Lykn Nocturne (WilliamEst, NutHong)

Chapter 10

"Our esteemed guest has finally decided to honour us with his presence," Hong exclaimed sarcastically as soon as Est stepped inside the dining room. Est simply bowed toward the others already seated at the table. His hesitation to respond to Hong was quickly interpreted as a sign of weakness by the latter, who was eager to find new ways to make Est feel uncomfortable after their incident.

"Before we begin this delicious banquet, I would like to know if I should expect another piece of furniture flying toward me," Hong added. By this time, however, Hong had ended up with his entire family against him.

William obviously had his reasons to side with Est. Lego cared about him too, especially after seeing the terror in his eyes when he had found the blood. Tui was determined to keep their atypical family in peace, and since this time it was Hong who was deliberately starting a fight, Tui was not going to support him. Nut, despite enjoying the banter, wished to be on Est's good side, if only to annoy William.

"Hong, I fail to see a good reason to discuss this topic," William said coldly.

"I'll give you a reason. Your duty is to protect us all, yet you let this guy sit and eat with us after attacking me like that. Are you going to tell me that this isn't a good reason to be mad?" Hong replied after a brief moment of hesitation.

"It was nothing personal, I swear!" Est exclaimed. "I was scared... the blood, the secrecy... I thought I had ended up in a house full of psychopathic murderers. If this can make it any better, I can assure you that I would have never acted like that if only I had known that you were..."

"What?!" Hong shouted, disdainful. "We disgust you so much that you can't even say it out loud? Don't you see his utter lack of respect toward us?"

Lego stood up, his hand on Est's forearm as a sign of his will to protect him. He opened his mouth, but as soon as the first sounds came out, William interrupted him.

"Enough. If you believe you've been offended by our guest, that he has attacked your sole and only quality, then I shall allow you to punish him as I see fit," William said with unnatural calm. Tui tried to intervene, but William quickly raised a hand to prevent it.

"Finally..." Hong said, sighing in relief. After the word had instinctively escaped his mouth, he quickly realized that something felt odd. He felt attacked once again. Now even William had explicitly said it. His only quality. Right. Because to everyone, he was good just because he was handsome. The only reason why Lady Catherine had agreed to give him the gift of immortality.

"Kill him," William stated.

"What?" everyone except Est said in unison.

"What better punishment than death? If you want to play with him a little before killing him, feel free to torture him."

Nut almost chocked on the blood in his glass.

"H... have you lost your mind?" Lego stuttered. Then everything became clear.

"Have a good meal..." Hong said. His only sign of rebellion was throwing his napkin at Est before he left for the basement to drink alone.