This is the next instalment in the 6 part request from SammyToon <3

P1 = parent one

P2 = parent two

I tried to keep the parents genderneutral for your MC.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Count Lucio was a powerful man. He was adored only by himself and a select few people close to him. The rest of the world feared him and showered him with praise and affection out of terror for what he might do to them.

Count Lucio was a rich man. As the Count of Vesuvia, he had many riches at his disposal. It was his richness that caused a certain family to seek his financial aid when their child was born.

After Lucio's actions had flooded the shopping district where the family made their profit, they fell into poverty. They had no other choice but to come to him for money. They had a baby on the way.

When the family came to Lucio, they fell to their knees and grovelled. They begged him for aid, just until they could rebuild their business and provide for themselves again.

They pleaded, trying to play to his narcissism.

"Oh benevolent Count Lucio, we seek your most wonderful aid. We are an impoverished couple with a baby on the way. We are in need of generous help only you can provide, great Count of Vesuvia. Please, we beg of you; help us care for our child. We would repay you in full when we regain our business,"

Ego inflated by their sweet-talk, Lucio could only see himself as the hero to this poor family. They would come to talk about how wonderful he was, how benevolent he was, how charitable he was.

He agreed to help the family by giving them a generous sum of money, having them sign a contract to pay him back in full in 5 years time.

TIME SKIP 5 YEARS

The marketplace stall was quiet. A few customers came in here and there, but it was a relatively slow day.

Both merchants of the stall stood at the register, counting coins, their faces plagued with stress and anxiety.

The owners of this particular stall were none other than the couple that once asked Count Lucio for financial aid and the collection date was today.

They were worried. The last five years had not been kind to their business. They had few customers, and their little child, now 4 years old whom they had to care for. The fact of the matter was that the money made was hardly enough for two people, let alone three. They loved their child, but they knew that they could never hope to provide them with a good life. They would always be poor. They could never afford anything but the bare minimum.

They had only half of the promised amount to give to the Count when he surely came to collect his debt. They knew not what to do.

"Ma!/Da! Look what I found!" Came a sweet little voice.

The parents looked up to see their little child running towards them carrying a kitten, not much smaller than the child themselves.

They laughed, bewildered at their child's ability to catch a stray, and at the joy on their face.

"I found him behind the tent! Can we keep him? Please, please, please?" The child begged, hugging the kitten tightly to their arms.

The parents looked between them, unsure of how to respond. They had no extra money for a cat. 

Before they could come to a decision, the clatter of hooves on the stone and the whinnying of horses frightened the kitten so much that he jumped from MC's arms and ran off.

"No! Wait!" MC cried, beginning to fun after the kitten.

MC didn't get very far as they ran headfirst into something rather hard.

"Oof!" The exclaimed as they fell to the floor.

The child looked up to be met with the disapproving gaze of a man dressed to the nines in the finest furs and silks - Count Lucio himself.

Frightened, the child scrambled backwards and stood, running to hid behind their parents' backs.

Lucio said nothing and strode into the tent, looking around him.

"My, my, what a shabby little tent. Pity," he commented.

"Now, you are the LN's correct?" He asked.

"Yes, we are, your excellency" P1 answered, feigning confidence.

"Well then, you should know today is the collection day from that gracious loan I gave you five years ago, to the day," he stated, looking over the couple.

"Yes, we are aware..." P2 began.

"Let me guess," Lucio interrupted. "You don't have the money? I can tell just by the state of things. I should've known," he said with a look of annoyance and disgust. "Tell me, just how much of your debt do you have prepared, hmm?"

P1 reaches for the coin bag and shakily hands it over to the Count.

He takes one look inside the bag and shakes his head.

"You are aware that this is maybe one-fifth of your debt, correct?"

"Yes, your excellency, we are aware. We are terribly sorry, these last few years have not been kind to us. Is there anything we could do to make up for the difference?"

Lucio was in no particular mood to bargain. He wanted to collect and leave, no hassle. But he was not one to be cheated out of money that he was due. 

He sighed. "What could you possibly have to offer me? You have nothing. No land, no goods worth my time. And neither of you are of any use by means of skills or trades and you are far too old to learn - " Lucio paused, a smirk and a look of revelation on his face. "You may not be capable of serving me, but your child however, they would do just fine as payment."

The parents looked to each other, speechless. Their child in exchange for their debt? Absurd! But then again, what kind of life do they have here? No way to learn to read or write, no good friends. They could barely provide food and clothes. Perhaps life in service to the Count was not so bad after all... They would have a job, a place to live, food on their plate and clothes on their back.

P1 turned to their child who was still hiding behind them. 

"Honey, I know this is hard to understand, but you are going to be living at the palace and working for Count Lucio. He can give you a good place to live, good food and clothes. He can give you a better life than we can. We love you so so much, darling. We wouldn't do this if it wasn't for your best. Please remember that," they said crouching down to meet their child's eyes, crying a little.

