Lucien's earliest memories was of the hateful eyes of everyone in the palace.

He never understood what he did to deserve those looks of anger and disgust.

He remembered once deciding on asking one of his elder brothers why everyone looked at him in such a way, in Lucien's eyes out of all his siblings, only one stood out to him.

Lionel.

In the eyes of young Lucien, Lionel was like an angel, when he passed Lionel in the hallway, Lionel smiled at him, it was the first smile Lucien ever received, it felt like time froze as Lucien could only replay the small smile he was given like it was his lifeline.

So when he saw Lionel alone in the courtyard, playing with a rubber ball. Lucien's short legs ran over to the one boy who treated him with kindness.

With a smile beginning to form on his lips, he reached out to grab the ball that slipped out of Lionel's hands.

Before his fingers could even touch the ball he was shoved onto the ground, his palms scraping the rough gravel.

Lucien looked up, thinking maybe one of his other brothers came and pushed him, only for his smile to drop, seeing the cold look of disgust on Lionel's face.

Lucien's hands curled up into fists as he began to tremble, his eyes burning with angry tears that threatened to spill.

"Why? What did I do wrong? Why do you all hate me?" Lucien managed to ask, his young voice struggling to pronounce his words correctly.

At this time Lucien was just barely four while Lionel was nine.

"Don't try and touch me! Mother told me all about you and your mom, you ruined our family" Lionel spat with rage as he walked past me.

Looking back Lucien understood why Lionel and his other siblings despised him so, after all his birth broke their mother's heart, watching her husband take a younger woman as a mistress and emotionally abandoning his wife.

They had to watch their mother become taken over with despair and anger, crying herself to sleep for months.

So in their eyes they had the right to treat Lucien they way they did.

But Lucien wasn't the one who forced their father to be unfaithful.

Why should Lucien bare the sin of an affair when all he did was live?

Lucien that day learned what it meant to hate someone.

It was from that day Lionel became the target of his hatred.

+++

Lucien currently stood in front of his mirror, after examining himself for a while he came to the firm conclusion he was indeed in his nine year old body.

Lucien frowned at that realization, at this age only the a few of servants feared him due the events that should've taken place just a few months ago.

On the night of his ninth birthday an assassin disguised as a maid tried taking his life. Lucien who was forced to learn swordsman ship at the age of five pulled out the dagger he kept hidden under his pillow and sliced the eyes of the maid.

Before he could catch her she slit her own throat so she wouldn't be interrogated once she was caught, keeping who sent her a secret she was taking to the grave.

Lucien felt nothing watching her bleed out, he simply rung the bell and made the servants dispose of the body, his eyes were cold and disinterested as splatters of blood covered his face.

It was then servants knew that Lucien had the ability to seriously harm them, so they started being more cautious around him, but not to the extent Lucien wanted.

Lucien sighed, he simply had to start over, working to gain back everyone's fear, as with fear, came the fear to disrespect, if everyone feared him, no one would dare disrespect Lucien again.

A knock sounded at Lucien's door.

"Your highness, I've brought breakfast, would you like me to bring it in?" A shaky voice asked.

Lucien at this age refused to eat with his siblings as they always stared at him with disgust before leaving him sitting alone in the dining room.

"Come in" Lucien stated blandly, going to sit at the small table next to his large bay window. 

He had no intention on eating with his siblings yet, he still needed to fully grasp his new reality. 

The maid opened the door and kept her gaze down, carefully walking, holding a tray in her hands, she placed it down before bowing her head.

Lucien glanced down at the breakfast sandwich without a change in his expression.

Before the maid could leave he swiped the entire tray off the table, the plate shattering as the metal cup simply dented.

The maid flinched, freezing in her tracks as her body trembled, slowly looking back at Lucien whose expression was eerily calm.

"W-was there a problem with the meal your highness...?" The maid asked with a fearful gulp, tears forming in her eyes.

Lucien stood up, not caring about stepping on glass as he used his foot to kick open the sandwich.

When he first woke up he struggled to figure out when in exactly he was sent back to, but seeing the familiar sandwich placed in front of him he immediately realized exactly when.

Just as he remembered there were razor blades stuffed into his sandwich.

The maid's face paled as tears flew down her face, her body violently shaking as she fell into her knees.

"Your highness I swear with my life I didn't do this..!!! I only brought the meal the kitchen gave me, please your highness believe me!" The maid desperately sobbed.

