I'm the heroine's dead twin... nice! (BL)

Part 8

Arius POV

After I left the library, I quickly bid goodbye to sister Lilith and went into my room. 'I neither have the energy, nor the required amount of fucks to deal with those blood related strangers.'

I felt sleepy, remembering that my nap had been ruined by those buffoons. It was only 14:00.
"Meh, big sis will come to get me anyway." With that, I went to sleep.
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*knock knock *
"Young master, it's time to wake up. The grand duke has requested your presence."
I woke up with that. There stood one of the maids who had been recruited only recently. Not to mention, she also looked quite young. 16, maybe?

'He's requested my presence? That should be fun. That bastard, it's the second time today he's interrupted my sleep.'

"'Kay, thanks for informing me." With that, I got up, undid and combed my hair -which was disheveled due to my sleep- and started walking towards the duke's office. 'Ain't no way I'm going to put in any more effort to meet him. This is more than generous.'

I arrived there, seeing Sebastian in front of the door. When he saw me, he smiled at me, "Greetings, young master. How has your day been, after the incident?"
I smiled back, knowing what he's talking about, "Hello, Sebastian. It's been good, I even managed to enjoy a small nap before being called here. The duke must be waiting for me. So, if you excuse me..." I enjoyed talking to him and didn't want to deal with the duke at all, but I also just wanted to get it over with.

"Right, my apologies. I'll open the door now." With that, he opened door. Once I got in, he then closed the door and left me alone with this poor excuse of a person who I'm unfortunate enough to have as my sperm donor.

I looked at him with cold, blank eyes, "You've requested my presence, your grace?" 'Tf you want, old hag?'
My words themselves were polite, there was nothing wrong with them... if only I wasn't supposed to be his 'son'.
But it seemed like he still couldn't accept that his little ugly duckling decided to become a swan and didn't waste his time with him anymore, because his eyebrows furrowed. "Take a seat, Arius."

'He wants me to sit down first? That's new. This only means that he intends on wasting my time... you little piece of shit.' I was raging on the inside, but my face remained clear. 'Just think of it as a preparation for the future, unavoidable meetings with noble pests.' Thankfully, this family wasn't too useless. Aside from giving basic necessities for surviving (which I'm not thankful for, bc they were signing up for it when they decided to have me and it's not like they need to starve to feed me), they were phenomenal in testing my patience, which is something I'll need in the future.

"I see you're doing better now."
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'Small chat? The audacity.' I raised my eyebrows, looking at him questioningly.
I could see him sweat drop, looking uncomfortable, 'Good.' After five seconds of awkward silence, he started speaking again, "There are two things we will talk about. First, I've noticed that you still haven't come to greet me in the mornings, it's been two days, why?" I almost snorted, but managed to keep quiet. 'Not today Satan. Not today.'

'Rich, coming from the same person who didn't even bother to check up on his dying offspring. What do they feed him to make him so self assured?' I gave him a ghost of a smirk, feeling amused. 'This might not be a complete waste of time, after all.' For your information, morning greetings aren't a must, they're for children who want show extra respect towards the head of the house. Even both Lucien and Lucia do it twice a week, unlike the past me, who used to do it every. single. morning.

'Seriously, didn't I have anything better to do?'

"Am I required to do them?" This made his eyes widen. Honestly, how self righteous can you be, to think you'd get the respect of the child you've neglected and mentally damaged? "... No, you're not. It's not one of your official duties..."

I stared at him coldly. 'Did this mf just imply that I even thought it's not written on paper, I should still greet him in the morning, as his son?'

"Then, I really don't have any reason to do them." I gave him a cold smile, tilting my head. It would have been a lovely gesture, had my eyes not been completely empty. I know that he can't say anything else, because I'm not outright disrespecting him, just not doing something that I genuinely don't have to do.

"What's the second issue?" 'I want to get this over with.'

"The incident in the garden." He looked serious. 'Knew it.'
"What about it, your grace?"
"Tell me what exactly happened. And don't you dare lie, did you anger your sister?"
'He must have talked with those two already. I'm clearly the victim here, why is he blaming me?-' Is what I would've thought, if it was someone else. "They came and insulted me out of nowhere, and like any other sane person, I told them that they were foolish, coming to insult their little brother, who's half their age. I admit that I might have come across as rude or condescending, but they should be able to keep calm in situations like these. They're Ambrose members, after all."

No matter how much I disliked wasting my words on this hemcins of mine, I know that some curious servants will be listening in. They'll probably get fired soon, for this behavior, but this only means that they'll get the word outside. In a world without electronics and social media, gossip is not only the fastest way of getting information, but also the most fun way. And what better gossip than the grand duke's oldest children injuring their little brother, and the grand duke himself borderline blaming it on his youngest son, showing clear favoritism? Everyone would go feral.

"Next time, don't put yourself in that position, keep yourself from angering your siblings."
Although this CLEARLY made my blood boil, the grand duke just sealed the fate of his beloved reputation, so I'll let it slide this time.

'Thank you for doing my job for me, you little shit. Now that I think about it, I almost didn't do anything special, yet their reputation is already very unstable. I suppose rotten apples will still stink, even if you don't burn them.'

I looked up at the clock, it showing 16:30. 'One and a half hours till dinner, I could finish a book or two.'
With that, I stood up, looking over to the grand duke, my eyes still as cold and empty. "Then, if that's all, excuse me." I did a quick bow and walked out. Not disrespectful, but not necessarily respectful either. Enough for me to not face consequences, but not enough to satisfy him, perfect.

I went to my room, greeting the servants on the way and imagining the amount of novels I was going to read. Once I arrived, I found Lucien in my room, sitting on my armchair. 'Wtf? What does he want now? He's polluting my room!'

He looked over to me when he heard the door open and close. "What a nice room you have, and so many books, too."
'What's it to you?'
"Seems like not only have you forgotten how to use words and terms properly, but you've also forgotten your manners, young master? Barging into others' rooms like that." I sneered.

"And if you want to have the books, wait for your turn. I'll return them to the library once I finish. Now, out."

"Wait a second, I have something to talk to you about." He quickly said, making me scoff. "I don't."
"You've truly changed. It's strange." He explained, as if he cares. As if people aren't allowed to not tolerate mistreatment. As if he knew me well enough before, to truly determine whether I've changed or not. "I woke up, death does that to you. Now out. And don't you dare steal my books."

I pushed him out the door and slammed it. I then called for big sis, with a magic bell. Once she came in and the greetings were out of the way, I requested for her to save me.

"Big sis, that armchair over there is polluting my room. Please burn it immediately."