Side Story – Chapter 9
…A rock?
‘No way.’
For some reason, Damian suddenly remembered when his father had once knocked out a charging wild boar with just a thrown rock during a trip to the villa.
He rubbed his stinging eyes and heard the crunch of someone stepping on snow. Damian frowned and looked up.
His vision was blurry from tears, so he couldn’t clearly see the person standing in the dark alley.
But he recognized the color of those deep navy eyes—it could only be one person.
“…Dad.”
Their eyes met for a brief moment. Then his father’s familiar voice reached his ears.
“Damian, close your eyes.”
After Harold arrived, everything ended quickly.
One of the kidnappers had foolishly attacked and was immediately taken down, completely unable to fight back. Another tried to grab Damian as a hostage, but Harold’s subordinate shot an arrow from behind, striking the man down.
All of the kidnappers were handed over to the city guards. The boy Damian had tried to save—Liam—was safely reunited with his parents.
When the Marquis of Elnas learned that the Duke of Baisen’s family was involved in the incident, he hurried over in alarm. He even invited them to stay at his mansion, but they politely declined.
Eventually, they returned to the inn they had originally reserved. Now, Damian sat face to face with his father in silence.
He had just found out that his father had been at the inn since the very first day, staying in the room next door.
Realizing that his plan had been exposed from the very beginning was shocking, but after everything that had just happened, it didn’t feel as big of a deal anymore.
Feeling dejected, Damian avoided his father’s eyes. The air in the room was heavy, and he fidgeted with his fingers nervously.
Then Harold spoke.
“Damian, do you have anything you want to say?”
“…I’m sorry. I promised Mother and Father that I wouldn’t do anything dangerous, but I broke that promise.”
Harold stayed silent, encouraging him to continue. Damian hesitated before speaking again.
“I overestimated my abilities. I thought I was strong enough to save a kid from kidnappers and that it wouldn’t be dangerous.”
“…”
“And I also… looked down on someone who hadn’t been trained in swordsmanship like I was…”
Saying it out loud made him feel deeply embarrassed. When he put his own past thoughts into words, he realized how arrogant he had been.
Everyone called him a genius for his sword talent. He had easily beaten opponents bigger than himself during training.
Because of that, arrogance had quietly grown inside him.
He had thought, ‘That kind of opponent won’t be a problem,’ even though he had never experienced real combat.
He was just a greenhouse flower—fragile and untested. Realizing that made him feel like he was standing naked in the cold.
‘How embarrassing…’
Admitting his foolishness, Damian lowered his head.
If his father had arrived even a little later, he and that boy might have been kidnapped and sold somewhere.
As the son of the Duke of Baisen, many people would have searched for him, and maybe someday he’d be found.
But the thought of being separated from his parents, even for a short while, was something he hated with all his heart.
Damian fought hard to hold back his tears. His nose turned red like Rudolph’s.
Then Harold broke the silence.
“Damian, what did you learn from all this?”
“That real battle is very different from sparring. And also…”
Damian paused, then murmured quietly,
“…That I’m still a child.”
“That’s right. You are a child.”
“…”
“You’re still just a little boy, Damian.”
A pout formed on Damian’s face. He crossed his arms and clenched his fists on his knees, clearly unhappy to be called a child.
Harold let out a soft laugh. Even so, he found it admirable that his son could recognize his own immaturity.
Then Harold’s expression turned serious. His voice became calm but stern.
“Like you said yourself—you underestimated your opponents. You trusted yourself too much despite having no real combat experience.”
“Yes…”
“At least now, you’ve gained real experience. You were taught a harsh lesson, so you won’t look down on real combat again, right?”
“I’ll never underestimate it again.”
“Good. Then if something similar happens again—what will you do? For example, if you saw a child going into an alley while you were alone, just like today?”
Damian thought about the question carefully before answering.
“In that situation… are there other people around too?”
“Yes. Let’s say it’s during a festival, just like today.”
“Then I wouldn’t go in alone. I’d ask the people nearby for help. Actually… even today, I could have asked for help if I’d wanted to.”
He lowered his head in embarrassment. ‘I just thought I was strong enough to handle it myself.’
Harold asked again,
“And if those people ignored you or refused to help?”
“Then I’d find a way to make them listen—to make them help.”
“How?”
“Well…”
Damian explained the plan he had in mind. Harold listened quietly, asking follow-up questions each time, presenting new scenarios to make Damian think.
Their back-and-forth continued for quite a while—until nearly two hours had passed.
When Harold finally stood up, he said,
“Shall we go to the room where your mother is, Damian?”
“Huh? Right now?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Damian hesitated, avoiding his father’s eyes.
“…You haven’t scolded me yet.”
“Ah.”
Damian swallowed nervously.
He had never been severely scolded by his parents before. Maybe when he was too young to remember, but not in any memory he had.
Even when he “ran away” with Diana, it hadn’t been considered a serious misdeed—after all, he had used his wish ticket to ask her permission, and technically, he had been with a guardian.
But acting on his own and putting himself in real danger was different.
His parents had always told him to treasure his body and never do dangerous things.
And yet, the one rule that seemed easiest to follow was the one he had broken—because of overconfidence.
“So you know this was something serious enough to deserve punishment.”
“…Yes.”
“You know you were wrong?”
“…Very much.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“…Huh?”
Damian blinked in surprise.
Harold lifted him into his arms and said,
“Damian, right now I don’t have any reason to punish you. If you hadn’t learned anything from this, then yes, I would’ve scolded you. But you’ve already reflected on it.”
“What if I was just pretending to apologize and promised not to do it again just to avoid punishment…?”
“That’s an interesting question, Damian. Hmm, if you could actually deceive me, I’d have to praise you for it.”
“…So that means I can’t deceive you, right?”
“You understand well.”
Harold smiled sideways. Damian puffed his cheeks but didn’t argue back.
Harold carried him out of the room and down the hallway to the door of the next room—where Diana was waiting.
“But son,” Harold said with a grin, “just because I’m not punishing you doesn’t mean your mother won’t.”
“…!”
“When your mother gets really angry, she’s terrifying.”
“E-even scarier than you, Father?”
“The scariest in the world.”
Damian’s face turned pale. The strongest person he knew was his father, and yet, his father had just said his mother was even scarier when angry.
The thought alone was terrifying.
Then Harold reached for the doorknob.
“Father, wait! I need to prepare myself—!”
But Harold opened the door as if he hadn’t heard.
Damian froze as his mother came into view.
“M-Mother…”
For the first time in his life, he found his mother—who was silently walking toward him—truly frightening.
