How to Make a Sinner Sleep - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

"May I ask," started Kaden as he strolled down the aisle, hands in his pockets. "Why my name was called last?"
Kaden Alluin Chauvet. His was one that should've been called near the beginning.
The professor offered an apologetic smile. "In all honesty, Kaden, I was asked not to give you the opportunity to have this experience. I was told you would be unwilling."
"I'm more than willing."
"And I am more than happy to hear that." laughed Raymond joyously, as he gestured to the bowl of dark water. "I was certain you'd be able to make your own decision, and refused the request. I do think I may have angered them, just a little."
Raymond continued without a care, fearless.
Kaden had always admired that aspect of the professor, in the way he couldn't be defined nor controlled, moving to the beat of his own passionate drum.
The man laughed lightly in response, serene and soft, hiding daggers in each rise of his voice.
He took a step forward, lowering his rich emerald stare at the water as he slowly approached, imagining the coldness spread through his fingers.
A tickling chill that would creep bit by bit, spreading along his arm, and then his entire body. The sensation of frostbite in winter, when his skin remained bare and exposed to the snow that melted and froze over him.
The tip of his fingers brushed the water.
And darkness consumed the entire room, swallowing all light and purity that was inside. Pitch droplets sprinted up his arms, spreading across the floor.
He stepped back in blank surprise.
If Noah's blessing had been fascinating chaos, his was a terror filled confusion.
Smiles—white, broad teeth—were painted across the walls as if hastily scribbled by chalk, hands lunging and crawling on the floor, seeking out their next victims. A jingle sounded in his ears, laughter dancing across the corners, up and around.
There were colours, so many colours. The deepest blues fighting the black, fiery red that joined in the battle.
Kaden's feet were nailed to the ground. He could only watch as something reached for him before his eyes.
A pale, bloody arm cupped his cheek, attached to the blurry silhouette of a woman that smiled gently at him.
If she had eyes, there would only be love and affection, no doubt. He could recognize her from the very shape, the one who drove him to insanity, when any glimpses of morals or kindness shattered him like glass.
Rosa Alexandra Chauvet.
The run-away princess, the one whose name was written in the late King's will. The rightful heir to the throne, and the King sought her demise.
She had run away in hopes that her brother would learn to move on without fear of her stealing his power, but it only further ruined the paranoid man.
When they'd first met, Kaden hadn't known who she was.
'Dear, you are bleeding all over! Stay still, sweet child, let me tend to your wounds.'
How kind she was, how she treated his injuries with delicate care, as if handling something precious.
He'd felt human in her motherly embrace.
The way life shone in her eyes, undying and ever burning, while she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead as he sat, limp and numb, perplexed. A child that had never been shown affection caught a glimpse of it that day.
She'd shown care to a thief who'd seek out her life, one day.
There was a secret love story between her and the Grand Duke hidden under the curtain of night, unknown by all.
They would've gotten married one day, under the lapping warmth of the cheerful sun, blessed by the skies and heavens. She would've been happy, free where she belonged.
No longer hiding.
Kaden remembered the way the Duke looked at her while she tended to him, affection dripping in those eyes, completely undone.
And then, the King discovered this secret.
Tortured out of Kaden, who'd foolishly come back to tell him of the wonderful lady, beauty more fascinating than nature itself. He was ordered to kill her, his saviour. And the boy had refused.
He was locked up in the room where no lights reached for several months.
Begging. Pleading. Losing his mind and innocence as corruption swallowed him whole. The child, barely old enough to comprehend his future or ill responsibility, succumbed to command.
It was at that time Reed had learned of his ability to cast curses, and a mark was burned into Kaden's thin skin.
'Please let me go. Please, please, please.' He'd cried, kneeling at the King's feet.
The innocent boy committed his first murder in the dead of the night, clumsy and messy as the Duke watched in horror.
The man swore to drag down the royal family one day, starting at Kaden—a foolish child who ran away in a clamour of apologizes, too scared to look back.
Rosa tried to save him; he killed her. Betrayed her. Ended her.
Kaden stepped back, wide-eyed. "You are not her." He would not fall victim to the illusions, even as they wrapped around him in a choking vice. His voice trembled, uncertain, and a laugh forced out of his unwilling lungs, breathless. "I killed her."
And even if he'd turned back on time, it wasn't enough to change the fact that Rosa was dead.
The sinner would never forget that.
