Chapter 7: Mishya and Mikhail
Lucian felt his heart drop at the familiar scene playing before his eyes.
In his first life, the girl being surrounded by three men and almost being assaulted physically alerted him, mostly due to a moral standing. They were merely strangers at that time, and he raised a hand to help because he can.
But now, with the memories of his first life, and the undeniable truth of Mishya being his elder sister by blood made his emotions go a bit haywire.
A deep sense of rage welled up inside his insides, and Lucian even felt like drawing blood, if not for the rational part of his mind telling him to calm down.
The moment Wale Halacre raised his hand to slap his sister, Lucian almost acted to break that arm permanently or better yet just chop it off.
'Calm down…I can't scare sister on our first meeting.'
Lucian took a deep breath, the venom in his pupils hid behind his calm façade.
He took a forceful step that propelled his figure just behind the three bastards that dared to corner his sister.
Only a huge gust of wind could be heard, followed by a swishing sound as Lucian raised his left leg and twisted his waist, using a tenth of his strength to deliver a solid kid to Wale's back.
The four in the state of confrontation failed to notice anything other than the sound of picking up wind, but they thought that it was just the breeze of the forest, and that was until a black shadow shrouded Wale from behind before he was lifted off his feet and smashed against the trunk of the tree a meter away from Mishya.
A shriek, the sound of pigs being slaughtered reverberated in the quiet forest vicinity.
Mishya froze on the spot at the sudden change of events. Her raised head that was stubbornly waiting for Wale's slap to come down stiffened in place as her eyes widened with incredulity.
The two lackeys standing just a step behind Wale opened their closed eyes at hearing his familiar voice shrieking in utter pain.
Their minds went blank at seeing the battered Wale lying upside down on a tree trunk.
"Young master Wale!" The two lackeys felt their hearts shivering once again. They hurriedly rushed to Wale's side to check on his injuries.
Wale is currently mumbling incoherently and seems to be passing in and out of consciousness. There is blood dripping at the corner of his mouth, and bruises could be seen forming on his arms and face.
The two of them looked up with gazes a mixture of fear and fury as they noticed the person that was the cause of Wale's predicament.
They have been standing behind Wale, and have also felt the strong gust of wind, but the sudden change of events that happened in that short time buried a sense of terror in their hearts.
Facing the young man that intervened with Wale's actions, the two lackeys felt like they are facing a terrifying beast in human skin.
The fury in their hearts evaporated in an instant at seeing the calm and still pupils of the other party. It felt like they are being eyed by an emotionless being that treated their lives as trash.
But the two lackeys can't back down now that Wale was beaten to this extent. They would surely face the wrath of Wale's parents and grandparents once they've known that they did not do anything against the offender.
"D-Do you know who he is? How dare you beat young master Wale?"
"The Halacre will not let you and your family go! Bow down and apologize and we will ask young master Wale to punish you lightly without entangling your family once he gains consciousness!"
The two lackeys shouted with less confidence than they intended to show. They really want to push the head of the insolent stranger down to the ground and take a recording to somehow ease Wale's mood once he wakes up, but the fear spreading from the tips of their toes to their limbs couldn't be stopped since the moment they laid their eyes on that man.
"Scram."
Lucian's cold voice sent shivers down their spine, and they almost peed their pants from the stimulation of fear. They looked at each other before hoisting up Wale on their shoulders and scampering away with their tail between their legs.
Lucian did not even bother giving those two lackeys another look. His eyes drifted to his sister Mishya and the violent mood inside him slowly settled down like a calm sea without any ripples.
Her mid-length black hair smoothly swayed with the breeze, her light blue pupils the same as their mother glistened like the vast blue skies with the midday sun, and her soft features added a trace of elegance to her already breathtaking face.
His elder sister Mishya was only a year older than him, and she was just three years old when he was kidnapped by the Valemonts.
Lucian doesn't remember anything about his real family in his first life, and it was really a stretch to expect a two-year old toddler to remember anything.
But when he was living in the doomsday and his body evolved with the influence of the plane and the help of the system, some short blurry memories would flash in his mind from time to time.
Lucian cruelly remembers everything about the Valemonts, such as every nook and cranny inside the villa that he lived in for years, but the short and blurry memories portray an entirely different scenery, and the warm soothing ambiance could not be any more in contrast with the calculating and cold atmosphere of the Valemont villa.
The hunch of those memories being the only memories that he has of his real family made Lucian ecstatic.
Every time those memories appear in his mind, Lucian would stop and try hard to make the images clearer and to hear the sounds embedded in those memories resonate deeply in his ears.
He treated those memories as a life-saving straw that kept him grounded in the cruel and bloody environment of the doomsday.
A blurry scene of a chubby three-year old girl wearing a red dress with pigtails hugging the little Lucian sitting down on a picnic blanket flashed in his mind.
Lucian's eyes unconsciously softened. His hands hanging at his sides trembled as he took a step closer to his sister.
"Are you okay?" A lump seems to form in his throat, and his voice came out a bit raspy.
Mishya has been observing the stranger that suddenly appeared and saved her from her plight.
Grateful as she was, Mishya still put up her guard until she ascertained that the other party wasn't like those three that just left.
There have been instances in her life that she made friends from 'kindhearted' passersby that helped her, but eventually the truth still came out that everything was just a ploy to get into her good graces and have a connection with a Crownwald scion.
The man that appeared seemed to be younger than her and must be an incoming freshman. His good looks and bluish-gray pupils evoked a sense of familiarity, but Mishya couldn't pinpoint it and judged that maybe she had already put down her guard just because the other party saved her from being slapped in the face.
She shook her head and decided that she would worry about being tricked later. The other party did do her a favor of not going home to see the worried faces of her family.
Although she has been prepared to get slapped and she wasn't intent on backing down against such an airheaded trash that seems to think men are the kings of the world, Mishya still felt afraid deep down in her heart.
She has grown up so big without even suffering a small wound due to the careful and painstaking effort of her parents and older brothers. And she knows that hell will break open once she goes home with a swollen face, but she doesn't want to let that bastard feel pleasure of seeing the fear in her face, so she sucks it up.
Good thing that someone arrived and kicked that trash away.
"Yes, thank you for your help." Mishya nodded and reached out her right hand to Lucian.
"I'm Mishya Crownwald, it's nice to meet you."
Lucian stiffened at the warm smile on his sister's lips. He mechanically reached out his right hand for a handshake before letting go in a few seconds. The heat that travelled from his sister's hand to his shook his heart. The same warmth, like that memory of his elder sister hugging the little version of himself.
"Nice to meet you too, Lucia-Lucien…Lucien Valemont is my name."