"You've come."

The beast looked up from his plate when Wooyoung entered the dining area. The red of his eyes looked less apprehensive than usual, and Wooyoung had few qualms about nearing the massive dining table.

Today, breakfast was arranged on both ends of it, half for the prince and half for Wooyoung. Wooyoung's side was untouched, while the beast already ate since he didn't hope for Wooyoung to appear. When the boy showed up, he slowed, dimly remembering it was a polite thing to do. He beckoned at the seat opposite him.

"Sit with me."

Wooyoung sat down awkwardly. Seonghwa, Mingi, and Jongho buzzed through the room to attend to their needs. They insisted on serving Wooyoung, while Wooyoung insisted on fetching the heavier things for them. Their hushed quarrels didn't seem to bother the beast. For the first time, Wooyoung was curious about what type of expression he sported. He kept no portraits of himself as an adult around, so Wooyoung had a hard time imagining him as a handsome prince. Yet, was he amused about Wooyoung's defeat? Or annoyed?

Quizzically, Wooyoung regarded the beast and the demonic aura wavering around him as if he were a creature straight from hell. Wooyoung picked up his cutlery to treat the food served with such grace accordingly. He didn't bring it up to San, but after a few moments of hesitation, the beast wiped his black fingers on a napkin and copied Wooyoung. When he wasn't looking, Seonghwa excitedly bounced his side into Mingi's with a giggle of delight.

"I prepared some books you might enjoy reading in the morning. You can find them in the library later. I wrote the reasons for my recommendations down in a letter, as well."

Surprised that San had spent the early hours so busy for him, Wooyoung tilted his head.

"What books are they?" Perhaps San wished to jab at him with the reading material, or perhaps he attempted to groom Wooyoung in his understanding of specific topics.

San's answer stunned him once more.

"Those are similar to what you picked so far. I've read those books a lot of times, so I can tell which ones match the kind you enjoy reading."

Yunho had never wanted Wooyoung to read. He had ridiculed him for it, called him pretentious, and complained about the difficulties that books posed. San's agreement and support in cultivating Wooyoung's mind came as a pleasant surprise.

"Thank you," Wooyoung replied, baffled. The beast was most nonchalant about his involvement. The mask stayed in place as he ate.

By their side, Seonghwa cleared his throat. All three feux follet vibrated in the air with curiosity and the loyal head servant was the first who couldn't keep his silence any longer.

"Allow me the question, milords. Have you made up? Today, your conversation seems most amiable."

Wooyoung looked at San, waiting for him to answer. The prince smoothly attended to his duty. The colours of his past shone through as he picked just the words the brimming crowd wished to hear.

"Wooyoung offered to teach me where I am lacking. He suggested that once I learn to love and appreciate what is around me, I can either accept my fate easier, or I will be able to be loved. Both things we have yet to achieve."

An awed noise escaped Seonghwa as he hurtled in Wooyoung's direction. He pressed to his shoulder for a moment, a cold flame by his side, in a mimic of a hug.

Jongho nodded along.

"Wise call."

"I'm so happy you agreed to let him help you. Wooyoung knows best in that field! We got ourselves the perfect teacher!" Seonghwa twirled back to the others and bounced around in the air. Endeared by his passion, Wooyoung beamed at them.

"Your master already did wonderfully at his first duty. He apologised to me with all of his honesty and offered to understand my trouble with this place."

Now, Seonghwa hurtled himself at San. He pressed into the clouds of black, wailing like a fond mother. From this distance, Wooyoung almost didn't hear his choked voice anymore.

"I'm so, so proud of you. Please stand to your word. Wooyoung won't take this lightly, so best if you use this chance."

San hummed, not slowing his eating. Wooyoung believed to hear the pride in his tone.

"It's been seven years. No amount of regret and bitterness got us anywhere. It's about time we moved on and tried something new."

Seonghwa jumped up and down in a mimic of a nod.

"I agree! Come, you two, we will leave them to their studying! If you need us, just call!" He ushered out Mingi and Jongho, who followed with mumbled protests. Once they had disappeared into the kitchens, Wooyoung resumed eating with a peaceful smile. He enjoyed being helpful.

For a few moments, they dined in peace. Wooyoung kept glancing at the beast in curiosity. When he wasn't fuming with anger and shoving his servants around, he seemed more princely. Under the veil of black smoke, his shoulders kept straight and regal, and his mask was gorgeous as it dipped to take another bite of food.

Since he rarely met the beast in such a balanced mood, Wooyoung dared ask him a question after his next bite.

"Your mask. If I don't bother you asking, why do you wear it all the time? Is it to identify your features?" At least his eyes always showed where his face was, even if they were shrouded in black veils.

San shook his head, drifting smoke left and right.

"The mask is part of my curse. The day everything began, I met the one responsible for this on a mask ball. This was what I wore when she cursed me. It serves as a constant reminder of who I refused and what weight that decision had."

Ashamed, Wooyoung lowered his eyes to his food.

"My apologies. I didn't wish to sour our meal with my question."

San picked up his chalice and swirled the wine in it. Over his food, he regarded Wooyoung with unreadable, hellish eyes.

"It's fine. You must be curious. Do you wish I tell you of that day?"

