Robin kept to his routine for the next week. Training before dawn in different locations, he'd abandoned the eastern courtyard after Sarah's discovery.
Daily quests completed with mechanical precision. Nights in the library, absorbing knowledge.
The Duke's surveillance continued. Robin felt eyes on him constantly. Servants reporting his movements. Guards noting when he left his room.
He gave them nothing suspicious to report. Just a sickly child trying to survive. Making slow, visible progress.
[LEVEL 2: 95/100 EXP]
Five more experience points until he leveled up. The daily quests alone would get him there tomorrow.
Robin was walking through one of the main corridors. He'd been keeping to servant passages too much.
That itself could draw attention. Sometimes the best camouflage was visibility.
The corridor was wide, lined with ancestral portraits. Stark lords and ladies staring down with cold eyes. Robin recognized some from his previous life. Others were mysteries, their names lost to time.
Footsteps behind him. Multiple sets. Heavy. Purposeful.
Robin didn't turn. Kept walking at the same steady pace. His enhanced perception tracked the sounds. Three people. Moving faster than normal walking speed.
Closing the distance.
Here we go.
Robin had known this was coming. Had been surprised it hadn't happened sooner, actually. His older brothers had largely ignored him, the cursed child wasn't worth their time.
But now he was visible. Moving through the castle. Looking healthier. The Duke had questioned him, which meant the entire household knew something had changed.
The footsteps caught up. Someone grabbed Robin's shoulder, spinning him around.
Marcus Stark. The golden heir. Seventeen now, tall and broad-shouldered. His face held the arrogant confidence of someone who'd never faced real consequences.
Behind him stood Leo, the second son. Fourteen, already showing the build of a warrior. His expression was uglier, resentment mixed with something like satisfaction.
The third figure was a cousin, Robin thought. Some minor branch of the family.
"Well, well," Leo said, his voice dripping with mock surprise. "Look who's walking around like he owns the place. The curse is learning to walk."
Robin said nothing. Met Leo's eyes without expression.
That silence seemed to irritate Leo more than any response would have.
"You think you're special now?" Leo continued. "Think because Father questioned you, that makes you important?" He stepped closer. "You're still the same pathetic waste of space you've always been."
Marcus laid a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Easy, brother. He's just a child."
But there was no kindness in Marcus's tone.
Robin's mind assessed the situation. Three opponents. All larger, stronger, trained. Marcus was a skilled swordsman, Robin had seen him practice in his previous life. Leo was less refined but more brutal. The cousin was irrelevant.
Fighting was impossible. This body couldn't win against three trained combatants.
Which meant this was a test of a different kind.
They want a reaction. Want me to cry, beg, fight back. Want confirmation that I'm still weak.
Robin kept his expression neutral. "I'm just going to the library."
"The library," Leo sneered. "Of course. Reading books. That's all you're good for, isn't it? Since you can't do anything useful."
He shoved Robin. Hard.
Robin stumbled backward, his improved agility barely keeping him upright. He didn't fight back. Didn't raise his hands.
Leo shoved him again. "What's wrong? Not going to defend yourself?"
Robin hit the wall. His shoulder struck stone, pain flaring.
Leo's footwork is sloppy. He puts too much weight on his right leg when he pushes. Leaves his left side vulnerable.
Another shove. Robin fell to the ground this time. The impact jarred his bones, but he'd taken worse during training.
He lay there, looking up at his brothers. His face showed nothing. No fear. No anger. Just cold observation.
Marcus is watching but not participating. Wants plausible deniability if this is reported. Smart. But it means he's complicit. Noted.
"Get up," Leo demanded. "Get up so I can knock you down again."
Robin stayed down. Sprawled on the cold stone floor. His mind processed everything.
Leo's stance is too wide when he stands like that. Easy to sweep if you can get close enough. His balance is poor.
"What's the matter?" The cousin spoke for the first time. "Cat got your tongue?"
The cousin keeps glancing at Marcus. Looking for approval. Follower, not a leader. Not a threat on his own.
Leo crouched down, getting in Robin's face. "You know what Father says about you? He says you're a mistake. An embarrassment. Says the kindest thing that could happen is if you just died quietly and stopped wasting resources."
Robin's expression didn't change. But something cold settled in his chest.
Did the Duke actually say that? Or is Leo inventing it?
Didn't matter. Either way, it revealed Leo's mindset. His cruelty. His need to hurt.
All weaknesses. All exploitable.
"Nothing to say?" Leo grabbed Robin's shirt, pulling him up slightly. "No tears? No begging?"
