CH 36

Damian’s black hair was slicked back to reveal his forehead.

Even under the lights that shone down from the fluorescent lights of the chandelier, his hair remained pitch black.

The green eyes located under that hair were not ones that reminded me of a forest’s greenery, but of a flame that had burned down.

“Your Grace.”

Seeing me call him, his eyes curved as he smiled. I could hear everyone around us gulp loudly at that smile.

Sensing that something was odd about how quiet everyone was being, I realized that they had all stopped what they had been doing and were staring at me and Damian.

“Did you like the gift that I sent you?”

Damian didn’t seem to care whether the people were staring at us or not. It seemed that he considered me quite valuable, considering that he was disregarding the others’ views and speaking to me.

‘But he’ll be ready to abandon me as soon as he thinks I’m useless.’

I knew all too well about Damian’s dark intentions.

It wasn’t that hard for me to hide behind a mask after experiencing death once. Then I returned the smile to the man who greeted me and answered him,

“Thank you, Your Grace. Your gift was beyond what I was anticipating.”

“I’m glad to hear that you liked it.”

Damian only mentioned that he had sent me a gift, not a ‘slave.’ And maybe it was because we were in a public environment. So knowing that, I casually played along with him.

“I was so worried when Your Grace didn’t contact me after promising to meet.”

“Were you?”

“Yes. So I’m glad I am able to meet you here at the banquet.”

Just as he was disregarding the others, I also acted as if I didn’t care about their attention. Which was why I was unable to see Cassadin’s expression as he looked at me and Damian.

Damian curled up his lips at my response and answered.

“I’ve been busy with my recent lawsuit.”

Why did Damian bother to come to this banquet if he was so busy with the lawsuit against the imperial family?

There was only one reason I could think of.

‘…To see for himself if I’m really acquainted with the Crown Prince or not.’

Damian was an absolute perfectionist.

Knowing Damian, he had likely done his research on me while preparing his lawsuit. Extending an arm out to me, he whispered calmly.

“May you give me the honor of escorting you today?”

Would it be the right decision to take his arm? It didn’t take long for me to make my decision.

“Yes. Of course.”

I gently placed my hand on his right arm, and Damian smiled. With his black uniform and black hair, he reminded me of a black crow.

At the same moment that I grabbed Damian’s arm, a deep voice, seeming to have come from the depths of hell, called out to me from behind.

“Sister.”

Turning my head towards the deep voice, I found an expressionless Cassadin gazing at me.

Detaching Ively from him at some point, Cassadin was now less than an arm’s reach away.

“Didn’t I promise you that I would be your escort today, Sister?”

After saying something that I hadn’t heard of in advance, Cassadin smiled brightly at me. When his eyes curved to match his mouth, the fans that the ladies near us had been holding simultaneously fell to the ground.

Plop.

But there wasn’t a single person who stooped down to pick up their fans. The ladies were all in a daze, and their cheeks blushed as they stared at Cassadin.

I was incredibly flustered by all of this. None of this had been part of my plan.

‘I thought you said you wouldn’t make a peep?’

When I glared at Cassadin, he let out a low laugh and grasped my free hand. Holding it tight within his grip, Cassadin said,

“Don’t tell me you have forgotten, Sister.”

“…”

What was I supposed to do in this situation?

Taking a glimpse at Damian, I found him looking at Cassadin with an incredibly amused expression. Without losing his composure, Damian then opened his mouth.

“I believe we have met before. Milady’s younger brother, was it?”

“You remember me?”

“…Of course. What else would I do then?”

Damian directed a polite smile at Cassadin, then added,

“I believe this is our third meeting.”

“…”

“Is it not?”

‘Third? Not twice? The first time they met was on the day of the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet. But aside from that day, Cassadin and Damian shouldn’t have met each other.’

When I cocked my head at Damian’s statement, Damian just kept his smile and continued.

“The first time I met Milady’s younger brother was on the day of His Highness’s birthday banquet. The second is now. And the third is probably…”

Damian paused, then ran a hand through his hair. His manner, the way he slicked back his hair, and the smile on his face all seemed so egotistical.

He had this arrogant and leisurely attitude, as if this palace were his home, and boldness, like he was the one who had opened the banquet.

If that confidence completely disappeared from Damian’s face, and if that face instead held anxiety and fear, now that would be a sight to see.

I asked the man, who had a composed expression on his face, as if I were clueless.

“Your Grace, when was the third?”

Then Damian answered as if he had been waiting for me to ask.

“When I was imprisoned.”

“!”

