"What a proper gentleman of high society doing here in Hell’s Pit?" the guard demands, eyebrow raising and baring his yellow teeth at Donghae in a snarl of disgust.

Hell’s Pit, even the name hides nothing of its nature and Donghae has choose to walk into the lion’s den.

"I am here to see my husband," Donghae says stiffly, locking his knees up and refusing to be cowed. It took him a lot of courage to get here, sneaking his way into the under-belied of Seoul’s dark and seedy underworld without permission and anyone knowing, and Donghae has no intention of going back without seeing Hyukjae.

"And who might he be?" the guard asks, lips twisted into a sneer. "Is he one of those fools that gamble away his life saving in a game thinking the lady luck would come to bless him? Or a scoundrel seeking pleasure in a woman’s bosom or between the thighs of a young man?" The guard narrows his eyes and gives Donghae an almost pitiful look. "Either way, people who come here are not worth your time, sweetheart. It’s best you leave them because no good person comes here for a good reason."

Donghae clenches his fist and bites back scathing remark. He hates being talk down like this as if he was a clueless child. Donghae may not know much about the other side of Seoul, but he is not naive in the ways of the world.

Donghae meets the gaze of the guard head on and lifts up his chin defiantly. “I believe you have heard of him, his name is Lee Eunhyuk,” Donghae reveals, knowing the full effect of the name will have on the guard.

The guard stiffens up and takes an awkward step back as if Donghae said the devil’s name. “You are—?”

Donghae nods and pulls back his hood. “The Earl of Bilfer and husband to Lee Eunhyuk, the Lord of Hell’s Pit, so do I have your permission to enter now?” he asks, looking at the guard expectantly.

"O-of course, sir," the guard says, lowering his head in respect. "Anything for my lord’s beloved husband."

Donghae internally winces at the word beloved, but if it get him through the door he could care less how untrue that is.

The guard half-turns toward the door to rhythmically knock several times on it, which Donghae assumes is the password for the people inside the building to open the door.

The metal door jerks open and a woman wearing a low-cut teal dress greets him. Donghae’s cheeks heat up and he looks everywhere but directly at her because her s are practically falling out.

He never been more horrified and embarrassed at such a show of skin and this is a reminder he’s not in part of Seoul where such blatant glimpse of flesh would be consider scandalous.

A quick glance at the woman’s face, she lasciviously grins and sends him a teasing wink, seemingly amused at his reaction. “Come along my lord, the party awaits you,” she says and gestures for him to follow her as she spins around toward the inside of the building.

The door opens up to a grand luxurious hall of hanging golden chandeliers and soft ambiance lighting, there are decorative vases and lounge seats spread throughout and occasionally there is a couple or several people enjoying themselves on it and maybe more with the way one lady has a young scantily clad man on his knees feeding her grapes with his mouth. 

Donghae tries not stare and keeps his eyes concentrate directly in front of him, but he never felt more overdressed then this second. He pulls his cloak tightly around him and quickly put up his hood, there’s something about this place that eats away at his armor and makes him nervous, even under the eyes of the watchful guards that are spaced throughout the hall, Donghae feels entirely too defenseless and open, but—he continues onward anyway.

Donghae and the woman quickly passes through the grand hall and the closer they get to their destination, the louder the voices ahead of them are.

When they finally arrived at wherever they are, right in front of them is a giant mass of a red curtain that hangs from one side of the room to the other and the noise comes directly from the other side of the curtain and it was terribly loud, a mixture of boisterous laughter and yelling that rise brazenly behind the curtain as if it has nothing to hide.

Before Donghae could do anything, the woman bows out, leaving him standing there alone.

Donghae stands rigidly in his spot, not quite sure what he should do now that he is here, because on the other side of the curtain is Seoul’s seedy underworld and he doesn’t have to do this, he could easily turn back and nobody would be the wiser… but Donghae isn’t a coward to run for the hill just because this is a completely different environment for him.

He finds a yellow cord that hang from the top of the curtain and pulls on it slightly before he could have a second thought about it. The curtain slowly separates and between the folds Donghae has a sneak peek of what the other side of Seoul would look like.

There are men and women crowding around table of cards and dices and people sitting on each other lap, kissing and touching so freely that Donghae’s once again feels heated just looking at them but these people aren’t just random people of the streets, who manages to find their way in here. Donghae recognizes the Duchess of Elin, the Count of Sicamore, and so many more of his peerages doing things that he has never thought they would do in the proper light of society’s eyes.

