Eve tried to run away.

The Founder blinked, his golden eyes gazing down at the entry hall to stare at the blonde female Human's body— motionlessly laying on the carpet. The paleness of the girl associated with the already light colors of her clothing contrasted with the darkness of the furniture and obscurity of the manor, making it seem as if she would get swallowed at any moment, leaving nothing but the vague memory of her existence to fade away.

Aku exhaled.

Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, the new Sacrificial Bride hadn't managed to make it out of the mansion. Aku did not wish to send the twins after he. Although competent enough to be of use, none possessed the medical background or experience to perform live surgery— something Aku would need to have them learn lest they become too useless. If the twins went after the Human, there was no guarantee they wouldn't destroy Cordelia's heart. And Aku honestly couldn't be bothered to go after the Adler princess yet.

"Ah, My Lord!"

As usual, the one to first acknowledge and notice his presence was Reiji. Not become his senses were sharper, but the raven-haired Vampire's senses were more tuned to sensing the Founder than any of his siblings. Aku's golden irises switched to meet his favorite's magenta-colored gaze. He graced the raven head with a smile before switching his attention back to the Sacrifice, lips falling back into a flat line.

"Do you plan to let Eve die?" he questioned, taking note of his nephews and step-nephews not moving an inch to help the girl into a room.

Aku did not wait for Reiji to move forward— the poor fanatical boy would have done so without hesitation. He waved his hand, and Kagamine emerged from the condemned girl's immobile shadow. The Shadow Demon bent to give a gracious bow before picking the Human up and fading into the darkness of the curtains with the Bride in his arms.

No one bothered to correct Aku's way of calling the Human— it would die soon enough. Shu and Subaru couldn't be bothered to even call out to the girl. Kanato's mind had long drifted off, and Laito didn't address her by her name. Ayato hadn't left of his ego and wouldn't speak to Aku without reasons, while Reiji would never contradict the Founder's words.

Aku's eyes swept over the Sakamaki siblings, wondering if any would become Adam and be useable or if he'd need to get rid of one to try again.

He hummed.

"Be sure to be on time for dinner time," he reminded. The habits he adopted as their acting Guardian came back to him before he vanished away and back into his quarters.

Teleportation was instantaneous, and the next moment the Founder found himself in the comfort of his rooms. Aku placed a hand over the smooth, used surface of his wooden desk. The smell of paper books filled his senses before he hummed to himself, the chandelier lighting up at the appearance of his gleaming eyes. The fire burned at the wicks, flickering and engulfing the stone-cold room in their petite warmth.

The Founder walked around his desk, pulling his armchair back and seating himself behind the imposing table.

Papers rushed to gather in front of him, neatly organized as he had left them before, the quill— specifically gifted by Krone, long, long ago, resting in between his long fingers in a loose but careful grip.

Cautiously, the Founder dipped the silver tip of his quill into the charcoal black ink. The liquid gathered at the pointy end, dripping with tiny droplets that Aku decided to ignore as he filled up the sheet. Names he would never acknowledge bled into the white paper, following the precise calligraphy of his quill and a picture neatly printing itself on top of the form with the help of simple magic. He set his quill aside, a seal replacing it in his hands before plunging the metallic head in the puddle of soft wax at the bottom of the paper.

His eyes swept over the beautifully inked lettering in casual boredom before he set the paper aside.

Administrative papers were a chore, but Aku was long used to dealing with them— or forging them, for all it mattered. It came as quickly to the Founder as breathing for Humans.

"Glaciel," he called.

A gust of icy wind swept through the stone-cold room, and the Former Human appeared, complexion as pale as snow and blue eyes a limpid color, gleaming under the feeble candlelight as they devoutly stared at the Founder. It was a privilege granted by the beauty of his ocular orbs.

"Take this."

The Artificial Spirit glanced at the paper stack, tiny fingers carefully picking his master's work. He cradled the sheets like precious treasures, leaving behind him whispers of promises before vanishing in another freezing breeze.

