Episode 38
After finishing the long train journey and arriving in the capital, Demian was in a state of great excitement at the scenery he was seeing for the first time in his life.
“Wow! What’s that?”
“That is called a gas lamp, young master.”
“What about that building? There are so many people!”
“It’s a department store. Inside, they sell everything from dresses to suits, groceries, precious metals, and all sorts of things.”
“There are so many horses and people too!”
At his bright exclamations, the nannies burst into small smiles.
“I thought you would be upset that Teacher didn’t come with you, but are you alright?”
“He’s coming up tomorrow anyway. It’s just one day.”
Demian shrugged his shoulders maturely.
“I’ll see Mom soon, so it’s fine. We arrived two days earlier than scheduled!”
“Ah. Speaking of which, young master.”
The head nanny exchanged glances with the other nannies for a moment and cautiously proposed,
“How about stopping by the biggest park in the world for a moment? Just with me.”
“Hmm. That sounds good, but does it have to be right now?”
“That park is best visited on warm days like today. You can see ducks too.”
“Really?”
At the talk of animals, his mother’s face briefly disappeared from Demian’s mind.
“Great!”
As it happened to be the weekend, the park was more vibrant than ever.
The expansive park, reaching half the size of the Imperial Palace, was packed with children walking their pets, ladies pushing strollers on a sun-drenched day, commoner families enjoying picnics on spread mats, and young couples enjoying wholesome dates.
Luckily, the nanny found a long bench near the lakeside and sat side by side with Demian. While Demian was distracted by the family of ducks floating in a line on the lake, the nanny stealthily stood up.
“You must be hungry? I’ll go buy some snacks. Sit still right here. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Okay. See you when you get back!”
With his eyes still fixed on the duck family, Demian waved his hand. While counting the number of ducklings trailing after their mother, he sensed someone’s presence beside him.
Thinking she had already returned, Demian turned his head, only to find a strange man sitting in the seat the nanny had just occupied. Demian pursed his lips and muttered softly.
“That seat is taken……”
“Taken?”
A gentleman who had been looking at the lake with his long legs crossed turned his head toward Demian. His face was shaded by the brim of his hat, so all Demian could see were his lips and a sharp jaw.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that a bench has an owner.”
A deep, resonant voice dug into Demian’s ears. When the man raised the corners of his lips, an indescribable sensation swept over Demian. It was somehow a yearning, attracting feeling. To the point that he wanted to see the face hidden in shadow.
At the eyes staring up fixedly, the man’s smile deepened a little more.
“Little one. What’s your name?”
“Uh, Mom told me not to tell strangers.”
Having spaced out only for a moment, Demian came to his senses and became wary of the strange man. The man, who laughed softly, gave his own name first.
“Is your mother’s name Rowina Philoneji?”
“……Do you know Mother?”
“Well.”
It was an ambiguous answer. Demian tilted his head and carefully observed the man. He was definitely seeing him for the first time, yet his heart was drawn to him for some reason. He didn’t seem like a bad person at all. Demian had an intuition that the man before him wouldn’t hurt him or do anything terrible.
“My name is… Demian.”
“I see.”
Killian, who responded blandly despite having heard the answer he wanted, clasped his hands on his knees. Then he looked again at the ducks huddled together on the lake. It was the same animal Demian had been staring at intently moments before.
“Do you like ducks?”
“Yes…… I actually like all animals, but I like ducks the most.”
As a topic of interest came up, his timid voice grew a little louder. The man glanced at such a boy and asked again.
“Why?”
“Because ducks travel with their families.”
“…….”
“Mother ducks and father ducks always protect and love their babies. I like that.”
Killian, who had been rummaging in his pocket for a moment, returned his hand as it was.
“I have a family too. My mom. Dad is…….”
The other children he played with all had a mom and dad. Lawrence and Rosalyn too—even though their dad was far away, they said they got big hugs and lots of kisses twice a year. Demian clenched and unclenched his fist for a moment, then moved his lips.
“Dad is far away. So he can’t come see us.”
Silence fell after his sullen words. Killian, who had been sitting still, dusted off his seat and stood up. As Demian watched the receding figure, he unknowingly started to get up as well.
“Kyaaah!”
A noblewoman walking a large purebred dog somewhere let out a sharp scream. When he turned his head, a dog with a loose leash was running straight toward them. More precisely, toward a small child. The moment Demian saw the drooling dog charging at him, he shut his eyes tight in terror.
