Chapter 31

Damien.

The four characters in the child’s palm, all of them are made up of lines.

In other words, there’s a lot that needs to be buried in the ground. Pain, suffering, and even hatred.

As much as he experienced difficult things, he had the potential to become a significant figure with great power in the future.

The only problem is that he has to go through a lot of difficult things.

Until the day his good fortune blossoms fully, Damien was destined to overcome various hardships and trials.

‘I hope this year passes well.’

This year has been really tough.

The birth chart indicates a clash between the daily and monthly pillars, and the erected pillar supports the monthly pillar corresponding to the White Tiger’s kill.

White Tiger’s Great Kill.

It’s an ominous kill that must see bloodshed. Like being attacked by a tiger.

Of course, in the modern era where there are no tigers, it doesn’t have the same influence as it did in the past.

‘But this is truly an era where you can be attacked by a real beast.’

That was the problem.

‘As a parent’s birth chart, there could be an accident involving the mother this year.’

If not careful, the ominous influence could extend to Damien himself.

The child is powerless in the face of the environment surrounding him.

Especially Damien, who is likely to stay by his sick mother’s side. That’s why there’s concern.

Doha let out a deep sigh.

‘I should’ve just not cared from the beginning.’

But she already heard the child’s desperate feelings, listened to the circumstances, saw the birth chart, and learned the name.

She even wished for the child to survive. She had, in a way, assumed the reason for the child’s life.

Even though she hadn’t seen the child’s face, she had become overly involved.

‘It’s okay. Grandma said it’s an unfounded ominous sign. It will pass without any major incident.’

She hoped nothing would happen. No, she probably wished for nothing to happen.

Although she couldn’t do anything right now, stuck outside the city, she would soon be able to roam freely.

‘Since the boundaries of the sages have been loosened. So, please let this year pass safely….’

Doha muttered while clutching the artifact tightly.

‘I told him to live for sure.’

She just wanted to confirm that he was well.

But in the end, Damien did not respond.

* * *

“I will take charge of your education from now on.”

Angelus came personally and made a thunderous statement.

‘…Do I have to face this guy every day?’

He almost showed an arrogant expression.

Doha made an effort to relax the muscles on her face and calmly replied.

“It’s okay if you don’t worry. I would prefer if Lady Marchelle took care of my education.”

“Marchelle has a lot to do. She doesn’t have time to care about your education.”

Then do you have nothing to do?

She tried to soften her words as much as possible.

“I don’t want to take away Confucius’ time.”

At that moment, Angelus felt a sudden pressure on his jaw, as if clenching his teeth.

Wondering what she was thinking, he replied in a calm voice.

“It’s okay since I cleared my schedule.”

Is it okay as long as it doesn’t bother you?

She gazed at Angelus with a complex expression.

“How far have you progressed?”

Seems like he intends to teach seriously.

‘I didn’t expect this.’

It’s only natural to feel a sense of responsibility when the person you trusted commits a despicable act towards a child.

As Doha suppressed a sigh that almost escaped involuntarily, she recited the progress made in each subject.

She thought it might be better to just comply with what he wanted as much as possible and then leave quickly.

“Hmm, if you’ve learned that much, we might as well start with the instigators of war in international politics.”

But she was surprised by what followed.

She didn’t know that the instigators of war were included in the curriculum.

“Why are we learning that?”

Her first emotions were discomfort and anger.

While surely knowing that Damien was not an instigator of war but rather a victim of war.

Analyzing the unhappiness of an innocent child and presenting it as some kind of fascinating spectacle, what was the point?

And he wasn’t even dead. He was just a child, barely nine years old, still alive!

“There are no coincidences in this world. Like the two sides of a coin, every event has two aspects. You must now see that essence.”

“….”

Is that really what you have to say?

‘You should see the essence.’

But Doha didn’t voice her complaints.

Because she thought she might hear the truth about why Damien had to become an instigator of war, a truth that wasn’t written in books.

“I’ve heard of the Day of Entrustment.”

“Well, of course, you should have. It was something spread to everyone from the beginning.”

As expected.

Although she was just hearing what she already anticipated, she couldn’t help but feel a bitter feeling.

Seeing her expression, Angelus asked.

“By the way, he was from the garbage dump, wasn’t he? Did you happen to be friends with that child?”

Doha hesitated briefly before shaking her head. She had a feeling she shouldn’t pretend to know.

“I was busy trying to survive, where would I find time to make friends?”

“Well, that was the right decision.”

She didn’t know what was right, but Doha waited quietly. Until he extracted all the information from her.

“The instigator of war does exist. However, it’s not the child but the person who becomes the child’s mother.”

Her heart seemed to sink at those words.

“How could an ordinary person bring about a war? Wars don’t persist because of sorcerers.”

“Ordinary? Royalty isn’t ordinary.”

…Royalty?

“Princess Juana of the ancient Kazen Kingdom, she is the instigator of war.”

A princess?

Doha suddenly remembered.

‘Come to think of it, the leader of the dark cult who stole the artifact earring said it was stolen from the palace.’

She just thought it belonged to the palace servants. Since everyone working in the palace was nobility.

Any one of them could become the owner, so she didn’t take it seriously. But it belonged to the princess.

‘Damien is the princess’s son? The woman who was ridiculed as crazy in the garbage dump was actually a princess?’

Angelus continued his explanation.

“The Kazen Kingdom had been involved with sorcerers even before the Great War. Princess Juana received the king’s order to completely divide the continent and approached the crown prince of the Abyss Kingdom.”

The crown prince of the Abyss Kingdom.

‘… The Emperor, right?’

Doha unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

The first emperor to unify the north, Ryan the 1st.

Then, is Damien a descendant of the former emperor? A prince?

Unconsciously, her expression became seriously tense.

“The Kazen Kingdom, thoroughly defeated in the Great War, collapsed without a trace ten years ago. If you were royalty, you received severe punishment.”

“Then, how did Princess Juana manage to survive?”

If we calculate Damien’s age, it means she became pregnant after the era of peace. How was that possible?

“Her Majesty saved her.”

What?

“Why?”

Doha had no choice but to ask.

When Damien first contacted her, he said that he had been waiting all his life. There had been no contact from his father, the emperor.

“Well, they said it was because she truly loved him.”

That must be absolutely false.

The woman who claimed to truly love him, carrying her son, lived in a garbage dump.

Moreover, her son is being pointed at as the ‘instigator of war,’ taking on all the resentment on his behalf.

‘Can it be considered love when she never even tried to find him, claiming she truly loved him? She’s not a psychopath.’

A prince, he was a prince.

Doha’s head still felt muddled.

Even if his birth mother was a major criminal who caused the Great War with sorcerers, he was still a prince.

If he was a prince, he was the heir to the throne. In other words, a competitor to the current crown prince and other princes.

“That the sage knows about it means everyone in the royal family knows, right?”

“They do. They only know in the royal family, in Kredel City, and in the Great Hall.”

“But why is the prince still in the garbage dump…?”

When Doha asked with a complicated expression, Angelus firmly cut her off.

“Don’t ponder over such questions. Don’t harbor doubts that you cannot handle. Take it as a lesson. If you want to avoid a miserable future like theirs.”

His answer held many implications.

Before this story spread among the people, he would take action within the palace.

And taking action did not mean treating Damien as a prince and crowning him. It meant the opposite.

Lastly, there was a high possibility of eliminating him quietly without any rumors spreading.