"Was Father angry at you? He seemed mad as I saw him leave your room." Nicholas, Selena's younger Half-Brother, Nicholas Booker, asked her with a chuckle. The layer of fat on his stomach seemingly bounced to his chuckle.

"Wow, this guy was made to be angry at. I bet he is still annoying if he stands around doing nothing but breathes." Soul exclaimed.

Nicholas was a pampered mama's boy. Raised as the successor to the Booker fortune, he was always respected by his peers. Even the servants paid careful attention to his well-being seeing as he is their future boss. However, this gave Nicholas a false sense of superiority as he had no accomplishments of his own and almost always neglected his studies and training. His parents were slightly disappointed by his demeanor but hoped that he would get better with time. Of course, if wishful thinking solved things, then pigs would have flown without the help of magic, and this certain piggy would probably never fly, even with the help of magic.

"Do you need something?" Selena asked, not responding to his comment. She was used to his haughty attitude.

"Tsk-Tsk... Sister, you should change your attitude if you want Master Grant to marry you. You barely show any expressions and sleep late. Very soon, he might get bored with you and leave you for someone else." Nicholas spoke without holding himself back. An Aristocrat should be very careful of his words as even a casual remark made by them could be used as a weapon against them.

Selena narrowed her eyes in response. It seems he was not aware of last night's incident, otherwise, even an idiot like him would know not to speak of this. It also seems that he was somewhat aware of Grant's and Patricia's relationship but chose not to speak about it. Before she could respond, Soul's voice resounded in her head.

"Wait, Wait...!! There's something you should know..." Soul shouted as he told her something.

After hearing what Soul had to say, she had an idea. "Alright, keep an eye out. Let me know if there are any changes," she told Soul, then turned to look at Nicholas with her icy cold eyes.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Selena asked, in a chilly tone, devoid of emotion.

Nicholas shuddered as his instincts kicked in. It told him that the person in front of him was dangerous and he should run away as fast as possible. But, his empty pride and false superiority overwhelmed his instincts and was probably the reason why he ended up digging his own grave. He stood upright, despite his shivering feet and proclaimed.

"Humph...!! I can do whatever I want. Who are you to stop me?" He harrumphed.

"Okay..." Selena closed her eyes for a second, and opening it again, she spoke again.

"Our marriage was decided by our parents. Are you saying that Grant undermined our Father's authority and willfully meet with other women?"

"W-What? I didn't..." Nicholas panicked. As stupid as he was, he at least knew that his Father was the highest authority of the house. By saying Grant would meet with other women, he was indirectly claiming that Marquis Booker was incapable of controlling his future son-in-law. Of Course, a normal adult may be able to refute it but this was a checkmate for a stupid 14-year-old piggy.

"...and did you know about this, but did not report to Father? Does the honor of our family means nothing to you?" Selena's sharp tongue cut deep into Nicholas's conscience.

"You... You... You shut up." Nicholas bellowed angrily as this was the only response he knew whenever someone spoke against him.

However, unbeknownst to him, this is exactly what Selena wanted.

"Alright, it worked. Proceed to phase two, whatever that is." Soul replied after sensing the area. He had no idea what she had planned but he chose to support her nonetheless.

"Hmm..." Selena nodded before talking to Nicholas.

"You shouldn't spread rumors without proper evidence. What if your random thoughts harmed the Johnson manor. Unlike you, Grant has a good image and is properly studying to be the next head of the family." Selena spoke in a soft voice, seemingly caring for her younger brother, but also making sure that her voice did not reach to the door.

"You bitch...!!", Nicholas screamed. The one thing he hated the most was being compared to others, and to make matters worse, it was Selena who was doing the comparing.

"You think that Grant is someone special? Ha Ha...!! I personally saw him kiss your so-called best friend Patricia in our Garden. It's obvious he's going to dump you soon.", before he could continue, a loud manly voice reverbed in the room.

"What...?!" The voice was full of anger. Nicholas shivered again. He turned around to see his father standing in the doorway, livid, and breathing strongly.

"Is this true?" Marquis barely managed to squeeze out those words as he gritted his teeth furiously.

It is said that an animal that has never seen a predator their whole life will still run away instinctively when facing one. This meant that Nicholas was worse than an animal in that aspect. Since he never saw his father angry at him before, he thought the Marquis was angry at Selena. He took a step forward and proudly stated.

"Yes Father, I personally witnessed this a couple of days ago. You should reprimand Selena for not being able to control her future husband. She has brought shame on our household with this matter and we should marry her off to someone fast to----"

WHACK....!!!

A huge slapping sound reverbed in the manor as the Marquis used his full force to slap Nicholas. The sheer pressure behind the slap was staggering and since Nicholas was not prepared at all, he crashed on the floor very hard and the sheer impact made him bounce once before he crashed again. If Soul could raise his hands, he would have given a score of 10.0 to the Marquis for that excellent slap.

"F-Father...?" Nicholas trembled and stumbled as he tried to get up from the damage. His feet were shaking like crazy and he was still seeing stars. He just couldn't believe he was slapped, by his own father nonetheless. It should be noted that the Marquis has never raised his hand on his children, but today, it seems it was necessary.

