RATHER, IT WAS PEDRO who was agitated, before he spoke.
“How dare you meet a man?! So Raphael was just a smoke screen? To protect your lover?!” Lucian didn’t blink despite his father’s loud roar.
This only made Pedro’s forehead wrinkle, and as though he was thinking hard, he suddenly blurted out venom.
“I know that Father likes men, but don’t think that I’m like you.” Pedro froze in a calm tone.
“You hated me because I resembled my grandfather, but now… Are you scared that I’ll resemble you this time?”
“You, how did you…?”
Despite Pedro being startled, Lucian didn’t care.
Lucian knew more than Pedro thought.
First of all, because Enzo rambled on in his head, he also heard what the employees had been whispering.
Sometimes he heard his mother’s muttering.
That’s why, of course, he also heard his father’s whispers.
He often talked to himself as if he was imploring someone else with a desperate voice.
Well, this wasn’t what Lucian meant to tell him.
Lucian was curious about something else.
“Can’t you hand over the Dukedom now? How long will you take me for a fool? You used me well as your heir while dangling Ray in front of me as leverage, but now that he’s back, you don’t want to hand it over?”
“……”
Pedro’s eyes widened as he looked at his son.
It was the first time he saw Lucian talk so much and look at him so coldly.
“Father—no. Your Grace the Duke.”
Pedro clenched his hands into fists as he heard this.
Lucian took a step forward, staring into the blue eyes that had become more muddled with age.
He looked down at his father from the opposite side of the coffee table.
He quite enjoyed this moment.
After getting rid of everything else in his heart and leaving only Raphael, it became oh so easier.
When he gave up craving his parents’ affection, he felt weightless.
He didn’t know how to explain it, but he was no longer frightened, no longer hurt.
He exuded a certain energy.
Pedro, who was a swordsman, was able to sense Lucian’s unusual energy, and at this, his complexion grew paler in the face of an explosive energy that was stronger than his.
Lucian laughed for the first time in front of his father.
“Before I force you out of this place, why don’t you kneel before me as I applaud you?”
“…What—what did you say?”
“If you don’t want to be dragged down and turned into a dog, I suggest that you hand over the Dukedom immediately. Understand, Your Grace?”
Lucian looked at him with distaste and turned around. It was all nonsense for Pedro, he couldn’t understand.
Pedro didn’t even know what Raphael meant to him. Why must the Duke keep bothering him?
Lucian had an overwhelming urge to grab him by the collar, but he endured.
It wasn’t because he was his father, but because he wanted to show Raphael only a confident, dignified appearance.
As Pedro stared at Lucian’s retreating figure as he exited the office, he could only bow forward as he felt his stomach being tied up in knots.
By thinking of only the person who had hurt him all those years ago in the past, it felt like all the karma he had accumulated returned to him tens of times over.
Pedro’s eyes were blank. He could do nothing else but look around vacantly, not knowing what to do.
Just like he did in the past.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
AFTER RETURNING TO THE MANSION, I called for only Damian.
“Master, you called me?”
“Damian. Will you be able to fly while carrying me?”
“Yes, it’s possible. But instead, I’ll have to fly in my half-human form, not completely as a hawk.”
“What do you look like in that form?”
It’s been a while since I’ve known Damian and Doggy, but I’ve never heard of a shapeshifter taking a half form.
“Like this.”
And Damian immediately transformed.
It wasn’t his complete transformation as a hawk, but instead, his human form stayed while wings protruded from his back—like an angel.
The feathers of his wide wings had a blend of light to dark brown.
I approached Damian’s mysterious form and circled around him.
“Wow, this is so cool—you can take out only your wings. Can Doggy also do this?”
Damian smiled thinly. Or wait, was that a smirk?
“That guy can’t do this yet.”
His tone seemed to carry a subtle jab at Doggy.
‘Hey, you seaweed punk!’
…Something like that?
Well, I talked about seaweed once before, and when Doggy heard it, he immediately called Damian with the nickname ‘seaweed punk’.[1]
Doggy, who could only give out weak nicknames, was beaten just now by Damian. Even after seeing this, I just sat still.
Yeah, well, they’ll settle this on their own. It won’t be good for me to get between them when they’re like this.
“But why did you ask, Master?”