Robin met his eyes. Said nothing.
The silence was unnerving Leo. Robin could see it, the uncertainty creeping into his brother's expression. This wasn't going as planned.
People were supposed to react when bullied. Supposed to show fear or anger or hurt.
Robin showed nothing.
"Fine," Leo said, releasing Robin's shirt. He stood, looking down with disgust. "Stay down there. That's where you belong anyway."
He kicked Robin in the ribs. Not hard enough to break anything, Leo wasn't that stupid but hard enough to hurt.
Pain exploded through Robin's side. He didn't cry out. Didn't react beyond the involuntary grunt.
Right-footed kick. Predictable. He telegraphs it by shifting his weight first.
"Let's go," Marcus said. "This is boring. He's not even worth the effort."
The three of them walked away, their laughter echoing down the corridor.
Robin lay on the floor for a moment longer. Not because he couldn't get up but his improved endurance meant the pain was manageable. But because getting up too quickly would seem suspicious.
A weak, sickly child would need time to recover from that beating.
So Robin waited. Counted to sixty. Then slowly, carefully pushed himself upright.
His ribs ached where Leo had kicked him. His shoulder throbbed from hitting the wall. But nothing was broken. Nothing permanent.
[DAMAGE RECEIVED: -8 HP]
[CURRENT HP: 40/48]
The system tracked everything. Quantified his suffering with cold precision.
Robin stood, brushed dust from his clothes. Continued walking toward the library as if nothing had happened.
But his mind was cataloging every detail. Every weakness. Every mistake his brothers had made.
Leo telegraphs his attacks. Relies on size and strength rather than technique. Predictable. Exploitable.
Marcus is smarter but cowardly. Won't fight his own battles. Will use others as proxies. Manipulatable.
The cousin is a follower. Will abandon them if it becomes convenient.
Robin reached the library. Slipped inside. Moved to his usual corner where the oldest books gathered dust.
Sat down carefully, his ribs protesting.
He didn't open a book immediately. Just sat there, processing.
In his previous life, when Justin had been bullied back before he'd proven himself in combat he'd fought back. Had let anger drive him. Had made enemies through resistance.
It had worked, eventually. He'd become strong enough that no one dared challenge him.
But that had taken years. And it had painted a target on his back.
Robin was playing a different game now.
Let them think they've won. Let them think I'm still weak. Still pathetic. Still not worth their attention.
Every blow he didn't return was data collected. Every insult he didn't respond to was intelligence gathered.
They'd shown him how they thought. How they operated. Their patterns, their weaknesses, their limits.
Leo's right leg. Marcus's cowardice. The cousin's need for approval.
All filed away. All remembered.
One day, maybe years from now, that information would be useful.
One day, Robin would pay back every shove, every kick, every sneer.
Not with his fists. Not with crude violence.
With precision. With planning. With the systematic dismantling of everything they held dear.
Enjoy your victory, brothers. Celebrate your strength.
Because you just showed me exactly how to destroy you.
Robin opened a book. Started reading about succession laws in noble houses. About what happened when heirs were proven unworthy.
About how power transferred when the strong fell and the weak rose.
His ribs ached with every breath.
He smiled.
Pain was just information. And information was power.
Robin had plenty of both now.
┏━━━━━━━[ HiddenObjective ]━━━━━━━┓
│ ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
│
│ "Endure Without Retaliation"
│
│ Description: Withstand physical assault
│ while gathering tactical intelligence.
│ Accept pain as a tool for future victory.
│
│ Bonus Rewards:
│ ├─ +5 EXP
│ ├─ +1 WIS (Sealed - Banked)
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
┏━━━━━━━[ Updated Stats ]━━━━━━━┓
│ Name: Robin Stark
│ Level: 3
│ EXP: 5/100
│
│ Core Attributes:
│ STR Strength 7
│ AGI Agility 5
│ END Endurance 5
│ DEX Dexterity 6
│ INT Intelligence ??
│ WIS Wisdom 1 ( Banked for unlock)
│
│
│[ Vital Statistics:]
│ HP: 44/52
│ ST: 35/35
│ MP: 27/105
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Warmth flooded Robin's body. The ache in his ribs lessened. His breathing deepened.
The system had rewarded him for taking the beating. For gathering wisdom instead of fighting back.
Even pain has its uses, Robin thought.
He turned the page and kept reading.
Learning. Growing. Preparing.
While his brothers celebrated their dominance, Robin was building the foundation of their destruction.
One beating at a time.