Chapter 2:

Kidnapped

Crown Of Zethor


Chapter 2

Hilda – The leader of the kidnappers who kidnapped Zen, looked at him.

He was the only son of the Viscount Family of Ferox, and that too adopted. The Viscount, Bland Vol Ferox was one of the wealthiest person in Beetle Dukedom, and was the adoptive father of Zen Vol Ferox.

Many people tried to speculate the reasons behind the adoptions while throwing wild hypothesis but no one actually knew the reason beside few selective people.

But even though Zen was adopted, He was very much loved by the viscount and his wife and was showered with affection wherever he went to.

And this was one of the prime targets for Hilda. She was jealous of this kid's luck and so she agonized him.

She too was a commoner without any parents' shelter. People threw her away instead of pampering her as a child. She grew up amidst the hatred of people. Luckily she opened up her second crown at the age of 12 and was able to upgrade her crown level to silver from bronze.

Now she wielded power better than others but still she wasn’t given a place to stay. Even if she wanted to work or earn from normal methods, some bastards tried to take advantage of her body.

Of course! she didn’t yield, but she gave up on earning from a normal method, so started stealing and extorting money from people who had ample amount of it.

And the prime targets were corrupt nobles with lots of secrets to extort money from. This was Hilda’s first ever kidnapping.

She had coerced nobles many times but she always drew a clear line. But a few days ago when one of her lackeys came and informed her that the adoptive son of the viscount was going out to “Take a look” around and give people clothes and food on the occasion of his upcoming 16th birthday, Hilda hastily planned to kidnap him.

She hated his luck….no she hated herself for not being as lucky as him. He was adopted and then lived a smooth sailing life. While she was thrown into another trial at every step of her life.

That’s why she decided to kidnap him and extort a big amount of money from the viscount then leave this dukedom for some faraway village and live peacefully without her past bothering her.

This was a chance that life threw at her, which she would make sure to grab on to it tightly.

When the brat suddenly shouted, Hilda got scared, thinking that he was dying from panic attack, so she rushed inside with her lackeys. She didn’t want her Gold laying phoenix to die a chicken's death. It would not only bring her Zero profit but also the wrath of Viscount.

One of her lackeys went ahead and kicked at the brat’s abdomen. 'Seriously, why can’t they just act like a human from time to time.' While Hilda was busy thinking this, She heard the kids voice muttering something.

No…..that voice…….although it did sound like a kid's, the power tone behind it sounded mature as he let out the curse while muttering.

“This f*cker.”

Although the guy kicking him didn’t hear it, Hilda heard it clearly. She knew a noble and pampered kid like him would never have been exposed to such vulgar words or at least she thought so, that’s why she got surprised.

Then he looked upside. The kid had a fair and smooth skin worthy of a pampered nobles, silky black hair which were tied backwards in a short low pony.

He expectorated some blood on the ground and then looked up, scanning Hilda’s group with his dark eyes which were as sharp as an eagle’s. It was something a kid of his age shouldn’t have.

Unknowingly, A jolt passed by in Hilda’s body. She didn’t know what it was but she hurriedly steadied herself and looked at the kid…..no Zen.

“What are you trying to scheme here by shouting so loud, kid! Scream all you want, no one’s coming to save you here, this place is far away from any human settlement. Hahaha!”

The second lackey, named Brody, threw out a cliché line while exposing info about the whereabouts of their hideout and the other lackey, Herb; snickered while enjoying it.

Hilda looked at the lackeys in disgust, if not for her purpose, she’d never team up with these idiots.

While shaking her head a little, she stopped herself from frowning.

……….

Zen looked at the situation around him.

It was one of the unexpected one’s. He has read novels and manga’s before, and had seen many isekai and reincarnation stuff to be prepared for it himself. But the situation he was in was unlike others.

He died in his self made VR capsule which was going to hit it big. It was an unpleasant and sad death. He wanted to prove himself to his parents…….to his sister that he wasn’t a trash and finally accomplished something which other normal people couldn’t. And yet he was in such a situation.

