Side Story 1.3: Damian

DAMIAN(3)

Damian went into the administrative office to look into the situation. The staff there told him that he was one step too late.

“For a disciplinary action beyond suspension, a notice of the punishment is immediately forwarded to the necessary address, regardless of whether or not an appeal has been filed.”

Damian’s address was listed as Philarch, not the north or the mansion in the capital. The office meant for handling all matters regarding the young master, such as Damian’s guards and reports, was located in Philarch. It was this office that was officially registered as Damian’s address.

The office manager received all the documents sent from Ixium and forwarded the documents to the Duke along with the written reports. In other words, all of Damian’s documents went to the office first. Damian considered going to the office that he had never been to before, but he changed his mind.

‘Father’s the one receiving it, anyways.’

Damian figured that his father wouldn’t care much about a few days of suspension, especially since it wasn’t expulsion. Damian’s speculation was correct. Before Ixium had even sent a notice of Damian’s suspension, Hugo learnt of it from his subordinate’s report. After getting the report, Hugo mumbled disinterestedly.

“Suspension? No big deal then.”

There were two things that would make Hugo have interest in Damian’s academy life. Damian being terribly harmed (or killed), or something happens that would prevent Damian from graduating. Apart from these, everything else was left to Damian. This was also why he left the guys that were disturbing Damian alone. If Damian couldn’t handle things like the guys trying to pick a fight with him at the Academy, then he wouldn’t be able to handle becoming the lord of the north.

‘What is he thinking…?’

Damian was attending the academy in a state where his status was uncertain. At first, this was Hugo’s intention. When Damian first enrolled, Hugo registered his name as ‘Damian’ only. He didn’t leave any trace that would lead to the boy’s true identity. At the time, Damian was too young, and had no power befitting of his status as the heir to a Duke. Once people became aware of his identity and focused their attention on him, unexpected and dangerous things could happen, so Hugo took appropriate measures.

Once Damian grew older and was capable of discernment, if he asked to reveal his identity, Hugo had no plans of stopping him. However, Damian was still enduring the attacks on him with bated breath and letting them pass. Judging from the line-up of the bastards looking for trouble, it was obvious that they were empty husks that wouldn’t dare to speak rashly if they knew that Damian was the son of the Duke of Taran.

The Academy was a small society made up of children, but that was also why there were more thorough in the pecking order amongst themselves. When they got out into society, they would realize that status was not a perfect solution, but as of now, the children’s world was still narrow. In the eyes of the arrogant children, the Damian, who wasn’t the Duke of Taran’s son, was a stone on the floor that they could step on as much as they liked.

‘If he has the conceited idea of not using his background at all, then that is rather dull.’

If Damian’s status was elevated due to the knowledge that he was the Duke’s son, then that was thanks to his background, not his ability. If Damian hated that and was in the process of being stubborn, then Hugo would be quite disappointed. Background was also part of one’s ability. This was a world where one could never rise above a certain height without a background.

‘There’s still time, so I’ll just have to wait and see.’

It would be fine to simply call the boy and ask him what he was thinking but Hugo did not do that. He had no plans of spoon feeding the boy. The boy had to be strong. If something happened to Hugo by any chance, he had to be capable of protecting his mother and younger sister. He didn’t originally intend to let Damian grow in a greenhouse like a flower, but after his daughter was born, he was thinking of making Damian stronger.

Hugo was not interested in the suspension. But he was interested in the fact that the suspension was caused by a fight. The boy wasn’t the type to be easily provoked to come to blows. As he chuckled, thinking ‘a child is a child, as expected’, he read the attached document which gave a full account of the fight.

Hugo’s expression gradually turned ominous. When he got to where it stated that they had trampled the handkerchief, his hand gripped the document in his hand tighter.

‘These young bastards are excessive.’

His wife did not accept his request to make a handkerchief for him when she was making one for Damian.

[When the one I gave you gets old, I’ll make you a new one for you.]

Hugo didn’t use the handkerchief Lucia gave him because he felt like it was too valuable. So, there was no way it was getting old. He just had no choice but to watch Lucia make a handkerchief for Damian. With the birth of Evangeline, Lucia was busy making things for her daughter to use too. Hugo didn’t know why he couldn’t get his wife to make something for him too when she was making stuff for their daughter.

Hugo checked to see which family the perpetrating child came from and committed it to memory. He wasn’t going to do anything currently, but if anything came up for him to find fault in, he would remember this day. He could hold grudges for a very long time.

* * *

The organization of the mails that poured in was one of the important things she had to do. Lucia checked the mails that came in for her. Most of them were invitations but occasionally, there were personal letters. The mails she usually waited for were letters from Damian or the occasional letter from Norman.

Lucia picked up an envelope, brought out its contents and as she read through it, her expression became increasingly strange. She checked the envelope again to verify who the sender was. It had the official seal of Ixium, signifying that it was sent from there.

This mail was not originally sent to Lucia. Today, Jerome was busy with something else so he left the sorting of the letters to another person, but that person mistakenly put it in the Madam’s mails. Lucia looked through the contents again.

“Suspension…”

It was a notice stating that Damian had been punished with seven days of suspension.

“What do they mean Damian has been suspended?”

She read the official notice several times, but it did not say the exact reason for the suspension. It only stated that he disrupted order in the school and violated the rules. There was no way her well-behaved son would cause enough trouble to be suspended. Something was wrong here.

Thankfully, her husband didn’t go out today; he was in the office, grappling with documents. Lucia took the notice in her hand and headed to her husband’s office.

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