Verity & Deception [1]

"You may enter, young master."

Jerome led Damian till they reached the front of the office. Damian took a deep breath in front of the large door then pushed the heavy door aside and walked in. Before leaving for boarding school, he'd only been inside this room once.

The Duke had called the boy to tell him he was going to boarding school.

[I have done my part and declared you as my successor. The rest is up to you. Graduate. Then this place is yours]

From that day on, it became Damian's life goal to inherit the title of the Duke, someday. He'd never thought of the reason or what he would do after he became the Duke. The goal was just the boy's meaning for existence. It was his worth for living.

Now, Damian had found a true goal. Becoming the Duke was simply a means towards that goal.

Power.

He wanted to have power. Only with power could one protect whom they want to protect. Just as his father was able to protect his mother because he had the power, Damian wanted to have it too.

Damian admired his father. His father was a great knight and the strongest man in the world. However, he had no confidence of becoming like his father so he had to find a possible way for himself to become stronger. The greatest power the boy could obtain from his efforts alone were the abilities/knowledge he could gain at the academy.

The air inside the office was a little breezy. The unique shallow fragrance of wood drifted off the furniture and documents were piled up on the spacious desk positioned diagonally to the entrance. In the quiet office, only the intermittent sound of pages being turned could be heard.

Damian walked quietly and stopped a few steps away from the desk. Hugo lifted his head and saw Damian then lowered his head back to his document.

"Is this going to take a while?" (Hugo)

"No. I came to tell you I will be returning back to the academy."

"I believe it will be difficult to keep up with this semester's courses at this point."

"Yes. But if I return now, I will be able to listen to the session for the semester break. I can replace the semester I missed with this session."

"You can graduate even if you don't complete one semester."

"I want to have the best grades."

"I told you, you only need to graduate."

"I just want to do that."

"Why?"

"I want to gain power by increasing my knowledge."

Hugo lifted his head.

Damian was a little nervous receiving his father's gaze. Hugo carefully studied Damian. The boy stood upright and his gaze was lowered to the floor but there was no sign of intimidation.

It was much better than his vassals that turn timid once he laid eyes on them. Hugo recalled the first day he saw Damian. The eyes of the child Philip brought were clear and pure. That was why he couldn't help but believe Philip's words saying that he was his brother's son.

A child of the Taran blood would not have such eyes unless it was his brother's child.

"Power, huh."

Hugo chuckled and turned his gaze back to the document. He signed it with a pen and moved it to the side.

"Scholars do not rule the world. How do you know that the knowledge you'll learn and nurture from the Academy will become your strength?"

Damian was taken aback by the unexpected problem presented to him.

"If you graduate, regardless of your grades, this place is yours. If it is as the Duke of Taran then that should be significant power."

Whether the boy kept his grades and graduated or earned the best grades and graduated, the position of the Duke was the boy's. Hence, no matter how much effort was put into it, the result was still the same.

Damian wanted to gain new strength, not one given to him by his father but one he gained with his own hands. As for the greatest strength that student Damian could gain from the academy with his efforts alone? There was only one thing that came to mind.

There was an organization called 'Conference' consisting only of students in 'Ixium', the academy which Damian attended. In Ixium, the power of Conference was remarkable. The Chairman of 'Conference' was called 'Sitha'. Damian was still quite young so he'd had no direct encounter with them and members of Conference were mostly senior students.

Every once in a while as he walked the school grounds, he got to witness students watching the road for these 'conference' members as though they were kings. Even when he saw that, at the time Damian did not have much interest.

Because then, the boy's goal was simply just to graduate. However now, he was interested.

"I will become 'Sitha'."

Translator's Corner

*This one is super short but the next one is twice its length.

< — Truth & False — > (1)

TN: I honestly don't know what to translate this(시타) as: Shita? Chita? Cyta? Sitha? Ugh! I can't tell, we'll stick with Sitha. It's a title for sure but…

Hugo looked up to face Damian, an intrigued look in his eye.