He threw his head back at the peering abyss that surrounded, mind growing blank and dazed.
Were the hands stretching to him, willing him back into the hell that awaited? He spread his arms out, welcoming the curse.
Did even the Watchers make a mockery of him?
"Wake up, Chauvet!" roared a voice, ripping him from his sinking thoughts as he snapped his arm away from the water, blinking rapidly as the sensations returned to his body.
He gasped, doubling over and coughing.
Something was holding onto his arm in a painful grip, preventing him from falling. The black was chased away from the walls it clung to, everything returning to how it once was, though disorder was still left in the room.
All eyes were on him.
Dozens and dozens, watching, judging with a harshness even more terrible than before. Stares, he thought again, were terrifying things of misjudgment and assumption. In the screen of another's sight, he was nothing more than entertainment.
Wrenching his arm away from Noah's grasp, Kaden laughed harshly. "Well, wasn't that quite the spectacle?"
"Is it humorous to you?" wondered Noah, still standing where he'd been.
"Didn't you enjoy the show I put on?"
"Did you?"
Kaden thought he'd drown in that questioning gaze; it was unforgiving and watching, seeing through more than the man was willing to show.
At that moment, the door burst open.
A man with familiar cerulean eyes stumbled in a panic, quickly straightening his back. He hopped where he tripped, a lazy smile spreading over his face.
"Hello! Uhh, is this bad timing? I didn't think I'd be late for the first day, but I overslept... well more accurately, I forgot class even existed. Nothing major, I'll not do it again." said Niklas sheepishly, laughing lightly.
Then, his gaze traveled over the classroom before landing on Kaden, brightening excitedly. "Ah, my good-looking master, what a coincidence!"
Kaden couldn't help but laugh before he raised a brow. "Niklas."
"Isn't it a pleasure to see me again, Kaden?"
"Not in the slightest." said the man, turning around to make his way back to his seat.
He stumbled slightly when approaching, clearing his throat in embarrassment before sitting down. Noah watched him, a ghost of amusement, while another classmate stifled a giggle.
The dragon followed him back, sitting down on his own seat with casual elegance. The man arched a brow in the same arrogant way Kaden had done earlier. "Do you need any help walking later?"
Kaden gritted his teeth, smiling. "Are you offering?"
"I am not." said Noah, turning his head to the front with a layer of dislike. "However, if absolutely necessary, I will provide my assistance.
"Would you sweep me up in your arms and carry me, princess style?"
"Is that what you want?"
"......" Kaden stared in disbelief, before propping his chin in one hand and smiling. "Well, Bellamy, what if I took you up on that offer?"
Noah glanced at him from the side coolly. "Will you?"
Then, a person plopped into the seat between them, stretching his arms out as he yawned loudly. "Isn't it lucky that there's a seat next to somebody I know?" remarked Niklas, nodding to himself in satisfaction. "How lucky I am—naturally."
"...didn't I tell you not to bother me, Niklas?"
The blue-eyed man shrugged. "Did you expect me to listen, really? I'm a strong believer in listening to my own stomach thoughts—and that stomach told me you're full of nonsense."
"...your stomach?"
"Our brains are too unreliable." explained Niklas with such calmness, it seemed almost believable. "But we should trust in something, and don't our stomachs always accurately tell us when they're hungry? They're perfectly reliable."
Kaden really felt speechless, thinking that his originally lonely row had been filled with truly annoying creatures. Was this how the rest of his school life would be like?
He wasn't sure how to feel about that.
However, the professor watched them silently; the smile having left his face long ago. "Kaden Chauvet." called Raymond slowly, eyebrows knitted in a frown. "The Watcher of Delusion had chosen to bless you."
Delusion?
Kaden mulled over the title—were his abilities altered to illusions and hypnosis? To bring somebody's nightmares into reality?
Would that be a psychological ability?
While the name sounded somewhat ominous, he thought it was better than the alternative that he feared; being unworthy of being blessed at all.
"That sounds pretty cool." muttered Niklas solemnly. "Am I also going to get something like that? Oh, please say it isn't something sad, not to say that there is such a thing as a sad ability, but I would rather something that is aesthetically pleasing."
"How would you define 'aesthetically pleasing'?" asked a listening classmate at the side.
Niklas shrugged making some sorts of exaggerated gestures in the air. "Think of flowing, majestic. Something grand and elegant, just like myself."
"But you're not elegant..."