Damian had a worried expression because he knew I was still grounded.
Of course, I don’t really want to go out secretly, but it can’t be helped.
If the Duke never brought up marriage in front of me, I wouldn’t have done this.
I knew that I’d have to marry someday, but I never imagined it’d be this early.
I thought I could finally be happy with my bias again, but I’m being torn away from his side regardless of my wishes once more!
Even if I wasn’t being pushed out like this, I was already thinking that I should leave once Lucian met someone he loved!
Right. This confirmed even more that the original had gone out the window. I should just get married or go live independently far away.
And perhaps, maybe?
Could I go back to Korea?
I had all these thoughts as I stared at Damian, but I never spoke them aloud.
No matter how reliable he was as a shapeshifter, I didn’t want anyone to know about my condition and identity.
Damian reached out his hand instead of urging me to answer.
“Does Amber know about this?”
I called him in the middle of the night, so of course she didn’t know. She wasn’t in my room right now.
“Yeah. We’ll just go out for a little while.”
“Hold my hand, Master.”
I reached out and held his solid hand. With his other arm, he lifted me up.
“…Um, should I be this close to you?”
“When flying, it’s better to have less air resistance. You might fall, so please, embrace me tightly.”
At his serious tone, I urgently wrapped my arms around his neck.
I can’t fall.
It’s dizzying just thinking about it.
As we went out through the balcony attached to my room, Damian looked at me once before soaring up.
I stared into his eyes, the color of trees, that were twinkling right in front of me.
I never noticed because I hadn’t seen his eyes up close, but as he flew, his pupils shrank down completely, making it look as though his pupils had disappeared.
So for the first time, I saw him as a shapeshifter.
It’s amazing how he transformed into a hawk, but because I came from a world that didn’t have any magic, it seemed like my mind hadn’t fully grasped what a shapeshifter was.
Damian soared higher into the dark night sky to avoid getting seen by the knights guarding the mansion.
When I looked down for a moment, the house was already as small as my fingernail.
“Eek!—d-do we have to go up this high?”
Damian smiled brightly at my question, so refreshing to see because it’s my first time seeing his smile so purely.
“It can’t be helped. We’ll get caught if we fly low.”
It’s really difficult to look down.
But fortunately, I saw that the bookstore’s lights were still on.
“What the, so the bookstore’s open 24 hours.”
Huh, well, that’s good for me.
As we entered the bookstore, I saw the young man I met inside the last time instead of the old man I saw at the counter before.
He bowed his head lightly.
“We’ve been waiting.”
“You have the information I asked for?”
“Yes. Please let me take you somewhere private first.”
I followed him with Damian in tow.
Then, the young man glanced at Damian.
“Is it alright for him to follow us?”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
The man seemed to be contemplating something deeply, but he soon accepted.
“Only clients can come in usually. However, since it’s late at night, it’s only right that the young master brings his escort.”
I blinked once, startled at the unexpected consideration. Amber said that information guilds were usually connected to the underworld, but it seemed like this man was kind enough.
We entered the room and I sat down. Damian stood next to me as though he was guarding me.
The man asked if I’d like any tea, but I couldn’t wait to hear what he had found out. He stared at my expression, then proceeded to speak without any more delays.
“First of all, the County of Elrand does not have a lord anymore. For seven years, it’s the butler who’s been managing the territory instead of the lord.”
The period of seven years overlapped with the time I was kidnapped by the booger king. So it’s true that my uncle just went ahead and attacked the Duke.
Was he crazy?
If he was a Count, then shouldn’t he protect his territory? Why did he even become a Count when he couldn’t care less about the County?
However, the next news was something more outrageous.
“Derrick de Elrand is wanted at large right now.”
“Wanted?”
Oh, how stupid of you, uncle.
I swallowed down the rest of the curses I wanted to spew out.
“And Baron Castilla is in critical condition.”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
[1] To be exact, he didn’t say ‘seaweed punk’ but 매ìƒì´ (Capsosiphon fulvescens, Maesaengi), which is thick green algae that is consumed as food in Korea to treat stomach disorders and hangovers.
But at the same time, it’s algae that festers around a seagull’s neck, in between its feathers, that’s why Doggy used it as an insult to Damian.
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