There is even a center stage for a boxing tournament where a man is having a bout against a woman, and she has him on floor and beating his face to pulp with her bare knuckles much to delight of the crowd and people exchanging money.

The cacophony noise of Hell’s Pit starts to bleed into one another, flesh and voices of people doing things, saying things that Donghae always been taught is wrong and so terribly wrong is all out in front of him and he finds that while it’s unnerving to him, it hasn’t scare him away.

So, this is the other side of Seoul, having none of the superficiality of the upper world and baring it all, its ugliness and sinful secrets so shamelessly and wantonly that Donghae has to blink.

This place is Hyukjae’s cradle, a den of vices: for drunkards to indulge in their poison of choice, of sins of the flesh, and a gamble with lady luck. This is definitely not a place for one of Donghae’s noble stature but—but this strange ambiance, a place where lords and ladies of noble breeding can mingle and drink with low blooded commoners without having to think twice, the society’s etiquette and rules are thrown out of the window, and debauchery may bring fear of ruination on the other side of Seoul but here—it is their lifeblood.

There is a sort of freedom in it, Donghae thinks and though he doesn’t quite get it entirely but he can see it.

Donghae may not be use to this—side of Seoul but, throwing all precaution into the wind, he came here to learn. More than anything, Donghae loathes to be on the side of ignorant, even more so when it comes to Hyukjae.

Their marriage may be a shame and Donghae is very much new to Hyukjae’s world but Donghae is determine to know more about his estrange and often time enigmatic husband and the world that he came from, even if it means he has to consort with the denizens of Hell.

But what is a little sin if it’s mean keeping the sanctity of their marriage?

"Sir, care for a game of Vingt-et-un? We have an extra spot for you," the dealer asks him.

Donghae blinks in surprise at being address and he pulls the cloak tighter around himself, trying to seem inconspicuous as possible but it doesn't seem to be working though as all eyes from the gaming table are suddenly on him.

"Thank you," he says, brushing off the invite, "but I'll rather just watch." He rather not bring attention to himself lest Hyukjae caught on that he is here and he'll be in so much trouble.

"Watching isn't as much fun as playing though," the dealer points out and the other players around the table nod and murmur in agreement.

Donghae opens his mouth, the refusal is on the tip of his tongue but his hands itch to join them ever since he stopped by their table to watch the dealing of the cards and the thrill of a game where an entire fortune can be won or lost with just handful of cards. 

He shouldn't. It wouldn't be proper, but then a person of his stature shouldn't be here in the first place yet here he is now.

Donghae shrugs and thinks why the hell not. "I guess I'll play then," he says, with barely contained excitement. It's not every day that he get to visit a gaming hell and play a game Vingt-et-un without any supervision and with the expectation of someone borne into high society hanging over his shoulder. Right now he's just a nameless person who is invited to a game and it's just one game anyway, what harm could it bring, and besides nobody will ever know.

The players around the table scoot over to make room for him and Donghae gingerly takes his seat between a rough bearded looking man who looks like any drunkard on the street and a man in a blue ornate mask wearing fine dark blue waistcoat and gold buttons, a person of high society most definitely, Donghae thinks.

He shifts in his seat to get comfortable as a crowd form around them for the next round of Vingt-et-un. Donghae's eyes trial across the table, taking in the appearance of the other players. There is a lady wearing an elaborate maroon color dress sitting two seats away from him, and another ordinary looking man wearing a simple dress shirt sitting opposite of the lady. That makes five of them total participating in the next round.

It sorts of a strange feeling seeing all these people from different background sitting around the table like there's nothing peculiar about it, but maybe it isn't so strange after all.

The dealer starts to shuffles his heck and smiles, making his eyes the corner of his eyes crinkle. "Are we ready to play, ladies and gentlemen?" he asks.

A murmur of assent rose among them and the dealer starts to deal the cards to everyone at the table.

"Thank you," Donghae says, when a face-up card is place in front of him.

It's a seven and Donghae quickly casts a glance around the table to gauge all other players’ card. There's a nine for the man in the dress shirt, a king for the lady in the maroon dress, a jack for the bearded man, a three for the masked man, and finally a ten for the dealer.

The dealer deal another set of cards, but this time they're face down. "Please place your bet now, sirs and ma'am," he says, once he has finished handing out a card to each of them.

