Walking down the hallway I could hear my heartbeat growing louder and louder. I quickly reassured myself this was the right decision. I would make my own path in this story. As I walked through the immense double doors to the drawing room, I felt as if all the breath had left my body and fell immediately to my knees clutching my chest. When I found enough strength I looked up and saw a pair of cold steely silver eyes staring down at me, no emotion. This could be none other than my father the Grand Duke Jean-Pierre de Luc. This was the pressure of his amour propre, or ego, and he was sending me a message. This was a message to show me that he is the one in charge and although he has been gone the last few days, I should not forget this fact.

My eyes scanned the room from my doubled over position on the floor but I could only make out the silhouette of the other people in the room. This wasn't being done to anyone else just me. The voices of the others sounded distorted so there was no way of telling who else was around. Suddenly a voice cut through the noise with clarity.

"Wouldn't now be a good chance to ask for some help?" I heard a voice ask me sarcastically. I looked around but there was no one standing close enough to me other than the Grand Duke.

"Who's talking?" I muttered.

"No one can hear me except you. You don't have to speak, just think it. Besides in your current situation I'm sure it's hard enough just to stay conscious."

The voice sounded foreign to me but felt familiar. Thinking of the current situation there was only one conclusion to make. "Loic"

"So you do remember my name. You should have called me as soon as you realized you were being pressured by this, cretin."

"You couldn't have spoken to me sooner? If I'm in danger it stands to reason you are too."

"Why do you think I spoke up now? Besides, be grateful human. I'm blessing you with my presence." He said sounding smug. His attitude wasn't suprising considering how he was described in the book. As the most powerful spirit in the Luc family, he has been sought after by each generation of the family. The only other person in there history that had been able to form a contract with Loic was the founder of the family. Henri, being the male lead, would obviously be given the privilege of also being able to form a contract with Loic.

"So. Are you going to continue letting him intimidate us? I really cannot fathom why you have been hiding your abilities all this time. If you would use some of my power no one would be able to look down on us."

Of course he was right. Henri single-handedly wielded more power than the current Duke and Duchess combined. The problem wasn't an issue of power. It was trauma. That was part of the reason I was so drawn to Henri as a character in the novel. Abuse was not something that could be easily overcome just because you gained power you'd never had before. It is much harder to unlearn what has been systematically built into you since the day you were born.

The first thing anyone learns in the Luc family is that no matter who you are, it's eat or be eaten. Any sign of weakness means you could die. Even before Henri was born, he'd had other siblings die simply because they were not able to handle being starved and consistently neglected. The only thing that likely made Henri different was that he was the main character. As the host of a powerful spirit like Loic he was able to withstand much of his harsh treatment because the presence of Loic acted as a sort of battery that kept him going. He could go longer without eating than most people, and because of Loic his injuries healed a lot faster as well. Despite this, it was almost inevitable that he would not challenge his father's authority.

The memory that was deeply implanted into my mind as a reader was how the Duke hadn't even met Henri until he was three years old. Just old enough for him to retain memories. After seeing Henri, he thought his son looked too weak. This made him almost kill Henri. The idea that something so weak had come from him was an insult, and challenged his authority as the almighty Duke of the empire. The only reason he didn't was because he was reminded by his butler that Henri was the only potential successor he had, as the other children had already died or had been killed by him for other nonsensical reasons. This made him stop and subsequently kill that butler for speaking out of turn. In that moment, he had struck down a life and left the impressionable Henri in shock, covered in the blood of his father's subordinate.

Things only got progressively worse as the Grand Duke then decided that his son needed some "strength" training. That training only amounted to him torturing his son every day in order for him to build up a higher pain tolerance. He was unknowingly turning his son into a monster. Henri's only respite was after his father was sent to war by the Emperor.

Sadly, even after his father left the treatment he was given wasn't much different. There were only two types of people that could be found in the Luc estate: those who would hurt him, and those who would ignore him altogether. There was no shortage of people who attempted to poison him or would ignore his plea for help.The only exception was his maid Laila.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Laila barely stood as tall as Henri's chest, and her chestnut brown curls were constantly falling across her face and covering her eyes. They hid a face full of freckles that delicately dotted across her nose and round cheeks. She was timid and small, but had a soft spot in her heart for the young master that allowed her to be bold, when needed, in order to help him. Being brought in from a young age, she had not yet been tainted like the other staff, although she had witnessed first hand the harshness of living as a part of the Luc dukedom.

Unfortunately, she was too weak to do much other than bringing him food that wasn't rotten or helping him treat his wounds. After all, as a normal person working in the Luc estate, even a small mistake could cause you to perish. Even now, as his vision began to clear, he could see Laila fighting back tears. If she moved even a millimeter, she could lose her neck. Seeing her so desperately try to hold back encouraged me to stiffen my resolve.

