Final step: do something that will make the one you're trying to manipulate be eternally indebted to you
It was an evening like any other within the Rosewood mansion, the birds were singing their usual boring tone in the trees, the sun was shining its scorching beam down on to the earth, overall it was quite the uneventful day except for one person that is...
((Now if my knowledge of the plot and all of my predictions and planning are correct something should be happening soon...))
From the outside Markus looked like he was taking a casual stroll around his new work place after all he was going to be living here from now on after all so no one would suspect it if he was to do a little exploring.
That was only half of the reason, although it was true that Markus was in fact exploring the mansion that was to become his new workplace in order to find all of the possible secret paths and backdoor exits he could use to both get out of the mansion in a pinch and infiltrate it if the situation calls for it, Markus was also waiting for a certain event to happen.
And just as the boy predicted something interesting did in fact happen today.
"Leave me alone!"
A familiar voice of a girl rang out, filling Markus's ear serving as a signal that his plan was in motion.
((Yep, just as I suspected, she's in trouble...This is the perfect opportunity to worm my way into her heart no?))
Markus had a devious thought as he raced towards the direction of the voice, after all his lady seemed to be in trouble and as her "Knight" wouldn't it be natural for him to rush to her aid?
"My lady please do not be difficult, you are making a mockery of yourself and the Rosewood name..."
Markus heard a seriously venomous voice as he approached the direction where Sophia's cry for help came from.
"I can't take it anymore! I'm sick of you treating me like trash in my own house! Please just leave me alone! I don't want anything to do with you!"
The lady of the house was putting on quite the poor sight as her clothes were ruffled and her eyes were filled with tears, she had climbed on top of one of the balconies seemingly in fear of the maid standing just beneath her as such she held on for dear life.
((Aaaand...action!))
Almost like a professional actor, Markus stepped on to the scene of this hysterical "play".
""Ahem...anyone wanna explain to me what's going on? Why is the lady hanging off the balcony like a random thief that just got caught red handed?""
Feigning a cough Markus walk towards the garden with absolute repose and calmness.
"Markus!"
Sophia seemed genuinely glad that he was here, the girl must've been truly terrified for the last few minutes as right now she looked less like a young noble and more like a scared little puppy.
"Ahh the new knight…sir Markus Silver I presume? It bit young for a knight aren't you"
With a haughty, disrespectful tone the maid addressed Markus.
((Oh ho…two can play that game))
Markus was amused at the maid's behavior and decided to humor her.
""And you must be the walking incompetence responsible for this current mess we're in, a bit old to be bullying those younger than you don't you think? What is this? Why is the lady of the house in such a mess when you're supposed to be taking care of her?""
Markus sarcastically answered the maid's questions with questions of his own, using her own words to spite her.
"!..."
Some veins popped on the maid's head but she quickly composed herself.
"With all due respect sir Markus no amount of competence in the world can rein in the whims of an unruly child and it's a bit hasty to assume that I was bullying the young lady don't you think? I was simply educating her to not be so spoiled all the time"
The maid responded.
((Yeah even a blind man would be able to see that's fvcking bullsh*t, That quiet child being spoiled is as ridiculous as the notion of the earth being flat...plus I can plainly see the signs of your "education" all over her body))
Markus was already sick of listening to the b*tch's bullsh*t, he could clearly see that their were signs of whipping under Sophia's clothes particularly in the wrists and calfs it was clear that the Maid was overstepping her boundaries.
"She's lying! Sophia has done nothing wrong! But she keeps hitting Sophia nonetheless! She's mean!"
The little girl desperately tried to tell Markus the truth which was kind of redundant as Markus already knew.
"Now now milady, is not good to lie you know?"
The maid turned towards Sophia and smiled, their was something about the maid's smile that terrified the young girl as Sophia let out a pitiful squeak.
"Hiii!"
She grabbed on tighter to the handrails of the balcony.