Left alone in the silence of his study, Aku sighed. He wondered if Eve would survive or die.

She seemed so weak— Aku did not have the patience nor the inclination to help others.

For a moment, as he gazed at his fingers where flames danced in calculated monotony, Aku wondered if Eve would burn herself or if he'd push her into the fire first. Would she jump, or would he need to force her into it?

(Somehow, the sole notion of Eve surviving did not cross Aku's mind, and he had to wonder if he really wanted the Adam & Eve project to succeed.)

She was a disposable pawn. Only the heart was necessary— the vessel mattered not.

Like Cordelia, he'd plot the blonde's demise with relish and come to her burial place to lay a flower in her memory.

Decorum and image were important.

"Is the food to your liking, Eve?"

Yui's already stiff movement stiffened at the sudden call. She felt six pairs of eyes suddenly move to stare at her like a rare species. The blonde difficulty swallowed, her throat tighter and abruptly drying up.

Yui's pink eyes flitted to look into the golden ones of the Vampire (?) in front of her. There was a smile on his face, an unreadable one, and a patient light in his eyes as if he did not mind that she was taking almost a minute now to answer such a basic question. From beside her, the girl could feel the other eyes turning predatory the more she waited. They drilled into her skull like sharp screws, inciting pain and soaking fear into her being.

"Ah— I, the food is delicious, thank you," her voice trailed off, eyes uncomfortably flickering to look at the strawberry blond man. She didn't know his name. The man hadn't been there the first time she came into the mansion. Heat rushed at her cheeks before color drained from her face in fear that he'd take offense in her not knowing his name. Her eyes began to shift around in search of help— but who was she kidding? Yui did not have any ally in this house. No one would help her.

The male's lips did not curve more than before. Still, the curvature of his eyes grew, dazzling the poor girl with his beauty— an enticing and toxic kind of enchantment that would surely lead her down the bloody pavements of blissful torture before abandoning her in the most wicked form of hell.

"Mikazuki Aku," the Founder introduced, noting the relieved look that crossed the Human's face at his introduction. To somewhat erase traces of his inheritance, Aku took his Mother's name when he wasn't dealing with anything related to Founders. The Mikazuki Dukedom was famous enough for people who needed to know of his identity to be in the known— but not overly memorable that Demons would link him to the Tsukinami Royal Family or Founders at its mention.

"Thank you, Aku-kun," Yui finally breathed, relieved of the shackles of not knowing the man's name. The atmosphere around her took a bizarre turn at her words. She swore she heard some of the brothers snort, and the gazes took another turn, pitying her even more— in fact, it felt like she had died just a little bit. Yui did not fully understand her situation, but she was quick-witted enough to realize she had said something wrong.

Her eyes shot up to meet Aku's golden ones, knowing that the shift in the air had to somehow do with their exchange.

"I-I— I am so sorry!" she hurriedly apologized. What else could she do? She was not some all-powerful entity. She knew that each individual around this table was stronger than her and could easily snap her into two. She felt her breathing turn heavier, eyes misting over as panic engulfed her. "I— I—" her vision turned blurry, she wanted to vomit, and her head began to hurt.

Yui wanted to go home. It hadn't even been 24 hours since her arrival, and she already felt like giving up.

The soft chuckle that cut through the thick atmosphere like in a piece of paper broke Yui out of her spiraling thoughts.

"No need for apologies, Eve," Aku mentioned, and Yui heaved a relieved sigh. "It has been a while since anyone referred to me in such a friendly way. It caught me off guard."

"Ah— Oh, I see," Yui muttered, trying to find sense in his words and the way those around the table acted. "Th-then, how should I address you?" she asked.

Aku's expression did not change. "Aku-kun is fine, Eve," he allowed.

From the way the gazes around her shifted once more, Yui knew it wouldn't be fine for her safety to call the strawberry blond Demon in such a familiar way. She swallowed.

