It was a full day later since Will’s visit. 

 

“Sir, there is a Miss Honey here to see you. “ Damien, Dolly and Mother were sunbathing. Baz, Vera and Mary had just gotten done placing avacado masks on us when the butler made the announcement.

 

Damien took off a cucumber slice and looked at the grey-haired man with a sigh. “Of course she is. Where is she?”

 

“I’ve allowed her into your chambers, Sir.”

 

“Alright, I’m going. Here, have some chips and dip.” He got up and placed a bowl of homemade tortilla chips and avocado dip into the man’s hands. 

 

“Let’s go, Dolly.” Damien pulled on the chain connecting them.

 

“But, my facial.” The girl whimpered. “Can’t you ignore her?”

 

“Yeah, but I think this is going to be fun. Anyway, come on.”

 

“...Can I leave it on?”

 

“Best not.” He replied. Though its a damn waste.

 

Damien was already walking away when he heard his mother call out to him. “Oh, Damien, sweetie, a question before you go.”

 

His heart sank.“Yeah?”

 

She smiled. Without looking at him, she asked, “Who’s your favorite?” 

 

Mary sighed.

 

“Mary.” Damien answered immediately. 

 

The chocolate-haired beauty leapt from her chair and exploded. “Again, you said it again!!”

 

“I won’t lie no matter how many times you ask.” Damien thrust his chin out stubbornly. This was, in itself, a lie. But seeing her stricken look the last couple days was too satisfying. This mother of his was so cute when she was jealous.

 

“Boy, you dare!” Muriel was so angry she was almost ready to pass out. Her cheeks puffed up. “You care about a servant more than your own mother?!” That was it! That’s the face! It was adorable.

 

But he snorted and covered his sister’s ears before replying with. “I can’t fuck my mother.”

 

He expected another explosion. Instead, “Blasphemy. Says who?”

 

Yeah, okay. 

 

“...Says everyone, you weirdo.” Is he going to have to have a talk with her soon? “Anyway, look at her. Of course she’s my favorite.” Damien offered a gentle leer towards the woman in question, staring pointedly at her face. The woman was like something out of a painting. 

 

“Hateful, unfilial child!” One could nearly see flames coming out of her mouth.  Fast as a blink, she grabbed Mary and put her into a headlock. She then began to roughly give her a noogie. “You! Damn woman, seducing my son away from me! Ah, I hate you! Give me back my baby, dammit!  I want to be his favorite! I deserve it, I’m his mommy! Ahhhh!!” She cried

 

Vera and Baz looked at each other, not sure whether they should speak up or not. On one hand, their mother. On the other, their Mistress who was being jealous of their mother. 

 

Mary’s left eye twitched and Damien was also annoyed. He knew he was the only one who would be able to resolve the situation so he walked over and smacked his mother’s arms off of the poor woman. Mary was released and lost her balance. Damien caught her easily and pushed his mother back onto her chair.

 

Mary calmly righted herself, patted down her attire, and offered a small bow. “Many thanks, Young Master.” 

 

Damien nodded. He turned his attention to his mom. Muriel, for her part, was shocked over his actions. Siding against his own family, how mean! She fell into a state of depression and hunched over on the ground, picking at the grass as if they’d personally offended her. 

 

Seeing her pitiful appearance, Damien put on his most doting smile and squatted down beside her. He may be stubborn, but 

 

“Come now, mother.” He cooed. “I was obviously just teasing. Of course I love my mother most in the world.”

 

She sniffled and stared up at him with teary eyes that glistened like jewels. “Really?”

 

“Really. My mother is the most pretty and kind.”

 

“You really think so?” Another sniffle.

 

“I do. Do you want a hug?”

 

She nodded silently and reached out with her arms. 

 

“Too bad. Cry babies don’t get hugs.” He coldly rejected. 

 

“I’m not crying!” She hurriedly wiped at her eyes and stood. She put on a majestic pose and laughed. “Obviously I wouldn’t! I’m an adult, you know. Your mother wouldn’t cry over such a small matter. Now come, give your mama a hug.”  She spoke with boisterous, valiant aplomb and spread her arms to welcome him.

 

“As expected, my mother is indeed the coolest!” Damien exclaimed and flew towards her. 

 

“Of course she is! Your mommy is the strongest, kindest, coolest, and most beautiful of all! There’s no way she’d be jealous over an overgrown weed! Hahahaha!” 

 

Ah, he wanted to smack her. She was getting so arrogant. Eh, well, he’ll bring her down a peg or two later.

 

A horrified gasp could be heard a second later. “Mother, you’re going to suffocate him!” Dolly shouted.  Which may have been true. His oxygen levels were starting to dwindle. Death by tits isnt a bad way to go, but this was his mother. Not cool. “Day, I’ll save you!” She moved her little arms with all her tiny strength to try and separate them, to no avail. She struggled, but it was useless.  “Let go!” Seeing the futility of her efforts, she started gnawing on their mother’s arm with her teeth like the great poodles of yore. 

 

“Tsk. Jealousy doesn’t become you, dear. You shouldn’t try to come between a mother and her son.” Muriel said gloomily. Then grinned. Her daughter was so cute! Grabbed the girl and took her into her embrace as well. “Ah, my children are just too adorable! I love you two so much.” A thought came to her. “Say, Dolly…”

 

“Day is my favorite!” 

