Marc and Nathan, two talented teenagers who could freely unleash their wild imaginations in the art world, were now like two pathetic herbivores being relentlessly targeted by a top predator.
They hadn't even had a chance to utter a simple, friendly greeting when two gazes, filled with scrutiny, suspicion, and a hint of cold hostility they couldn't comprehend, fixed on them.
"...G-good afternoon, Marinette, Alya."
Finally, Nathan, being the more outgoing of the two, bit the bullet and broke the suffocating, eerie silence.
Marc instinctively shrunk further behind Nathan's tall, slender frame.
"Sit."
Alya didn't return his greeting; she merely pointed to the two empty seats opposite them, her tone regal and brooking no argument.
It wasn't an invitation; it was a command.
Marc and Nathan, like two pathetic prisoners about to face judgment, nervously sat down opposite them.
Immediately, Alya very politely asked them to take out their phones.
The two wanted to ask something, but the cold, oppressive eyes still fixed on them left them no choice but to comply. Their phones were placed in the center of the dining table, and then they made calls.
For a moment, the vibrant background noise of the cafeteria seemed to be completely muted by an invisible hand.
In their world, there was only a terrifying silence and the mechanical, icy beeps of a phone, like a death knell:
"Beep... beep... beep..."
"The number you have dialed is temporarily unreachable..."
"Beep... beep... beep..."
"The number you have dialed is currently busy..."
Under the "death glare" of the two "queens," they mechanically repeated this desperate cycle like two robots programmed for a fixed routine:
If one didn't connect, they'd try the other; if that didn't connect, they'd go back to the first.
If they couldn't get through today, they would probably be stuck at this cold, "judgmental" dining table forever.
Finally!
After countless desperate attempts, the cold words "Calling" on one of the phone screens finally changed to the warm image of "In Call"—the call connected!
"...Hello?"
A voice they knew all too well came through the receiver, carrying a hint of laziness and gentleness, yet also a dangerous smile hidden within. "Is there something wrong?
If you don't give me a reasonable explanation... then, I'll flick your foreheads, okay?"
Marc and Nathan shivered uncontrollably at the same time, instinctively exchanging glances.
In the end, the relatively timid Marc was pushed forward by Nathan, who was equally scared, with an "encouraging" look.
"Ji... Jaden..." Marc's lips trembled slightly. "Um... where... where are you right now?"
"...Where?"
On the other end of the phone, Jaden's gentle smile took on a hint of playfulness.
Straight to the point like that?
That's not like Marc and Nathan, who always beat around the bush.
And at this time... there must be someone nearby, right?
"Me?" Jaden's voice remained gentle, with the pleasant warmth of a spring breeze. "I'm at the hospital. Why are you asking?"
"Ho... hospital?!"
Marc and Nathan froze simultaneously, and a flicker of unconcealed surprise flashed in the cold eyes of the two "queens" opposite them.
"Um... it's... it's Caline!" Marc quickly offered the excuse he had prepared. "She... she was just asking why you weren't in class! So... so we thought we'd call and ask... Caline?
Heh heh... If a teacher was really looking for him, she would call herself, not have these two act as messengers.
It seems the "guest" nearby is quite important... "Oh, is that so?" Jaden's voice was filled with "sincere" enlightenment. "It's nothing serious.
Rose wasn't feeling well; she caught a small illness.
So I came with her to the hospital. The school nurse should have already told Caline, right?"
These words, like a sacred decree of absolution, instantly dismantled the tense, hostile aura of the two "queens." Marinette and Alya almost simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief!
However, just then, Alya suddenly spoke in a "surprised" tone, as if she had just noticed the commotion: "Hmm? Nathan? What a coincidence? Are you on the phone?"
Nathan nodded, a bit confused: "Y-yes..."
"Who are you calling?"
"...It's... it's Jaden..."
"Oh? Jaden?" Alya's tone was full of "sudden realization," good enough for the Oscars. "Didn't he just miss class? I was just about to ask... where did he go?"
Nathan instinctively repeated the "facts" he heard over the phone: "...He's at the hospital, accompanying Rose to see a doctor..."
"Oh—! I see!" Alya's exaggerated exclamation made Marc and Nathan inwardly commend her superb acting.
"Then... then wait a minute!" Alya said, leaning towards the phone with an air of importance. "Um... Jaden! Can you hear me?!
It's Alya! Um... remember to say hello to Rose for me! Tell her to get some good rest!"