The next moment, there was no pain as he had expected. Instead, he felt a large body enveloping him. When Demian opened his eyes and saw Killian’s arm dripping with blood, he burst into tears.
“Mister!”
“Ha…….”
People rushed in, pulled away the dog that had bitten Killian’s left arm, and subdued it. Demian’s face turned deathly pale at the sight of him not letting out a single groan, and he reached for the injured arm.
“Wh-what do we do…… Ah, Mister…… *sob*……”
“It’s okay.”
Killian stroked the small head with his uninjured right hand, comforting Demian.
Wailing, Demian reached for the hat to get a better look at his face. However, before he could take the brim, someone grabbed him from behind.
“Good heavens, young master!”
“Nanny…….”
“Are you hurt? It’s because I left my seat…….”
The nanny, her face turning pale, turned Demian around and checked him all over.
“I’m not hurt anywhere. More importantly…….”
Demian spun around and looked for Killian. But he was nowhere to be found. The nanny took the hand of Demian, who was blankly looking around.
“You could have really been in big trouble. Let’s go back now, young master.”
“Ungh…….”
* * *
It was late at night when Rowina, who had fainted in a slum villa, woke up.
Thirst burning her throat as if it were on fire, she couldn’t even open her eyes properly and pulled the bell cord beside the bed. Footsteps rushed in, and Melissa entered the bedroom.
“Lady Rowina!”
“Melissa… wa-water…… some water……”
Rowina, barely raising her upper body, stammered.
“Ah. Yes. Just a moment.”
Melissa nodded and went out again, and before long, the door soon opened.
“Melissa? You brought water alrea—”
In less than five minutes, just as Rowina was wondering, the visitor who scurried over threw himself into her arms.
“Mom!”
“Demian?”
“Mom…….”
“Demian…….”
It was a reunion after about half a month. The body she embraced after a long time was soft and warm. Rowina held her son tightly for a long while before releasing the hug.
“When did you arrive, son? I thought you wouldn’t come until the day after tomorrow.”
“I just got here. About an hour ago?”
“You came by train.”
“Yeah!”
Demian nodded and buried his face in his mother’s chest again. It was fluffy and soft. Comforting and cozy.
“I missed you…… Did you miss me too, Mom?”
“Of course. I really missed you.”
Rowina stroked her clinging son’s hair and kissed his small forehead. Demian giggled as if tickled by the affectionate kiss and flopped down beside his mother.
“Mom, this place seems really amazing. There are lots of people and buildings, and it looks like there are lots of fun things.”
“You just got here, but it looks like you’ve seen this and that already?”
It hadn’t even been a month, but to Rowina’s eyes, Demian already seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds again. Each day was precious and endearing. Even though Jeremy was there and there were as many as three nannies attached to him, Demian was still at an age where he needed his mother’s care more than anyone.
Her guilt grew as large as the time they had spent apart.
“Yeah! I went to the park today too. It’s huge? Have you been there too, Mom?”
“I have, what did you see there?”
“The lake! There was a family of ducks all lined up in the lake!”
“Wow, really? But you saw them at the castle, didn’t you?”
“The river there was too big, so I couldn’t see them well. And it was night, so that made it worse.”
“……Did you?”
“Yeah. Oh, right.”
Demian nodded vigorously, then suddenly put on a serious face.
“I almost got bitten by a big dog?”
“What?”
Startled, Rowina’s eyes opened wide. She grabbed her son’s shoulders and checked him from head to toe to see if he was hurt, but fortunately, there were no wounds.
“Geez, Mom. You have to listen until the end. I said I almost got bitten. Not that I was bitten.”
“So you’re not hurt?”
“Yeah. I almost got hurt, but a mister saved me.”
Demian smiled brightly, his eyes sparkling.
“A mister……?”
“He was wearing a hat so I couldn’t see his face, but he was really tall and had a really nice voice?”
“Haah…… Thank you, God.”
Demian was everything to her. If something were to happen to her son…… she couldn’t even bear to imagine it. Letting out a sigh of relief, Rowina hugged her son again suffocatingly tight. Demian squirmed.
“Mom! I can’t breathe!”
“Sorry…… By the way, did you hear the name of the mister who helped you?”
“No. He got hurt because of me…….”
Demian mumbled with a worried face, when Melissa entered through the open door holding a glass of water.