"DON'T CALL ME FATHER, YOU MISERABLE WRETCH...!!", The Marquis bellowed as he took another step forward and slapped Nicholas on his other cheek.

This time, Nicholas was somewhat ready, so instead of bouncing like last time, he simply slid on the floor as he crashed against the wall.

"I really should have brought some popcorn." Soul said as he watched the amusing act.

"You... You knew that Grant was having an affair and did not tell me?! Are you that desperate for my fortune that you wanted your sister to commit suicide?" the Marquis kept spitting as he talked with all the Saliva that was in his mouth at the moment.

"Su-Suicide?" Nicholas was shocked. He immediately turned to Selena. She was sitting upright on her bed with a miserable expression on her face. Even an idiot like Nicholas knew something was wrong now. She was not the kind of person to sleep late, and the Marquis was not angry at her it seemed too. Just what in the world happened.

Before he could think this through, he felt a sharp pain on his ear, as he was lifted by it from the ground by his Father. He screamed in agony but the Marquis did not seem to care. The Marquis looked at Selena and said apologetically, "I am sorry. I will fix this."

Nicholas's jaw would have dropped down seeing his Father apologize to Selena had it not been busy used to scream.

"Get over here...!!" The Marquis bellowed as he dragged the screaming pig out of Selena's room.

"What happened?" A worried female voice was heard.

'It seems Step-Mother was called by a servant after hearing the commotion.' Selena thought as she recognized the voice of the current Marchioness, Nora Booker.

"What happened?! Your pampering of the boy will destroy this household, that's what happened." The Marquis bellowed angrily as he stomped away with the squealing pig by his side. The Marchioness promptly followed as she hoped to calm the Marquis down.

As Silence slowly filled Selena's room once more, she slowly changed her expression from miserable to her usual cold face. She looked out the window and after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke.

"I wonder how are things progressing with Nicholas?" She casually asked.

"Want to see?" Soul chuckled and with a swoop, the Marquis's study came into view.

Inside, the Marquis was seen screaming at his wife who had her head down weeping. At a corner of the room, Nicholas could be seen shivering in fright as he huddled up with himself with various swellings on his body. He was also crying, but it sounded more like a pig squealing.

"What a good wife you are. Didn't you promise me that you would take good care of my daughter when your parents proposed this marriage? Were you not the one who told me that a child should not be raised without a mother?" The Marquis was scolding his wife.

"Huh? I was not aware that it was Step-mother who initiated the proposal." Selena was shocked. All along, she thought it was her Father who used Selena as an excuse to remarry.

"I am sorry... I am so sorry... I don't know when I started neglecting her. Did she try to kill herself? Dear God, what have I done?" the Marchioness's face was covered by her hands as she continued weeping.

"Huh, that's interesting." Soul interjected.

"What is it?"

"Well, didn't I say that I can detect lies. Well, it doesn't seem like she is lying. She genuinely feels bad for neglecting you. I don't understand." Soul pondered.

"The Marchioness was never a bad person..." Selena explained, "She was not a real mother back then so she had a hard time communicating with me. When her son was born, her motherly instincts kicked in but by then, our relation was pretty much estranged by then."

"Really? That's good. That means there is still some hope for your family to become one in the future." Soul approved.

"Why are you bent on making me have a family? I am perfectly fine as it is. I am used to it." Selena asked.

"That's because you don't know what a real family is like yet." Soul responded, "Trust me, some people say that family makes a person weak, but in truth, a family is an unspoken alliance that helps you get stronger with the trust you have built with one another. Someday, you will look back and see, that you made the right choice by being a part of a family."

Soul retracted his senses and Selena was back inside her own room.

"Maybe, we'll see..." Selena said lazily as she went back to sleep. According to Soul, the cursed bangle had put a strain on her body which is why she was feeling tired. The Mage had told the escort to make Selena rest for a couple of days. So Selena spent the next few days recuperating in her room. The Marquis would visit from time to time, talking about anything that came to mind. The Marchioness also visited her in hopes of completing her original goal for marrying the Marquis. However, Selena's limited responses made it hard for them to communicate nicely which depressed both of them, but to Selena's surprise did not deter them from visiting her.

As for the piggy Nicholas, a retired Army General who was a close friend of the Marquis was hired to 'train' him. A retired scholar was also hired to personally teach the piggy. The Servants were ordered not to listen to any of Nicholas's demands. Anyone defying orders would be punished by whipping their buttocks in public. The Servants gladly followed the orders as Nicholas's attitude towards them was obviously bad. Whenever he tried to threaten them, the servants would immediately let the Marquis know and what happened next was the sound of a pig squealing would come from the Marquis's study. The Marchioness also hardened her heart and did not interfere as she knew it was good for the boy, and it would temper him into a fine man.

In a couple of days, Selena recovered fully. She could move around like normal and the Marquis gifted her many dresses for her outings. The Marchioness also sent over various pieces of jewelry. Selena was in the midst of trying one of the dresses when a maid walked in.

"First Young Lady Selena, Baron Turner has come to visit you."

"Baron Turner?" Selena frowned, "Patricia's Father?"

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