CH 89

‘I see you’re not going to acknowledge your ability until the end.’

I felt so uncomfortable that I couldn’t even feel whether the food was going through my nose or through my mouth.

I stirred the clear soup with a spoon, recalling the words that Damon whispered.

‘Let’s make a deal.’

The deal with Damon was about keeping each other’s identities a secret.

“What’s wrong?” 

Usually, I would have been eating with my nose buried on the plate, however, Dietrich gently raised one eyebrow when he saw me hardly eating. 

I did a double-take and quickly opened my mouth to gulp down the soup. 

“Hm? What do you mean?” 

“As expected, that bastard really did something to you.”

“It’s not like that.” 

I quickly made an excuse and tore the bread beside the soup.

‘Did Damon arrive home safely?’

I didn’t even apologize for the torn lips he had to suffer when I stuffed the baguette in his mouth.

Dietrich didn’t take his eyes off me even though I expressed that I was fine. 

Although his eyes always appear insensitive, seeming not to bear any goodwill, I knew that he was worried about me. 

“I had been meaning to ask you something for a while now.”

“What is it.” 

“Are you aware of my ability?”

Dietrich’s eyes slightly widened as if he was surprised by my sudden question. He was an unusual person who rarely changes his facial expressions like that. 

I moved my lips slightly and meekly waited for him to answer without urging him to do so. 

“...I know it’s not an ability from the North.”

“Is it possible for the Northerners to have an ability from another region?”

“Who knows. I don’t remember receiving any reports regarding that matter. However, it’s not something impossible.” 

He spoke ambiguously, yet, in the end, it means that it was something extremely rare.

‘Just as I thought, it’s impossible he wouldn’t know.’

“But why aren’t you asking?”

“About what?” 

“About why my ability isn’t related to controlling shadows. Why aren’t you asking about why I have the ability to purify demons instead?”

Dietrich’s expression, as he slightly lifted his head and looked at me, remained unshakeable and tranquil. 

He propped his chin on his hand, sporting an annoyed look on his face as if I asked something useless like asking, ‘how about roasted duck for dinner?’ 

“Do you want me to ask?”

“Huh?”

“Do you want me to be curious about the whole story of your ability?”

I was anxious to death that Dietrich might get angry, but as if he couldn’t understand my anxiety, he just tilted his head. 

A deep, low voice with a carefree tone.

He slowly opened his mouth. 

“Anissa.” 

“Yeah.”

“I don’t care where you’re from, whether you’re a person who rolled over from the Eastern colony or whether you were a child hidden to screw over Derek Lagrange.” [1] 

The Eastern colony was the land of the cannibals. I was a little perplexed because Dietrich sounded like if I was hungry, he would readily cut off his ankle and feed it to me. 

‘No, you should care about that.’

“Why?”

Of course, he didn’t put much importance on blood relationships. The children of Lagrange, who, as soon as they were born, sought the life of their own siblings, didn’t learn how to love their flesh and blood. 

‘But, he really doesn’t even want to know where I come from?’

He answered indifferently, cutting sophisticatedly the veal steak that was served next.

“The fact that you’re mine won’t change.” 

“Huh?”

I was a little bewildered by Dietrich’s remark and my eyes widened. Who belonged to who? 

“What?”

“It’s nothing.” 

When I asked him, he shut his mouth without any explanation. When he’s like that, Dietrich would never open his mouth again no matter how many times he was asked. 

I stared at the piece of red meat that went straight to his mouth and then shrugged. 

‘I must have heard it wrong.’

The Dietrich I knew was indifferent enough to the point where one had to wonder whether he possessed feelings or not. 

I cared about Dietrich, and he cared about me. 

So it was certainly true that he and I had established a bond, but he would have never said obsessive words such as I belonged to him.

‘At any rate, he won’t ask anything unless I tell him.’

I thought that he was being too lenient so I seized the opportunity and brought up something that might cause discord.

“He–Hermann.”

“What?”

Dietrich’s face, which had kept an apathetic expression no matter what I said, hardened at that one name I mentioned.

“What about that bastard?”

What was really the relationship between the male protagonist and the villain?

I swallowed the name which I tried to bring up again as I watched Dietrich emit a murderous intent just by hearing Hermann’s name. 

“Will Hermann Euclid become a grand duke? Does he have other siblings?”

I tried to sound normal and scanned my eyes around. Dietrich, who had worn a black sword around while slicing the meat with a knife, calmed down and started cutting again. 

