Chapter Text
Hwang Hyunjin was no more than a butler for the famous Dubois family. This family was known as one of the wealthiest of France, therefore it was already an honor for the young man to serve them. It was also fortunate the Dubois family treated their servants fairly well. Thanks to them, Hyunjin lived happily in the manor while providing for himself.
Hyunjin's family had long been deceased ever since a tragic incident during the late 1920’s, a few years after the family moved to Paris. He secured his job as a butler in 1934, before the youngest son of the Dubois family, Nathaniel was born. Hyunjin managed to befriend seven other butlers who surprisingly were also from South Korea. He saw them as family, and they saw him as their brother.
Hyunjin was able to have around 6 hours of sleep every day, making sure that he woke up early to prepare and serve the Dubois family. Whenever he had nothing to do during the night, he sketched out portraits of people who accompanied him in his life on paper and by memory. Hyunjin always had a passion for any kind of art – however he was especially attached to visual arts, such as sketching and painting. His friends always complimented his paintings, bringing him joy even though the paintings never seemed good enough for himself. Still, he felt that other people's feelings were all that mattered to him.
On the night of September 3rd, Hyunjin barely had any time for himself as he had a lot more work that day. After changing out of his butler uniform, he plopped onto his bed. It was usually soft, but it felt a bit uncomfortable for him at that moment, almost as if it didn't want the man to sleep for the night. He didn't even feel tired after all.
Before reaching out to pick up his sketchbook on the bedside table, he noticed something strange about the item beside it.
It was a quartz brooch, framed by silver. It was an accessory for the usual butler uniform, though every brooch varied from all kinds of colors. Some were blue, some were black, and some were white — just like his. However, his brooch always changed colors whenever no one else was around, fading from white to black, then dark blue, and then purple, all the way back to the pristine white the brooch would have.
Hyunjin always ignored it, but he suddenly felt suspicious about it. What if the Dubois family gave him a cursed brooch? But no, he never believed in magic, or even curses. Maybe it was just the moonlight reflecting onto the quartz, as the phenomenon only happened during midnight. Well then, that should be it, Hyunjin thought to himself.
Then he was starting to doubt that too.
But just as his inner monologue was about to continue, he was interrupted by a bright light outdoors, contrasting the dark midnight sky.
Hyunjin rose from his mattress to the window of his room, trying to get a clear view of where the light came from.
It turns out that it wasn't a shooting star as Hyunjin imagined, it was just a person covered in white robes, their right forearm being the only part of skin revealed as they swung a staff that held a glowing orb.
Wait a second.
That wasn't an ordinary person.
It was one of the famous magical warriors of France.
Le Sauveur sans nom, also known as ‘Le Sans Nom’.
It was jaw dropping. Hyunjin had never seen Le Sans Nom with his own eyes. He had never seen him with his own eyes. He had always thought of the magical warriors as mere myths. Never did he think of seeing one up close, especially the leader of the warriors.
The nameless warrior turned around to face the Dubois manor, only to sigh and head to the Seine river. Hyunjin managed to catch his appearance in time. Le Sans Nom's face was pale, his long white hair nearly blending in with his skin. His right eye wasn't visible, being covered by a dark purple mark. The newspapers stated that it originated from trying to defeat a for with forbidden dark magic. Then again, Hyunjin never believed in any of that magic stuff.
Hyunjin thought this moment would be impossible to witness. Yet there he was, gazing outside and trying to process what just happened. Were the magical warriors actually real? Did sorcery actually exist? Everything was weird to him.
Confused, Hyunjin rushed back to his bed to finally begin sketching. Hopefully he could cut a few hours from his sleep, he thought. He finally grabbed the leather bound book, ignoring the brooch that was still flickering in purple.
He sat silently on the mattress, thinking of who or what to draw. Sure enough, he could only think of one person — Le Sans Nom. His appearance invaded his brain at that point. He looked too beautiful to Hyunjin, while also reminding him of a friend of his..
Hyunjin was hesitant at first. Then, he finally surrendered and began sketching the nameless warrior. “Curse you, stupid nameless savior, taking up all the space in my mind right when I first saw you.” He muttered under his breath, still denying that he started to become attracted to Le Sans Nom.
