RAGNA POV...
Gustav, still sitting on the ground from the slap, suddenly went limp and collapsed, unconscious, his world finally caving in, because in that instant the dream he had always chased—the love and approval of his father—shattered completely, and everything he had planned, everything he had imagined, vanished in the space of just a few merciless words.
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GUSTAV POV...
A dream I had chased my entire life shattered on that very day, because the father whose love I had begged for, whose acknowledgment I had built every ugly plan around.
Finally looked at me and erased me with his voice, disowning me so completely that everything I had schemed for, every future I had imagined where I stood above them all, collapsed and vanished in the space of just a few words, words that cut deeper than any blade—
’Exile... Disown... Stripped of the name Ringwood’
And those were the last sounds I heard before darkness swallowed me whole, the syllables looping endlessly in my head like a cursed chant, faint yet relentless, echoing over and over until they became a maddening murmur that refused to fade.
It felt like the horror stories my mother used to whisper at night, except this time I was the monster at the center of the tale, because the word disown was no different from a life curse, worse than abandonment, worse than death, reducing me to something lower than a serf, a being even peasants could spit on without consequence, a dishonored child rejected publicly by his own father, branded a disgrace in the eyes of the villagers who already looked at me with the same contempt they reserved for the six-eyed maggot, and in that instant I understood that.
I had nothing left—not a home, not a family, not even a name—except perhaps my mother, and even that thought sent chills crawling down my spine.
I had fallen from grace to grass in a single breath, all because of that bitch and that cursed six-eyed freak, and now I was no better than a slave, my existence stripped bare in front of everyone.
RAGNA POV...
When the parents of the boys witnessed everything that followed, they stood frozen with mouths agape, because no matter how twisted they were.
Even they did not wish for a son capable of plotting against his own siblings, and after a suffocating silence Talen’s father finally stepped forward to apologize to my parents, only for Father to cut him off coldly, declaring that Tim was no longer his son and that he would report a criminal hiding in his home along with his accomplices for plotting against and attempting to murder his child—me.
While also making it clear that this was a warning to everyone present to watch their children carefully, before he went to inform the village head.
One by one, the parents bowed their heads and offered their apologies, promising not to shield their children from punishment and vowing that none of them would ever dare insult my family again, and with grim expressions they all headed to the village center, where the village head listened patiently to the six boys’ confessions before delivering judgment with a voice heavy with authority.
After hearing both victim and assaulters, he declared that their crimes left little room for mercy, sentencing them first to twenty-four hours in the pillory to put their strength to use.
Second to having their heads shaved and receiving twenty lashes with cold water, and third to being stripped naked and paraded under the sun for two days so they could properly reconsider their actions, and when he asked for objections, the parents could only shake their heads despite their clenched jaws.
That was when I stepped forward and asked to speak—not for myself, but for one of them.
I pointed at Tom.
With trembling lips and tear-filled eyes that betrayed nothing of my true thoughts, I thanked him loudly for saving me, calling him my savior, and then begged the village head to free him from all punishment, asking how I could possibly allow the one who had risked his life for me to be punished before my eyes, and after a brief pause the village head agreed.
Exempting Tom while also forbidding anyone from calling him or his family names ever again, reminding the villagers that if I had truly been as evil as they claimed, their children would already be dead.
My parents nodded in agreement, Tom’s father shook Father’s hand with gratitude, and even his wife smiled openly, thanking us again and again, while I watched it all with a quiet inward smirk.
Perfect.
I could feel it then—how frighteningly effective it was.
So this is mental fortitude... or is it the hypnotic edge of Cursed Charm? I wondered, excitement buzzing through me as I recalled the vampire movies I used to watch, wondering if mind control failed against strong-willed people or if that was just fiction.
Because as far as I was concerned, controlling a handful of villagers wasn’t impossible at all—it was only a matter of attribute points.
And once Cursed Charm is high enough... the whole village will dance in my palm.
I grinned.
[Hidden Quest has been completed]
[New Quest has been issued by the System]
The notifications made me pause mid-triumph, and when I checked them both, a slow, satisfied smile crept across my face.
It really doesn’t get better than this, I thought. Two birds, one stone... I had a feeling things would turn out exactly like this.
Author Notes: I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for reading this novel, and our top fans,I appreciate every comment, review, powerstones, golden tickets you guys give the book. But we need more.]
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