How to Make a Sinner Sleep - Chapter 2: Chapter 2

A clean, wrinkle-free shirt layered with a blouse, a tie and another slim-fit jacket draped loosely over his shoulders, held together by a jewel.
He combed his hair back, eyes fixated on the mirror as he watched his hands loop the ribbon around onyx strands, perfectly cut.
The Academy awaited him.
Located a short carriage ride from the small town of Perro, it was a low-key and hidden area that one couldn't visit so easily, if not an admitted student or professor.
A special school, in which only particular students could attend through invitation, granted by unknown requirements. He'd been invited—though his attendance was a matter of whether the royal family allowed him or not.
And with a particularly malicious intent, they'd given him a mission to complete.
The dragon's trust.
He stared at his reflection for moments more, tracing a hand on the gaunt cheeks that painted a pitiful picture in the broken glass, before looking down at his fingers that had been neatly wrapped with bandages, covered in black gloves.
"You will pay for your crimes." He whispered to himself, to the history that was undone, now nothing more than a nightmare that haunted him at night. "I will make sure of it."
"Hurry up, dog!" snapped Reed, once again bursting through the door without warning, a scowl digging into his lips as he frowned. "Father is impatient as it is, and you know better than to disappoint him as you always do. Perhaps he will revoke your permission to the school."
Kaden turned and nodded, a false smile painting his lips that had been chewed on from stress. "I apologize."
He followed the servants outside, eying two of the carriages. Separate ones of course, when Reed wouldn't dare remain in the same area as somebody as lowly as him. Really, it worked in his benefit.
One of the drivers, a new and unfortunate youth that would later be severely punished, would end up taking the wrong road while Reed was in the carriage, leaving them lost in the forests.
However, both carriages would arrive late and be embarrassed, unable to make any claims to their rooms. It was rather unfitting of nobility to arrive a day later than scheduled, but it had happened.
Reed had been absolutely livid, and Kaden bore his wrath.
The youth that would go down the wrong road nodded at him with an excited smile, bowing his hat with a cheeky hitch in his voice. "Good morning, sir."
Kaden turned to Reed. "I will take his carriage."
The man narrowed his gaze. "Are you assuming you had a say in the matter to begin with?"
"Of course not," said Kaden slowly, tilting his head as a sarcastic tug of his mouth appeared. "I assumed you would rather take the carriage driven by a more experienced driver, considering your difficult personality."
"Difficult?"
"I meant special."
Reed's heeled boots clattered against the pathway as he paused beside Kaden, lowering his voice to a threatening hiss. "Do watch yourself, little brother. You think cheekiness will allow you to rebel? You forget where you stand."
Kaden lowered his chin. "I haven't forgotten for a moment."
If he remembered the devastation of hell he lived in, how could he forget who exactly he wanted to drag down with him?
He kept his head facing the ground as the sound of the carriage door opening sounded, and waited only when the wheels had left a far enough distance that they were nothing more than a muffled rumble against the earth.
The youth looked taken aback for a moment, before his stare settled into simmering curiosity, and a hint of glee.
"Hey, sir, are you planning on getting on?" wondered the man, likely to be the same age as him with messy and slightly long, curly chestnut hair, and bright cerulean eyes.
Kaden raised an eyebrow. "How else would I arrive?" Then, he turned away from the doors and kicked his legs over the front seat, beside the man. He settled back comfortably, gazing ahead. "Aren't you going?"
An amused grin answered him. "Right, you nobles get stranger by the day." He raised the reigns and the carriage lurched forward.
When the man decided that Kaden wouldn't fire him if he spoke out of turn after making some casual conversation, his words grew cheekier and more impolite.
"Right, the name's Niklas, by the way."
"Kaden." introduced the other.
"I'll confess, I had been fairly certain that your older brother would choose my carriage—I purposely picked the one with comfier seats, and all."
"Did you want him to?" Kaden closed his eyes, allowing the rush of movement to lap over his face, tickled by the sun's warmth.
Sounds blurred in the distance. Birds sung, bushes rustled. He couldn't be punished for closing his eyes, or for enjoying the ride, even if they wanted to.
Niklas chuckled, leisurely leaning back. "I may have possibly had the intention of you know, turning the wheels down the wrong path...?"
It had been intentional.
