A young woman's sobs echoed through the vast, empty chamber.
Despite the obvious luxury surrounding her, the luxury felt like a cage, cold and suffocating..
Dress in noble clothings she never even dreamed of before, she shed tears, burying her face in her hands.
"Why, my lord... why..." And only repeating the same words over and over.
Click
The door to the room opened as a man walked in, he was tall, his silhouette cutting a sharp figure.
His short onyx hair blended in with the dark surroundings but it was his eyes that called for attention, a pair of piercing violet, bright despite the dark area,
He looked young, his features sculpted and handsome, yet he walked with an aura that said he was far older than he appeared to be.
The lady's sobbing ceased instantly, she turned towards the man, the moment her gaze met his, the sorrow on her face faded, replaced by a mask of profound disgust.
"My lord..." Her words were respectful, but her tone was laced with repulsion.
He only stared down at the lady who could not yet be called a woman, without saying a word.
"My lord..." She whisphered again. "Why... just why?"
And again she could not stop the tears from flowing, her eyes held only hostility towards the man.
He stared at the lady before finally speaking.
"I took responsibility."
"What...?"
"I took responsibility for my actions."
"What..." Rage seemed to brew in her eyes. "My lord, you think I ever wanted any of this to happen."
The man only looked down at her.
"I never asked for any of this luxury..." She continued seeing his lack of response. "I... I just wished to lead my normal life, but... but."
She glared at the man with hateful eyes.
"Why did you force yourself upon me... why... just why." Her words laced with the despair she was feeling as more tears flowed down her cheek.
Miya, a completely normal girl who grew up in an orphanage from when she was a child.
She was blessed with a beautiful face and lovely personality, as she turned 15 she decided to work at the grand ducal mansion as a simple maid to earn money.
The grand duchy of house Zevril, one of the three grand duchy in the Northern continent, just a status below the imperial throne.
Yet she would have never imagined this would happen to her at just 16.
Alaric Nyx Zevril, the patriarch of house Zevril would force himself on her.
Her struggles and resistance all proved useless, what could a normal woman do against a man who since long cross the boundary of human limits.
Alaric listened to all of her tearful words without a change in his expression.
"Be honoured," He said, "I have allowed for you to remain in the main estate, not as a maid but as a woman of status."
Then, with a pause, he lifted his finger and pointed at her stomach.
"So that you can raise that child, whatever you do, I will no longer interfere."
"You... won't raise the child...?" Miya seemed to even lose her respect.
"Did I not make myself clear."
Her face crumbled, even though she wanted to yell, she simply couldn't.
He was the patriarch of one of the highest noble blood on the continent, while she was a commoner of ordinary birth.
So she silently nodded her head.
Alaric looked at her then gave a simple nod. "Good."
Without another word, he stood up and left.
Left alone, Miya silently wept.
...
Leaving her room, Alaric walked along the long corridors of the estate.
As he walked, he heard the whispers of maids that were far away from him, though distance didn't mean much to him.
"Did you hear? About Miya? I can't believe she turned out to be like that."
"Hah, now an illegitimate child is being born, can you believe it, a stain to the nobles."
Alaric heard everything as he walked past, though he didn't care.
He knew the consequences his actions had on Miya's life but didn't care.
After all, she was just a commoner.
***
[Five years later]
"Well, shit."
A young boy sat perched atop the branches of a tree, his chin resting idly in his hand.
He was young, with hair as dark as ink that fell long enough to cover his ears.
But his most striking feature was his eyes.
A bright violet, glowing like amethyst, the feature that every Zevril bloodline have.
However, unlike the normal Zevril family members, his pupils were vertical like a reptile, earning him even further scorn despite his already despised birth.
Currently, the boy was deep in contemplation, he remembered his previous life as Leon, and he also remembered how stupid his death was.
After he died, he was immediately reborn as a baby, extremely embarrassing times he didn't want to even remember.
But that time of helplessness helped him understand and come to terms with his reincarnation.
As he finally learnt to walk, talk and started venturing outside his room more often he discovered he was pretty despised, well that was quite the understatement.
He was the illegitimate son of a grand duke, how fucking wonderful.
Now he is five years old, and realised another very important and life changing.
"This is the novel I was reading, wasn't it?"
He reincarnated into the very novel he died trying to read, how did he realise this?
He heard a passing main talking about the royal families and a familiar name was heard by him.
Valenhart, the surname of every royalty.
Not only that, but something awakened just when he realised he was inside that novel.
"System."
_________________________________
[Name: Alan Zevril]
[Titles: —]
[age: 5]
[core rank: (Unawakened) ]
[Affinity: —]
[Soul weapon: —]
[Soul armour: —]
[Innate skill: Instinct, Intuition]
[Skills: —]
_________________________________
A system that came alongside his understanding.
He knew quite a bit about the world itself and how the power system works.
Core rank reaches all the way from rank 1 to rank 9.
From rank 4 onwards, one starts transcending their human limits.
"But soul weapon and armour, huh."
