Side Story 1.4 - DAMIAN(4) (1/2)
Side Story 1.4 DAMIAN(4)
The door opened quietly and the mild scent of tea wafted in. Hugo was buried in his work, not lifting his head, but when the sign of someone approaching didn’t disappear, he lifted his gaze. He discovered his wife, standing there with a tea tray in her hands and his eyes grew wide.
“How come you’re here?”
“Did I interrupt you? I would like some of your time. Is now okay?”
“Ah. Yes, now is fine.”
Hugo swiftly got up and sat opposite of her on the sofa. Lucia filled the two teacups with tea and placed one in front of her husband and herself.
“I felt like it would be right to talk with you here because it’s both a personal matter and formal matter.”
Lucia placed the mail she had brought with her on the table. Hugo looked through the contents of the mail with an indifferent expression and as Lucia watched him put it back inside the envelope, she said:
“You know what this is about, right?”
“It’s nothing big. He seems to have fought with his classmates.”
“Is Damian hurt?”
Hurt? Damian’s swordsmanship was at a professional level. The sword skills he learnt were the standard one, so they couldn’t surpass the killing skills that Hugo learnt as a mercenary slave, but it would be difficult to find his match among his peers.
According to the reports, he could even win against his seniors that were three to four years older easily. By the time he graduated, he wouldn’t lose to anyone in a pure swordsmanship match. The generations of men in the Taran family had sturdy constitutions. Equipped with the skill of innate ability, they had no opponent.
“It’s fine. Kids fight as they grow.”
As he watched Lucia breathe a sigh of relief, Hugo thought that she treated Damian too much like a child. He didn’t know what she was so worried about when her son was already so much taller than her.
“So why is he suspended for a simple fight? What’s going on? Was the child he fought greatly hurt?”
“It’s not really that.”
Hugo couldn’t help but briefly explain what Damian’s current situation was like. He explained that Damian lived hiding his status so there were guys who often came to look for his trouble and that this time, he received an unfair punishment. Hugo spoke lightly but Lucia’s expression gradually hardened as she listened.
“So you’re saying that Damian was ridiculously and unfairly punished.”
“…Sounds about right.”
“So what do you plan to do?”
Hugo didn’t care much about it. He was going to just let it pass by. But when he was about to reply with, ‘what am I supposed to do,’ he felt like his wife’s eyes would turn up sharply, so he quietly shut his mouth.
Lucia’s maternal love was at its peak after giving birth and raising Evangeline. The knowledge that Damian was being oppressed at the Academy made unbearable anger surge within her. How dare they— to my son!
“Actually, I have been thinking about things regarding Damian.”
Not long ago was Evangeline’s first birthday. Hugo borrowed a hall in the royal palace and held an extravagant and grand birthday party. It was big enough for the attendees to insinuate that the party was bigger than Princess Selena’s. Despite receiving a swarm of congratulatory messages, Lucia was disheartened by Damian’s absence throughout.
When she sent Damian an invitation to attend, Damian replied that he was sorry, but it was difficult because he was in school. Damian truly couldn’t spare time during the semester so he couldn’t attend. However, Lucia took it differently, in that, she thought that Damian was averse to presenting himself before other people.
The capital’s high society did not know of Damian’s existence. The people who were always in-the-know with rumors definitely knew, but because they were caution of the Duke and Duchess of Taran, they didn’t spread it.
Lucia did not intend to hide Damian. However, Damian was too young to make a social debut and because he went to the academy, he was never at the capital, which meant that even if she said anything, it would just cause useless rumors to spread so she just kept to herself.
Lucia’s mind began to change due to the New Year party this year. Every year at the New Year’s party, many noble children made their debut in the social circle. She watched as the parents of the children busied around everywhere, trying to make sure their children who were debuting, made even the slightest good impression.
Lucia had smiled as she greeted the young boys and girls of fourteen years who were just making their debut. And then, there was a boy who strikingly stood out to her. It was Chris, the son of Marquis Philip. People’s attentions were focused on the debut of the child of a family in power. He wasn’t greeting people, rather, they were greeting him.
As Lucia watched the confident and brightly smiling young boy, Damian came to her mind. She thought to herself, that Damian was as qualified as the Marquis’s son to be standing there confidently, with people’s attention on him.
“Do you really want Damian to stay in the dorms until he graduates?”
“I promised to let him graduate from the day he entered.”
“I’m not saying that he shouldn’t graduate. I’m just asking if he needs to be on the boarding course? Other kids are on vacation while Damian had to have dates annually issued for him to go out. This cannot go on until his graduation.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“Change his course. It shouldn’t be boarding course, but something that allows him to come home on vacation like the other kids at the academy.”
“I don’t think that’s possible within the Academy’s regulations.”
“I know you can change it.”
Hugo was shocked speechless by the fact that such words came out from his wife’s mouth.
“In addition, there is now a need for Damian to introduce himself into the social circles.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
Damian’s social debut wasn’t something he had considered. Damian would be eighteen years old when he finished his 12 years of boarding. At that point, he would have learnt what he needed to do at the academy, plus he would be at the proper age, so he would then be taught what needed to be taught. That was Hugo’s plan.
“It’s not all of a sudden, this is something I have been thinking about. When Damian graduates, his social debut will be too late.”
Social debuts usually happened at fifteen, and at the earliest, it was one or two years earlier. However, there weren’t many cases where someone made a debut considerably late. Families who followed the rule of succession mostly kept to this principle.
“It’s not that necessary. A social debut isn’t that important.”
“It is important. Damian’s birth had a weakness. So I think it will be better to have him debut very early and make people recognize that he is definitely your successor.”
Until now, the Taran family had gone by without participating in many activities in the social circles. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they had locked themselves up in the north. In this generation, Hugo unusually broadened their activities. According to his precedents, social activities in the capital were meaningless.
However, there was a possibility for changes in the way the Taran family ran when Damian took over. In addition, the social debut arrangements of the children was the Lady of the House’s responsibility. Therefore, Hugo couldn’t find any reason to oppose his wife’s idea.
“I want to hold a debut party before the end of this winter.”