“My name is…Damian.”

“I see.”

As he heard the answer he wanted, Killian casually responded by clasping his hands together and placing them on his lap. Then he looked back at the ducks gathered on the lake. It was the same ducks that Damian had been looking at earlier without blinking.

“Do you like ducks?”

“Yes, actually, I like all animals, but ducks are my favorite.”

The reluctant voice became a little louder when he started talking about his interest and then the man beside him, asked another question, now while looking at the boy.

“Why?”

“Ducks are like family gatherings.”

“…”

Damian continued, “Mother ducks and father ducks always protect and love their babies. I like that…”

Killian, after keeping his hand clasped together for a while, decided it was uncomfortable and brought his hand back where it had been.

“I have a family too. My mother, my fath—”

All the other children he had known seemed to have both parents. Lawrence and Rosaline also told him that even if their dad was far away, they would get a big hug and lots of kisses twice a year. Damian clenched his fist for a while, and his lips trembled as he opened them to continue.

“Mother said my father is far away. That’s why he can’t come and see us…”

Silence fell after those few hushed words. Killian, who had been sitting quietly, got up from his seat. Damian was about to stand up with him when he saw him attempting to leave.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Not too far away, a noblewoman walking a large dog let out a high-pitched scream. Killian turned his head and saw a dog with an untied leash leaping toward them, more precisely, toward the small child beside him. 

Seeing the slobbering dog running at him at full speed, Damian closed his eyes shut in fear of what was coming his way.

The next moment, the pain Damian anticipated was not there. Instead, he felt a large body enveloping him, he opened his eyes slowly and burst into tears at the sight of Killian’s arm, which was covered in blood.

“Mister!!!”

“Ah.”

Other men rushed to help with the situation, they subdued the dog and forced it to leave Killian’s bloody left arm. Damian, with face pale as a piece of paper, reached to Killian’s arm and let out a muffled cry..

“Oh no, what should I do… Oh, Mister… Mist—”

“I’m fine.”

Killian, who patted the little head with his uninjured right hand, soothed Damian.

Sobbing loudly Damian tried to reach out to the man’s hat to get a better look at his face. But before he could grab the brim of the hat, someone pulled him from behind.

“Oh my goodness, Young master!”

“Auntie…”

“Are you hurt? All that happened because I was away…”

The nanny, who turned Damian around, looking very pale, looked at him from head to toe.

“I am not injured anywhere. More than that, the mist—”

Quickly turning around, looking for Killian but he was nowhere to be found. The nanny took Damien’s hand as she looked around blankly.

“It could have been a real disaster. Let’s just go home now, young master.”

“Okay…”