Jinwoo could see what Mino couldn't see about himself.

The Accident

Be graceful. Kind. Intelligent. Admirable. Be perfect. In order to receive love and happiness, stick to your mother's words and everything will be fine. But his father contradicted with his wife's thoughts all the time.

Be confident. Rude. Smart enough to look as if one has received an education. Intimidating. Be a man. Mino preferred his father's words at times, when being perfect was too hard for him. But when times did not call for a man, but a perfect person, Mino would stand up straight and walk with a perfect strut he had perfected over the course of many years.

Being perfect was amazing. People would compliment Mino for anything he has done, just because they know he will be perfect at it. And when Mino felt like he was in the mood, he would compliment them back, because being perfect meant being kind.

But being a man was harder. People complimented Mino, not because he did well, but because of their intimidation of him. They would tell him how handsome he was, how tall he was, how kind he was. But Mino would have to scoff, because he is not perfect and cannot accept their compliments.

He thought he could control the two well, confident and perfect. He did well with them for a couple of years, knowing when to be confident or perfect. When meeting commoners, be confident. When meeting nobles, be perfect. Only when he met his parents would he show his true self.

Cowardly. Dim-witted. Ugly.

The harsh comments only made Mino work harder, knowing that being the prince of a country wasn't easy and he needed to be not him, but perfect and confident.

But then the accident occurred.Mino was walking in one of the castle's magnificent gardens, the one with the roses and lilies. His butler, a shady man with an even shadier name (Black Fowl) stood by him. He never understood his parent's trust to his butler when the butler would not give any knowledge of his background. But for ten years, Black Fowl had served him faithfully, and Mino saw no need to be wary of him.

He looked at the roses, the red hue bright and brilliant. They were beautiful and that was only one of the reasons Mino loved roses. Mino loved anything red; flowers, food, clothes, and hair.

Blood fascinated him the most, even though he knew that blood loss had been one of the reasons his older brother had died. But no matter what he tried to convince himself, no matter how many times he tried to tell himself that this thought is not perfect nor manly, he couldn't stop loving the color red.

"Black Fowl," Mino beckoned his trusted butler to him. Black Fowl walked toward him steadily. "Look at this rose, isn't it quite beautiful?" He marveled over the beauty of the rose. Its perfect petals rose to him, in such a crisp formation, and formed a perfect blossom. Mino pointed at the flower in a childish manner, knowing Black Fowl will not tell his parents about his act.

Black Fowl leaned toward the rose, his eyes curious, and peered at it intensely. "It is indeed a beautiful flower, Your Highness," he said after a few seconds. Mino beamed brightly before carefully plucking the flower out of the bush.

He offered it to Black Fowl with a big flourish. His butler took it with a heavy sigh before pulling out a knife to cut the thorns on the stem.

Mino frowned slightly, silently thinking the thorns added a certain effect to the rose, and which Black Fowl got rid of.

Black Fowl was about to cut the last of the thorns when he tensed up suddenly with his neck rigid. Mino glanced at him suspiciously, his eyes curious and wary.

“Prince Mino! Intruders have invaded the castle grounds!” Black Fowl yelled while brandishing his sword.

Everything was a blur from there, a blur of red and black. It should have worried Mino because red means blood, and blood means death and death means dishonor on Mino and dishonor on Mino means no more perfectness and no more manliness. But the blood fascinated Mino.

He fell to the ground and watched the fight between a mask