Kaden widened his eyes in surprise, spinning to frown at the foolishness. "He would've had you beaten for it."
"No way, he couldn't. It's not so easy to punish a student of the Academy, regardless of your position. We're special and whatever."
"He would've." insisted Kaden harshly, though surprised at the fact that this young man was also to be attending the Academy.
That wasn't important, however.
Making light of what Reed was capable of, not because of the power he held but rather, the lack or morals that possessed him, would be a grave choice.
In the first life, the young driver was undoubtedly punished. Likely, the abuse on him or perhaps murder, had been covered up and buried under the Chauvet's growing schemes.
Niklas flinched, slowing down the carriage as his brows knitted together. "You know, Kaden, I've heard a lot of rumours even though I just started working. And also, looking at the way he treated—"
"Learn what to say, and what not to say, Niklas." interrupted the humorless man, as he tilted his head to face the other. There was no tease or lightheartedness anymore, just a warning that seemed to haunt the pale green eyes. "Or you will be sorry for the consequences."
"...alright. I won't pry further until I get to know you more—"
"That will not be happening—"
"Oh, but it will." laughed the youth as if the previous conversation hadn't occurred. "We'll be classmates, Kaden. There's not much avoiding me, even if you decide to."
"If you are looking for status—"
Niklas shook his head, sighing as the carriage came to a stop before tall steel gates. "I'm attending the Academy based off my own talents, and I'm pretty aware of what it means to survive in there without money or power. I don't need to leech off your status."
"Regardless," Kaden swallowed before he smiled the same everyday facade, the mask pressed permanently to his face for so long he wasn't sure what was underneath anymore. "I have no desire of befriending those beneath me."
"Do you honestly mean that?"
"I do."
Niklas sighed, something he seemed to do often in Kaden's terrible presence, and gestured to the cobblestone path that was carefully decorated by blooming flowers, making a trail through the gates.
"We're here, Kaden. I have to pull the carriage around, but if you need to go somewhere, call for me. It's my job, whether you like it or not."
A blink, and then the man—eighteen years—moved to jump off, swinging his long legs over casually.
He glanced back at Niklas, unsure of what to say, his mouth foolishly opening and closing. Finally, he decided, there were no need for pleasantries when he couldn't bring Niklas into the darkness he was leaping into.
Turning without looking back, he started onto the path, alone.
Niklas stared after him silently. It was the back of a lonely man, somebody bearing a weight too heavy for them.
Kaden continued without a mind for the other's thoughts, ignoring the stares that immediately turned to his direction as he strode with powerful, arrogant steps. The Academy was a building with history, carrying many stories within its stone walls that were carefully maintained.
He fiddled with a cold gold coin in his pocket, running his thumb over it. It'd been on his bedside table, and he felt compelled to carry it with him.
The building spanned across the yard, a rustic, knowing sort of air whispering around. Surrounded by 'connections', children of powerful men and women, children of various creatures.
That, or the talented, students that were blessed with a rare knowledge in a certain field.
If he had been talented, perhaps he could've found a way to live without relying on the Chauvets.
Had he been blessed, perhaps he could've made something with his life that didn't end with hell.
But even if he thought these things, it was without a doubt that the choices had been made with his own hands, curse or not curse.
He'd been a foolish, desperate and pitiful thing clamoring for attention, and he took full blame for the disasters he caused. He didn't want to remember that life.
Excuse me." Kaden turned to speak to a girl that was giggling with her friend at the side, watching as she flinched, recognition flashing before her eyes.
Here, status didn't matter and the identities behind each student wasn't disclosed. But for those notorious enough to have a reputation, their identity was obvious.
"Which way are the boys' dormitories?"
She flinched, taking a large, nervous gulp of air. It was clear that she was uncomfortable, but he needed a direction, and couldn't give up just for her sake. Any other person would be unwilling to speak to him, regardless.
And while he considered the option of wandering around helplessly and praying for the wind to blow him in the correct destination, he would at least try to request help.
"If you'd like, it'd be fine for you just to point in the general direction."
She nodded hesitantly, raising a finger down the left hall. He took a deep breath—he wasn't going to bite her.
His cruelty had been a topic of conversation across the Kingdom, but he never purposely disrespected a person. He was cold and calculating, but he had the odd sort of charm that made people curious what hid under layers of facade.
A straight, calm facade at one second, and a laughing storm of chaos the next.
