3 Chapter 3: NATHANIEL the Masked Jerk

WARNING: Extreme acts of violence and offenses, as well as mild language, may occur in this web novel. Viewer discretion is advised.

Otternick Estate, Main Foyer during Late Morning

She was different yet the same as any other girl of nobility, the boy thought.

Her posture was unkept and a few loose strands of hair fell down her face. The ends of her freshly pressed denim dress were stained in water. For her beige stockings, from the kneecaps down, water had infiltrated it to the point you could have mistaken the length of the stockings entirely. It didn't help that she had such smooth bronzed skin. She just stood there, glaring at him as if by chance she stopped, the reaper would come to steal her soul.

It was a new expression to the young boy who was situated only a few feet in front of the girl. He had seen looks of jealousy, admiration, envy, adoration, fear, anger, and etc. But no one had until this point ever considered the thought of glaring at him, and with such intensity of hate as well.

It was a shame that she was pretty too, her glaring made large creases on her forehead. If the boy wasn't momentarily surprised at this strange now facial expression directed towards him, he would have pointed out how scrunching up her thin eyebrows reminded him of his 70-year-old grandma.

"I don't like you." The girl spoke.

'Oh, so she can speak.' The boy thought. 'She was just silently glaring at me for 5 minutes straight… how should I respond?'

As the young 10-year-old boy was pondering her abrupt statement, the girl's father was frantically apologizing for his rude daughter once again. He had apologized earlier for both her late arrival and disheveled appearance.

"Sire Otterface, can I leave now?" The girl suddenly asked.

"Bb-bttf!" The girl's father was at a loss for words.

The boy's father responded with a silent lift of his brow. 'Surely this is not the elegant and talented prodigy of a young lady I had heard of. Did this blubbering fool really had such sympathy to adopt such a rude and uncouth brat?'

'Eh? She can't just leave yet, though she may have more important issues to deal with. What should I do in such a predicament?' The boy thought. He looked over to glance at his father. 'Oh? Eureka.'

"Oh, miss, I'm afraid that it's customary to introduce ourselves first. It won't take more than a minute, I assure you. I am Nathaniel Emmerich Blicenok, the eldest child of Sire Emmerich Blicenok and Madam Valeska von Schneider-Blicenok. Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss."

"Eh…" The girl stepped back. "Am I supposed to remember that… She… i? Der?"

"L-Lecia!" The girl's father panicked.

"Lecia Tashi Otternick. Straighten your back. Lift up your chin. And stop your muttering! You are an Otternick now!" A lady shouted from the sidelines.

She stood up from her sofa and walked towards Lecia's father. She slyly slipped her arm around Lecia's father's arm and continued reprimanding. "Is this how you show respect to your benefactors!? Learn your place, you little adoptee!"

The room fell silent. Even the chattering happening between the servants stopped. The fact that the young miss was adopted was a very sensitive topic in the Otternick household and usually, her normal graceful persona and utterly spellbinding skills made guest forget the unfortunate truth.

Nathaniel turned to the shouted lady and started to speak: "Miss, pl-"

"Mistress Valentina, you don't even have a surname to your name! As a concubine, know your place under me! While I've grabbed my own fortune by moral means, you're still playing around with the Sire! You don't have the right to approach the Sire like that!" Lecia shouted. She then turned to Nathaniel. "And you, I don't have any time for romance. I refuse to acknowledge you as my marriage partner! So I would like you and Sire Emmerich Licenok to leave my property at once!"

"L-Lecia, dear child!" And so Lecia's father promptly fainted.

"C-Cleric!" Sire Blicenok shouted. "Butler Claus, get him to bed!"

"Of course, Sire!" The old yet nimble man picked up the fainted noble as the Mistress looked on in horror.

"S-Sire darling!" Mistress Valentina cried. "Mai-"

"MAIDS! VALETS! Come to fetch the fainted Sire at once! Your young miss commands you!" She glared at the butler holding her father. "Drop the Sire. We don't need you here."

