"Get her!"
I instantly curled up on the ground covering my head as they jumped at me and searched me all over, even lifting my poor skirt. 'Tch! Damn bastards'
Because of my frailness, they'd get their way with me but there is not a chance where I'd let myself starve to death simply because of being oppressed by them. I even tried stocking food away and hiding them in the snow but then they'd eventually caught me and beat me up for it. Retaliating against them is also another struggle that I have no intentions of putting myself under. Unlike the village kids who were less and lean, I am outnumbered by these children, not only that but they are fit. Back then, I simply caught them off guard.
"Did you think you could get away from me? I'm lived here for three years! Now, find it, I know she hid it somewhere! She doesn't deserve to eat"
"I-it's not here"
"What?"
"She doesn't have any food with her"
"Shut up. I know she has, find it you damn twerp!"
"What?! She already ate it!"
'Dark pink hair and amber eyes, yep, that's her'
I didn't think her personality would be 'this' bad and I even thought I could befriend her but it was proven to be a fault. She's even worse in person.
"You little shit!"
The person living in this orphanage with me and the one who is domineering over me right now. The bitch who was one of the important annoying minor character in the tragic story. The villainess and the real, Nicaise Laurent.
*Kick!*
"You dare trick me!"
"Yeh, you little thief! How dare you trick her!"
*Kick!*Kick!*Kick!*
Nicaise's real origin in the book was unknown and only the fact that she has an uncontrollably bad temper is well versed since her childhood. The duchess only took her in because she had the same eye, hair color and mannerism as her husband. Almost all the qualities of her husband, a mini version of him, only that her facial features does not look like the duke. Her sense of justice is also similar to his, not being able to withstand injustice. But ironically though, in reality, she's a doer of injustice herself. You'll find her heroic only because she just doesn't like it when other people besides her victim are treated unfairly and thus would go out of her way to save them. This was the main reason why she was picked by the duchess during the selection too as there was a commotion at the time where a kid was kicked to the ground by the others simply because they were in the way. To which she stepped in and helped the child, demanding the bully's faulty.
But sadly, I have become her victim so she has no way of bestowing me with her benevolence in justice.
She's fairly nice to the other kids and would even steal bread for those who didn't get to eat but still that doesn't change her shitty personality. If someone where to go against her or talk bad about her she'd attack them right away and beat them up.
Not only that but she's the most popular kid here, being the one to have stayed here the longest, she became the pack leader of the group and the favorite of the caretakers since she's strong and helps them out a lot. I became her victim simply because she thought of me as greedy for not sharing my generous portion of food with the others on the first day. But really, what kind of bullshit justification is that? It was my share and everyone had their own as well, it's not like there was one kid who didn't get to have his portion and starved for dinner because of me. That was my first good meal after a while.
It's always her and her lackeys that go after me, always ever a great number against one. And they are swift to be stealthy at it too. It was getting too cold lying in the ground so I got up and pushed them away, but it only caused to drive more of her violent nature at me. Panting still, I covered my head again but this time, she pulled my hair and then kicked my leg hard causing me to lose balance. I fell backwards and unto the side when she suddenly pushed me to the ground with her brute strength.
"Ump!"
I winched when the side of my stomach crashed into a sharp rock on the ground. Luckily it wasn't to the side where my potion is. Even so, I tried getting up and running away again but she prevented me from doing so. Pulling me closer to her and then slapping my face.
"Running away again?"
"And what's with that face!"
*Slap!*
"Didn't I told you not to glare at me, ugly!"
*Slap!*
"Greedy snake-eyes!"
*Slap!*
….
I don't know how much time had passed since then but after they got bored at toying with me, they threw me into the stables. I must have passed out since it feels like I had just woken up from a long nap. While getting up, I stopped midway through when I felt the sharp pain on the side of stomach and when I touched it, my hand was marked with blood so I lifted my dress and there was a wound on the area where I crashed on the rock. Thankfully the wound wasn't deep and only enough to have it shed a bit of blood. My face is probably a mess too and my head hurts. All I care about is the potion I tied around my waist not breaking nor discovered. If I go back now, the caretakers would surely punish them like last time and I'd get even more beating than this from Nicaise and her gang so I guess I have to spend another night here in the stables. I guess, this isn't so bad. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about the others and I'd get to sleep peacefully since sleeping with the horses is a lot more warmer than with the thin blankets in our quarters.
'Shit. It hurts'
They never hold back do they? But it's understandable considering all the children here have gone through horrendous moments in their lives where they were utterly disrespected. They're the lowest of the most unfortunate. Even in this town where there are aristocrats and noble where they should be the more fortunate. When people are in desperate need for money, do they ask help from a friend with a similar standing as them? No, people will always seek it from those who could guarantee them that money, a person of higher standing. It is the same for the characters here. Only what's rid of them are the pity and benevolence of those who are capable of saving them from their suffering but not. No one wants to experience the same pain again so what else do they have left in the unfairness of their world? Nothing else but their delusion of pride to protect their dignity as human beings while they are being treated like shit or else they'll find their own existence to be unfair and feel their own insignificance even when they are just children.
It's the same for me…But I just don't wait for others to help me, I help myself by using others. And I do have pride but not one so foolishly.
In Nicaise's case she thinks of anyone who inflects any kind of threat to her belief of self-righteousness as the villain and her oppressor. Before a doubt starts to rise and contaminate her belief, she attacks them to prove her ideal as a dictator of justice.
Although, what she has done to me has gone overboard because of the need for the story cliche, this comes specially for one of the characters. I even tried a cliche myself, trying to befriend her and anyone on my first week. I shared my bread with her and talked nicely with anyone but that didn't change anything. It was more of a way for me to test her personality myself and I knew that I would be jeopardized for it but I just did not expect it to be this extent. I thought her ways of bullying were like the cliche of a villainess but apparently not. My god's choice nonetheless. At first she accepted me, then throughout the week, she grew jealous of me when everyone started paying more attention to me than her. That's when her violent tantrums towards me started and she made sure no one would dare befriend me again.
I sighed and moved to lay on a thicker pile of hay inside one of the stable. I couldn't reach the lock so I just climbed over it to get in. Inside it, a brown mare scoffed as it looked at me while she was eating her batch of rotten apples.
"Sorry to intrude but I'm sleeping with you again since you're a lot more tame than the other horses". I pardoned as I rested on her hay. The beast simply ignored me and continued on her feast.There are also guests today, that's why they lured me here fearing I'd get pick because I have the most advantage. It's been the 3rd one, and as always, I checked and it wasn't the old duchess.
Every character in a good story is problematic since it wouldn't be interesting otherwise but readers mostly don't care to notice those problems as long as there is drama in the context of the story where they can relate and express their emotions too, specifically frustration which is why any kind of injustice and abuse is stretched out in stories and dramas. And the gods love that kind of drive in their plays so they exaggerate that even more. It's funny how they like to cope with the sense and intensity of human emotions when they are nowhere near capable of comprehending the struggles of a low life being.
Every interesting character is controlled by a god. In the selection they could only chose their main character but that doesn't mean they can't chose another one after that. They probably have about 3 characters or more that they each control. The main characters are only souls that could withstand the damage and resonance of the gods. In my case, I am the 7th God's main character and he probably has other side characters as well.
Another thing I've gained from the freedom of consciousness is being able to feel the gods energies on their characters. With Nicaise this is the first time I've felt another god's control on someone after Drazhan, though I am not quite sure which god they belong to but it's very familiar. And so far, I've encountered two of them.