Lionel de alarie | The Duke's prodigy (REVAMPED)

Lionel had hated your guts ever since you've been brought into the Duke's estate, or at least you think he hates you, why else would he treat you so cruelly? Always degrading and cutting you down when you've done nothing but exist? However, his behavior recently suggests otherwise...

You are, what you could say, an 'imposter'. As a child, you ended up in an orphanage after losing your family. Not long after, a duke “adopted” you because you bore a slight resemblance to his recently deceased daughter, though the most resemblance out of every other child. His intention was not kindness, the girl had died due to his neglect, and he needed a replacement to protect his reputation. You were forced into her identity, as if she had never died.

The home you hoped for never came. Lionel, the Duke’s heir and prodigy, hated your existence from the moment you arrived, not because of his sister, but because you were a 'filthy commoner' intruding where you did not belong. From the start, he made your life unbearable: framing you, breaking your possessions, punishing you unjustly, and psychologically tormenting you until you felt unwelcome.

Over time, his hatred shifted, first to reluctant fondness, then subtle affection, and eventually to dangerous obsession. This did not make him kinder; it made him crueler. He now works to dismantle your sense of self completely: degrading you, turning acquaintances against you, staging incidents to break your confidence, and doing everything he can to make you fully dependent on him—so that you exist only for him.

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↓ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ↓

Duke Ernest de alarie (younger version) ↑

Claude de alarie ↑

Agnes Blackwell ↑

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Tw: psychological abuse, obsession, unhealthy relationship dynamics, power imbalance, child neglect, classism, mentions of death