"Hm? What was that?" He blinked once, innocently, and smiled, and the student curled back into their seat, saying nothing more.
He stretched his hand out into the air, making the professor tear his gaze away from Kaden. "Yes, Niklas?"
"I missed the whole magical experience—do I get a redo later?"
"Why yes, of course. I can arrange that for you at a different time."
"Brilliant, thank you!"
Niklas's cheerfulness seemed to be contagious, because both Noah and Kaden glanced sideways at that moment, accidentally meeting each other's eyes before turning away. Kaden chuckled lightly from between his hands, and Noah let out an amused huff.
The latter reached out to pull his book, not bothered to pay attention to the rest of the class. He begun to read.
A woman, prim and proper with a serious glint in her eye, raised her hand. Her brown locks gathered to one side, and pride running along straight shoulders. "Professor, are there not rather dangerous Watchers that exist?"
"I suppose, yes, there is danger in everything."
"And presumably, is Kaden Chauvet's not one of them?"
Raymond fell into an unsettling silence, and the rest of the classroom listened eagerly. "That is, one should not be quick to make judgments, as there are multiple variables to consider. To judge somebody is actually to reveal one's own character—"
"He is dangerous, isn't he?"
The Professor, having been interrupted, cleared his throat, but he was not aggressive enough to change the malicious air.
"As I said, one has no choice in regards to their Watcher. To call them dangerous is equal to deeming a person with, say, red hair to be dangerous or mad. Such a thing is ridiculous and—"
"But his abilities are dangerous, Professor. And is that not something us students should be wary of?"
There was the sound of a book promptly closing before a voice called out coldly,
"Are you making an assumption about his character, rather than his Watcher?"
Noah spoke with a persuasive calmness that wasn't easy to refute. Dismissing the woman's startled expression, he continued plainly. "Is it not possible for a blessing like yours, simple as it is, to be dangerous because of your careless character?"
"T-that is unfair to judge myself as such an awful—"
"And what are you currently doing yourself, to Kaden Chauvet?"
Everybody watched the drama unfold, the striking contrast between the woman's now unorganized scowl that lost its etiquette, and the dragon who behaved with a bored leisure to the entire event, as if it weren't even worth his time.
Kaden tapped on the desk, leaning forward to introduce himself to the common, foolish conversation.
He was aware of his reputation that was stretched across the ground and stomped on multiple times, and he didn't think anything would change. However, nobody had interfered for him before.
Regardless, Kaden wasn't so weak that he needed to rely on others to defend his own name.
How does one fit in a place that rejects them?
They don't.
"You know, I can't quite say talking about me in front of my face is much better than talking behind my back. Although you are terrible at both."
The woman flushed, anger spread across her cheeks as he curled up his lips into a devilish smirk, leaning back into his chair with a careless wave. "Since you've been so kind to share your opinions with me, shall the judger become the judged?"
He tapped his lips, pretending to think. The deep green eyes stared straight through her, scrutinizing and sharp.
"Dressed in plain, but confident clothes, the prim and proper sort, hm? Are the sort to flaunt your family's reputation, rely on the strengths of others rather than yourself?"
"And maybe," He glanced over her indifferently. "The type who speaks without thinking. That could get you killed one day, I hope you know. After all,"
His smile dropped. "I'm dangerous, right?"
"How dare you threaten—!"
"Hey! I don't really know what's going on," exclaimed Niklas, waving his hands. "But we're in the middle of class, alright? Let's keep the arguments for later, it's pretty unbecoming of a noble to act so improperly."
His words were light-hearted and seemingly innocent, but stabbed and prodded at the woman's respect. She tilted her chin, turning away with a snap of her head, anger steaming off the top of her carefully combed hair.
Niklas winked at Kaden, while Noah watched for a moment longer before removing his attention elsewhere.
The Professor also clapped his hand to change the direction of conversation, looking relieved that the students didn't persist. He made a mental note to practice a more aggressive speech, to defend his students better in the future.
A certain dragon looked down at his closed book, the title staring back at him mockingly, then at his bookmark, which rested on the table. A sigh slipped from his lips as he spread the pages open with slender fingers, trying to find the page that he'd been on.
It was a long, heavy book—it would take some time to pinpoint where exactly he was.
Regardless, it was against his nature to listen to nonsense so vividly and not say a word. Even if the misunderstood party was Kaden Chauvet.
However, it was the first time he'd acted without a thought.
To the extent he couldn't remember his page.