Wooyoung's heart skipped a beat as he felt he got closer to the mystery. The beast's willingness to talk was one win. Now Wooyoung just had to evaluate the right and wrong of the situation that had occurred. As far as the servants went, he could tell they didn't deserve to be punished just for their loyalty to the prince.

"Please do. Don't conceal it, either. I can help you best if I know exactly what the misdeed was."

San continued eating while he recalled the memories. A fourth of his lifetime had passed since then, and he almost got used to his life as a shapeless monster that terrified the lonesome wanderers of Villebête.

"It was my twenty-first birthday. Or my twenty-second? I can't recall. I was old for an unmarried man. Most princes are promised to a political partner upon their birth, but my parents were always lenient with me, for I was the youngest of three princes. I never had many responsibilities growing up, not even when my elder brother died in a hunting accident. The crown prince was married and happy, and once he received the throne, our land would flourish under his hands and those of the princess he married."

Wooyoung listened with rapt attention. San twirled his finger over the rim of his cup, and even his formless features exposed how lost in thought he was.

"Everything happened so fast. My brother got abducted by a group of robbers who demanded riches in exchange for him. During the attack on their carriage, his wife got so scared she lost the child in her womb. For weeks, my father exchanged letters with the robbers, trying to strike a safe deal and free him."

When the beast's voice lowered, Wooyoung knew this story had no good end.

"By the time his soldiers got there, my brother - the crown prince - was long dead. The bandits took the ransom and left us only his body to tend to."

"I'm so sorry," Wooyoung whispered. His instinct urged him to drop the topic and soothe San's painful memories, but the prince already waved him off. The dark part was over.

"His wife died of grief for him and their child. Suddenly, only I was left. The most rebellious and spoiled of the brothers, and the one with no relevant marital match. I refused when my father pushed me to wed, claiming he had always left me the choice. Novels made me fall in love with the idea of marrying out of honest adoration for each other. But personally, I liked to play around, to find what I liked and to enjoy youth. It was a dream I had to let go of to become the new crown prince."

Wooyoung was almost pained by how much he related to that. When he had been young, he had been worried about getting married to his princess without ever loving her. Growing up, every potential match had told him to marry cunningly, not emotionally. It seemed like such a forgotten concept in their world.

"My father pushed me; he had to. He worried about the throne and my life, as I was much more reckless than my brothers were, making me easy prey. So, he organised a ball for my birthday and during that ball, I was supposed to pick the one I wished to marry."

Wooyoung held his breath. Now, the real tragedy started. He could imagine it; the petulance, the stubbornness. Losing all the freedoms San had so abruptly must have been jarring.

"I was young. I didn't know how to love and I wished to learn it before I accepted anyone's hand in marriage. Countless beautiful men and women passed my paths and some of them enticed me for a night or two, but as easily as those feelings came, they disappeared. For the ball, my father invited only the most exotic and fascinating people, sure that I would find someone worth my time. One of them just so happened to be a faery." San chuckled into his cup bitterly. While he drank, Wooyoung finished with his meal. He sat with rapt attention, unwilling to let his eyes stray off the beast for even a second.

"Faery folk is fickle. You don't simply refuse them and get away with it unscathed. If I had known who she was, I would have chosen my words more wisely. She poised a trap on me, testing my character by asking outright if I would marry her. I told her no, she wasn't lovable enough to me. Thus I ignited her fury." Sighing, San buried his face in his hands. The hoops on the mask's pointed ears clicked against each other.

Wooyoung smiled in shared pain.

"So she cursed you."

"So she cursed me. She liked what she saw when she looked at me and was furious she couldn't obtain it, for faery folk cannot love as we humans do. In her fury, she reduced me to this shapeless form, so my looks would never entice anyone else, and mocked me by telling me to find love now. You know the rest of the story. Those who lived in the castle either fled from the new monster or succumbed to the madness that reaped their lives. My loyal friends were the only ones who remained by my side."

"I'm glad they are here. Whether or not you break the curse, at least you aren't alone," Wooyoung whispered. His heart was clenched as if by an icy fist as he listened to San's story. It was both expected and unfair. As a human, he hadn't been the wisest or kindest prince, but he also didn't deserve the cruel fate bestowed on him.

"I wish I wouldn't have to submit them to such torture, but this is the only place they can be accepted. If they left for the world, they would wander in lonesomeness until they lost all humanity in some bog. For a long time, I desperately tried to lift the curse just to save them. I long since accepted that this is who I am now, but I couldn't bear seeing them suffer. For myself, I would never kidnap innocent townsfolk or try to force love from them or me. I simply wish to protect those dear to me as they protect me."

Wooyoung smiled when he heard those words. They matched with the flames' fierce protectiveness over the prince.

"I believe you are doing a marvellous job at that. Your relationship with them is much deeper than that of a prince to his servants."

Glad to be coming back to easier topics, the beast leaned back in his chair. He threw another piece of fruit into the void of his mouth and gulped it down.

"Thank you for thinking so. They are what keeps me sane as I keep them sane. It's about time I listened to their begging and worked on my personality. I got rough around the edges in those years," he chuckled to himself.

Wooyoung fell in, glad that beyond the layers of defensiveness and rage, he had found a person. Someone educated and understanding of others.

"I will be glad to help."

The mask shifted for the first time in what could be a smile. Delighted, Wooyoung beamed back as he hoped that this version of the forgotten prince would be the one to prevail.