapping against Kurt’s forearm as his eyes began to roll back into his head. Through the haze of terror, his lips trembled, and with a final expenditure of air, he managed to cough out two barely audible words:

"S... Sorry... I’m... sorry..."

"Too damn late to apologise, piggy."

As Everett’s body grew heavy and limp, a vivid flash of memory cut straight through Kurt’s mind.

He saw the image of Emelie sitting alone in her hotel room, her shoulders slumped as she looked at the gray clouds utterly depressed and broken. Then, it flashed to a conversation they had whilst walking to the academy:

"...Just... don’t kill him, okay? I still love my brother despite his horrific personality."

"... *Tsk*"

With an aggressive motion, Kurt released his grip and got off the bed.

Thud.

Everett collapsed back onto the pillows while clutching his bruised neck and coughing violently, desperately gasping for the crisp air of the room. He rolled onto his side, trembling from head to toe as he looked up at Kurt through a layer of tears.

"I... *cough*... I won’t ever go after Diana again... I swear... I swear it... just please... please let me go..."

"I don’t trust a single word that comes out of your mouth. I can tell you still love her. Whether it’s for her lineage or true love, you’re too stubborn to let it go."

"I do... I did..." Everett dragged his weak body backward until his back hit the headboard. "But I promise... I promise to leave her alone! I lost our match and my pride yesterday... I will respect the outcome of it! Please, I will not pursue her any longer!"

"Still don’t trust you."

"I promise on everything I swear on my family name! On my life!"

"Do you promise on your sister’s life? Do you promise on Emelie?"

"Yes! Yes, I promise on my little sister’s life! And I swear to our merciful Goddess above, just don’t kill me!"

As he stared at the weeping mess of a man before him, he let out a long, heavy sigh through his nose.

’You bastard. You’re lucky you’re tied to Emelie... if you were just some random, if you were literally anyone else, your head would already be rolling across this carpet.’

".... Fine."

Everett’s eyes widened in disbelieving shock and fresh tears of pure relief flooded his face.

Completely overwhelmed by the gift of survival, he crawled right off the edge of the hospital bed and clung straight onto Kurt’s knees. "Thank you... thank you so much... thank you..."

Kurt looked down at the man clutching his leg with disappointment and pity. He then reached down with his hand and lightly patted Everett on the top of his smooth silver hair.

"There, there. Stop crying, you look ugly when you do."

Everett instantly flinched and froze.

The gentle warmth of the touch – contrasting so violently against the monstrous, bloodthirsty ruthlessness Kurt had displayed just a second prior – sent a bizarre shock from his lightheaded brain straight down his spine.

With eyes wide of a strange, bewildered emotion, he slowly lifted his face and stared up at Kurt with a confused blush face.

Kurt’s expression twisted into a mask of unadulterated horror. He violently kicked his leg back and punched Everett square in the shoulder, sending him tumbling away across the floor.

"Gross! What the hell is wrong with you?! Stop looking at me like that!"

He then turned his back to the noble, fixing his medical coat and mask as he marched straight toward the door. He paused just before the handle and spoke with finality.

"Today is your last warning, Everett. Go after Diana again, and there is no amount of begging or sisterly love on this continent that will save your life. Remember that."

Without waiting for a reply, Kurt threw the door open and stepped out into the corridor.

Before he could reach the stairwell door, he caught the distinct hum echoing from the end of the hall.

The light fixtures above the elevator shaft began to indicate that someone was just about here, nearing the fifth floor.

Not wanting to risk any potential complications or draw the attention of doctors who might question his presence here, acting on instinct, Kurt gripped the handle of the nearest room – Room 508 – pushed it open, stepped inside.

Silently, he closed the door behind his back, cutting himself off from the hallway.

Standing flat against it, he listened intently to the quiet corridor outside. But as he waited for whoever it was to pass, a very faint, sorrowful sound drifted from deeper inside the room.

It was the fragile sound of someone softly crying.

A broken, little sob that was continuously being muffled, filled with a deep sense of physical and emotional agony.

Abandoning his position by the door, Kurt soundlessly stepped into the main area of the medical room. He couldn’t help it. Curiosity got the best of him.

The space was dim, the curtains drawn tight against the afternoon sun. And there, sitting upright while crying into their knees in the center of the hospital bed, was a female figure covered from head to toe in white medical bandages.

Virtually no skin was visible as the wrappings meticulously secured every limb, every finger, and the entirety of her torso to treat her bruises and burns.

Kurt stood completely still behind the wall leading to the open room with his eye widened slightly. He recognized the person beneath the multi layers of cotton.

It was Nichole Firestar.

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