The Only Delicacy

Once he had caught sight of that old picture laying on her desk, Sir Charles stopped for a moment, took that picture and examined it… He examined the picture with great concentration for a single minute before placing it back to where it originally was.

Afterwards, Sir Charles deeply stared unto the sight of the girl who was peacefully sleeping on the bed.

At that moment, the gentle glow of the moonlight had directly shown upon her, making it seem as if she was an angel who had fallen into this vile and rotten world.

When he saw such a beautiful and heavenly view, his body moved by itself without him even realizing it.

He very gently and carefully caressed her forehead down to her chin, as if she was a being who was delicate enough to break from just a single touch. Then, he arranged a single strand of her hair back into place before stealthily vanishing into thin air, not forgetting to lock all of the windows right before he left.

Three years later, during the day of the make-up class:

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Once they had heard the bell ringing, Kyle, Kevin and Scarlet immediately placed their pens down and looked up to Sir Charles out of boredom, indifference and expectation respectively.

"Time's up, pass your papers. The class is now officially dismissed." Sir Charles nodded in satisfaction towards the trio's synchronized actions and great accuracy in finishing the exam right on the dot, while he openly disregarded the twins' plain display of boredom and indifference.

When Scarlet heard that, she immediately got her bag and stood up in order to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kevin displayed a very dazzling, mischievous smile as he grabbed the wrist of his beloved before she could escape.

"We still have some… 'misunderstandings'... to clarify."

Kyle too locked her other slim wrist into his firm but gentle grip as he added.

However, once he remembered the term, 'friends'... It suddenly became very hard for him to even continue his usual cool and aloof manner of speaking, to the point that he sounded a bit awkward without realizing it.

'Gulp.'

Once she realized that both of her wrists were fully locked on by their firm hold and that her body was fully trapped into place between the twins, slightly visible drops of sweat dripped down her forehead as she silently gulped down air into her throat.

'I should have just kept my mouth shut like always. Stupid.' Scarlet reprimanded herself as she closed her eyes for a moment, reflected and sighed upon herself.

Once the twins saw her reaction, Kyle and Kevin displayed a golden gleam in their eyes which lasted for a single second. Right after that single second, that small, visible hint of golden gleam within their eyes vanished into thin air.

Then, she looked deep into their eyes and openly showed a beautiful display of pure confidence, vulnerability…

And sorrow...

"I'm sorry… for assuming things."

Both of them then hid a smile.

"Yes, Li. You should be. We are -" When they had heard their apology, both of them immediately went to cloud nine. Kevin directly replied while Kyle nodded at his brother's words. However, before Kevin could continue, he was cut off.

"We don't know each other. We are not friends, never once was or ever will be."

Right when their beloved had said that, from their blissful state of cloud nine, the twins had immediately fallen back to reality. Their minds became entirely blank while their expressions became entirely stunned as they stared at her entirely detached and serious facade, with not a hint of warmth to be seen.

At that exact moment, Scarlet immediately pulled both of her hands out from their loosened grip and then calmly left the scene.

Once she had reached the door, her steps then instinctively quickened, causing her to unconsciously reveal a slight hint of her capabilities as an assassin to outsiders, which was actually a big taboo within the organization.

Right when they had finally realized that their beloved had already fully left, the twins immediately returned from their blank state to their usual alert and active state.

Both Kyle and Kevin immediately chased after Scarlet.

They ran with lightning speed towards the exit of the academy, until they finally saw their beloved's silhouette. They ran and ran, until her silhouette brightened with color and life, until their fully outstretched arms were just inches away from her.

Until they were just a millimeter away from grabbing her!

'Smack! Smack!'

Right then, Sir Charles appeared out of the blue and immediately smacked their outstretched arms away from their destination towards the left and right at a perfect right angle. He entirely blocked their sight from the exit and from their beloved.

Most importantly, he blocked all hopes and means for them to chase after her.

Because of that, Scarlet was now nowhere to be found.

Right at that moment, an imposing and oppressive aura filled up the whole academy. The gentlemanly and easygoing Kevin and the cool and aloof Kyle both entirely shifted a hundred-eighty degrees, to the point that they had become fully cold blooded and ruthless.

"What the hell- " Kevin cursed out to Sir Charles, but, before he could continue, Sir Charles cut off his words.

"Stop." Sir Charles calmly and sternly replied back.

Sir Charles firmly stood on his ground despite how imposing and intimidating their auras and expressions were, which were exactly like well-trained and excellent assassins.

"And why exactly should we listen to you?" An obvious glint of flame burst out from within Kyle's deep black eyes, visible enough to flash through his thick glasses and powerful enough to petrify the whole academy and let those within their jurisdiction to shiver all over.

"I'm not saying you should. But I'm saying this for your own good." Sir Charles calmly added in an even more imposing manner to directly shield himself from the twins' own.

"Bullshit! Kevin, let's g-" Just as Kyle was about to drag his brother out with him, leave out of annoyance and impatience, and chase after his beloved Scarlet, Kevin immediately intervened.

"In what sense is this exactly for our own good? Explain." Kevin held on to the last bits of rationality within him before it would crumble and cause him to fully burst out with abominable wrath and fury.

"Just end it now. Don't get involved." Sir Charles turned around to leave.

Right then and there, all ruthlessness and cold bloodedness flowing through their veins had immediately stopped from their tracks.

This time, their intelligent brains were now flooded with unanswered questions as they rationally scrutinized Sir Charles' words and stared at his back view that was gradually fading and merging with the background.

"Don't get involved in what? What does this have to do with Li?" Kevin shouted back to Sir Charles.

However, Sir Charles had already fully faded and merged along with the scenery. He was nowhere to be found, thereby simply leaving those questions on deaf ears.

Now that he was out of the twins' sights, Sir Charles stealthily and speedily proceeded towards his destination. In reality, he had clearly heard Kevin's question, but he simply chose to ignore it and whispered upon himself, "Brats should just mind their own business, chase after their own dreams and live out their lives to the fullest."

Meanwhile, when the twins had realized that their sensei had fully disappeared from their sights, along with their beloved, Kyle and Kevin glanced at each other and thought very seriously and critically.

'What exactly was happening?'

They had many unanswered questions. But, those questions were not merely plain questions. Those unanswered questions were questions which had left a mark right into the deepest parts of their hearts, imprinting an overwhelming, heavy and grievous mark that had seemed to play a grave importance and role.

'But, importance and role for what?'

The twins did not know of the answer, but what they did know of was that their intuition was never wrong.

As they thought of that, Kyle and Kevin nodded in agreement and then, separated ways.