Confused, MC didn't know how to react. They only knew that their parent was upset and that made them upset too.

"Please don't make me go, I wanna stay here, I wanna live with you, I don't wanna leave, please," the child cried, throwing their arms around their parent's neck.

"You have to honey, it's for your own good. We want you to have the best life you can." P2 said, hugging both P1 and their child.

P1 set down MC and stepped back, letting Count Lucio take the child.

The parents stood back, holding each other, both crying as they watched Lucio guide MC to the carriage and drive away.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Since their parents sold them and their services to the Count, MC had been put to work in the palace as Lucio's personal servant.

They were tasked mostly with fetching whatever it was that he desired - food, drink, documents, etc, although, he also had MC complete other simple tasks.

One particular afternoon, Lucio had MC go to the menagerie to feed the exotic animals.

The young child wandered over to the animals and busied themselves with distributing the appropriate amount of food to each animal. It wasn't a difficult task as each type of food was labelled clearly with an image of each animal, considering MC was unable to read.

It was when they were on their way back to the palace that MC ran into trouble.

After a few hours, Lucio was growing impatient. He wondered where MC could be; they shouldn't have been gone for more than an hour at most with those tiny little legs of theirs.

He huffed and began to make his way down to the menagerie himself to see what had become of his servant.

When he arrived, he immediately heard the barking and growling of his dogs, Mercedes and Melchior.

Lucio followed the racket to the furthest corner of the menagerie where he found MC perched upon tall boxes of food and other animal care supplies, cowering in fear from the dogs who were on the ground below.

The child was crying softly, petrified of the dogs who had backed them into the corner, forcing them to scramble to the top of the boxes.

Upon seeing the child in such distress, Lucio found that he sympathized. He did not want to see this young child so upset.

"Mercedes! Melchior! Leave the poor child alone." He commanded the dogs, who turned to greet him.

Be bent down to pet them both before waving them away. 

"Go on now, shoo. Don't terrify little MC any longer,"

And with that, both dogs trotted off, out of the menagerie and back to the palace.

"Did those dogs frighten you, MC?" Lucio asked softly, looking up at the child who was peering over the boxes.

MC nodded.

"They didn't hurt you at all did they?"

MC shook their head.

"Well, let's get you down from there, shall we? Don't worry, they're gone. They won't hurt you either," Lucio said, holding out his arms, prepared to lift little MC down from their hiding spot.

"Don't worry, I've got you,"

The child approached the edge of the boxes and extended their arms as well, letting Lucio grab hold of their torso as they wrapped their arms around his neck.

Now safely in his arms, MC was much calmer; the tears had stopped and their breathing slowed.

Lucio gently placed MC down on the ground and crouched to meet their gaze.

"Are you alright, MC?" he asked again, his arms on their shoulders as he checked the child over for any injuries.

"Mmhmm. I'm okay," MC's tiny voice spoke up. "Thank you, Count Lucio,"

"Of course, my dear," He said softly. "Let's get back to the palace. We'll get you a cup of tea to calm you down a little."

As the pair walked, Lucio found himself realizing that he had become rather fond of the little child. He liked having their company, not just because they were working for him, but because he was genuinely happy to have them around.

When they reached the palace, Mercedes and Melchior came bounding up to greet the Count.

Terrified yet again, MC lept up with a squeal, clinging onto Lucio for dear life.

He held the child close as he settled the dogs. They stilled and sat obediently on the ground, quiet and calm.

"MC," Lucio said gently, "Mercedes and Melchior won't hurt you, I promise. They just want to say hello. Can I put you down and introduce you? They won't move now, you're completly safe," 

MC nodded although they were shaking from the fright.

When their feet hit the ground, they cowered behind Lucio, gripping onto the fabric of his coat tightly.

Lucio grabbed MC's handly gently and guided them to the dogs, never letting go of their hand.

"It's ok to pet them," He said. "Just place your hand on their head, they won't bite or jump, I promise."

Hands trembling, MC followed Lucio's instructions and set their hand gently on the fur of Mercedes, slowly moving their hand down towards her back.

When no reaction occurred, MC repeated the action to Melchior, smoothing their hand over his fur, mindful of his torn ear.

"See," Lucio began with a  soft smile, "They like you. They're safe for you to pet,"

MC nodded but still held onto the Count quite tightly.

Understanding their discomfort, Lucio lifted MC back up into his arms and held them on his left side while he gave both of the dogs a pet himself.

It was then and there that Lucio decided that MC was far too precious to him to be a servant. He promised himself that he would take good care of the child. He would make sure that they would have only the best, and that no harm would ever come to them.

*~*~*~*~*~*

And there we have it! Thanks again to SammyToon for the awesome request!

- Fandoms <3