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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3EdPgr4.png[/img][/center]
[Color=salmon][b]Time:[/b][/color] Evening
[Color=salmon][b]Location:[/b][/color] Grand Ballroom
[Color=salmon][b]Attire:[/b][/color] 
[Color=salmon][b]Interaction:[/b][/color] Calbert
[Color=salmon][b]Mention:[/b][/color] Charlotte, All the Damiens

Lorenzo remained quiet as Calbert spoke with the softness comparable to the fluffy tail of Charlotte’s cross-eyed cat. In a way, it calmed his nerves, giving him nothing to fight against. In the place of opposition was submission, and he was not one to bully anyone, not even the count who had taken advantage of his family for over a year. Continuing on this warpath was not beneficial to either Charlotte or himself– that much was true. Destroying Calbert, as he desired, would grant him nothing of consequence, while making another family suffer. What of his wife, his daughters, his son… People he held no ire toward. 

Lorenzo’s heart ached, urging him to burn the name Damien down with its proudest bearer, Calbert, but he would not be scorched alone. Maybe if he hated him more, he could go through with it. How much more? How much more could he hate this man? The one who used the death of his wife as a blade against his jugular. The one who forced him to ostracize himself and his daughter from those they called friends. 

Yet the same man, wearing the same face, with the same voice, spoke to him with a lathered tone. Whether it be honey or feces smeared on his words, Lorenzo would [b]never[/b] accept them. No man– No father, should ever accept them. 

He could hate much more; he knew it as a wave of heat washed over his skin. Like a second wind that reminded him, he could go further. 

How much more? Lorenzo had the answer now. It was so close he could grasp it if he wished to, but Lorenzo Vikena was not Calbert Damien or Edin Danrose… not in this moment. Not today… Today, he grasped mercy because he knew what his fire would burn. So with sharpness, he replied, not to wound, but to threaten.

[color=salmon]“Stay away from me.”[/color] The hate was thick on his tongue. [color=salmon]“Stay away from my family, or yours will suffer. Do you hear me, Count Damien? You may see me as prey, but we both know what happens when the animal you hunt is only left with the option of defending itself or its offspring. Now, go!”[/color]

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