Broken Story: Reborn as a Villainess Author-Chapter 41: Disgusted

Arlo realized where he was. The familiar stones beneath his feet, the weathered training posts, the way the afternoon sun cast long shadows across the courtyard. He had been somehow taken back to the day he traded his pride for the happiness of an ungrateful younger one.

"Why are you just standing there? Come at me, loser!" His younger brother, Nathan, said with a smirk.

Nathan was far younger than Arlo with a ten-year gap between them. Naturally, the winner of the duel was clear as day. But his brother thought so low of him and challenged him to this pointless battle. Strangely, his father accepted it.

Arlo was always seen as a failure by his family. At the age of seventeen, his father expected him to be one of the highest-ranking young mages in the kingdom. But that was an impossible dream that only few could have ever achieved.

Even so, Arlo trained like hell every single day, draining himself over and over and over again. In the end, it still wasn’t enough. He was seventeen years of age and hadn’t passed the Ascension Sun Realm.

It was an impressive feat for a kid like him, but his father was not satisfied, deeming him useless despite his efforts.

The birth of his younger brother was a blessing for his family, a fresh start to produce a top-class mage. As such, Nathan got care and coddled treatment, making him arrogant as he grew toward the servants of his home and even his own older brother.

Presented with another opportunity, Arlo strengthened his resolve, gripping the wooden sword tight as steel. He wasn’t going to let things play out the way they did before.

"If you’re not gonna come to me, I’m gonna come to you!" Nathan threw himself at Arlo, boosted by enhancement magic set on his body.

With absolute calmness, Arlo stepped out of the way with no issue, leaving Nathan cutting through air. The expression on his face showed no remorse whatsoever.

"Tsk!" Nathan turned around to face Arlo, his features twisted in pure agitation. "Stay still!"

Arlo completely ignored him and looked down at the sword in his hands. Although they were both mages, their father made them practice swordsmanship regardless.

Nathan leaped at him once more, the blade curved to the side.

Plank!

The wooden sword dropped to the floor as Arlo dusted the dirt from his hands. This action made Nathan pause in his tracks.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Come at me. I don’t need a wooden toy to defeat you," Arlo replied calmly with a smile.

Nathan felt a sensation he had never experienced before in his whole life. As someone who always looked down on people, he was the one being looked down on this time. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"You..." Nathan lowered his head, covering his angered expression. "Bastard!"

Whoosh!

Nathan moved at the peak of his speed, his eyes fueled with rage. In an instant, his sword was just a few inches away from reaching Arlo’s face from above.

Slam!

Arlo caught the sword mid-air, looking unbothered as he regarded his brother with pity.

"Don’t... Don’t look at me like that!" Nathan continued his assault, launching strike after strike. Each one carrying less weight than the previous.

Arlo dodged every single strike as he moved in a clean, snake-like motion. This continued for the next ten minutes. Nathan had lost almost all his strength swinging.

He launched another strike.

Pak!

The sword landed on Arlo’s shoulder. There was no power behind it whatsoever. At that point, it was more of a touch than an actual strike.

"Pant! Pant!" Nathan collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

Arlo stood in front of him, looking down with a similar scornful face his father normally gave him.

"Get up," he said in a light tone.

Nathan did not answer. He struggled to contain even his own breath, much less talk.

"Get up!" Arlo shouted.

Nathan felt fear as his older brother raised his voice at him for the first time. He could not say a word. Neither could his father, who watched from a distance. Nathan had been defeated fair and square.

As Arlo looked down, he expected himself to feel some sort of joy, some sort of happiness. Or maybe not. Maybe he just wanted his father to finally see him and how much he had grown.

His father walked over to them. His eyes scanned around the area they fought before landing back on the brothers.

Arlo suddenly felt that happiness in his heart. Maybe his father had finally seen it. Maybe this was the moment everything would change.

"Are you alright, Nathan?" his father asked, leaning down to help dust Nathan’s clothes.

"Y-Yes, father," Nathan pretended to be in pain as he sought his father’s full attention.

"You did good," his father replied, giving Nathan a pat as he wore a smile.

As this played out, Arlo stood there in disbelief. Slowly his hands began to tremble. The happiness that bloomed in his heart suddenly withered and died in an instant.

’I won... I...’

His father tended to Nathan for a while, offering him words of encouragement. In the midst of it, Nathan sneaked in a smile, visible for only Arlo to see.

’I...’ Arlo could not process his thoughts. He didn’t know what to think. He could only stand there... watching in agony.

"All my life... no matter what I do... it was never enough for you, was it?" He said in a low tone.

His father stood up and turned to him. "Did you expect me to praise you? Worthless child... just like your mother!"

As Arlo heard those words, he felt something break inside of him... a sense of rage, a form of hate. All the fear he experienced throughout the years compressed into one, transforming into a new feeling.

Hostility, antipathy, enmity, abhorrence... every single word that associated with hate.

Mana began to warp around him. The stones beneath cracked. Everywhere flooded in an instant with Arlo’s arcane energy.

Then... it stopped.

The rage disappeared. His eyes were now cold, emotionless.

He walked in between his father and brother. They both turned their attention toward him.

A hand touched his shoulder.

"I am here for you, darling." Morena’s voice whispered against his ears. It sounded like poisoned honey. Beautiful and sweet yet dangerous. "They left you... but I will treasure you forever... end them... end this suffering."

She formed as a spirit around him, her two arms resting on his shoulders.

Arlo remained as he was, then with a quick gesture, he raised his hands at both sides.

He gripped the necks of his father and brother in a flash. They both tried to struggle against the grip, however it was tight, stiff and unmoving. He observed his family like insects struggling within a web, and all he felt was... pity.

When had he gained such strength? To threaten even his own father? None of them could answer these questions in their heads as they hung in the air.

Crack!

Their necks snapped like biscuits. Their life left their bodies, making them empty vessels.

Thud!

He released his grip. Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground, making a loud thud.