"We're not leaving," Nathaniel spoke up. His glare had suddenly grown harsh and he had an air of contempt and disgust. "A man just fainted, you think we'd be rude enough to leave like this? Butler Claus is a very capable man, you want your father to wake or not?"

The maids and valets eventually arrive and help Claus find the master's room. Everyone but a few maids and valets, as well as the two kids, leave.

"You're in my house. So you follow my rules." Lecia explained.

"You're now my fiance. Which means in a simple matter of years, this will no longer be your property, but your brothers. You'll be sharing a property with me, where I'll have the reins." Nathaniel reasoned.

"It's not official." Lecia retorted. "And you'll need the Sire's permission to. If I just whine a bit, I'm sure he'll do it. Here, it's my way or the highway."

While the two were in an intense debate for our reasoning each other, their maids and valets were standing by the sidelines with a very worried expression.

'... This was supposed to be our break… these two will torture us to death… Curse you, you spoiled rich child geniuses...'

"Our companies are both very influential, but you have you heard of the INGENU association?" Nathaniel inquired.

"Of course, I'd be stupid not to know of them. Created 3 years ago and now has 2 national companies under their control. They wish to turn the tables on internationally influential companies like our respective parents'. 'Ingenuity is ingenuous.' is their motto. What, you seriously believe such a small time organization would gain the upper hand? The 2 companies they've snatched are even from some third-world countries, tiny and in poverty. The only reason we know of such a failing organization is their massive branding and boasts of their 'feat'. By now they should be bankrupt." Lecia smartly answered.

"Who are you calling idiots when you yourself is ingenuous? To know the world, first, know the people around you." Nathaniel lowly dragged out.

"W-What!?" Lecia gritted her teeth. "I believe you've overstayed your welcome. When Sire wakes up, leave. Also, no we don't need the Blicenok Demin Company Sire's fine without it, I'll convince him."

"Oh, so you did grasp a bit of it. But really, you're not very observant, are you? How'd you even get a title of child genius? Our fathers are people who feel safe under many barriers, the more they have the better they feel. With INGENU possibly threating their power, they're desperate for more protection. Our union will late to shared defenses, doubling their sense of security and elevating their power even higher. So you can't escape unless you could get a better match than me. But as the only company with enough trust and security to please your father, you're stuck with me under my rule."

Lecia snapped.

"Go. NOW." Lecia pointed at the door. And she was quiet.

"You're not planning to shout, are you? You have witnesses~."

"L-LEAVE! I'M ORDERING YOU." Her face contorted into an expression of a mix of anger and desperation.

"No." Nathaniel firmly stated. 'She's bitter, then angry, then contempt, and now she's angry again? What's with this girl's mood swings!?'

"GO." Lecia had her head down. Her face was burning from anger and her whole body was trembling. She was trying to hold back her swelling tears as best as she could.

Nathaniel's breathing hitched. "I'll leave you alone. But I can't leave, it's father's orders. There's a big storm handing to Granduren right now so we can't return home for at least 3 days. But… you speak Veit, right? [speaking in Veit] I'll give you three days. Get outside of estate grounds within three days without my guards catching you. Prove that we can't be trusted to protect you. I acknowledge it if you leave a note with your seal on it. I'll send you a riddle at 3, write down the answer on that note and make sure you stuff it under creak between the wall and ground. It can't be one accessible from the inside and nobody can help you. You have until midnight on the final night I'll be staying."

The young boy left the room with his guards and servants calmly as Lecia sank down on her knees.

"Maid Veridian, please shut the door." Lecia quietly requested. Once she was sure her fiance wouldn't be able to hear, she said: "Bring me to my room. I'm feeling lightheaded. Hic. *sniff* G-go through - Hic. The servant passageways. *sniffle* Hic."

Outside the door, Nathaniel stood still. "I've made her cry, haven't I? Have there been any records of her crying before?"

"N-no, young master." One of the guards answered. "Not any with hiccups."

"So I have the honor of being the first person to make her cry for real since she came here. Why am I the villain here…" The young master muttered before he asked to be escorted to his sleeping chambers.