A lunatic.
That was how he was described.
A bastard in noblemen's clothing, elegant in his actions and distorted in his mind. A fitting word for somebody who was faking nobility. He did have a habit of looking down on people, though he had absolutely no right to.
Things had changed. Although he didn't intend to wash himself over in some pretty, glittering rumours, he would behave without the same stupidity.
He nodded to her and she furrowed her brows, forcing a smile in return. "If you continue... down... turn left at the end, and there should be an exit for the detached building."
Surprised, he broke out into a smile and laughed.
How long had it been since he had a passing conversation like this? Niklas didn't avoid him, and even she was willing to speak to him.
Was it even more foolish to feel joy over such simplicity? If so, he didn't care.
The woman's eyes captured his unrestrained laughing expression with surprise, watching as the figure disappeared in the direction she'd pointed. She'd seen the notorious man before in the past, with an air much more terrible and cold.
Had something changed?
Following her instructions, it didn't take him long to arrive. A large woman, hands calloused and graying hair tossed into a messy bun, stood behind a desk.
She glanced up at him through her glasses. "Name?"
"Kaden Alluin Chauvet."
He already knew his roommate would be, and what number he'd stay in.
She rummaged through a drawer, and threw a small metal in an arc across the air before nodding at the stairs behind her.
"Room 304. There will be no room changing, swapping or whatever you children ask for. It's always something. Curfew's at 10pm, though kids your age don't follow it anyway, tsk. Hurry along now, you haven't got all day."
"Thank you."
"Hmph."
Noya was always a prickly woman, obvious about her clear disdain for her job and the students in the building.
However, once, when he was limping across the grounds after a severe beating by Reed, starved and bleeding, the woman had yanked him around the counter to bandage his wounds before forcing a few bars of homemade oats into his hand.
Kaden swallowed.
It seemed as if running into those victims were far too easy—they'd always been the people around him, after all.
She wouldn't be killed, but her grandchildren were caught in a scheme after they witnessed an illegal trade, silenced. Noya had always been smart, discovering the connections to the Chauvet family.
But without proof, there was nothing she could do. Shortly after that event, she disappeared from the Academy and was never to be seen again.
Too many innocents, dead. Too many sinners, alive.
The door in front of him creaked open—room 304.
Kaden was by no means short, but this man held half a head of height over him, peering down with a chilling stare and a permanent frown of indifference.
Colourless strands of white, tainted at its end by black as it hung loosely over a sharp jaw, and raven eyes, a colour deeper than black in the sense of overwhelming oblivion that reflected within.
Kaden laughed, raising his brows in false confidence. "The dragon's son. What a pleasure."
Noah regarded him solemnly before turning around and returning to unpacking his items, ignoring Kaden.
Friendship between roommates wasn't necessary, and therefore the dragon had no obligation to cooperate. He disliked the lies behind the other's imprinted and laughing smile.
The latter closed his eyes with a soft, mocking chuckle before he entered the room, tugging out the few necessities he brought with him. He didn't own a lot to his name, and for the little he did, he held great importance over it.
Placing down the golden coin that he'd habitually played with in his pocket, he arranged it on the table and nodded to himself in satisfaction.
He didn't know where it came from, but since it was there and the cold metal eased his nerves, it would become something he carried around more often. Probably tossed behind by Reed, or left as a mocking payment.
A self-deprecating snort escaped him. In the end, free money was free money.
He turned to the brooding dragon on the opposite side—which wasn't very far, considering the rooms, although sizable, were still simply a regular dorm and didn't give them the luxury of space.
Although a friendship between the dragon and himself was a required and helpful asset to Kaden's mission, there was no need to form a deep relationship.
A superficial friendship would suffice to meet Reed's future goals.
It was late (not really), and he was tired, so he yawned loudly and curled up in his bed, knees brought to his chest and quiet breathing slowly filled the room.
Only then, did Noah turn around, frowning.
He lowered his eyes to the key, and then to the bundle wrapped up on the bed that was slowly moving with each breath.
If there was one thing to dislike about Kaden Chauvet, it would be that his silent way of sleeping curled up to the side, pressed against the corner, made one uncomfortable.
There was still plenty more to unpack, but the light was bright and intrusive.
Noah sighed, placing his clothing back into the open luggage before reaching out to turn off the light.