Lucien's expression remained the same as he gazed down at her.

He knew it wasn't her fault.

Lucien still vividly remembers the feeling of the blade slicing the back of his throat as he hungrily  swallowed his breakfast. He remembers the pain as he had to force himself to throw it up before the blades went fully down his esophagus.

He remembered the tears that rolled down his face as Lucien screamed in pain and agony, clutching his throat as blood seeped out his mouth.

His body trembled with pain and fear, he didn't know how to stop the bleeding inside his mouth, he was scared of choking on his own blood as he could taste the metallic substance as blood went down his throat.

Amongst the desperate cries of a young boy.

Not one person entered his room.

Lucien didn't know what he felt as he gazed down at the maid who so desperately cried, he felt uncomfortable as for some reason, the image of his past self crying flashed in front of his eyes.

"Get out" Lucien spat, not wanting to see her face any longer.

The maid didn't waste a second standing up and running out the room in tears.

Lucien realized he never truly found out who placed the razors in his breakfast, all he remembered was walking down the hall and two of his siblings snickering at him, asking if he enjoyed his meal.

Lucien sat back down at the table, resting his chin in his hand as he stared out the window, narrowing down the list of suspects in his head.

The Valmont family consisted of five children, the eldest was Alexander, he was a smart and collected boy who was practically the brains behind the empire.

At this point in time Alexander should only be sixteen.

Lionel was the second oldest, he was the epitome of a golden pure heart as he became to be the pride of the empire, even now at the age of fourteen he was still loved by the empire.

And then there was the twins, Charlotte and Charlie, Charlotte was the beloved and only daughter in the Valmont family, her brothers doted on her and she was a sweet and innocent girl in the eyes of most. While Charlie was known for his rowdy manner, as he never took anything seriously, only ever listening to his sister.

They were around Lucien's age, in fact, their age difference is one of the main reasons Lucien's birth was such a scandal, as the twins were only born a month before Lucien as they were also nine as of now.

Out of the four siblings, Lionel was already cleared as a suspect, while Lionel hated Lucien he wouldn't go out of his way to tamper with his food in fear Lucien would retaliate against the maid.

Charlie would never have the opportunity to be around anything sharp due to his recklessness and his inability to secretly plan out anything so it wasn't him as well.

Alexander wouldn't bother to do it himself, as if he were caught, it would only embarrass him, but that didn't make him innocent.

Charlotte, despite her hatred for Lucien, was a naive girl who wouldn't come up with a plan like this herself, so it had to be Alexander directing her to tamper with Lucien's sandwich.

Lucien could feel the annoyance bubble up in him as he realized the culprits.

He suddenly wondered that if in this life, if he should just start his journey to becoming a tyrant by starting with becoming the only living Valmont.

Lucien's dark thoughts were interrupted by his door slamming open. He didn't bother fully turning his head as he glanced at the figure at the door.

There stood a young Lionel, with platinum blonde hair that looked a bit golden at the ends. His blue pupils trembled with fury as he glared at Lucien.

That was the main difference between Lucien's  siblings and him, while they all had blue eyes, his eyes were a dark red, practically screaming he wasn't a true Valmont.

"What is wrong with you?! Why are you harassing the maids what did they ever do to you?!" Lionel roared with anger, his fists trembling as he spoke, it was almost amusing hearing the voice that used to scare Lucien sound so childishly youthful.

"She isn't even injured, is it my fault she cries at two words from a nine year old boy?" Lucien asked with a scoff.

"A few words? There's glass all over your room, aren't you too old to throw tantrums?" Lionel spat, his eyes glancing over Lucien's bleeding soles without care.

"Well I had to dispose of such a dangerous meal somehow. You know, in the future, I'd prefer the razor blades in my shoes instead, dealing with cuts inside your mouth isn't very pleasant" Lucien said with a cold smile, using his foot to point out the opened sandwich lying on the floor.

Lionel froze as he glanced down at the sandwich , his lips pursed before he looked back at Lucien.

"Well... don't take it out on the innocent maid.. it wasn't like she did it." Lionel stated briskly before turning to leave.

Lucien let out a small laugh seeing Lionel immaturely escape from the situation he clearly misunderstood.

He used to be so scared of his siblings, but they were nothing more than immature brats to him now.

Lionel could only imagine how easy crushing them would be.