 

Suffice it to say, another bout of depression struck. Only Dolly wasn’t as nice as her brother. As Damien comforted his mother and led her away, Mary opened her hand. She hadn’t dared to in front of Muriel. 

 

[You’re still my favorite]

 

The woman almost smiled. Almost. “Cheeky kid.” She murmured with a shake of the head.

 

“What’s it say?” Vera asked, stepping closer.

 

“Nothing important.” Mary tore up the piece of paper and walked  away to perform other duties.

 

***

“Damien!” 

 

As soon as Honey saw the youth walk in, she immediately brightened. 

 

She saw him walk calmly, as he always did, into his room and offer a kind smile. “Oh? This is a rare pleasure. What brings you by?” 

 

She blinked. He smiled? He could smile? He never smiled. Is this some new skill he picked up? She was momentarily stunned. The boy was already mesmerising enough normaly, but the appearance of a smile made it enough to short-circuit her mind for a moment. 

 

His voice brought some sense back to her. She shook herself out of the stupor and said, “Damien, you wouldn’t believe what that no-good bastard Will did to me!” She nearly sobbed. She could already feel her eyes going puffy, 

 

Damien put on a face of mild startelement and concern. Oh yeah, his training was paying off nicely. He could think of so many uses for this!

 

WIth such irreverent thoughts in mind, he replied, “This sounds serious. Take a seat and we’ll talk.” He gestured for her to sit down and called for one of the servants nearby.

 

“Gabby, tea please.” The maid, a woman in her thirties, bowed and walked off. A few minutes later and they were being served. Obviously, Dolly was there too. The three of them sat down on chairs by a small round table.

 

Honey took the teacup with both hands and took a long sip. 

 

“Now tell me what’s wrong. What did Will do?”

 

The moment he said that a change occurred in the girl. She placed the cup down with a snap and a fury burned behind those large spectacles. 

 

“That rat bastard! He cheated on me!”

 

“What?!” Damien pretended to choke on his tea and coughed. Dolly hurriedly patted his back. “Will did?”

 

Honey sniffled and nodded, a mixture of sadness and rage. “I caught him. In the bathroom, on the sofa. He didn’t notice me at all, he was so enamored with that sow! And then he has the nerve to come to me today with all this “it wasn’t me” nonsense! Can you believe that? The nerve!”

 

Damien nearly burst out laughing right there and then. The fucker really did it! All that talk about tellibg her the truth and saying sorry, and he pussied out! It was hilarious.

 

“Really? I can hardly believe it. What are you going to do?”

 

“...Huh?” She froze, like a deer caught in headlights. She laughed nervously. “W-What do you mean?”

 

“Well, why’re you here? Pardon me for saying, but I didn’t think we were that close?” He sounded unsure. In reality that was basically the case. But he knew the kid favored him. He acted pretty alright usually, and only his closer friends would know how he is otherwise. The rumours around him and the feeling you got from actually meeting him were too different so anyone who personally saw him and talked to him would think the rumours were just that, rumours.

 

Until you got him pissed off somehow, you wouldn’t really know better. 

 

As for Honey, that was indeed the case with her too. But from her perspective Damien wasn’t just the decent friend of her lover. Somehow he just gave out this reliable big brother feel. She couldn’t quite explain it. Her just seemed more mature and erudite than other boys their age, and he gave her a warm, protected feeling like that of an older sibling. She didn’t have a brother, but if she did she thought he’d be like him. Or so she liked to think.

 

But these were her own personal feelings on him, and she never voiced them. They really weren’t that close in reality. It’s just that from their few interactions, it made her trust him. So when all this happened, he was the first one she thought of to talk to.

 

Also…

 

 Her cheeks burned. “Um, well, I came here right after we talked. I don’t even know what i was thinking. I was just so mad. So I came here thinking,,,ah, no, nevermind. I won’t say.” She looked away. 

 

Damien had to know what her plan was at this point, so he pushed. “Come one, just tell me. Even if it’s embarrassing I promise not to laugh. You came because you thought you could talk to me, right? So talk. I won’t judge.”

 

Honey squirmed in her seat. She was torn, but his smooth, even tone was like a warm blanket enveloping her. It put her at ease and she felt as if she really could tell him anything. It was like his words has some sort of magical ability to them.

 

She scratched her cheek after finally coming to a decision. 

 

“Oh, it’s just...I wondered how I could get back at him, see. How to make him really mad and jealous and regret doing what he did. I was so, so angry, to the point I really wasn’t thinking straight! You have to understand that point, okay? So, that being said, I thought, “Well if he can cheat, so can I!” And, uh…” She cleared her throat. “I decided to come and s-seduce you. I-Is what my plan was.” 

 

The room was deathly quiet.

 

Dolly was the first to break the silence. She set down her cup and folded her hands over her lap. “That’s okay. I’ve heard enough.” 

 

The girl then threw herself over the table and grabbed at Honey’s shirt, shaking her violently.

 

“STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER, SLUT!” 

 

Just then Vera walked in and announced, “Young Master, Her Highness Charlotte is here to--

 

“What the heck is going on?” The Princess, Charlotte, exclaimed. “Lady Dahlia, what’re you doing?! Unhand that girl at--”

“Shut up! You’re next!” 

 

Why does this all sound familiar?