After speaking, she elbowed the stunned Marinette beside her.
"Eh?! Ah! Oh! Oh oh!" Marinette suddenly snapped back to reality and also shouted into the phone: "Th-that! Jaden! I... I'm also very worried about Rose! You... you should take good care of yourself too!"
That accidental yet sincere display of concern for a friend was absolutely seamless! Marc and Nathan exchanged glances, simultaneously letting out an awed sigh: no wonder they say women are born actresses...
"...Okay." On the other end of the phone, Jaden's voice remained calm. "I'll tell her."
"Then... then we won't bother you! Goodbye!"
"Mm, goodbye."
The call ended. Alya and Marinette, having completed their "Best Actress" level performance, quickly got up and left the "smoky" battlefield like efficient secret agents who had finished a mission, leaving behind two poor, stunned "tools" staring at each other.
And in that quiet, pure white hospital room, the moment Jaden turned to answer the call in the hallway, an ominous black butterfly, like an elegant dark visitor long awaited, quietly flew in through the half-open window.
Rose watched the familiar black figure slowly circling in the air, her heart, already fragile from illness, instantly in turmoil.
The bold, "dramatic" plan she and Juleka had conceived in their romantic teenage fantasies... should she really go through with it?
But the black butterfly gave her no time to hesitate. In the instant of her struggle and doubt, it flew like a silent black lightning bolt into the small, sweet-smelling perfume bottle she clutched tightly in her nervous hand!
The next second, a deep, elegant male voice, full of seductive power, like a demon's whisper, sounded in her mind: "...Princess Fragrance... I can feel the desire in your heart... I am happy to help you..."
Rose's body suddenly stiffened.
"...This butterfly was originally meant for that boy... But, it chose you... it chose you, who are more worthy of being saved..."
Hawk Moth slowly revealed his "ace card," powerful enough to be irresistible to the desperate: "...I can cure your illness... Compared to only seeing their sympathetic, worried eyes for a short time... don't you wish to stay by his side forever?"
These words were like a red-hot, poisoned dagger, piercing sharply into the softest, most desired corner of her heart. She could no longer resist.
"...I... I agree..."
With a trembling, hoarse, almost whispered voice, she uttered the answer that would change her destiny.
"Click."
Jaden finished the call, pushed open the slightly ajar hospital room door, and walked in. He glanced at the fair-haired girl lying quietly on the bed, eyes closed as if asleep.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he always felt... Rose's complexion seemed worse than before... The fair-haired girl, who was always as bright and radiant as a sunflower, now lay quietly on that pure white, cold hospital bed.
His eyes were gently closed, and his long, golden eyelashes cast a shallow, endearing shadow beneath his eyelids.
He seemed to be asleep, but his slightly furrowed brow and the suppressed, painful moans that occasionally escaped his pale, bloodless lips silently spoke of the terrible torment he was enduring.
Jaden sat quietly by the bed, not speaking, not making any superfluous movements, just watching him silently.
His black eyes, always with a gentle smile, were now filled with a profound tenderness and sorrow that could melt the entire world.
Just then! "Whoosh—!" A very faint, sharp whooshing sound, almost imperceptible to human ears, suddenly echoed in the quiet, disinfectant-scented hospital room!
A dense, pinkish-purple spray, carrying an abnormally sweet fragrance, shot out like a living, deadly serpent from the exquisite yet ominous perfume bottle in the Akumatization girl's hand, which had appeared on the bed at some unknown moment!
Jaden hadn't even reacted when the overbearing and unquestionable sweet scent completely enveloped his body!
The next second, he felt the control of his body being forcibly stripped from the depths of his soul by an invisible, cold, and malicious giant hand—
He couldn't move, not even a pinky finger obeyed his brain's command. He could only watch as the fair-haired girl, who should have been lying in pain on the hospital bed, slowly stood up.
She had changed into a tight-fitting battle suit with an evil, seductive aesthetic, predominantly black, adorned with pink lines; her short golden hair, as radiant as the sun, had become a mysterious and dangerous pinkish-purple high ponytail;
She wore a black mask on her face, revealing only her elegant lips painted with an ominous purplish-red lipstick, and those blue eyes that were fixed on him with a morbid obsession and greedy possessiveness!
"...Jaden..." The girl, consumed by darkness, called his name in a husky, dreamlike voice, her tone filled with twisted affection.
