Trying To Survive as the Main Antagonist by: BK1235

Chapter Four:

"That guy has a fake smile. Are you sure I can trust him," Mikail asked?
"Fake smile," Both Ray and Noril thought.
Renold looked surprised.
"How old are you," Renold asked.
"Five."
"You're five, but your language prowess is quite amazing."
"I hear that a lot around here," he said.
"Anyway, your majesty, you need to hurry. The meeting is about to start," Renold shouted.
"Oh, the meeting between me and the other nobles, right? But I don't want to be separated from Mikail. Wait, Mikail, want to come to the meeting?"
"He wants to take a child to a meeting, but I don't qualify as a normal child," Mikail thought.
"Sir, with all due respect, why would you ask a child to go to an adult meeting," Renold asked with a sigh.
"How about it, Mikail?"
"I don't mind," Mikail said.
After a while...
Mikail and Noril's clothes were changed. Mikail had a blue sweater vest over a white shirt and black pants. He also had black shoes. Noril wore an all-black suit and a black cape. Noril entered the room carrying Mikail in his arms. Mikail sighed as he was carried in again.
"Why do you keep carrying me everywhere?"
"Because soon you'll be too big for me to carry," Noril said with a smile.
He carried Mikail into the meeting. Mikail was met with curious looks from the nobles inside. They looked surprised to see Noril with a small child.
"What is it? Never seen anyone carry a child before," Noril asked as he walked over to his seat.
"No, that's not. Who is this child?"
"This is Mikail, my son," Noril said as he sat down with Mikail in his lap.
"Eh, did you have a secret lover," one of them shouted.
There were six nobles at the table. Suddenly, one of the others smacked them in the head. The one who was smacking them was a woman named Sonia Millard. She had long red hair and green eyes. Her hair was a dark red color, almost the color of blood. She was a duchess. The one who was smack was named Marquis Gilbert Mathias. He had brown hair and green eyes.
"What was that for, Duchess Millard," he shouted.
"Because you're quite rude, Marquis Mathias," she said.
"He's not from a lover, I adopted him from a horrible place, and now he's my son. If any of you show disrespect, I won't show any mercy to you," Noril said with a cold expression. 

"Now, now, my cousin, calm yourself," A man with brown hair and red eyes said. 

His name was Count Rulvik Gruz. He was Noril's cousin.

"Rulvik."
Another noble was named Count Zeld Ladia. He had green hair and brown eyes. He looked annoyed with having a child in a room full of adults. 

"Excuse me for the interruption, but I believe we should continue the meeting, Duke Gruz," Zeld said with an annoyed expression as he faked a cough. 

"You're correct."

