At that time.
Dominique was sitting alone in his room.
“Why did I do something so unnecessary…”
A bitter smile tugged at the boy’s lips.
It was a wearied expression that seemed far too mature for a mere nine-year-old.
He had struggled so hard to stay unnoticed, but it had all gone to waste.
Most likely, Dominique would get blamed for everything again this time.
But what was strange was—
“Even so… I don’t regret it.”
The small white cat with blue eyes—who had been the first to ever treat Dominique with kindness.
The tiny girl who suddenly appeared before him looked just like that cat.
And not just in appearance.
> “I saw it all! Why are you bullying him?”
“Dominique oppa didn’t do anything wrong!”
That ringing voice still echoed in his ears.
Even that moment when her tiny body stepped in front of him, trying to shield him.
Maybe that’s why.
He found himself hoping she hadn’t gotten hurt.
Still, he did feel a little guilty about the rough fight with the trainees.
“What if she was scared?”
Just then—
Knock knock.
A knock echoed at the door.
Dominique turned around with wide eyes.
“A knock…?”
Whether it was instructors or other trainees, people always barged in without warning.
No one had ever knocked before.
Swallowing hard, Dominique replied,
“P-please come in.”
Only after his permission did the door open.
A tall young man stepped through.
At once, Dominique jumped up in shock.
“Hero-nim?!”
Adrian von Valencia.
The highest-ranking of the holy knights. The Empire’s only Sword Master.
“…But why is he here?”
His violet eyes filled with suspicion.
He’d heard Adrian was Mabel’s guardian.
“Don’t tell me he’s here to scold me for dragging Mabel into the fight…?”
Dominique gulped without meaning to.
Adrian walked casually into the room and gave an awkward greeting.
“Uh, hey.”
“Hello…”
Dominique also returned the greeting stiffly.
A heavy silence hung in the air.
Adrian scanned Dominique up and down, then asked casually:
“Anywhere hurt?”
“Ah, well… I’m fine.”
Dominique replied, scratching his cheek shyly.
Adrian shrugged lightly at the answer.
“Well, looks like you’re not too badly off.”
And it wasn’t just empty comfort.
Though the corner of his lip was split, and one cheek swollen from a hit, and his whole body caked in dirt—
It was still relatively mild.
The trainees who had fought him? Most of them were bedridden in the infirmary.
Some had even broken bones.
“For a kid, he’s got some serious talent.”
Taking down five boys on his own?
Adrian’s eyes sparkled with intrigue before he caught himself.
“Right—this isn’t the time for idle thoughts.”
Adrian straightened his face and cleared his throat.
“So, the reason I came… It’s about earlier. Our Mey got caught up in that fight with you…”
Honestly, dealing with kids other than Mabel was a bit awkward for him.
Scratching his chin, Adrian continued carefully,
“So, uh, I wanted to ask… why exactly did the fight break out?”
As soon as he heard the question, Dominique’s expression turned cold.
He replied with a dull voice.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Huh?”
Adrian looked puzzled for a moment.
That voice was far too cynical for a nine-year-old.
Looking away, Dominique muttered quietly.
“…You’re not going to listen anyway.”
Like someone who had already given up on everything.
That expression looked oddly familiar to Adrian.
It was the same one Sabina often wore.
“You little punk—”
Adrian snapped and pinched Dominique’s cheek hard.
“Whuhhh?”
Dominique’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he yelped, tears welling up as Adrian pulled his cheek.
“Aaah! That hurts!”
“Already acting so jaded for such a tiny thing.”
Adrian let go and gave him a light scolding.
Dominique rubbed his throbbing cheek furiously, shooting a glare at Adrian.
“But.”
Adrian added calmly,
“I really hate seeing people suffer injustice.”
At those simple words, Dominique’s eyes widened a bit.
Adrian smiled with a soft squint.
“Try telling me.”
“…But.”
“Who knows? Maybe something really will change this time.”
And for the first time, a faint light returned to Dominique’s long-dark violet eyes.
—
Later.
After much gentle prodding, Dominique began to open up—hesitantly—about what had happened.
The discrimination from the instructors.
The bullying from the other trainees.
And the priests who turned a blind eye to it all.
“I didn’t expect the prince’s treatment to be great, but still…”
Adrian walked through the hallway deep in thought.
“I didn’t realize it was this downright petty.”
Dominique—the only living descendant of the late crown prince.
It was said the current emperor saw him as a thorn in his side.
And that was understandable.
By all rights, the throne should’ve been Dominique’s.
But using his young age as an excuse, the current emperor had essentially stolen the crown.
The temple had allowed this usurpation, gaining many advantages in return.
Back then, Adrian had even personally requested a meeting with Saintess Rebecca because he was so suspicious.
> “It breaks our hearts too, but we couldn’t let the empire fall into chaos.”
Rebecca had said that with a sorrowful face.
> “If disputes over succession dragged on, the people would suffer most.”
> “But Saintess…”
> “We truly are doing our best to care for Prince Dominique.”
She had smiled softly.
> “So, Hero, please trust us too.”
Adrian hadn’t been foolish.
Even with all those honeyed words, he didn’t expect Dominique’s treatment to magically improve.
But the reasoning she gave—that prolonged strife over succession would only hurt the people—that made sense to him.
And if the temple’s own saintess said she would look after Dominique…
As a newly appointed Hero at the time, Adrian had no choice but to accept it.
But after traveling the empire, witnessing countless injustices, and meeting people like Sabina and Mabel who had suffered under the temple—
He began to harbor doubts.
“I can’t blindly trust the temple anymore.”
More than anything—
That little boy was walking around with such empty eyes.
He couldn’t just leave Dominique like this.
The only problem was…
“…I can’t interfere too directly.”
Replacing instructors.
Punishing trainees.
Even as the temple’s official Hero, that kind of interference would be seen as meddling in internal affairs.
The backlash would be enormous.
“And taking Dominique into my own household? That would be even harder.”
That would mean directly clashing with the emperor.
The political cost would be too high.
“In that case…”
Just as Adrian’s eyes narrowed sharply with thought—
“Adrian oppa!!”
Thump thump thump—Mabel came running and hugged his leg.
Tears were already welling in her big eyes as she looked up at him.
“How’s Dominique oppa?!”
“Mey, let go first—”
“He really didn’t do anything wrong, okay? Nothing!”
Mabel squeezed his leg tightly.
“Mey, I told you not to run like that…”
Sabina arrived right behind, sighing deeply.
Then she glanced at Adrian and asked,
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Ah… well…”