Then, she spread her arms, like a lost butterfly finding its only warm harbor, and fearlessly threw herself into his embrace, which, though he couldn't move, was still broad and warm.
"...Everything can come true now..." She pressed her hot, pale cheek tightly against his chest, her voice filled with the satisfaction and happiness of someone who had survived a catastrophe.
Looking at Rose, both familiar and strange, in his arms, and realizing it wasn't the first time he'd found himself in the awkward position of losing control of his body due to a "thoughtless" girl, Jaden let out a silent sigh of helplessness and a desire to complain in his heart: Here we go again, another Akumatization... Can't you just talk things out face-to-face, instead of making such a big fuss?
But this time, it was a little different.
His heart was now beating uncontrollably and violently, an unprecedented, intense desire surging in his chest like a volcano about to erupt—
Today, he absolutely needed this damned butterfly!
Just then, that elegant, deep, seductive demonic whisper sounded in his mind again, right on cue: "...Prince of flowers, I..."
Before the other party could finish his classic seductive opening, Jaden interrupted him with cold, unquestionable absolute rationality: "You want the miraculous, no problem.
What I want is also very simple... Rose, she just needs to be safe."
Hawk Moth, on the other end of consciousness, was visibly stunned, then let out a playful laugh, as if he had found a brand new "toy": "...Heh heh... Heh heh heh heh... Well then... it seems we've reached a mutual agreement... Love can make people blind... but it can also grant people the greatest power..."
This profound statement, it was unclear whether it referred to himself or to the young man who embraced darkness for the sake of the girl.
The next second, a pure purplish-black dark energy, countless times more powerful than the sweet spray, erupted from the black butterfly in the perfume bottle.
It didn't attack Jaden, but like a gentle lover, it tightly enveloped him and the Akumatization girl in his arms.
When the light faded, Jaden's appearance had completely changed: his ordinary student uniform had transformed into a magnificent deep purple gown adorned with black thorn patterns, and a huge cloak made of black rose petals billowed behind him without wind;
He wore a cold silver rose-patterned mask on his face, with only his black eyes, carrying a faint, gentle smile, remaining unchanged.
"...Prince of flowers..." "...Princess Fragrance..." Two names, full of evil romantic fairy tale colors, simultaneously echoed in their hearts.
Hawk Moth looked at his perfect "creation" with a satisfied smile.
"...You should be able to perceive everything here, right? After all... I don't want my adorable 'Princess Fragrance' to suffer any inhumane treatment." Jaden said in a relaxed tone, as if chatting with an old friend.
"...Heh heh... Of course..." Hawk Moth's pleasant and confident voice sounded again, "...As the most important partner... necessary 'monitoring' is, of course, no problem... As for those annoying 'unimportant people' in the hospital... you can rest assured... I will take care of it.
After all... as a 'big villain,' I control quite a few people.
And one of them... you should also know, he's very famous... Gabriel."
Heh... he really doesn't neglect either his public or secret identity... Jaden let out a cold sneer in his heart.
He slowly lowered his head, gazing at the pinkish-purple-haired "princess" embracing him obsessively in his arms with a tender, doting look, his voice soft as a lover's whisper: "...Together, my... Princess Fragrance..."
The girl raised her masked face and nodded heavily.
The next second, an unprecedented powerful force erupted from the two of them as its center!
In the pure white hospital room, which should have smelled of disinfectant, countless delicate flowers actually burst from beneath the hard, cold floor, growing wildly—climbing the walls, entwining the ceiling, even staining the glass windows with the vibrant colors of romance and death!
At the same time, countless distinct, domineeringly seductive fragrances surged from the girl's perfume bottle.
Flowers and perfume, two concepts that should have been beautiful, now combined into an irresistible, destructive, sweet torrent, breaking through the confines of the hospital room and spreading like a mad tide throughout the entire hospital!
The patients groaning in pain, the tirelessly busy medical staff, the anxiously waiting family members, the moment they smelled the sweet fragrance, the pain, anxiety, and sadness in their eyes were replaced by the hollow obedience of fanatical obsession.
Like puppet-worshippers controlled by strings, they loudly "sang" the commands in an operatic, exaggerated manner:
"...Praise... Prince of flowers..."
"...Praise... Princess Fragrance..."
In just a few minutes, the entire hospital was completely overrun.
And that beautiful sea of flowers and tide of perfume was spreading even faster, wildly, into the vast world outside the hospital...