A man named Count Luis Zoldea was also in the room. He had jet-black hair and golden eyes.  Another man was there as well. He had light, long blue hair and grey eyes. He smiled at Mikail. His name was Count Thomas O'Neal. He was Reynold's cousin.
Mikail stared blankly at the nobles staring at him. He then looked at some of the paperwork laid in front of them.
"Hmm, could it be that they are preparing for war soon," Mikail thought.
"What's wrong Mikail?"
"Are you going to war soon, Dad," Mikail asked.
Noril looked at Mikail with a surprised expression.
"Mikail, you can read these documents? They have small print and are written in modern language. To think you can read so well at an early age," Noril said as he patted his head.
Mikail looked emotionless, but he felt the warmth of Noril's hand as he patted his head.
"Now that I think about it, I've never had a parent who cares about me. In my previous life, my biological parents died. My adoptive parents disliked me, and they didn't want anything to do with me. They only wanted to look good to the public.  One day, after 5 years of business experience, I was offered the CEO position of my technology company. They wanted me in the hot seat quickly so they could attempt to pivot any blame onto me. Luckily for me, managing the company's affairs was easier if you fired the ones responsible in the first place. But those bastards were evading their responsibilities and blaming their section leaders. They had never experienced someone such as me, but that fucker is probably living it up right about now, my younger brother, who received love and attention from my adoptive parents. It doesn't matter now," He thought.
Noril smiled as he felt Mikail relax in his lap.
"I just woke up, but I feel like I want to go back to sleep," Mikail thought.
"Mikail, you were right about us preparing for war. Are you interested in learning about it," Renold asked.
"I don't mind, considering I'm a part of The Gruz family now," Mikail said.
Mikail did an internal sigh.
"I can't fall asleep now; it's the only way to figure out how much time we have until the main character shows up. The main character is the second prince of the empire, Aslan Mathews. He's three years older than Mikail. Curse this malnourished body," Mikail thought.
"Mikail is so adorable; he looks deep in thought. He's more like a cat when it comes to trust; he probably doesn't trust us fully yet, even though he says he does," Noril thought.
Noril smiled before beginning the meeting. The meeting was about the problems of two of the three empires on this continent. Noril is the Duke of the Brurith Kingdom. The Brurith Kingdom is the vassal to the empire. Noril is the commander of international affairs and the Empire's army. He's responsible for making decisions that can affect most of the empire. Of course, those decisions are brought by the emperor, who signs off on the new laws or acts of war. The Marianlel Empire is the empire where the Brurith Kingdom resides. Noril is a very important and influential figure; he is known as the sword of the empire.  
"Alright, first things first. We have to discuss the Orville road. The Kostef empire has decided to block all trade through that road. The Marianel Empire isn't accepting this and wants to rage war due to our limited trade with the Kostef empire. The resources for our crops come from the Kostef empire. Without those resources, we're looking at a very scarce winter. There won't be enough food to go around. This meeting discussed a plan to bring before the emperor, Gillian Mathews," Noril said.
"Wait, I heard about this in the story; The Marianel Empire had some major losses from going into war. Negotiation was possible before the war began, but the emperor only followed the plan of someone he trusted. Duke Noril formed this plan with other nobles to attack the Kostef empire but only gained a massive loss. That war caused strife between the emperor and the duke and created the assassination attempt of Wilhelm,. The first prince was then poisoned by Noril's assassins," Mikail thought.
"Dad I..."
Suddenly, the door opened once more, and two figures appeared. Everyone but Noril got up and kneeled before the two in the room.
"Those golden eyes. Don't tell me that they are the two Princes of the empire. Of course, in the original story, Mikail didn't attend any meetings with Noril, but I didn't think I would meet the two princes so early in the story," Mikail thought.
One of them was a child who was 8 years old. He had strawberry-blonde hair and gold eyes. The older one next to him was 17 years old. He also had strawberry-blonde hair and golden eyes.
"Greetings to the empire's sun, Prince Julian and Prince Alsan," they said.
"Greeting your highnesses, what brings you here," Noril asked.
Aslan immediately looked over at Mikail who was in Noril's lap. He walked over to him.
"Who is this kid, he's so cute," Alsan thought.
"Who are you," Aslan asked.
"Mikail," He said with an emotionless expression.
"Your full name, brat," Aslan asked.
"Brat," Mikail thought.
"Mikail Gruz," he said while holding his anger in.
"Hey, we're supposed to be having a meeting; why did you bring a little kid to the meeting, Duke Gruz," Aslan shouted.  

"Little kid, just because I'm in the body of a little kid physically doesn't mean I am one mentally," Mikail thought.

"Aslan," Julian said.
Suddenly, Aslan felt fear as he turned to his brother.
"Aslan, stop being rude, the child of the Duke," Julian stated coldly.
"Fine."
Aslan sighed.
"Anyway, I'm the second prince, Aslan Mathews. Nice to meet you, lady Mikail," He said.
"I'm a boy," Mikail said as he felt annoyed.
"Huh, a boy, there's no way you look like a girl," Aslan said before being smacked in the head by Julian.
Julian sighed.

"Brother, what was that for," Aslan shouted.  
"You idiot," Julian said.
Everyone returned to their seats and both of the princes sat the table. Aslan sat closer to Mikail and Noril. Aslan noticed Mikail had bandages on his body.
"How did you get those injuries, Mikail," Aslan asked.
"That's none of your concern," Mikail said.
Aslan looked annoyed.
"Who could hurt someone so cute? Those injuries aren't from falling, they're from abuse, constant abuse," Aslan thought.
"Duke Gruz, last time I checked, you only had two sons. I don't mind you having a third, but I am curious," Julian asked.
"Mikail is my son, and I adopted him yesterday. He's went through a lot, that's all I can say. I'm also in the middle of persecuting that orphanage," Noril said while putting his hand on Mikail's shoulder.
"Wait, don't tell me that the people in charge of that orphanage abused Mikail," Aslan shouted while he looked angry.
"That's right, but it's none of your concern. In fact, I don't even know you and you don't know me," Mikail said with an emotionless expression.