NOVEL WEB 4 – Damien
After receiving an oblivious reaction from the little girl seated in front of him, Damien refrained from further speech. He had realized that this ferocious behavior was unlike him, but her familiar appearance had amplified his dismay to uncontrollable magnitudes.
The little girl, clad in a summoned hero’s robe, was more composed than he had expected, having now switched her attention from him to the outside view.
Damien, following her, also looked out the window—or so he feigned. In truth, he could not help but occasionally glance over at the little girl who resembled his teacher, Maria, to such profound extents.
The remainder of the trip was completed in silence. The carriage had ended up at his manor, a gift that complemented his title of Duke.
Minutes prior, the small group of mounted cortège that served as his entourage had sent one of their members to alert the house servants of their master’s arrival.
When Damien stepped out of his carriage, he was greeted by two columns of maids bowing humbly along the path leading into his manor. Standing at opposite sides of the carriage’s doors were a butler and head maid, ready to brief and take orders from their master. This was all a mandatory custom that exhibited recognition for the elite, which Damien could not care less about.
Today is going to be like any other day, the house servants thought. But to their surprise, something unprecedented happened—another person had stepped out of their master’s carriage. How can this be?
Damien Hazel: a duke, a hero, akin to a king. A wealthy and powerful bachelor desired by aristocrats and adventurers alike, but not necessarily admired. His devotion to a single person had remained unfazed, and to everyone else, his coldness was absolute zero. Regardless, gaining his favor was deemed by many to be of higher worth than any royal position.
And with this, the previous presumption that today was just going to be like any other was shattered into a million pieces, and scrambled together into a single question—Who is she?
✦✧
Umm, wow… Damien had more maids than my father.
“Care for the guest,” he said.
“Understood.” The head maid immediately grasped the situation and started giving instructions to the other maids. Then, along with two other maids, she left the property to buy clothes for me. Such a capable person!
With his butler, Damien went ahead into the manor while the maids surrounded me in awe for some reason. Gah! They were suffocating me…
After the maids had finished bickering about who would bathe me, I was brought into a luxurious bathroom by three maids.
“Such soft hair!” “Such delicate skin!” “Oh my heavens, her figure!”
I was bombarded with compliments from the maids. Hearing these exaggerated praises made me a little red in the cheeks. But please… stop fondling me so much!
“Little miss, if I may ask… what is your name?”
“My name is Camay!” I replied enthusiastically with a smile to the maids who were tending to me rather well.
They were competent, but it was clear that they weren’t used to it. Back in Hades, Father had ordered the maids to bathe me every day, so they became proficient at it.
Once that was over with, I was taken to a lavish bedroom to have my hair brushed and styled. By then, the head maid had returned, and I was to choose one of five fancy gowns laid out on the enormous bed.
My final decision was a light purple and white, frilly, chiffon gown decorated with corsages. And with undergarments, dressing should’ve been all done and over with, but.
The maids also offered a corselette. No, thank you! They were quite pushy even though I denied, professing it was elegant and such, so I had to vehemently insist against it. Eventually, they backed off after my tantrum. I don’t care what they say—I wear what I want.
“Little miss Camay is so cute! Ahh!” One of the maids shouted. The other maids agreed with prayer gestures.
I better look cute. After all, it would've been a waste of their efforts if I didn’t.
Looking out the tall window, the sky was a fiery orange. It was time to have supper with Damien.
In the extravagant dining room was a long polished wooden table. Damien was already seated at the midst of the table’s side, and I was led by his butler to sit in front of him. This was a good thing, right? Father had said that people who weren't fond of each other would each sit at the far ends of the table, but here we were, sitting closely. At the very least, I'd say he doesn’t hate me.
Damien, in a relaxed posture with crossed arms, seemed to be staring intently at me. I stared back at him as if I didn’t want to lose at some imaginary battle between us. Ah! He looked away—I won!
By the way, I’d already marked him off as a taciturn type, so unless he had something to say, or perhaps complain about, I’d just do things my own way.
His butler returned with two maids who were each holding a dish covered by a silver cloche. Upon placing the dish in front of me, the maid lifted the cloche, releasing smoke and revealing one of my favorite meals: direwolf chop with vegetables on the side.
This meat was cut from a direwolf monster found deep in the Nether. It was very flavorful and tender no matter how it was cooked. And needless to say, I showed no remorse to such delicacies!
I stabbed the wolf chop with my fork and chewed off a big piece. Sooo delicious! I must commend the chefs later for their prowess in the culinary arts.
Of course, me being a fine diner and thus knowing how to savor my food, I thrusted the meat off of my fork back onto the plate and murdered some of the vegetables laying around. Honestly, I didn’t enjoy them as much as the meat, so I just gobbled them up as filler content.
Now back to the meat! Once again piercing it with my fork, I ripped another piece of it with my teeth. Okay… I couldn't hold back anymore. This was way too scrumptious.
I ravaged the rest of the meat mercilessly.
Oh, I forgot about Damien. How’s he doing? I looked up at him.
Wait, he hadn’t even started eating yet? What was he waiting for? If you don’t have an appetite, then I will gladly take it off your hands before it gets cold!
“Abel.” Damien called his butler.
“Yes, Master.”
“Bring out the dessert.”
“Understood.”
Yay, dessert! I wondered what it could be. Pudding? Chocolate truffles?
A maid put in front of me a glass with a translucent cube in it. My face stiffened immediately upon realizing what it was.
NO! I should’ve guessed this would happen…
Because a direwolf was a tough monster that could only be found deep within the Nether, none of its parts should be wasted. And so… one of the things that could be done was to harvest its fat and shape it into a cube…
To some, this was treasured as a cate, but to me, it’s disgusting! Gah!
Father learned that I hated this, so he banned it from the dining course, but this dummy Damien had no idea!
Staring at the cube of direwolf fat, my face was visibly contorted. I gaped at Damien with an open frown, switching my gaze between him and the cube several times fanatically.
He turned away from me…
Hey, turn back and look at me! And why are you covering your mouth all of a sudden?!
I leaned back in my seat, crossed my arms, and closed my eyes, outwardly showing my distaste toward the dessert—I refused to eat it, and no one could change my mind. Not even an angel.
After a while, Damien regained his initial composure.
“Abel.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Bring out the second dessert.”
“Understood.”
Hmph, so there’s a second dessert, huh? Let’s see what it was this time.
The maid placed another glass in front of me, but this time, my eyes sparkled. It’s—mango pudding! I already adored pudding itself, but even the flavor was my ideal! Fine, I take back what I said about you being a dummy.
I lifted the glass and in one fell swoop, chugged it entirely. Soo sweet! Soo yummy! I guess they did have acceptable desserts here.
“Pft.”
Huh? What was that sound? Was it him…? He looked away and covered his mouth again…
Feeling like he was snickering at me for some reason, I stared daggers at him while pouting.
“Abel.”
“Yes, Master.”
“By tomorrow, hire tutors for etiquette and magic. And, cancel all of my appointments. No one enters the premises without my permission.”
“Understood.”
Wha—I appreciated a tutor for magic, but why one for etiquette?! Had I done something wrong…? He hadn’t eaten any of his food, was probably laughing at me earlier, and even hired unnecessary tutors for me. All I wanted was to enter the Nether...
Damien, you’re a big dummy! I’m calling you Dummy Damien from now on!