""Lying you say? That certainly is an interesting claim? What makes you certain that the young lady would be lying? And more importantly why should people trust your words over hers?""
Markus remained unaffected as he continued his string of questions.
"Pfft! Hohoho! Despite being capable enough to be a knight at such a young age you really are lacking in mental capacity, its just basic reasoning. She is a spoiled child who doesn't understand harsh love and needs to be educated properly on how the world works, she cannot comprehend my methods so she paints me in a negative picture in her little head. As such she likes to exaggerate and"
The maid haughtily said, adopting a holier than thou attitude with Markus.
((That unruly child has more power than your dumba$$ will ever have in your short, pathetic and miserable existence))
Markus said something he couldn't say out loud in his head.
"Sophia didn't lie! She was really being mean..."
As the young girl tried to defend herself she looked around to see that other servants were whispering about her.
"The young lady's being problematic again..."
"Honestly she should really start acting in a manner befitting of her position"
"What a handful..."
All of them were badmouthing her right in front of her face, this caused something to be stuck in Sophia's throat as she swallowed her own despair at how unfair things were.
"Why does is no one on my side?..."
Tears were welling up in the girl's eyes.
((...hmm...I must say I've seen a lot of unfortunate things in my life but at the very least in this fvcked up trash can of a world a child should feel safe in her own home, it might not be fit for me to say this but if this is what the marquis considers proper parenting then...I AM NOT AMMUSED...))
A shadow cast over Markus's eyes as a bit of killing intent leaked out before Markus could contain it, he started to remember a few things about his past life which incited an unusually emotional response from him.
"Now milady let's..."
Before the maid could have a chance to say anymore she felt a cold chill grabbing her spine in an unbreakable grip causing her to start to sweat nervously and flinch.
She instinctively turned to Markus to see that.
(Wha-what's going on?!)
There was no change in his expression, however there was something inherently terrifying about how he looked right now although she couldn't immediately point it out.
(His...his eyes...)
The maid finally realized, those eyes, Markus's eyes, those empty, glossy dead fish eyes that seemingly filled with nothing at first but.
"RUN!", that was the message her mind was screaming at her when she looked at those eyes, there was something unknown and dangerous lying behind those eyes, an infinitely deep sea filled with some kind of nihilistic cosmic force of unimaginable hatred for everything and everyone barely being held back by those empty, blurry glass-like eyes.
""She needs to be educated on how the world works you say? You would know quite a lot about that wouldn't you? Nadia Icathia?""
Markus voice was cold enough to freeze the dessert in ice as every single word he spoke was soft but each and every one of those words promised certain, unavoidable death.
"Wha-? How do you?..."
The maid was shocked that Markus knew her full name as she had made sure to conceal her past very well, so much so that no one in this entire region would ever know her name. So hearing Markus utter her true name rather than the assumed name she went by when applying for a job here shocked her greatly.
((Nadia Ichathia, formerly a teacher at saint Cicol's imperial academy, fired for abusing students with her and calling it "education" she's been presumed missing for 5 years, little did everyone knew she changed her name and started to find work under a new identity...kind of like me in that regard))
Markus has been digging up info on this particular maid as soon as he got to the Rosewood mansion as he knew that he would have to eliminate this woman as quickly as possible so that he and he alone would be the only one to have an influence on Sophia's life and education for the duration of his time here.
""That's a nice necklace Nadia...where'd you find such a fancy trinket?""
Markus started laying his eyes on the necklace that Nadia was wearing, a gold necklace adorned with rubies and diamond, definitely not something a servant should be wearing, even if that servant was working for the powerful Rosewood family.
"Wha?...what are you?"
Nadia couldn't properly respond to Markus as she was still under shock.
""You know it's funny, last week the budget report say that all of the money that was supposed to go into fulfilling the young lady's needs were reported to have all been spent, yet after cataloguing all of the items purchased for the lady that day, I found out that interestingly their total market value were severely under the reported budget spent on them...I presented my findings to the marquis and he also found it VERY INTERESTING""
Markus continued to describe to the maid just how fvcked she was.