"'Sitha' is the Academy's…" (Damian)

"I know what it is." (Hugo)

Hugo never attended the Academy but he held interest in it. It wasn't just because he sent Damian there but because of its inclination. It wasn't just the nobles of Xenon, nobles of other nations were increasingly sending their children to Ixium. Because of personal connections.

In about ten years, the completion of a course in Ixium would become an indispensable process for nobles. As a place where people lived it was somewhat similar to others. The Academy had its own powers and rankings. Even so, in a restricted environment like the Academy, one might wonder what the big deal is with a time-constrained power but in fact, the more enclosed an environment is, the more absolute the power.

As far as Hugo was concerned, it was better than being the king of an insignificant minor nation. The power of the Academy's Sitha was greatly strengthened by the war and as time passed, it became even stronger. By the time Damian graduates, it would become a force that could not be ignored.

The experience and status from becoming the Academy's Sitha would be able to overthrow the limitations of his birth status as an illegitimate child. The child may not have thought of such a distant future but Hugo was very intrigued by the conclusion the boy had reached.

When Hugo received reports on Damian's life on the Academy, it detailed that the boy was studying very hard but apart from that, he showed no interest in anything else. So why did he suddenly want power? How much could he accomplish? Hugo wanted to see.

"It's not a position one can get by just studying."

"I understand."

"Keep this in mind. Inadequate power is worse than non-existing power. If one wants to be the best, one has be high enough that others wouldn't even dare to look."

"Yes."

"Did you know of your mother entering you into the register?"

"Yes. Mo…ther told me."

"Go tell her you'll be returning to the Academy"

"Yes."

"Anything else is fine with me but don't go killing people at the Academy. That one's a little troublesome to sort out. If you do end up doing so, contact me first before informing the Academy."

His father was a scary person indeed. Damian once again realized this fact.

"…Yes."

Damian bowed his head and left the office. A while after the boy left, Hugo chuckled lightly and muttered to himself.

"Your son is a dozen times smart than you."

Whenever he recalled his brother, he always felt pain but strangely this time, he only felt good inside.

***

It was afternoon tea time when Damian went to find Lucia. Lucia was on the way downstairs to have her tea when she encountered Damian. She greeted him with a smile and walked with him to the receiving room.

The two of them sat in the receiving room, drinking the tea that Jerome had skillfully prepared.

"Do you need me for something? What's the matter?" (Lucia)

Around this time, Damian was usually studying in his room.

"I have something to tell you. I'll be going back to the Academy."

Lucia's hand lifting the teacup to her lips froze and she didn't say anything for a moment then she lowered the cup back to the table.

"Could it be you still have the garden party on your mind?"

"No, I have to go back now to keep up with my course."

It wasn't strange for children at Damian's age to throw a tantrum that they didn't want to go to school. Lucia felt somewhat sorry for the overly mature Damian. Her initial thought that it was cute had changed. After conversing with the child numerous times, she'd come to realize that the child's thinking ability was like that of an adult's. Damian was a genius.

Because his intellect was extremely high, the usual babyish childhood did not suit him. Lucia knew a child similar to Damian in her dream. It was Bruno, the third son of the husband in her dream, Count Matin. A tutor who had taught Bruno for only a short while called him a genius.

'At that time, he was only one year older than Damian.'

Lucia met Bruno for the first time when he was 12 years old. Bruno did not resemble the Count Matin whether it was in intellect or appearance, making one doubt if he was really Count Matin's son. His rebelliousness against his father was also quite huge so he caused both little and big troubles. One of these troubles was chasing out his tutors with clever and mischievous plans.

In the end, Count Matin drove Bruno out to study as a scholar. The Bruno who was cynical and rebellious in everything was very precocious. So Lucia knew a grown up genius child was like. Apart from the name of 'genius', Bruno and Damian were completely different. Damian was a much more, cute, loveable and kind child.

"Right. I should be glad you're going back to study. When are you going to leave?"

"Preparations will be done quickly so I will be setting out tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning? So soon?"

Lucia did not expect to be suddenly separated from Damian. To her, Damian was her son and friend. Just like Damian was comforted by Lucia, Lucia was also comforted by him. Because of the appearance of the boy that looked just like Hugo, she was able to endure her longing and as her affections for the child grew, she realized her love for Hugo grew even more.