Cut. Cut.

Why was I suddenly sweating at the sound that echoed in the dining room? 

“He doesn’t. Which is a good thing.”

“Why is it a good thing?”

“Since there are less bothersome things to take care of.” 

The bothersome things he’s talking about didn’t mean killing all of Hermann’s siblings, right? 

‘I don’t think it’s the right time.’

────── 〔✿〕──────

Damon was a much more hardworking teacher than I expected. 

He always arrived five minutes ahead of the appointed time to prepare for class and only finished when the allotted objectives were met. 

Last week, when I wasn’t able to finish the allotted task, he kept me in the study until daybreak and made me study.

‘It’s not called short-term for nothing.’  

It felt like I was taking a whole year’s worth of classes in one month. 

I struggled to follow his class, floundering at the tsunami of assignments. 

“Did you finish your homework?” 

Damon raised his eyebrow as I handed the homework I barely finished, unable to sleep a wink until dawn. 

He was a man who rarely changes his facial expression like Dietrich, and whenever I doze off or failed to do my homework, he would sigh loudly instead of scolding me. 

‘But it’s kind of upsetting.’

“Right here.” 

Damon’s giving of assignments was close to a lethal dose, so I had to cut my eating time in order to study. 

“...Did you do everything?” 

“Yes. If you’re doubtful, you can double-check.” 

Hmm. Instead of sighs coming from Damon’s lips, they were bursts of pain. 

He scratched his angular jaw, then took a notebook and started grading. I was heartbroken at the sight of the red marks, but I’m glad I did it all. 

“That’s unexpected.” 

“What is?” 

“I thought you would have given up right away.” 

‘The tutoring fee must have been a lot and you expect me to give up?’

“Why would I?” 

“The Lagranges are usually not interested in society.” 

“But what you’re teaching isn’t just knowledge exclusive to society.” 

In fact, he taught broad and surface-level general knowledge of history, politics, and culture. 

‘The content of the class isn’t difficult as well.’ 

Moreover, I liked studying when there was no one to compare to. 

The class with Damon was one-on-one, and he never talked about other students, so the only thing I had to be wary of was my own laziness. 

“Do you know why my short-term lecture is famous?”

“I don’t really know?”

“Because there’s not a single young lady who finished it until the end. Every single one of them had given up.” 

No wonder the fee was so expensive. Unless it was a successor aiming for the title, it seemed rare for a person to take such an intensive class just to get along with socialites. 

“But they all ended up becoming social figures?” 

“Well, since I’m the teacher.” 

I laughed at Damon’s low murmur. 

“I didn’t think I was this unlucky when you were a knight.” 

I grumbled in a low voice and he smirked, tapping my notebook that he returned full of red marks. 

“Do you admit now? That you know who I am.” 

“Aren’t you threatening me to admit it?” 

He even proposed a deal to admit my secret and he’ll keep his mouth shut, and yet now he’s feigning ignorance. 

“You, I mean, Teacher, as you expected, I know that you posed as a knight in Lagrange. It’s because my ability is unique.” 

Damon briefly nodded his head as if he knew that. I stepped down from my chair and stood in front of him. The eyes that met mine were dark brown like an old tree in the middle of winter. 

‘They were definitely the eyes of Damon, the knight in Lagrange.’ 

“But I don’t know what you know about me.” 

There weren’t many days left with Damon’s class, before my superficial relationship with him ends, I felt the need to make sure that the terms of the deal were settled. 

“If you don’t disclose that to me, I will reveal everything to Dietrich before this ball.” 

Damon took the time to assess what I was demanding. His thin lips twitched and he thought about it for a moment. 

“Are you threatening me?” 

“Yes.” 

“You’re going to be in trouble. I know more than you know about yourself.” 

“Such as?” 

“Such as, who your real mother and father are.” 

My eyes widened at Damon’s words. It wasn’t because I didn’t know who my biological mother was as he conjectured. 

Anyone who witnessed my ability could deduce that I was not from the North, however, the truth about my ‘birth mother’ was a secret that would never be known unless the person was involved. 

“You know my parents?” 

‘What the hell is Damon’s true identity?’ 

Why did he know that I’m Anissa Euclid, an extra that didn’t even appear properly in the original? 

Notes:

[1] It could also mean Anissa came from the Eastern colony to devour people and talking about ‘screw over Derek’, might be a play on eating something, basically eat Derek, literally.