Donghae carefully picks up both of his cards and flips the faced down card over till he sees a five and seven. He puts them down again once he got the numbers in his head. His cards aren't good, twelve wouldn't give him much hope of winning but if he ask for another card there's a high chance of him going bust. Still--it wouldn't be a gamble if there's no risk in it.

He pulls out his pouch of money, tucked between his belt loops, and pulls out twenty-five gold coins. He puts the stack of coins on the table with the other coins that were already lay down by the other players.

There's a quiet murmur that arose with Donghae's bet and even the dealer's raises an eyebrow at Donghae's stack of coins, a number that was higher than the rest.

Donghae thinks he should be more bother that he's practically throwing money on the table since it was only three months ago when he couldn't even afford to buy a new suit because his family was drowning in debts. Now, though with Hyukjae's help and the backing of his enterprises and all the money he apparently make underground in a gambling den like this and Hyukjae been generous enough to give him an allowance each month to spend it however he please. Donghae got nothing better to do with it so doesn't feel a tiny bit guilty throwing Hyukjae's money around, after all, rather he like it or not, Donghae did married Hyukjae for his money.

It's time he own up to that at least, by shamelessly spending Hyukjae's money of course.

"Feeling confident about your cards, huh?" the mask man on his left asks, scooting his chair closer to Donghae. Hand brushing Donghae's shoulder and Donghae jerks out of the touch.

Donghae grits his teeth and chooses to ignore the man, and hopes that he'll takes the unsubtle hint and go away.

"Another card for you, sir?" the dealer asks.

Donghae nods stiffly and taps his finger on the table to give a signal to go ahead. Before Donghae could go and check his newly acquired card, the mask man leans close to him and presses his body up against his side.

"You smell good," he says huskily, breathing heavily against Donghae's right ear and Donghae shudders in disgust.

Normally in these sort of situation, Donghae would just get up and walk away and try not to cause any problem because punching someone in the face just because they sleazy dirt bag is not at all proper behavior for one of his station but here in Hell's Pit, Donghae doesn't think they will mind it too much if Donghae throw the man on the ground and let him taste blood in his mouth because Donghae has very little patience for these kind of things.

Lesser still for arrogant presumptuous who thinks they can just do whatever they want.

Donghae stiffens up when he feels the brush of a hand sliding his across his inner thigh and he is so completely done with this.

Donghae abruptly pushes himself out of his seat, the chair slides out a loud screech, much to the shock of everyone else around him. "Don't touch me," he hisses, turning his head to face his molester and the man eyes go startlingly wide and before he could say anything to counter to Donghae, Donghae kicks the man's chair and shoves him down onto the floor.

The people around them scatters like mice as the mask man stumbles to the ground and Donghae glares at him. "I don't appreciate such blatant disrespect of my person," he says calmly as possible, as his fists clench tightly at his side and he tries really hard not to give the man a bloody nose as something else to think about because It's bad enough that a crowd is forming around them and everyone seems to be looking at them but Donghae needs to get away now before he attracts the wrong sort of attention.

Someone grabs hold of Donghae's shoulder just as Donghae thought about making a quick exit and he so does not have the time for this.

"Let me go you philistine or I'll--" the sentence dies on his tongue before he could even finish that thought as he is yanks around to face the furious eyes of his husband. "H-Hyukjae," he says, completely shock.

The scowl on Hyukjae's face shuts down all further words Donghae about to say. Hyukjae chooses to ignore Donghae to shift his focus on the mask man lying on floor who looks at Hyukjae with wide and frighten eyes.

Hyukjae releases his grip on Donghae's shoulder, but he trials his hand down to hold onto Donghae's wrist instead as if Donghae would run away any moment now and how right he was. But even if he didn't have Hyukjae's hand to anchor him to the spot, Donghae's legs seem useless and stuck just by the mere presence of Hyukjae being here. He hasn't seen Hyukjae for five days now and living apart despite being married is a strange and lonely thing for Donghae and he doesn't want to say he miss Hyukjae but he really misses Hyukjae.

Hyukjae steps forward and takes a dazed Donghae with him as he approaches the man laying the floor. There are several number of rough looking men appearing out of nowhere and shouting to the crowd to get back whatever they're doing and there's nothing to watch here. The crowd quickly disperses and even the players from the Vingt-et-un's table disappear too leaving Donghae, Hyukjae, a group of Hell's Pit enforcers, the dealer, and the almost pitiful man on the floor looking like he might combust any moment now. 