‘Prison? Did he recognize Cassadin disguised in the palace knight’s uniform? Since when? Or is he just unsure and wants to confirm it like this?’

Whether it was in the past or the present, Damian was not a man to be taken lightly. Damian’s sharp eyes carefully examined me for my reaction.

Maintaining as much composure as I could, I pretended to be oblivious to that fact.

“Your Grace, what do you mean? You’ve met my younger brother in prison?”

“…Didn’t you already know, Milady? I thought you’d brought him with you on purpose.”

I shook my head from side to side, at the man, who spoke with certainty. When I let out a sigh with widened eyes, acting as if I didn’t know a thing he was saying, Damian smirked and said,

“I thought Milady would have known, since you had also been there.”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I can’t understand what you are saying right now.”

Seeing me say so with my shoulders slouching, Damian muttered to himself only quietly enough that the others couldn’t hear.

“…I see. A brother who tricks his sister.”

Of course, as I was holding Damian’s arm, I was close enough to hear, and Cassadin must have sharp ears, as he seemed to hear what Damian had mumbled.

Cassadin squeezed his hand that had been holding mine, then let me go. Then, turning his body, he stopped exactly in front of Damian.

Cassadin was taller than Damian, so he lowered his head slightly and whispered something into his ear.

“…have…”

His voice was too quiet for me to hear other than a couple of words. For some reason, Damian seemed quite entertained by whatever Cassadin had said to him.

“Milady, if it’s alright with you, may I have some time to talk with your younger brother?”

When he asked me that, Damian’s green eyes glinted. And in those eyes, I saw his unconcealed interest in Cassadin.

So that black crow was trying to take Cassadin away from me.

If I turned down Damian’s request, he was going to become suspicious. But if I complied with his requests as he wanted, he might threaten Cassadin with his disguise as a palace knight and get him on his side.

‘Even if it means he’ll suspect me, I can’t hand over Cassadin at any costs.’

From my two options that both foreshadowed a bad ending, there was already one that I had chosen from the start.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. But I’m afraid that you can’t.”

I slowly detached my hand from Damian’s arm. Only then did the smug smirk on Damian’s face slowly start to sink. Regardless of what expression he was making, I approached Cassadin.

I gave Cassadin a wide smile and interlaced my hand with his.

“I just remembered my promise to my younger brother.”

“…”

“Isn’t that right, Cassadin?”

His mouth parted slightly at my question, but it closed back up into a gentle curve. His deep purple eyes narrowed into an arch, and his straight lips loosened their form to match his eyes.

The smile he had was so incredible that it could enchant men and women, old and young. As proof, all of the people who had seen Cassadin’s smile were all frozen on the spot, staring at him.

“Yes, Sister.”

Cassadin raised his hand that was connected to mine, then closed his eyes and pressed his lips against the back of my hand. Oh, quick-witted Cassadin, my one and only kind younger brother.

It was at that moment that someone muttered quietly in a sardonic tone.

“The two of you seem close.”

Turning my gaze toward the source of the voice, I found Damian smirking at the two of us. And as if he wanted everyone to hear, he said out loud,

“Even though the two of you don’t share a single drop of blood.”

Crash!

One of the nobles who had been watching the entire situation dropped their glass in shock. Starting with the sharp sound of glass shattering, another voice among the nobles shouted out,

“They aren’t related?”

Once one person started to question it, all of the others who had been quiet started to verbalize their own doubts.

“As His Grace said, the two of them have completely different hair and eye colors.”

“Then was it a lie that he was the Earl’s hidden son?”

“If they aren’t siblings, what are they?”

When things didn’t play along to his will, Damian started to utilize the audience.

So he had already finished his research on me. Which was why he was able to say that we weren’t related confidently.

‘It seems as though he valued Cassadin more than my relationship with the Crown Prince. And when things didn’t go the way he wanted them to, he said something shocking in the middle of the crowd on purpose. That insane bastard.’

Damian’s greed and vileness were much beyond my expectations.

If that was so, then there was no reason for me to hold back either.

“Is it wrong for us to not share the same blood? Even without blood relations, we are brother and sister.”

I kept my back straight, and my head high.

“Why do you believe that family must be related by blood? Even without such a relationship, Cassadin is my one and only younger brother, whom we’ve officially adopted into our family.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed even further at my response. As he curled up his lips in a slanted manner, his long legs clomped over to me.

And just as I thought he was going to pass by me, Damian suddenly stopped and whispered so that only I could hear him.

“So, is that why you’ve adopted a slave?”