A curse brought by the devil fell on the emperor's family. Due to this misfortune, the emperor's first son was born into this world carrying the curse within his body. The proof of this is the crimson color of his left eye and that everything around...
He muttered and left, going directly to his own room. On the way, he passed Enkaku, who was holding a plate with pastries in his hands, probably Mai sent him to bring her those sweets.
"What do we have here." Naoya took the plate from Enkaku's hands. "Where are you going with this plate, filthy slave?" He asked mockingly.
"You're seriously asking such a stupid question?" Although Enkaku is a slave, he never treated anyone with respect. Especially Naoya, because he always mistreated him since he arrived at the Zenin residence.
Naoya frowned, he hated Enkaku's cocky attitude, that's why he always beats him when he gets the chance.
"Watch your mouth, slave! Do you forget who I am?!" Naoya shouted, throwing the plate at Enkaku's face. The plate hit his forehead making a small cut, Naoya laughed as he saw how the pastries were scattered all over the floor, and stained Enkaku's hair and clothes.
"Look at yourself, slave! You're covered with sweets." He laughed mockingly looking at those dirty clothes.
Enkaku touched his forehead feeling the cut that Naoya caused, then looked at his hand seeing blood mixed with pastries. He glared at him clenching his jaw, he hates him more than anything.
Naoya noticed Enkaku's murderous gaze, he smirked knowing that he wouldn't dare to hurt him back. After all, he is a slave and Naoya is the son of Naobito, the head of the Zenin clan.
"Go clean yourself, slave, Mai won't want to see you like that." Naoya turned around ready to leave. "Oh wait, you can't go to Mai's room like that. She might beat you again for wasting those pastries." He mocked again laughing loudly.
Enkaku clicked his tongue, Naoya is really getting on his nerves. If Mai finds out that he wasted those pastries, she will hit him again for not doing anything right. However, to be sent to the front lines, he must continue doing a bad job, until Mai tires of him.
Still laughing, Naoya walked away, heading towards his room as he had planned to do earlier. Leaving behind Enkaku with a broken plate and pastries scattered all over the floor.
He stared blankly at the mess, not knowing whether to clean it up or not.
"You shouldn't let him do whatever he wants." Maki, who saw everything, leaves her hiding place.
"How long have you been there ?" He asked confused, he didn't notice Maki until now.
"From the beginning." She replied approaching Enkaku, staring at him seriously. "I can tell Mai what happened, so she doesn't punish you for ruining her pastries." Maki suggested kindly, unlike her twin sister, she treated Enkaku appropriately.
"No, it is not necessary." He responded turning around ready to leave, Maki quickly grabbed his arm preventing him from leaving.
"If Mai finds out, she will beat you again. You should let me help you." She insisted firmly wanting Enkaku to accept her help.
Maki cared about him, she doesn't like seeing him being mistreated by everyone. Including Mai, who treated him worse than others, she wished her twin sister would change her attitude towards him.
"No need, lady Maki, I can take care of myself." Enkaku removed Maki's hand from his arm gently, walking away.
"Why is he so stubborn? Does he really want to be sent to the front lines?" Maki wondered, as she looked at Enkaku's back.
Enkaku headed towards Mai's room, he knows she will hit him again for ruining those pastries. But he'd rather take a beating than accept Maki's help. Before entering the room, he knocked on the fusuma waiting for permission to enter.
"Come in." Mai allowed him to enter.
He opened the fusuma and saw Mai sitting in front of her mirror while brushing her long black hair. Enkaku closed the fusuma walking towards Mai, stopping behind her.
"Finally! What took you so long !" She complained angrily turning around to look at her slave. "What happened to you?! Did Naoya mess with you again?" Mai asked after seeing Enkaku's messy appearance.
"How did she know?" Enkaku thought. "No, lady Mai, I was just clumsy."
"You can't fool me, I saw Naoya hitting you a couple of days ago." Mai stood up approaching Enkaku, seeing a cut on his forehead. "Did Naoya do this to you?" She pointed to Enkaku's forehead.
He shook his head. "No, I already said that Naoya had nothing to do with what happened.".
"Okay then, if you want to keep lying, go ahead, however, you'll never get what you want." Mai smiled wickedly, looking into Enkaku's eyes.
"What do you mean, lady Mai?" He asked confused.
"Don't act dumb! I know very well what you want, you want to be sent to the front lines, right?" Mai wanted to see a shocked expression on him, but he remained expressionless.
""No matter what I want, a slave can't get it, so why would I ruin things if I knew how to do them?" Enkaku can't stand her haughty attitude.
"I'm glad you understand your position, a slave will always be a slave and no one can change that fact." Mai smirked satisfied by Enkaku's response. "Now clean up and come back here, you're going to accompany me to buy more pastries." She ordered.
Enkaku sighed softly, ready to leave Mai's room, but then the girl stopped him.
"Wait a moment, I must bring you to a servant who can fix your messy appearance, someone of high class like me cannot hang around with a filthy slave." Mai explained dragging Enkaku with her.
After Mai found one of her servants, she took Enkaku to tidy up his messy appearance. Once the servant finished, he looked completely different than before, now everyone could see that he is indeed a handsome young man.
"Much better! Now we can leave." Mai commented smiling happily, grabbing Enkaku's arm intertwining it with hers.
He didn't complain, just frowned deeply. It was the first time he left the Zenin residence after being brought as a slave, this could be his chance to escape. There must be a moment where Mai is distracted so he can leave her side, but then he remembered the red umbrella that Michizane gave him, leaving without it is not an option.
Ogi took the umbrella from Enkaku, telling him that such a beautiful umbrella does not fit a filthy slave. He almost attacked Ogi when he did such a thing, but his servants restrained him and taught him a lesson. If he knew that things would end this way, then leaving this world would probably be the best option, maybe in the afterlife he could reunite with Michizane. Dying is better than living your life as an slave, serving a family that treats you like nothing more than trash.
He never expected anything from this world to begin with, and now the last ray of hope disappeared into the darkness of the night. Enkaku only hopes to die honorably in battle, fighting curses until his last breath. Because his will to continue living was taken away when Michizane died, although he wanted to try to live a peaceful life like his guardian wanted, that is a promise he could never keep.
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At first I was planning on skipping the days of Enkaku as a slave, but then I decided to leave them.