Hyukjae smiles down at the man, something erse and dreadful and not the smiles that Hyukjae sometimes rewarded Donghae when he'd done something that particularly pleasing to Hyukjae. Donghae doesn't like this smile at all but this is another side of his husband that Donghae rarely get to see and didn't he say he wanted to know all of Hyukjae? Even the part of him that scare Donghae a little?

He pins the mask man's hand to the ground with his foot and digs into the man's hand mercilessly. "Taeyo, what have I told you about touching things that aren't yours? Need I remind you that I am not a forgiving person when it comes to those that break my rules not once but twice?" he asks, lifting his foot away now.

"P-please Eunhyuk, I--I didn't mean to," Taeyo chokes out, pulling himself up to a sitting position, "I promise I won't do it again."

"I would be more incline to believe you if this was your first infraction but," Hyukjae says, giving a careless shrug, "I'm not a kind man you see and today you touch someone you should never even look at, let alone touch with your filthy hand."

Taeyo casts a quick glance his way and looks horrified as if realizing Donghae's importance and Donghae almost feel sorry for the man but not quite. He's not particularly kind either since this isn't Taeyo's first time committing such act and he thinks of all the men and women who'd been molested by Taeyo up to now and that makes Donghae mad thinking about it.

"Drag him out and make sure he'll won't be using that hand to touch anyone inappropriately again," Hyukjae orders to his men and they hurry to pick Taeyo crumbling form up from the floor and drags him out, and nobody in Hell's Pit seems bother be all that much bother by the commotion that Donghae had inadvertently cause as if this is the kind of thing that happen often here in the Hell's Pit and maybe it is.

Donghae stares at the man standing before him now and there's a sense of ruthlessness and grim sort of way that comes with Hyukjae's decision and Donghae's chest tightens at the jarring difference of the Hyukjae he witnessed earlier in their marriage and to the one that is now before him.

There is many things about their marriage that is a lie and that while they fool their family in thinking it's a love match but Donghae has always assume that Hyukjae was honest to him at least because he has always been kind and indulging of Donghae's wills even when Hyukjae remains mostly indifference to their marriage. He'd set up a separate house for Donghae to live in and let him do whatever he wanted as long as they continue this charade of a marriage. Donghae has more freedom being married to Hyukjae then when he was unwed but that kind of life is unbearingly lonely and Donghae finds himself trying to find excuses to see his husband just to cure it.

Though if it was just simply loneliness, he could have find a companion somewhere else and Donghae doesn't think Hyukjae would mind that either but Donghae longs for a life similar to his parents and a love that stir the heart and excite him and Donghae is determine to have something more profound out of their loveless marriage, so even if it means he has to cross into Hyukjae's world to understand him he'll do it.

But even though he prepare for all the possible scenarios he certainly didn't expect this. He doesn't know if the charming, quiet, and reserve man that he supposedly married is the same one as this one that appeared before him now and that's almost scarier than walking into the belly of Seoul's underworld unaccompanied and stalking the place that his husband own, where the people of Seoul goes to commit sins away from the critical eyes of society.

Donghae doesn't know what he should feel right now. Fear maybe? But that is more of a shock seeing that side of Hyukjae then any true fear. Betrayal then? But Hyukjae didn't lie to Donghae when he said the things he did in Hell's Pit were not for the faint of hearts and if Donghae were to ever see him there he may not come to think of Hyukjae as a good person anymore (he had smile grimly at Donghae when he said that and Donghae had assured him that it wouldn't happened but he didn't know at that time what that meant). Or is it really hurt? That ultimately, Hyukjae didn't trust Donghae at all to let him see this side of him, that he thinks Donghae would be that fickle and so easy influence that he--he would change his opinion of Hyukjae just like that.

Donghae's heart pains at that thought because in Hyukjae's eyes Donghae is still that childish useless noble he meet and proposed to, and who could never understand him and his world and Donghae could say anything and try his hardest to prove otherwise but it wouldn't change anything. Hyukjae just doesn't care about him at all.

With that conclusion, Donghae's knees almost buckles under the weight of his epiphany but Hyukjae catches him before he collapses on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Hyukjae holds him up and looks frantically at him. He touches Donghae's face in a gentle caress and the place where he touch leaves an almost a heated hand print on Donghae's skin.

Donghae hasn't been this close to Hyukjae in a while and his cheeks start to flush at the close proximity. His breath stuttered and shallow, and he's dizzy by Hyukjae's warmth radiating off of him and oh how he wants to bury himself in Hyukjae's arms but he's so afraid Hyukjae might push him away and that is something he couldn't live with.

