Book 1 - The Rose-Red Tyrant: Chapter 17; A Rule Slip

The screen turned on as the title showed "Chapter - 17; A Rule Slip".

Still in the Heartslabyul tea garden as Ace yelled "Whoa, hold up! Is that one of your rules too?!" Grim then jumped up and joined Ace. Grim yelled "Yeah! If you want the tart gone, let me eat it!"

Trey then stood up, not wanting the freshman to be punished for this saying to Riddle "Housewarden, allow me to apologize. I was the one who suggested making a chestnut tart." Cater also stood up backing up Trey by saying "I was a part of that too. We had no idea there was a rule about it!" Riddle then told the third years "The making of the tart is not the issue. The issue is bringing it HERE. Today. THAT is the transgression!"

Yuu thought 'How can you live by such foolish rules?' as she stood up and said "How can you be so mean after he worked so hard?" Ace then backed her up saying "Yeah! All you do is cite one stupid rule after another! You sound totally foolish!" Riddle then said in a low tone "What did you just call me? 'Foolish'?!"

Cater now in total panic mode shouted "Everyone, stop! Don't dig this hole any deeper!"

Now turning to Riddle he tried to calm him a little by saying "And Riddle, please try to remember that these are new students who've only been here a couple of days!"

But Ace was fed up as he said "Nah, bro. I've got a shovel and I am DIGGING. Throwing away a tart to obey some insane rule is about as foolish as it gets." Deuce now also standing up says "I agree with Ace. Of course, I understand that rules do need to be followed, but… This is going much too far."

Riddle then asks "Are you attempting to debate me? Bold move."

All the other students are essentially holding their breath at this point, scared Riddle will go even more overboard with this.

But Riddle just says "But I'll bite. By breaking even the smallest rule, you are throwing open wide the gate to anarchy."

Ace then turns back to face the other students saying "Everyone, I know you're afraid of getting your magic sealed away, but you know this is insane, right?"

But the students are too terrified of Riddle as one of them says "N-no, we, uh…" Riddle, still annoyed, asks the student "Well? Isn't it?" Making the student far too scared to tell the truth as he says "Far from it, Housewarden Riddle, sir!" A student sitting next to him trying to forward the statement, just as terrified says "We trust in your judgment, sir!"

Grim then says surprised "You little…" Ace then insults all of them "You spineless, fair-weather cowards…"

Riddle then states "In the year since I became housewarden, not a single student from Heartslabyul House has dropped out or been held back a year. We are the only house that can boast such a feat. Furthermore, of everyone in this dorm, I have the best academic standing. Hence, I am the most correct! If you would simply obey me without question, we wouldn't need to contend so."

Duce, surprised by Riddle's outburst, says "Listen, we –!" Riddle then says "It's not off with their head because *I* want to do that. I do it because rules must never be broken."

Trey is silent at what Riddle said.

Riddle then shouts "If you will not obey me, then I will have all of your heads!"

Cater trying to get out of the situation says "Okay, let's all say. "Yes, Housewarden Riddle!"."

But Deuce is quiet for a second before saying "...I can't." Yuu crosses her arms and tells him calmly "Me neither." Ace says "I don't bow to self-important tyrants!" Riddle then asks "What did you just call me?" Grim annoyed, mostly for the food, answers "He called you a tyrant for wanton' to destroy good food just 'cause you're throwin' a tantrum!" Deuce who had a simple refusal says "Guys, I don't think we need to escalate this–"

But before he could say anything else Riddle had gotten too fed up as he shroud "OFF! WITH! YOUR! HEADS!" As collars form on Deuce and Grim, since Ace already had one and there was no point to putting one on Yuu as she already doesn't have magic. Grim and Deuce yelled out "Bwaaaaah!" as the collars had formed.

Grim then shouted "No! Not the collar again!" Deuce tugging on it shouts "Gah! I can't get it off!"

Riddle then shouts "Trey! Cater! Eject them from the premises!"

Trey and Cater are silent for a second, reluctant to follow the order, giving the first years some hope. But then Cater and Trey said "...Yes sir, Housewarden."

Deuce, surprised and slightly hurt, yells out at them "Y-you're supposed to be our 'mentors'!" But Cater just says "Sorry, but we can't disobey our housewarden!" The first years are able to see a pained expression on Cater's face once Riddle was no longer able to see it, proving that he didn't actually want to do it. Trey, once close enough, also tells them "Sorry, man…" once he knew Riddle wouldn't be able to hear it.

Ace then says "Oh, that's how it's gonna be? Then bring it on!" Before putting his fists up for a fight, clearly not believing their reluctance is real.

Trey is silent as Cater and him start to fight their first years and Grim.

…

But they lose as they're thrown out of the rose maze for a second time that week.

Cater now able to act natural as he says to them "We'll T-T-Y-L(Talk to you later), folks." And Trey tells them "We'll try to calm Riddle down, so maybe he'll let you back in the dorm after you apologize." But Ace just yells at them while they walk back into the maze "I will NEVER apologize! Not to that numbskull!"

It then skips back into the unbirthday party as Trey and Cater walk back in. Riddle sighs before saying "Hmph. Now, let's get this party back on track. After all, we still need to have the croquet tournament."

Riddle then checks the time using a clock that was used for decoration before saying "And now we're fifteen minutes behind schedule! This is outrageous!" Trey, melancholy towards how Riddle is acting says "Yes sir, Housewarden Riddle." Riddle then starts to walk away for the croquet tournament most likely.

Cater then leans into Trey as he asks "Are you really okay with this, Trey?" But Trey just answers "What do you expect me to do about it?"

The red flat shadowy background is back as two more drops of black liquid fall to join the rest making an even bigger pile. It shows Yuu's confused face for a second as she saw the liquid fall, as she had no idea what it's about.

The screen then fades to black as "To be continued" plays before the screen fully turns off.