I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on stabilizing my energy. "Loic"

"Speak"

"I'm done hiding my strength. I'm ready..to embrace this power"

"Finally, I've grown tired of your cowering. Time to put this disgusting thing and his lowly spirit in their place."

All at once I felt my strength surge back into my body. It felt like every pore was open, all of my senses heightened, and my heart beat increasingly loud in my ears. So this, was what my ego felt like.

My eyes scanned the room and saw the confusion that framed everyone's faces. The Grand Duke in particular had a very distorted look of confusion on his face.

"What the hell?" He thrusted out his hand and I could feel the same pressure I had before, but this time it amounted to a light push that did not even make me budge.

"Father, I think it's about time to make some changes around here." With just a look the Duke was on his knees. It almost looked like gravity was sitting on top of him.

"How dare you do that to your father?!" The Duchess yelled, approaching me from the left.

"My father...?" I said, scoffing in disbelief. "Since when?" I approached her, watching as she too fell to her knees next to the Duke.

"Henri--"

"Oh no," I said, gesturing for her to seal her lips. Immediately, mouth closed as if glued shut. "You are not allowed to call my name. Not once, have you ever turned to look my way when I called yours. Don't even think about calling mine now."

My mind couldn't help but think back to the Duchess' description in the novel. She was said to have never shown interest in Henri a single day of his life. Whether he lived of died was never a concern for her. In fact, she never visited her son after the day she'd had him.

His first time seeing her was when he was two. One of the maids had told him that his mother was in the parlor down the hallway having tea. He was nervous, but made his way to the parlor. With excitement, he entered the room and called out for his mother only to be met with a look of bewilderment.

She calmly took a sip of her tea before asking, "Laura...who is this?"

The maid was hesitant but answered ".....that is the young master...your son madame."

"So one of them survived. Well at least one of you were useful." She remarked before picking her teacup back up again. "Take him back where he came from and see to it that he doesn't disturb me anymore. This has made my tea time...unpleasant."

With that she dismissed him, and never sought him out after. Even as Henri cried and called out to his mother, she continued to sip her tea. His tears fell on deaf ears. Now all these years later, she was in front of him again. Her look of disinterest replaced with one of contempt.

"Laila."

"Ye-ye-yes sir?" She said running to my side.

"Go tell the knights in the hallway to come inside"

"Yes!" She said immediately hurrying out of the room.

I turned my attention back to the Duke. "From today onward, I am establishing myself as the family head. You will no longer act as the Grand Duke of the de Luc estate. You will relinquish all authority to me and establish me as the rightful heir of your legacy....you may speak."

"Do you really think we will take this lying down?" He asked, without attempting to hide his hostility.

"This, isn't a request. It's a command. You no longer have the authority to do anything other than what I allow you to do."

"What makes you so confident?"

"Do you not feel it? The power?! The pressure!" I kneeled down to his level and grabbed handful of his hair. "Until now I've been holding back. Habits are scary really... I'm so used to letting you push me around that even when I understood that I had gained the ability to fight back, I didn't"

"Get to the point." He murmured staring at me defiantly.

"Loic." I said gleefully.

The look on his face was priceless. Just a moment ago he had been staring daggers at me, but the fear that appeared on his face now was so unlike the father that had tortured Henri for years.

"Impossible...the ancestral spirit formed a contract with you?"

"Yes! Hard to believe right? This weak son of yours, that you've mistreated until now, has the power to turn you and everything you've built into nothing." I stood up and gestured at Laila to bring the knights inside at that moment. "Everyone in this room, with the exception of Laila and the knights, are fired."

"Young Mast--" One of the maids tried to interject but was immediately silenced.

"That will be my only warning. You all have two hours to gather your things and leave the estate. Anyone still here after two hours have passed, better be sufficiently prepared for the circumstances."

A crowd of feet could be heard shuffling out of the room ad everyone pushed to get out.

"As for the knights in this room, I'm sure you all can grasp the current situation"

"Sir" the young knight said saluting and directing the other nights to round up the Duke and Duchess.

"It's understood that in this family it's always been eat or be eaten. So please don't make things harder than they need to be during this transition. I'd rather not carry on the tradition of unnecessary bloodshed."

"Even if you have that power, do you think it will be easy for you to live up to the legacy of our family? Someone like you? Can you really become the head of this family?!" He spat out bitterly.

"That's not something you have to worry about anymore... take him away"

The knights began dragging them out of the room.

"Don't think that you've won!" He yelled as they dragged him away.

"But I did! I did win, and YOU lost. You lost, the moment I decided to stop being your victim."