Donghae nods numbly as he finds his balance again. "I'm fine," he murmurs, pulling away from Hyukjae.

"Did Taiyo hurt you in anyway?" Hyukjae asks, worry and fear clearly etches onto his face. He looks Donghae up and down in close examination, checking for any open sign of wounds.

Donghae shakes his head, almost relieve in seeing the change of demeanor from Hyukjae. Hope flares within him and he feels the cripplingly need to quench it down but--but if Hyukjae can care this much about him then surely the day Hyukjae may feel more for Donghae will come. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Then just like that the mood around them shifts to muted tense atmosphere as Hyukjae's face twists into a cold fury. "What are you doing here, Donghae?" he demands. "You should be back home and not anywhere near here at all. I specifiably told you not to come here, this isn't a place that you can just enter however you like. It's dangerous."

"Um," Donghae says, his mind racing with a hundred carefully thought out reasons and excuses that he had prepared but the nervous pitter-patter of his heart swallows it, and what came out instead is, "I was just wandering around and somehow stumble into here. I didn't know that this was your place though!"

Hyukjae looks unimpressed and Donghae wishes he could disappear into the floor because that was absolutely terrible. Even a child could come up with something better than that.

Donghae steps back nervously because this is an argument he's not prepare to fight.

"Sir," the dealer calls out to them but none of them care enough to response.

Hyukjae narrows his eyes. "Don't play dumb, Donghae. It's not a good look on you." He grabs hold of Donghae's wrist again to keep him in place and Donghae doesn't have the strength or the heart to pull out because Hyukjae even when he's so angry at Donghae, Donghae is delighted. At least that's better than the usual indifference he gets, that means he care enough to be angry at you, his mind helpfully whispers. 

Donghae frowns and opens his mouth to protests, "I'm not--"

"Sir," the dealer tries again to get their attention.

Hyukjae jerks his head around to face the dealer.  "What, Suho?" he snaps.

Suho scratches his head, looking so hesitant and nervous to be under Hyukjae's scrutiny now. "Um, that sir over there just won our most recent round of Vingt-et-un," Suho says, looking like he rather be anywhere but here.

"He what?" Hyukjae demands.

"I did?" Donghae eyes go wide and he jerks his wrist out of Hyukjae's hold, hurried back toward the table and finds all three of his cards faced up.

"I won?" he asks again, staring at the five, seven, and an eight laying innocently on the table.

"Yes," Suho says behind him, "your score is the highest point this round and nobody could beat it."

"Hyukjae, did you see that?! I won!" Donghae says, turning around to face Hyukjae and nearly bouncing in his spot in excitement. He never won anything like this before, and it's exhilarating. Donghae thinks he can understand why people gamble if it means that every time they won, it feels like this, so high on life and not even if the world come crashing down can ruin this moment for him. It's addictive and he gets it, why some people throw their entire fortune just to chase after such feeling, like he's untouchable.

But he's not as he meets Hyukjae's icy glare. Donghae's world refocus and shifts back to where he is, a gambling hell and right in front of him is his husband who looks about to explode at any moment now.

"Donghae," Hyukjae says tightly, his handsome face twisted into something awful and so, so not please at all, "we are going to have a talk."

Right, Donghae is still in so much trouble. 

a/n: *okay so basic premise is: donghae is a lord (he has a title and noble linage) and Hyukjae has the wealth but no title to his name and a commoner. donghae married hyukjae for his money to save his family from poverty and hyukjae married donghae for his link into the ton/elite of seoul and to provide a way for his sister to married into the ton.

**hell’s pit is the seoul’s most infamous/notorious underground gambling den and brothel house and the man who rule is one Lee Eunhyuk… with no connection to Mister Lee Hyukjae of a reputable reputation of course. i can’t imagine running a gambling den/brothel house w/o having some sort of second identity b/c SCANDALS though many of the top ppl in seoul already know who hyukjae is but they are also the one who owe debts/often visit hell’s pit so they can’t say anything lololol.

***Vingt-et-un means tweny-one in french and a popular game played in regency england. basically, it's regency time version of black-jack! :D

****troublemaker!donghae is my fav even when he is all about being a ~proper gentleman, haha /o\. also i love that once donghae got over the fact that he is some sort of 'gold-digger' he is totally okay with spending all of hyukjae's money LOLOLOL. donghae is really determine and a strong person but when it comes to feelings he's just really weak /o\.