Poisonous Love

Chapter 26: King's Dog

*A/N: I thought of giving some insight into the minds of people other than Rose and Vincent! Those two are always so deeply wrapped up in their own little worlds, they forget the other details of reality... Rose is just a bit of an airhead in some ways, so she doesn't think to deeply on things outside of her circle.
So here is Gerald! He makes me laugh so I like him*

Age: 15
Gerald Bel Cowell (POV)

I learned a lot of things when I turned 5.

I learned that my cute looks meant I could act however badly I wanted, and people would forgive me.

I practiced on a maid first.

Her name was Penelope, she came from a poor Baron household, she was educated but... just barely.
I loved watching her. She always moved so silently and kept so still in the presence of others.
She liked to steal when she thought no one was looking.

I caught her one night, trying to take from my father's office.

"Y-y-young master!" When she saw me, she was frozen with fear. Then, as if realizing I was but a child, she relaxed.

"I was just doing some cleaning. Shouldn't you be in bed?" They always treated me like a stupid child.

"Whatcha got there~" She became nervous when I asked what she was holding behind her back.

"N-Nothing-!"

"Ya know~ Papa told me he loves liars and thieves... he liked to take their fingers first. He says they always scream really cute"
She looked so pale and cute. Trembling like a bunny when caught in a trap.

Penelope was easy. She was completely at my beck and call...

She got boring when she broke.

Reality isn't so kind to nobles.
I knew the name "Cowell" meant "King's Dog".
My father followed the King's word like religion. If the King said kill your wife- then he would easily slit my mother's throat.

People became more like toys to me when I began to follow in my father's footsteps.

My favorite toy was Phillip De Lionel. A crybaby, who longed to be acknowledged by his Father as a knight.
He was desperate in everything he did, always so honest too.
He was tough to break, whether it was because he was too stupid or not was undetermined.

The only person unwilling to be my toy was another boy... who was like me in some ways.

The adopted son and heir of the Vermillion house: Vincent.

He saw through me immediately, which gave me quite the shock. My smiles fell on deaf ears for the first time in forever. In fact, the kid was just as good at being a manipulative mastermind as I was.
Though his target even made me wonder.

His sister, though not by blood, Rosalia. She was technically the true heir, but for a time, she was engaged to the Crown Prince of Frare.
My future King.

Due to our ties with the throne, I was often around the Prince.
He was as expected, extremely excellent in everything he did. Whether drinking tea, speaking on politics and reforms, or deciding punishments.

I remember the first time he told me about his fiancé.

"She's utterly insane, though well skilled at pretending to be somewhat of a normal noble lady. She drank the poisoned tea a maid brought, then proceeded to add commentary as if it was a cake at a shop"
It made me genuinely laugh. Not because of what she did, but because I couldn't believe it despite hearing it from a kid so boring you'd wonder if he even could tell such a lie.