Trying To Survive as the Main Antagonist by: BK1235

Chapter Two:

"Do you want revenge on them?"
"Revenge you say, Mr. Duke, all I can tell you is if you didn't adopt me today, they would have sold me off as a slave," Mikail said.

"A slave?"

"Yeah, the orphanage is a front to sell slaves to the underground. They take in children and put the ones with magical abilities up for slavery. It's quite disgusting to think that those horrid people were nobles," Mikail said as he looked out the window.

"Mikail."

"This child's vocabulary," Noril thought.

"How old are you," Noril asked.

"I'm five years old."

"Five years old, you have quite the vocabulary for a five-year-old."

"Shit, maybe I drew too much attention from him. The original Mikail would've freaked out when the duke came in. He would have been surprised to see the duke's eyes. This is considering that Mikail is the duke's nephew," he thought.

"How much has this child gone through? Although the red eyes are only a part of the Gruz bloodline, how does he have those eyes? Could he have something to do with my missing brother? The girl he eloped with also had white hair," he thought.

"Do you remember much of your parents?"

"They died in a carriage crash. I was the only survivor, and the orphanage brought me in. Although after I turned two was when they began abusing me. Apparently my eye color and hair color was the sign of a cursed child."

"I'll burn that place to the ground if you want."

"The children without a home would suffer, don't do anything too reckless, your highness."

"Hey, I'm not the duke to you; I am your father, so call me Dad."

"I don't think I'm ready to do that quite yet," Mikail said.