"No, no, I couldn't," she refused. "Uhm, would it be alright to call you, Mikazuki-san instead?" she asked, her voice coming out squeaky and unsteady. Yui's palm felt sweaty all over, and she was hot from stress and embarrassment, the despair crashing into her like torrential waves the second she stabilized her mindset to bring her into another rollercoaster of feelings.

The fact that no one glared daggers at her anymore had Yui relieved. She peeked at the male Demon, checking to see if she had offended him, and was startled to find the male sporting a neutral expression unlike the smile previously plastered on his face. Was he angry?

"Well, Mikazuki-sama is fine, I suppose," Aku dismissed, his gaze sliding off the Sacrificial Bride to go back to his meal.

He did not pay more attention to the girl, finding more interest in continuing his meal rather than seducing the blonde.

His fingers elegantly got hold of the cutlery, the etiquette his Mother ingrained into him taking over his body as he naturally brought pieces of food to his mouth. Such a shame for Eve not to call him by his name, but Aku would not tolerate anyone disrespecting his Mother's name, so Mikazuki-sama it was.

Paying minute attention to his charges and Eve around him, Aku carelessly discerned how the triplets kept on playing with her, using her as a new toy to cure their boredom. He noted without surprise that Shu did not care and that Subaru's nerves were slowly growing tenser— Eve's voice combined with the triplets did wonder. As for Reiji, he was uncharacteristically quiet, not acting against the triplets' lack of table manners or the rowdiness around the table.

Aku was keen on sensing people's feelings. Not because he was an empath, but because he liked to use the way they felt against them— reading the room was an essential skill for diplomats of his caliber. The minute shift in the air did not go past him. He glanced at his meal and decided that he wanted to finish his dinner in peace.

"Laito," he called, voice clear and cutting through all the disturbance around him. Aku did not raise his voice, yet all sound abruptly halted as if to make way for the older's following words.

The youngest of the triplet stopped his hand that was about to touch Yui midway. He blinked his languid green eyes, alertness dawning in his irises. "'Ji-sama?"

The Founder picked another piece of food with his fork, eyes flitting to look at Laito before sliding over to the scared blonde and back to his most sexually depraved nephew. "Tone it down," he demanded.

Golden eyes lazily held emerald green eyes in a staring contest, observing as wariness overtook the alert gleam before morphing into a wicked sensual light.

Aku granted his youngest nephew a smile. Edges of his lips invitingly curving upwards and eyes amorously bending down. "Be good," he enunciated, his voice mellow and as flat as before— not entirely fitting the expression on his face.

Laito grinned, bringing his hand back to his side. He picked his spoon, carelessly plunging it into the soup placed before him. "Sorry, Aku-jisama~."

Aku hummed.

"Suck up."

The Founder took a bite of his food, ignoring the oldest of his nephew's words. Ayato had always been the most rebellious of the triplets. Probably because Aku hadn't accorded the redhead much importance when he was younger, favoring his younger brothers over him— the firstborn. And partly for this exact reason, Laito— who best knew how to read the room and flatter him as a child had been his favorite. Kanato was just cute. The purple head was a broken piece of art, a catastrophically harmonious stained glass that would easily throne over churches and cults in the most destructive and evilest fashion.

"Ayato, mind your words," Reiji hissed at the younger Vampire, earning a click of the tongue and eye-roll from the male.

Silence once again settled in the dining room.

Aku looked up from his dish, a smile gracing his lips as his eyes met the Human's panicked gaze. "Would you care for seconds, Eve?"

Somehow, Yui had the feeling that of all of the Demons in the room, the most courteous one was the closest to killing her. She swallowed, a shaky smile plastered on her face.

"I— thank you, Mikazuki-sama."

Although I wouldn't call myself a Yui fan, she's still pretty good since she didn't die under the Sakamaki's care (⌒_⌒;)