They were something that resonated with you as an identity, awakening soul weapon and armour is a feat that is not commonly seen.
"This would be nice and all, but I need to first form a core."
The direct line of the Zevril family would obviously acquire help from early in their life, but... as the bastard child what could he do.
'I'll figure it out after...'
It should be fine, surely he'll figure something out.
Just as he was thinking so, he heard a loud and familiar voice.
"Alan!"
The voice of his mother calling for him.
In his past life as Leon, he was a war orphan and never received parental love, the closet he ever got was Charlie, but even that was closer to a brother.
And so in this life he gave full attention to his mother, who always looked at him with such affection and care, always trying to do anything for him.
Alan smiled softly as he looked down at his mother calling for him.
"Alan! Get down from there!" She yelled. "What if you get hurt!"
Alan smirked then started descending with quick agile movements.
"Mom!" Then jumped into her arms.
All of Miya's anger seemed to dissolve instantly, her sharp features softening into a smile as she pulled her son into a warm embrace.
"I have been searching everywhere for you... do you have any idea how worried I was?" she whispered against his hair.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I won't do it again."
Miya pulled away from the embrace and asked with a bright smile.
"Have you eaten yet?"
Alan shook his little head.
Miya grinned then pulled him along.
"Let's go then!"
Alan realised quite early on his mother was extremely sensitive and caring for him, and very awkward when it comes to noble etiquette.
Through his personal research, he found out his mother used to be a maid at this estate before she became a lady with status because she conceived him.
When he found out she was 21 years old, meaning she was 16 when she had him, he was filled with raw rage.
And every bit of attachment he even had of the grand duke bloodline melted away, right now he was just biding his time before he could leave this place with his mother.
And to do that he needs to become stronger, a lot stronger.
***
As Miya and Alan were walking down the corridors of the estate holding hands.
Two maids a certain distance away watched the two of them with open scorn.
"Look at the bastard and his whore mother, parading about," She scoffed with the obvious intent to be heard.
As the second maid snickered, Alan looked up at his mother.
Her eyes were already brimming with tear and shoulders slumped, her steps slowed and her grip on his little hands tightened.
It cut into him like a blade to see his mother this way.
Time and again, Alan watched her endure, and everytime she would force a smile for him to show it was okay, he atleast hoped she would speak up for herself.
She tried to show it was okay but he didn't feel like it was, it hurt him seeing his mother sad.
If she wouldn't stand up for herself then he would.
And so he stopped walking, Miya noticing this turned to look at her son.
"Alan...?"
"Mom, is bastard a bad thing?" Alan innocently asked.
Her eyes widened and tears threaten to fall. "Ala—"
"It's okay mom." Alan smirked. "If they call me a bastard, I'll just give them a reason to."
Miya's tearful eyes slowly turned to confusion, but before she could even ask what he was talking about, he turned and ran towards the two maids before she could stop him.
"Hey!" Alan brightly greeted them.
The first maid looked down at him with a condescending smirk.
"What you wa—"
"Did you call my mother a whore, you piece of shit?"
Immediately everyone froze, the two maids, even Miya who stood a distance away covered her mouth with her hands.
The maid soon regained her composure and spoke.
"What yo—"
"Yeah, I don't care." Alan cut her off again.
But before she could respond, Alan jumped off the ground and with a speed faster than any five-year-olds, threw a punch.
His small fist connected squarely with the maid's jaw, the impact was so sharp it twisted her head violently to the side, her eyes rolling back instantly.
Thump
The maid collapsed to the floor.
"Kyaaa!" The second maid squealed, but before she could run, Alan was already in front of her.
"Did you also talk shit about my mom?"
"N-no." She stammered her response.
In a normal world, the idea of an adult trembling before a five-year-old would be laughable.
But Alan wasn't a normal child.
She was frightened looking into his vertical violet eyes.
"Yeah, well I don't care."
Without much more to say he spun in air and kicked her straight in the jaw.
Thump
Needless to say she too collasped unconcious.
"Alan!" Miya finally came to her senses. "What are you do—"
The question died in her throat, because Alan was looking back at with a pure innocent smile.
"How do you feel, mom?"
"What...?"
Miya could only stare at the fallen maids, then back at her son.
Alan ran up to her and held her hands.
"Do you feel better?"
"N-no...."
"Well I do!" Alan smiled.
Miya froze, dumbfounded, she wanted to tell her son it's absolutely not okay to hit others... but seeing that face made her pause.
Alan pulled her and they started walking on their original direction, this time with Alan pulling her across.
"Tell me if anyone ever speaks badly of you." Alan said his voice light and cheerful as they walked. "I'll come beat the shit out of them."
"But..."
"It's okay!" Alan giggled. "They call me a bastard right? I'll just show them what an actual bastard is."
Miya had so many questions of where this sudden change was even coming from.
But she felt like a little bit of the burden on her shoulder was lifted.
Watching her adorable son giggling with such radiant smile melted the sorrow that was clouding her heart even if just for a moment.
"Okay..." She whispered with a small smile.