It was heartbreaking but he couldn’t let it get to him unless he wanted to die. And surely he didn’t want to feel any kind of pain, let it be, being stabbed, being burned to death……..or being electrocuted by his own VR.

It was a situation where he couldn't come to a conclusion swiftly, but he didn’t have much time to go through the denial phase.

He scanned through the memories which were painfully ingrained in his mind and got a hold of his current situation, which was rather unappealing.

He was kidnapped!!

Zen held back his tears which were threatening to dribble out. His tears weren’t forming from his current situation. Rather they were forming because of the memories, ransacking his mind. After going through them, he was sure he could easily make it out of here alive.

He was the son of a Viscount, an adopted son who was treated as if he was the Viscount's real son. He was actually the son of the Viscount's head maid.

She was raped by a noble who she went to attend to as he was the Viscount's guest. The noble was executed by the viscount in fury and the matter died down as the noble was actually at fault so even his family didn’t root for him

Later, the body of the head maid kept getting weaker with time even after all the viscount and his wife tried to cure her. She eventually died after giving birth to a baby boy as her fragile body couldn’t handle it.

The viscount wept at her death and adopted her child as his own while swearing an oath to never give birth to another child so that his love for this child never get dissolved.

Later the child was named as Zen with the family name of Vol Ferox. He was pampered by both the viscount and his wife, Annabeth Vol Ferox. She never voiced a single complain about not getting a child and loved him wholeheartedly as his own kid.

Zen who just reincarnated in this body, felt a surge of emotions. He was feeling sorrow and sadness about his birth but those feelings soon faded away and a warm and happy feeling overwhelmed his emotions because of how his mother and father treated him.

He felt these emotions after a very long time. The emotions which he was craving for, familial love.

It has been around 3 hours after his kidnapping. He remembered his 16th birthday was coming soon so the Viscount made him distribute food and clothes to the poor; so that they always pray for his safety and remember his grace.

Zen raised his head to look at the girl who was standing in front of him.

He was kidnapped by this tomboyish girl in front of him. She and the two guys behind her kidnapped him by disguising themselves amidst the poor people who were receiving food and clothes, to not get recognised. The girl with dark pink hair which were shortly cut and were combed towards left, was the one who easily overpowered his guards and ran away while her two thugs held on to him.

The memories after that became hazy. Probably he was drugged with some kind of sleeping medicine.

Zen thought all this while still glaring at the girl with sharp eyes. He knew if he waited for a while, he would be saved. By now, the viscount would have already dispatched his troops to search for him while waiting for the kidnappers to ask for ransom.

‘Knowing him, he’d even give the ransom no matter how high if it means my safety.’Zen thought in his mind.

But the ransom wasn’t the problem here. The problem was whether he would survive till his father’s retainers arrive with the money. He decided to first scrutinize his condition.

‘Each of my senses are working and it seems like the drug's effect has already depleted. But the problem is the weak body condition and blood loss.’

He had already spat out a lot of blood and he was feeling like his body didn’t have an ounce of energy left.

The original owner of his body was suffering from an illness that made him incredibly weak. Even walking wasn’t easy for him.

If the Viscount hadn’t spent a lot of money to try to improve his condition, he would have died a long time ago. Even currently, Zen felt that he would spurt out his organs at any moment and die while rolling on the ground like a dog.

It was truly a situation where his life and death was in someone else’s hand.

‘These two people scream of being third rated villains.’

Zen shifted his gaze to look at the two guys behind the pink haired girl. Both of them had shrewd smiles on their faces and they were looking at him like he was already dead.

By their old clothes and looks, he could guess that they have lived their whole life in poverty and poverty was the thing that made them desperate enough to even dare to kidnap a Noble’s son.

They had already kicked him a lot for fun and Zen was sure that rather than the tomboyish girl, he was in more danger due to these two lackeys.

“I don’t like the look in this kid's eyes. Maybe he wants another kick?”

“Yeah, he looks like he will die at any moment. Wouldn’t it be funny if the Viscount gave us money, but his son still died in the end? Hahahaha!”

The two of them laughed while snickering towards each other and with that, Zen was sure that waiting for the Viscount wasn’t a good option.

‘I need to do something.’