After a while...
They arrived at the estate. Noril got out of the carriage and helped Mikail out. The servants were waiting for them.
"Welcome home, your Highness Duke Gruz," they said.
"Welcome, my son Mikail as well," he said.
"Welcome, young master Mikail," they said.
"You three, take Mikail and bathe him. Treat his wounds and find him suitable clothes. Mikail, I'll be waiting for you in the dining room," Noril said while pointing towards three maids.
The maid bowed.
"Yes my lord," they said.
One of them was a young maiden with bright red hair and green eyes. Another was a maiden with black hair and brown eyes. The third was an older woman with gray hair and blue eyes.
"That child is the new young master," the older woman thought.
Mikail was taken to a bathroom and stripped of his rags. He was in the bathtub, and the maids washed his hair and body. One of the maids shuttered as she saw the scars on Mikails back.
"I know. The scars are bad. I'm okay," Mikail said.
"What has this child gone through," The maids in the room thought.
"Young Master Mikail, would you like us to cut your hair after your bath," the older maid asked.
"No, I rather keep it long; it shows how long I've survived," Mikail said.
The maids felt pity for Mikail as she looked at his back again.
"I understand, Young master."
The water became filthy after he was done. The maids dressed him in a white buttoned-down shirt and black pants. They had belonged to the other two princes when they were younger. Mikail was taken to the dining room, where the duke was waiting. There were two other people there. One was the oldest prince, Ray Gruz. He has black hair and red eyes. The other was the second prince, Wilhelm Gruz. He had black hair and red eyes as well. He was slightly short than the first prince. They were three years apart. Wilhelm is 16, and Ray is 19. They stared at the little boy who entered the room. Ray was smiling. Wilhelm looked angry and disliked Mikail.
"Oh my, who's this adorable little girl, Father," Ray shouted.
"I'm a boy," Mikail shouted.
"Oh, you clean up nice, Mikail," Noril said.
Mikail's hair was cleaner and in a low ponytail with a red tie. He had an emotionless expression on his face. Ray ran over and picked him up.
"I'm the first prince of the Gruz Duchy, Ray Gruz. You're name?"
"Mikail."
"Hey, your full name is Mikai Gruz," Noril said.
"Whatever, put me down."
"No, you have to ask nicely."
"Guess I got to act like my age," Mikail thought.
"Big brother, please put me down," Mikail asked while pouting.
Ray put him down.
"Aw, my little brother is so adorable," Ray shouted.
Wilhelm glared at Mikail.
"That's right, Wilhelm dislikes Mikail a lot; in the book, Mikail poisons Wilhelm," he thought.
"His hair is similar to that commoner that took our uncle away from us," Wilhelm said, looking angry.
"Wilhelm," Ray shouted.
"It's okay, and everyone dislikes me because of my hair and eye color. It's nothing I'm not used to. If you don't want anything to do with me, I'll stay out of your sight. I'm sorry, Duke, but I want to go to sleep," Mikail said while he had an emotionless expression.
Wilhelm felt a sense of guilt. He saw the bandages on his face and hands. Noril got up from the table and picked up Mikail. He brought him to the table and sat down with him in his lap. Mikail sighed.
"Can I leave, Duke?"
"No, you're not leaving until you eat. You're so skinny. You have no fat. It's no wonder I thought you were a girl. You're tiny for a five-year-old," Noril said.
"Why were you so determined to adopt me, Duke?"
"Huh?"
"Is it because of my red eyes? Is it because you felt pity toward a battered and bruised child? I don't understand," Mikail asked emotionlessly.
"This is pissing me off. The look of pity is not love. This duke is pitying me because of the torture Mikail endured," Mikail thought.
Wilhelm hearing him speak, slammed the table with his fist. Mikail jumped and started shaking a bit. Noril noticed the change.
"He's shaking," Noril thought.
"Shit, Mikail body stills has trauma, so I'm afraid of sudden sounds," Mikail thought.
"Mikail, are you alright," Noril asked.
"I'm fine."
"What the hell has that brat gone through," Wilhelm shouted.
"The question is, what haven't I gone through? At least I wasn't raped," Mikail stated, causing all the people in the room to have a dark expression.
"Hearing those words come out of a five-year-old's mouth is probably shocking, but I'm not the Mikail of this world. I won't let Mikail die," he thought.
Mikail had stopped shaking, but his expression was grim.
"Hey, is that child really five years old, Father," Ray asked.
"Why do you ask," Noril asked.
"This child seems a bit mature compared to the other children I've seen. Hey Mikail, have you ever cried," Ray asked while having a worried expression.
"What's the point of crying when nothing good will come of it? I stopped crying because it only made everything worse. They enjoyed my suffering and wanted to see more. Do you know what it's like to be on the brink of death," Mikail asked with a dark expression as he recalled the memories of Mikail's torture.
"This child was forced to mature," Ray thought.
"Stop pitying me because I'm a child. If I were an adult, you wouldn't have cared less," Mikail said before hopping off the Duke's lap.
Mikail walked to the door.
"I do not wish to eat at the moment," Mikail said as he walked out.
The three at the table were stunned.
"That child had the look of death in his eyes," Wilhelm thought.
"Damn it, why did an adorable child like that suffer that cruelty? If he were a normal five-year-old, he would have been able to smile, cry, laugh, and have a normal childhood," Ray thought.
"That child is interesting, but the torture he's endured has really changed his mentality," Noril thought.
Meanwhile...

"Ah, I'm lost," Mikail thought.

"I don't know where I will be sleeping. I should have waited until they showed me that, guess I'll keep walking until I find someone," Mikail said.

Mikail was walking around until he saw a garden. He walked through the garden. In the center was a fountain that was spraying out beautifully. The moonlight shined into the garden as well.

"I couldn't see beauty like this in my previous life," Mikail thought.

Mikail continued walking as he came across a pond that reflected the moon light.

"Pretty, but why should that matter? Right now I need to learn to survive in this world. Because one day my so-called family will want to kill me along with the empire itself," he thought.

"I should be able to use magic, right? Mikail was able to," he said while holding his hand out.

"Then let's test it out," he thought.

Mikail was enveloped in mana as he floated off the ground.

"I have a lot more mana than Mikail had in the story. When he first learned magic, he couldn't control his mana well. His mana capacity was amazing but my mana capacity is ten times the original Mikail," he thought.

"Then," Mikail said as he moved his hand in the direction of the pond in the garden.

The water rose up from the pond.

"Where was this power when Mikail was being tortured? At the time, he didn't know that he possessed magical ability. I only know because I have read the novel. He could've made them pay for what they did to him," he thought as he felt guilty.

"Hey, I found him; he's in the garden," Wilhelm shouted.