"Then…"

Will you be back next year? Lucia was about to ask that and stopped herself. Next year, the King would die and they would have to go to the capital. After which they would have to call Damian to the capital but if Damian wasn't even accepted in the North which was the Taran Duke's fief, one could not say how much he would be accepted in the capital.

Until Damian got older and could debut in the social circles, it would be better for him to stay in boarding school, that way he wasn't under the gazes of people like now.

'Maybe things will change as time passes.'

She didn't think that Hugo appointed Damian to be his successor without putting any thought into it. He must have some thoughts of his own.

"Since you are setting out tomorrow, is there a lot to prepare?" (Lucia)

"I just have to pack my books."

"Then, do you want to talk a bit more? Tell me about your life at the Academy."

"Okay."

Over the course of the afternoon, the mother-and-son pair stayed in the receiving room and talked about several things.

The next day, people were gathered around a carriage that looked set up for an early morning departure. A coachman sat ready to depart on the journey, a servant stood waiting and all the employees were out to send off their young master. Even Hugo was outside too.

After hearing the boy was leaving, Hugo sent his well wishes but Lucia nagged him saying 'what kind of send-off is that' and dragged him outside. In front of the open door to the horse carriage, Damian and Lucia stood face to face to say their goodbyes.

"Take good care of your health. And study hard." (Lucia)

"I will."

"Take your meals regularly. Don't get hurt. Ah…I've already mentioned health…"

It was quite the sight to see Lucia looking for the words to keep going. Damian's heart grew warm and a smile naturally formed on his lips.

"Milady."

A servant came up to them with a basket. Lucia received the basket and held it out to Damian. Asha was in the half-open basket. When its eyes met the boy's, its ears perked up and it moved.

"It seems Asha already thinks of you as its master. You should take him."

"You are raising him for the fox hunt, aren't you?"

"It's fine. I can just watch the hunt."

"But…at the academy, pets are…"

"Don't worry about that. Your father took care of it."

Right? As though asking, Lucia turned her head to look at Hugo standing a few steps away and Hugo nodded his head. For Hugo, it was simply killing two birds with one stone. There was no better way to take care of the baby beast.

Changing something like the school's regulation of no pets allowed was nothing much to Hugo. It was not widely known but he had contributed a considerable amount of money to Ixium when he placed Damian in the school and so he was entered onto the executive board.

And because Hugo had bought out many of the board members who could make decisions beforehand, he was able to change the school regulations as much as he liked. People may think of the Taran Duke as a power-seeking knight but in actuality, he was a pretty thorough person.

"I hope Asha will become a friend close to your heart in your life at the academy."

"Yes. Thank you."

A servant received the basket and placed into the carriage.

"I'll be leaving now."

"Ah…Right. You have to go. Damian, can I hug you as my last farewell?"

"…Yes."

Lucia reached out and embraced Damian. Damian's hands floated in the air for a bit then he relaxed and placed his hand on her back.

Damian was a tactful child so he knew quite well that the Ducal couple's relationship was good. He had already thrown out his previous idea that the Duke only married out of necessity. He also knew that a child would be born someday from a good couple relationship.

If a child was born from the ducal couple's relationship, Damian's position would become like that of a sandcastle. A legally registered illegitimate child. There was no way Damian could stand up to a child truly born from the legal wife. But it didn't matter. The position as the Duke, no matter what, was good.

If his younger brother was born and wanted to take his place, he would gladly give it to him. All Damian wanted to do was to protect. He wanted to protect the caring warmth that surrounded Roam and he would try his hardest to gain the power to protect his mother's laughter. The two of them separated after the hug.

"Mother."

Lucia's eyes widened to circles and she looked at Damian, stunned. The boy suddenly took a huge stride forward and Lucia was slightly startled. Damian grabbed Lucia's hand, leaned down and politely kissed the back of her hand.

"I don't know when I'll see you again so please remain with peace and comfort."

Damian smiled as he looked at the frozen Lucia who was unable to give a reply. It was the first time she had ever seen a mischievous smile on the boy's face.