Book 1 - The Rose-Red Tyrant: Chapter 19; Punishment Escalation

The screen turns on with the title playing "Chapter - 19; Punishment Escalation".

It opens in the Heartslabyul lounge. It was what you would expect for the dorm of the Queen of Hearts, there were a lot of red and strangely shaped things. There were a couple of mirrors or pictures that were off-set and a bunch of cards were floating around. A lot of roses were on the table.

Riddle sat on one of the seats as he said "The Queen of Hearts rule 249: 'Flamingo caretakers are to don pink attire.' It was supposed to be your turn to feed the flamingos today. Why aren't you wearing pink?" The students says fearfully "I'm sorry, Housewarden. My pink clothes were in the laundry… Please, sir, not the collar!" But Riddle just tells the student "This is your second rule violation. I cannot forgive a repeated offense." Then yells out his signature spell/unique magic "Off with Your Head!" As a collar appears on the students neck as he falls to the floor on his knees and yells "Gaaaaaaah!"

Riddle crosses his arms as he tells the student "Write me a 5,000-word apology and weed the garden for one week, and I'll remove it."

The student starts to sob as he says "...But…" Riddle then told the student with empathize in his voice "Do you think I enjoy having to do this?! You're the one who broke the rules! As much as I would like to, I cannot ignore these infractions. It's for your own sake. Understood?"

Riddle then looks at Trey and Cater as he says "Trey? Cater? Remove him from the premises." Trey and Cater then reluctantly say "...Yes, Housewarden."

The red flat shadowy background comes back as three more black drops join the puddle, forming a bigger stain.

It then switches over to the library where Yuu and the other first years are, as Yuu has a bit of a dazed look in her eye from what she saw as the others lightly sake her to bring her out of it.

Trey then walks by, although now back in his school uniform. Ace, Deuce, Grim, and Yuu then step out of hiding in front of him as Deuce says "Hello, Trey." Trey is surprised as he exclaims "You four!"

Deuce then tells Trey "We figured that if we waited at the library, you'd show up to return your tart cookbook eventually." Ace then continues with his hands on his hips "We still got a problem with the way Housewarden Riddle is handling all of this." Trey puts a hand to his head as he says "Yeah, I thought you might say that." Ace then asks "Come clean with us. What's your take on Riddle? Is it true you've been pandering to him since the two of you were kids?"

Trey is surprised and bothered by the end accusation as he asks "What?! Who told you that?" Deuce answers "A guy who called himself Chenya." Trey seems to be slightly relieved at that as he says "Chenya… Huh. That explains it."

Grim then asks "What I don't get is, aren't you older than Riddle? Why haven't ya told him off already?" Trey answers "I do when I need to. I don't think the situation calls for it." Ace then demands "Why not?" Trey answers "These sorts of strict rules… They're what created Riddle." Deuce questions "Huh?"

Trey explains "His parents were famous magical healers. Everyone where we're from knew their names. His mom was especially talented, and she really wanted Riddle to live up to her legacy. So, from the moment Riddle woke up to when his head hit the pillow at the end of the night… Every aspect of his life was planned, down to the minute, by the education program she made for him."

Grim is kinda surprised before seemingly more bummed out at this as he says "Sounds pretty lame."

But Trey continues to explain "What he ate, what he wore, what soap he used, who his friends were – every last detail had been predetermined for him. And to please his parents, Riddle obediently completed every task they'd laid out for him. He mastered his signature spell/unique magic by age ten. He's been the top student in all of his classes. I can't even imagine how hard he must have had it."

Ace is silent at this revelation. Yuu thinks 'That sounds horrible…' but quickly gets her wind back as she asks Trey "So it's his parents' fault he's like that?"

Trey ignores Yuu's question as he tells them "Riddle sees the enforcement of strict rules as a service to his dorm members. In his eyes, being bound by rigid guidelines – by fear – is a fast-track to personal growth. Because that's how it worked for him. And on the flip side, he sees the violation of those rules as an inexcusable offense." Ace then rather unwillingly admits "I guess that makes sense, since rules made him who he is."

Trey then tells them "Look, I totally get why you see Riddle as a tyrant, and why you disapprove of his methods. But for me… I can't hold that against him, you know?" Grim gets soft with that as he says "Myah…" Deuce is in the same boat as Grim, as he says "So that's why he's like that." Ace is silent before he says "All right, now I get it."

Then after a pause he points at Trey as he continues "It's YOUR fault Riddle's like this." This causes everyone to exclaim "What?!" in confusion.

Ace then continues his explanation "Riddle didn't get to choose his parents. But you know what his parents did to him, and you know it was wrong, right?" Trey answers "I mean, yeah…" But before he could say more Ace continues on "Well, now Riddle's making the exact same mistake that his parents did. You're going easy on him because he had it rough as a kid? Don't you see where that's leading? You're letting him make a pariah out of himself!"

Trey is silent and kinda angry as Deuce says "Ace, man, come on…"

But Ace doesn't let up as he asks Trey "So why don't you say something? Are you just afraid you'll 'lose your head' too?" He pauses with a small laugh as he continues going in on Trey "That's pathetic! You guys are supposed to be childhood friends?! Then act like it!"

The headmage is then seen fast walking over as he yells "You there! Be quiet! You are in a library!"

Grim then tells the headmage once he's over there "You're yellin' louder 'n any of us, though!" Crowley then says "Oh!" before clearing his throat "Yes, my apologies."

As he starts to whisper "But let us strive to maintain the library as a quiet place for reading." Yuu rolls her eyes as she asks "What are you doing here, Headmage?"

The headmage answers "I'm researching methods to send you back home. Precisely as I promised I would. Oh, but I AM gracious! And the library is, of course, an ideal place for serious research. It's not as if I came here just to secure the newest book in that popular series of novels. No, certainly not."

Realizing he's ranting, he clears his throat before asking them "Incidentally, what are you all discussing with such grim faces?" Deuce then starts to explain "Well, since you asked…"

As the screen fades to black and "To be continued" plays before it fully turns off.