"WHAT?! I!...I ca-can explain!"
Seeing the usually mature and composed maid so flustered all of the servants around started to gossip like they did earlier.
"Hey why did Collei lose her cool? She never does that?"
"You think it's because of something the new knight said to her?"
"I don't know..."
""Then explain to the marquis. he's waiting for you in his room""
Markus then handed to Nadia a paper, a paper summoning her to the marquis's office, with the Rosewood seal on it.
"WHAT?!"
The frantic maid quickly snatched the letter out of Markus's hands.
""Have fun...""
Markus sarcastically said.
"You!...Why you!"
The maid's fear gradually began to turn to anger but that anger was quickly overpowered by fear as...
""Oh and how's your daughter by the way? I heard life in the 7th district requires some pretty demanding labors, but at least it's peaceful right?""
Markus sarcastically asked Nadia, throwing her a veiled threat.
"You!..."
Nadia's blood ran cold.
""It would be a damn shame if something were to disrupt that peaceful life no?""
Markus asked with a particularly murderous glint in his eyes.
"!...UHM!...I!...WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"
Finally cracking under the pressure Nadia screamed.
""I want you gone from this mansion by sundown, and if I ever catch you near the young lady again? Well...""
Markus started using [Wind magic] to transmit a sentence that only Nadia could hear.
""I'll make you watch as I flay the skin from that pretty little daughter of yours before I slowly remove her flesh one cubic centimeter at a time...""
Markus was completely serious as he said that.
"!...OKAY! OKAY! I'll leave! Just don't hurt her please!"
Of course Markus also used wind magic so only he could hear that sentence.
The maid then frantically ran from the scene towards the marquis's office, she was less runnig towards something and more running away from something.
""Good riddance!""
Dusting himself off Markus exclaimed.
He then turned to Sophia and said:
""It's okay now milady, I've chased off the...""
Before Markus could finish his words, a shadow enveloped him.
*Thud*
""UUUGGHH!""
A warm, soft and pleasant-smelling body crashed on to Markus as he barely managed to catch her.
"Thank you! Thank you so much for standing up for Sophia! Sophia was so scared!"
The girl dug her face into Markus's chess as she cried.
""Of course! I assure you I am on your side milady""
Markus carressed the little girl's hair as he said.
((Done! From now on I will become someone extremely close to Sophia's heart, please grow into a fine lady for me milady, my life depends on it))
Markus would be lying if he said he didn't still feel at least a bit guilty about pulling Sophia's strings like this, but he justified it as a "mutually beneficial relationship" in his head and moved on.
From that day on Markus continued to act as Sophia's protector, servant and private tutor, teaching her things that's noble lady needs like tea making, dancing, playing the violin as well as other things like swordsmanship, self-defense martial arts and especially magic.
As for the maid she was let go from the mansion and no one ever saw her again with many people serving in the mansion wondering where she went.
Although he was very busy with serving Sophia, Markus didn't slack off on his own self training either, if anything his studying and physical conditioning got even ore intense as he didn't have as much time to train as before.
Naturally after spending so much time together, the distance between the two of them shortened, and they became more than master and servant, something akin to a close friendship bloomed between the two of them, even the aloof Markus had to admit that he had begun to grow a small but present fondness for the lady that was growing up splendidly before him, so much so that he even started to perceive it as a threat to his goals a couple times.
Little did both sides knew. This relationship, one built on impossibility and out of lies and manipulation will soon define both of them and the very world they inhabit.
You see when you mess with the course of fate, it tends to mess back and a positive relationship between the antagonist and the main heroine is definitely one of destiny's worst enemies.
After all, this is a story about the antagonist not the hero and what's an antagonist without his abundance of unimaginable enemies?