6 The Bastard Child

Karyan stood in front of the mirror and stared at himself, "Hmm...the hair won't do; it needs to be more intimidating."

The snake slid out from his black shirt that looked like it was seeing its last days.

"The color of my eyes," Karyan leaned closer, "I miss the golden color. As soon as I get my powers back, I will change it too. Red doesn't do me any justice."

The black hair will be turned to dark green once again, and the color of the eyes had to change in his opinion to make Mateo remind him of his old self. "I will scare the shit out of you," Karyan grinned as he moved away from the mirror.

When the twins were born, they were immediately isolated from the rest of the family members, given very little, almost to no privilege.

Mateo was scared and paranoid, although he gave no signs of intimidation of the curse, deep inside he was trembling and fearing that Karyan would come back for him.

He couldn't exactly and immediately kill them, as the law must be followed first, and accusing a child of treason and curse was quite impossible as this wouldn't have made any sense. So he was watching, stalking, observing the twins and their powers.

So far, none of them showed any signs of being able to talk to snakes until yesterday. "This poor child, Karlin," Karyan murmured.

He wasn't extremely connected to him, and even if they were born together but with different souls and mindsets, Karyan still felt close to him.

In his previous life, Karyan was kind, extroverted, and trusted everyone easily, as no one was showing any dislikes or hate towards him, even Mateo. He never appeared as a hateful person.

But he was wrong. "A man who had nothing to lose will always rush to sacrifice others for his own benefits," he sighed, "yet they label snakes as cold, venomous, and unreachable beings, while humans themselves often shed different skins, deceiving others about their true nature, pathetic."

In this life, Karyan decided to stay more alert, focused, and not trust a single soul. No helping, let them die and suffer. Why should he care?

But to keep Mateo alive until Karyan gets his revenge.

If the king finds out that he was reborn, he knew that he would be sentenced back to hell, and in this life, there was no Anaksu to save his skin.

"Son of a bi-"

"What are you murmuring here, bastard?"

Karyan turned around to see his uncle, "Maiko."

"To your lord Maiko, bastard."

Karyan furrowed his lips and nose, "why are you here? Aren't you busy assaulting the maids?"

Maiko clenched his fist, "you're quite talkative for a five-year-old, but you know what happened to your snake brother can happen to you as well."

"Because Karlin was accused by the grandpa, doesn't mean I should go through this too. Now tell the maids to serve me food. I'm hungry."

"You little bitch," Maiko came closer as he grabbed Karyan by his throat, "watch your tone, you accident, because I could kill you here and now."

"Yeah, and go to jail. What a great ruler of the family," Karyan rolled his eyes.

"It would be worth it after killing one of you; you ruined Barbara's life."

"If it wasn't our father taking the time to do it first, it would've been you that would've ruined her life."

Maiko sneered, "do you understand what you're saying right now?"

"And you think we don't know how you always watch our mother?"

Maiko paused; his eyes were looking deep inside Karyan's, "you," he spoke in a low voice, "you bastard," he added.

"Our mother is not your prize, and aren't you already married? What would grandpa say if he knew?"

Maiko threw Karyan on the ground; his eyes were reflecting dark and hot flames, "you're a nobody, and your magic is gone. Fight me."

Karyan removed the dust from his pants, "fighting a five-year-old, how brave of you-"

Before Karyan was able to finish the sentence, a thick and heavy punch collided with his mouth. The amount of energy Maiko used was like he was fighting someone equal, his size.

He was tall, a six feet man, with broad shoulders, dark and long red hair, and eyes as bright red, almost reflecting the fire within.

He didn't care if his opponent was a five-year-old or a grown man, but what he cared about if someone triggers him at least once, he will not let it slide.

"Not much of a talker now, are you?"

'This bitch...'

Karyan sought thought of an immediate counterattack, imagining how Sera's venomous strike transformed his blood into frozen gelato, while his skin changed from its usual hue to a pale white adorned with green veins trying to come out from inside.

But if he did that, he would just expose himself, so the only choice was to take it…

"Pathetic!" Another punch!

"Fucking!" One more.

"Creature!" The third one…

"Aha, ah," Maiko breathed in as he wiped the blood that came from Karyan's lips off his cheek.

"So brave, so talkative...and who taught you to speak like this? Eh?" He lifted his foot and kicked Karyan's right rib.

"That fucking maid, Estera? The traitor bitch! Was it her? Eh?" He kicked one more time as heavy air was coming out of his lungs.

Not a single tear came out from Karyan's eyes, not a single begging for mercy or stopping this cruel moment.

With all his might, he stood up and talked back, "the maid who refused to bed you?"

Maiko felt even more furious; his blood boiled harder.

As he was about to throw another punch, he suddenly felt a sharp, painful bite.

He noticed a strange pressure and felt his own blood mixing with something else, swirling around as if it belonged to his veins.

"What on-?"

He looked down and saw a small white snake, having its fangs deep inside his ankle, "a snake?"

In a matter of seconds, he collapsed on the ground like a snowflake on the cold winter's snow.