Zia Zaratul is a daughter of a prostitute. Her father is a duke with 12 more children like her. But compared to these other children, her life is so much worse.

At the tender age of 6, she was forced to train in martial arts, and consume drugs to awaken her mutation. Her siblings also received the same type of education. Then at the age of 8, she awoke her Special Ability. It's a telepathic variant that allows her to read the negative thoughts of her target with incredible accuracy.

"Your bloodline powers are not suitable for fighting. But I just have the perfect use of you..." Her father, the duke thought of a rather disgusting way to utilize her daughter.

Zia was groomed and taught etiquette and ways to seduce men. She was taught by notable high ladies of society how to blend with the aristocracy. Then the fateful day finally came.

She was only 15 years old at that time, but her beauty is becoming more evident by the day.

"I want you to lie in bed with this man, then extract his thoughts. He is a viscount of Duke Vitriol's side." The duke saw the hesitation in his daughter's eyes which caused him to flare.

"Do as you were told if you don't want to end like your mother, rotting in the brothel as you service strangers for a measly coin." Zia wanted to cry, but she refused. Her mother's words to her helped her to last this long in the duke's household, she won't waste all of her efforts and her mother's words.

Stick to the duke like glue to paper, her mother said. And she will do just like that.

When Zia entered the bed chamber, she felt a stuffy sensation inside her. It was the smell of aphrodisiac making her uncomfortable.

An obese and shady man lies in the center of the bed. He is hairy and reeks of women's perfume. Zia felt the man's lecherous gaze. She slowly stripped her clothes reluctantly.

The viscount has a history of pedophilia and sickly sexual fetishes. The beast is impatient and already wants to get into action. He carried Zia to the bed, then started lasciviously smooching her. Zia can feel him breathing on her neck.

Like a buoy to a drowning person, inspiration woke a part of her. The part that wants to maintain her dignity. The duke wants information about his enemies, so she shall do what is expected of her.

She drew a dagger she always hid by her waist and then stabbed the man in his stomach. He is fat, and the dagger is not that long, so it is not as fatal as it should be, but it still made the viscount cry painfully.

He retreated, then fell off the bed.

"HAAAHG! Fuck! Bitch, why? I will have the duke answer to this! Guards, help!"

"I am sorry, but did you forget? You made them go away. You don't want others to hear of your hobbies right?"

That's right. More than on one occasion, the viscount played with her maids like the lecherous beast he is... Every time he does, he scatters his subordinates, extending their patrols to another block.

The viscount is only a normal human, so even with Zia's low potential grade, she can still overpower the viscount. She sat on top of him. Too bad, the viscount's waist is too big for her to lock her legs.

"I guess, I have to reduce your size."

The dagger isn't a good cutting tool. It took her an hour to sever one leg from the ankle to the toe. It wasn't even a complete cut, she has to snap it a little bit to pull the entire thing from the viscount. Blood sprayed as the viscount squealed like a pig.

The aphrodisiac is in Zia's favor, and it stops the viscount from fainting. The aphrodisiac is made of Troll's essence and Goblin's grass and its effectiveness to increase vitality are immense.

Zia continued to torture the viscount without even asking a word. She simply speaks of words that might trigger the Viscount's memories, then voila— she has her information. She stopped grinding the other leg when the viscount ultimately fainted.

She fixed her partially undid lingerie drenched with blood. She was slightly naked, but cloth is cloth. It covers you. Offers you a sense of comfort. She exits the bed-chamber only to meet the duke's slap. It wasn't as painful as she thought.

She is afraid.

But she is ready.

"He is a discarded pawn of Duke Vitriol. But there is still noteworthy information on his head. The imperial princess, Lorie Lorena Arandragon will be attending the academy for the next two years. The current emperor is planning a purge. That's why he is sending his youngest daughter away. In the duration of the next two years, the emperor will prepare for the coming purge."

"I am not impressed."

"The viscount is still alive. His leg can't be reattached anymore. He won't speak about us, since his lecherous behavior is not something he can really share with his fellow nobles. It won't cause a scandal, since he's already a discarded pawn."

"What if he is not a pawn?"

"I would have killed him."

"Excellent."

In short two years, Zia grew more beautiful and stronger than she was, and even the duke now sees her as a warrior more than a doll.

She is ready. Zia plans to become a villain just to stay by the Duke's side. During the group assessment, she used human meat shields, baits, and schemes you won't see in a hero.

The principal didn't show any verbal dislike for her tyrannical tactics, so Zia became bolder.

It must be true that the academy is truly impartial when it comes to this kind of thing. Zia with her mind-reading easily found weaknesses in her fellow applicants, then exploited them with that weakness. She raked points like how a gang leader coerces people for money, but she still can't compare to the truly stronger ones.

3rd- Lorie— 583 points

7th- Zia— 152 points

The bitter taste of defeat. And Lorie is only ranked third even with the kind of score. Zia became more determined to prove her worth.

So she became crueler, to the point of mistaking relief for inflicting pain on someone as normal. She developed a volatile behavior of sadism unfit for a young girl's mind.

It was after the group assessment, she was very irritated, and a blind girl just have to bump into her.

It took her less than 30 seconds to vent her stress. She tormented the blind sack of disgrace to a bloody pulp. Oh, the delight. She vented it all to the poor girl. She might as well cripple her for life to compliment her blindness, but gosh, she was tenacious.

Zia swore to become the villain incarnate.

Then she met him, a real bonafide villain. What makes this villain more fascinating is that he doesn’t think of himself as one. Making it worse is this villain has a monster hiding within him. He’s like an ideal bad guy.

Zia recalls the day she made a deal with that monster that day. Still to this date, she felt only confusion as what the deal includes are too simple-minded. “To not fall in love with Alfir.”

The monster made her bleed, beg and bawl. She cried that day, then the following day, and the next day. She cried under the sheets of her bed as she woke up from the same nightmare again and again. It has been a month since then but the nightmares keep on haunting her.

Still, the deal forever remains a mystery to her. Why not fall in love specifically?

*Knock *knock!

Zia alertly looks over her door.

Who is it? Perhaps it's Rodney and his gang. The bastard is forcing himself into Zia in the past few days. The nobility is like this, they are either forceful or scheming.

But to her surprise, it wasn't as she expected. It's worse. Fear clouded her mind. Her first instinct is to be quiet.

"Let's have a date. Tomorrow, 7:00 am. Wear your Sunday's best. Academy Plaza." He said, the villain Alfir said, giving Zia no chance to say no.

Can she even answer back?

Zia's face contorted bitterly.