3 MONTHS LATER
"146, 147, 148, 149, 150." Well, I've done it and managed to become a ridiculously fit 7-year-old, but that doesn't mean anything. Why not, you may ask? "Get up, they finally remembered you're down here." The guard demanded as he dragged me out of the cell, the amount of force he used to grab me told a story. I'm still too damn weak to do anything here; fighting back and risking these guards using real force against me would make for the dumbest suicide attempt in history.
"What do they want?" I asked, doubting he would answer anyway, but still attempted after all, if I appeared closed off, they would increase their monitoring. Learn that the hard way early on.
"No idea. Just said it was time for you to get out of the hole." He spoke, quickly ushering me outside. From what I could tell, there was a problem, and judging from his behaviour, it was a big one. "Why now? Thought they wanted to let me rot and teach me a lesson?" I asked, but got no answer as he roughly shoved me to one of the maids.
"What's with these guys? Why are they acting like the world's ending?" I can't help but think as I watch them lose their composure and run around like something big just happened. Eventually, I made it to my room, and surprise, surprise, it was wrecked and smelled like a homeless person had taken up camp.
The more valuable items were hidden away long before they threw me in the dungeon, so I didn't really care about the rest of the room. The maid, however? "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" She swore as she dug through my room like she was searching for gold. "Why couldn't they rein that brat in a little? She destroyed everything decent he could wear, she left nothing, not even the damn bed!?" The frustration and hopelessness almost made me pity her.
"Why does it matter if I'm presentable? You all usually go through great lengths to make sure I never meet guests?" I asked, intrigued by the chaos the situation seemed to have caused. "Wait, no one told yo-" She cuts off the question before dropping something I didn't expect.
"Of course, you don't know, those savages locked you away for months." She whispers, looking defeated. "The dean of Hellfire Academy is here to test both you and Mary for your reserved slots." She finally reveals, then suddenly, the chaos and sabotage make sense after all, whoever reserved that slot for me wanted me well taken care of.
The maid looks up to see my disinterested face and is shocked; she can't seem to understand why I don't care about this. "Pass. I'd rather not spend more time with spoiled brats who believe their parents own the world cause they are somewhat strong." I say calmly as I walk over and fling myself on what's left of my bed.
"Min-hee, he better be cleaned and dressed, or I swear you're finished!" I hear my godmother yell as she opens the door. "What the fuck is this? And why does he smell like he's homeless?" She demanded, grabbing her, lifting the maid clean off the ground, murderous intent flooding the room. "Y-your daughter h-has been destro-oying h-"
All the poor maid got out before her head popped sadly, and suddenly, I knew where Mary got her aggressiveness from. "Get up, you'll use the spares for the servants, and don't even think about embarrassing Mary." She says, throwing the corpse like it had no value whatsoever. "Aye aye, Auntie." I immediately reply with, cause in this house, what happened with that maid is a common occurrence. I can't outperform her, but if I fail, a fate worse than death might be heading my way.
"Why couldn't someone crazy have taken me in? At least I would have been dead before now, and maybe I wouldn't know how dark this world is." I think to myself as I scrub off the three months of grime that was stuck to my body. Wish I could have spent more time in there, but it's safer not to keep her waiting.
And lo and behold, there she was with their barber and a fresh set of clothes, with a sneer so fierce you would doubt she had a husband. She doesn't act like it when he's on his research trips either, gross. "Hurry up and sit still, or I'll have him shave you bald!" She said once I was properly dressed, it was a three-piece suit, charcoal with a red vest and green tie.
"Just neaten it up and fade the sides, I doubt whoever you're so eager to impress is gonna wait all day." I said in a bored tone as the barber looked scared out of his mind. Man, she looks really mad, and I couldn't care less after all, I didn't choose to spend three months in a cell. The barber was done twenty minutes later, and I can confirm he does good work, as I took in what he had done. It was the first time in a while that I could see my own eyes without my hair getting in the way. A deep purple that seemed to glow when the light hit it just right, and my black hair, not natural in any way, as the light seemed to vanish when it made contact.
"Okay, I'm somewhat presentable now. What has you so riled up?" I asked her like it wasn't some big moment. "You're usually more composed than this, and today you're running around like you lost something?" I questioned further, even though I knew she wouldn't answer.
"Shut up, follow me to the courtyard, and be quiet." She barked out and strolled forward as if she still had control of the situation. "Understood?" She demanded, instead of answering right away, I let the question hang in the air for a moment as we walked forward. "I asked you a question, boy!" She said heatedly, stopping and looking straight at me. I strolled past and said, "I make no guarantees."
No idea why I thought that was smart, but as I kept walking, I couldn't keep a smile off my face at all of the killing intent she was leaking. Was I going to regret this later? For sure, but am I enjoying every second of this? "We'll see Aunty." I said with a grin that clearly said I was up to no good.