Maria Vorontsov

"Stupid fucker!" Ivan cursed as he threw the husky dog on the ground, making it scream, but thankfully, they had made the mistake of soundproofing his room because they thought he would need privacy.

"Au au au au," the dog screamed in pain, in its usual language.

As the husky shouted in pain, Ivan once again walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck, looking at the husky with cold eyes.

"Do you know what's the reason that caused this situation?" Ivan said in a low, murmured voice as the dog screamed in pain, ignoring whatever the heck Ivan was saying since the pain of being thrown to the ground was still evident.

"You shouldn't have bitten me."

"I was just thinking of taking care of you really well and making you a friend, but..."

"You just had to ruin it," Ivan said in frustration, his grip around the husky's neck tightening as the husky flailed its legs, shouting in pain. But Ivan ignored it, continuing for a little more than 10 seconds.

The husky dog's eyes turned red, his screaming subsiding little by little as he saw no hope and was on the verge of dying. But then, suddenly, Ivan released his grip on the husky's neck, making him fall to the ground with a thud.

The fall this time wasn't as forceful as before, inflicting no pain on the dog. As the dog was finally free from his grip, he breathed out.

"Tsk, if it weren't for the fact that I'm now pretending to be an overly kind, obedient kid in front of my new parents, I might've just killed you," Ivan said in a cold tone, his personality undergoing a huge change.

The emotional trauma, the emotional pain that he suffered and trapped inside his mind leaked, creating a situation where he was overly angry, as it brought back memories of how they killed his mother, increasing his anger, and that resulted in the current situation where he vented that anger on the innocent dog.

###

[4 years later...]

[1990/1/1]

[Starlight Private School]

[Grade 4]

The room buzzed with energy as students worked in lively clusters, collaborating on a group project. The teacher moved among the desks, engaging with students and answering questions.

The interactive whiteboard displayed a colorful lesson on math or science, with students actively participating and responding to prompts. Some students were in a reading corner, absorbed in books, while others were working with art supplies at a table.

The bulletin board was updated with recent student achievements and colorful projects. Laughter and chatter filled the air as the class transitioned between activities, with a sense of enthusiasm and focus evident throughout.

"Alright then, students! If you add this to that number and then multiply it by 3, the answer will automatically come," the teacher explained as she wrote some numbers on the whiteboard.

While the teacher was teaching the students, there was one student who was sitting at the back of the class, near the window.

He was resting on one hand as he looked outside the window, watching the blue sky move along extremely slowly from his perspective.

He was a young boy, no more than 9 years old. He had medium-length blonde hair that was styled in side-parted bangs, which suited and gave him a softer look to his heart-shaped face.

Though there was one feature on his face that made him unique and stand out the most. His left eye was closed, with a vertically lined scar visible, giving him a gangster vibe, but that vibe was overtaken by the kind expression and smile the young boy had.

He was wearing a white shirt with a black tie and black pants with black shoes, his school uniform.

'It's been 4 years...' He thought, his focus still on the beautiful clouds in the sky.

'I've been training, training, training... I've been training hellishly. For the past 4 years; I've been training, pretending, and most of all, I've been manipulating these kids with influential parents in my class,' he thought, before glancing at a young girl with silky black hair flowing down to her waist, her face blooming with a smile as she glanced in his direction every minute with a flushed face.

'And... I also got myself a billionaire family's rich girl as my girlfriend...' he thought. To be honest, a girlfriend was something that was only like a pawn to him, and he was in no way considering it seriously, as who the hell would be serious about their relationship when they're just 9 years old?

'I've gained a lot since I was adopted by the Hawthorne family and joined this school.'

'I've also been seriously teaching myself hacking skills from the internet on my computer back at home, and I can confidently say that I've made good progress. I can hack a person's social media account at this point... though only if they don't have too much security.'

'Now, I guess it's time for me to start investigating the backgrounds and family members of the loan sharks that killed my mother,' he thought, closing his eyes as the memories of his mother being killed right in front of his eyes came forward, making veins pop up on his forehead.

While he was thinking to himself, suddenly, an old man in his forties wearing a black suit swung the door to the classroom open, walking inside as he touched his mustache with elegance.

"Students, I know it's late and the year is already ending... but today, a transfer student has joined this school," the old man said after reaching the whiteboard and announcing it in a loud tone, making everyone hear him perfectly.

"What? A new student?"

"At this time of year?"

"Who might that be?"

"I guess he must be from a family richer than ours since he can enter into such a prestigious school, the number 1 school in the country."

"Lord, let it be a girl, a girl, a girl, with a good figure, preferably with thick legs..."

"I hope he's as handsome as Ivan."

"Haha, I doubt it. He's so handsome that I even wonder if there's anyone in the whole country better looking than him."

As the students conversed about the new transfer student, their conversation suddenly took a 360° turn and changed to talking about a beautiful girl, handsome Ivan, etc., which made the old man quite a bit angry as he coughed in an attempt to gain their attention.

"Ahem."

"Silence."

"Now then, you can enter now, Maria Vorontsov," said the old man, who was likely the principal of the private school.

As soon as the principal said that, the door swung open once again as a young girl, no more than 10 years old, walked in. She had long black hair and was wearing the private school's uniform.

As she walked in, she had that air of mystery and coldness, making her seem unapproachable. She also had that cold look on her face.

"Introduce yourself," the principal said as she nodded her head before speaking in a really low tone.

"Greetings, I'm Maria Vorontsov, and I transferred to this school from outside of this region," she said, her tone really cold, matching her face.

"I hope to get along with you all," she said as she did a small bow, which made every male student triumph in joy, as the previous class beauty had been taken by Ivan already, and seeing a new beauty, they thought they'd get a chance with her.

While this was happening, Ivan's current girlfriend, Veronica Sokolov, the only daughter of Artem Sokolov, one of the only 100 billionaires in Russia, looked at Ivan's side with a worried glance, concerned that her boyfriend would be enticed by that witch too.

But to her surprise, he wasn't even glancing at her; he was just busy looking outside, which made her let out a sigh of relief.

###

'So, a new student, huh?'

'I guess I should investigate her background as well. Who knows, if she's useful for my future revenge, I might consider manipulating her and using her as well,' Ivan thought, giving a non-interested glance at Maria, which didn't go unnoticed by her.

'I hope you'll be useful since you're being personally guided by the principal, who doesn't give a shit about rich families unless they're some billionaire's daughter or son like Veronica.'

"Now then, where should you sit..." the principal said before looking all over the class and noticing an empty seat beside Ivan.

"Since that seat is empty, you can go and sit there," he said, pointing at the seat beside Ivan.

"Yes," Maria replied before walking to her new seat and sitting there, her cold expression still intact without any change.

###

"Damn, how can that bastard be so lucky! Getting to sit beside the new class beauty," one average-looking young kid wearing the same uniform as them said, clenching his hands in jealousy.

"Yeah, that should've been me, not him!" another student said, his face slightly better than the previous one but still a nameless character.

"Damn, if he wasn't so strong, and that he beat up the class bully and made him his loyal follower, I would've started to bully him already," the previous average-looking young kid said, clenching his hand so hard that blood might pop out.

"Then, you can resume the class now," the principal said to the teacher, who was silently sitting in his chair, observing everything that was happening.

"Yes, principal," the teacher replied before resuming the class.