The sketch looked a bit off, worse than expected, but it wasn't because he forgot what the warrior looked like. No, he still remembers every detail, and he hated that. It's just that.. He looked a lot like his friend, Christopher.
Hyunjin began to draw a few more portraits of the warrior on one page, then a few portraits of his butler friend on another. And indeed, the two look similar. Hyunjin doesn't get it. Sure, they both look absolutely ethereal, but it isn't possible for both of the people he likes to look the exact same. Wait, did I say ‘like’?
Maybe Hyunjin has a type, or maybe Le Sans Nom is a witch and imitates the person one likes- no, that's not really possible, isn't it? Hyunjin doesn't even like Christopher in that way. Or maybe Le Sans Nom is Christopher-
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door to his bedroom and opens it without a command, interrupting his inner monologue once more.
“Good evening, Hyunjin-ah. Why aren't you asleep yet? It's 1 o'clock.” Christopher approaches the black haired man in bed. Hyunjin finally noticed that it has been one hour since he first laid on his bed. “As if you ever sleep too.” Hyunjin argued. “Now get out of my room, Chan hyung.”
Christopher lightly chuckled. “Oh come on, I have insomnia, and you don't.” He nudges the younger man.
Hyunjin knows this because he once stumbled upon his room while he was still awake once. He only stepped out of his own chambers to fetch a glass of water, but he just couldn't help but sneak a look at his hyung. He was sitting at his desk, writing a letter to god knows who.
“Who are you writing that to?” Hyunjin teased. “No one.” Christopher turned his torso to face Hyunjin, the pale moonlight shining upon his face. He looked stunning like that, even in sleepwear. Hyunjin almost felt envious of whoever he was writing the letter to, regardless of the contents.
Hyunjin brushed the thought off. He was just too exhausted, or so he thought. “Why aren't you asleep? It's 3 in the morning.” He questioned. “I have insomnia, I can't sleep really well.” Christopher replied with a reasonable answer. “Well then,” Hyunjin excuses himself, “I'll just go back to what I was about to do, good night.”
Christopher wears a soft and caring expression as the younger butler heads to the kitchen.
Until then, Hyunjin still thinks of that night. The way Christopher couldn't sleep well all this time, and the fact that he most likely wasn't writing that letter for him. It's not like he even liked him.
That's when he realized that Christopher was staring at his sketchbook this whole time. Embarrassed, he hid the book away and bit his lower lip, while his hyung looked away nervously with a hint of worry. “I'm sorry.” The two of them apologize in sync.
“You should really go back to your room.” Hyunjin kindly shooed him out. Christopher surrendered, and gave him a nod and a small grin before hurrying out of the young man's chambers. Hyunjin fell flat on his bed, his eyes focused on the ceiling above him. He knew that he was absolutely done for. There was nothing he could do. But one thing's for sure, he could fall asleep and try to forget it all the next morning.
✦
The nameless warrior rushed to leave the manor before being caught. It has been a while since he last went out in this form. He had to rest from patrols and missions to recover from the side effects of using dark magic. Dark patterns spread across his fingertips and right eye. He had to hide those with a spell, even that is harming him too.
Le Sauveur sans nom leapt from one building to another, stopping to swing his staff in order to use his magic for whatever reason. He turns around to face the Dubois manor for a few minutes, before sighing and heading to the Seine river.
In a familiar alleyway, he meets up with his six companions. They gave a salute before letting the leader speak.
“As you all know, there will be more threats around Paris, and my condition is quite bad.” Le Sans Nom alleged. “Therefore, I think we should finally find a new warrior capable to accompany all of us on our missions. Do you all agree with my decision?”
The rest of the warriors looked at each other then agreed, but one with chubby cheeks interrupted. “But what about you, hyung?”
“I will still be with you during missions if I can. But most of the time, I will be the mentor to our new warrior.” Le Sans Nom declared. Upon hearing the statement, the warriors looked at him with worry in their faces. “Won't you be worried that something will happen, like what happened to Saint Prudence?” A blonde warrior spoke up. “If that happens again, one of you will have to do the job. I trust you all.”
With that, everyone split up for their patrol around Paris.