Damian, the male protagonist, had a tragic start to life.

His late father, Duke Clyder, had been the owner of the greatest trading company in the empire, supplying goods not only to the empire but to other nations as well. Although the emperor was the heart of the empire, the duke was the heart of its commerce, and it was often even said that it was House Clyder, and not the Imperial House, that held the real power.

The emperor was eventually driven by jealousy to rid himself of the thorn in his side, thinking that as the duke was the one who ran the business, killing him would lead to the downfall of House Clyder. His plan was executed on the day Duke Clyder went on an outing with his wife and infant son to meet his dear friend, Duke Schuetz.

As the only two dukedoms in the empire, the houses of Schuetz and Clyder could have seen each other as rivals, but instead the two families enjoyed a strong friendship. If there was one difference between the two it was that, unlike the amiable Duke Clyder, Duke Schuetz didn’t feel the need to socialize with the other noble houses. He was the Killer of the Battlefield, the one who ruled the steep ranges of the monster-infested north. No one dared approach him. Because of this, Duke Schuetz trusted only one person: his brother-in-arms, Duke Clyder.

Sadly, Duke Clyder met his abrupt end in a carriage accident engineered by the emperor before he could be reunited with his old friend. Duke Schuetz’s estate stood on a high cliff, and the servants testified that the carriage driver had looked unwell that day. It was a death unfit for such a great man. As the carriage fell from the cliff into a valley full of monsters, there was no way anyone could have survived. Still, Duke Schuetz searched the North with everything he had until he eventually found the couple’s lifeless bodies, along with some clothes that had presumably belonged to the baby.

After the death of the great merchant, the branch families of House Clyder and the nobles allied with them immediately reached out their greedy hands to the trading company he’d left behind. But then the late duke’s will was found, reading almost as if he’d foreseen such a disaster. The will was simple: "I leave everything I have to my only friend, Erhart."

And so Duke Schuetz inherited the Clyder Trading Company on behalf of his late friend and wandered the land in search of Duke Clyder’s son in hopes that he might still be alive. There was only one thing known about the boy: He had his father’s black hair and blue eyes. But that was all.

The child had fallen into a forest crawling with monsters, and there was no way he could be alive. But like all other novel protagonists, somehow he had managed to survive. And now he’s standing in front of me. I stared hard at Damian. Ever since I realized I was in the world of a novel, I would sometimes imagine what Damian might look like. The story didn’t go into depth about Damian’s earliest years: “Before he was taken in by Duke Schuetz, Damian was a slave. His life was no better than that of a beast’s.”

But I never knew it would be this bad. His wild hair covered most of his face, and his bony body gave him a dark aura that didn’t match his age of eleven. To be honest, he wasn’t exactly making a favorable impression.

“As if we didn’t have more than enough kids already!” someone sneered under his breath. It was Carsen, the oldest kid at the orphanage. He wanted to be adopted more than anything, but no noble wanted him, so he vented his feelings of inferiority by mercilessly bullying the other kids. Carsen was already thirteen, which was the latest an orphan could hope to be chosen—in other words, he was acting out worse than ever.

“Yeah, he looks more like a rat than a person.”

“Another mouth to feed, less food for us.”

“I don’t like him.”

“Should we teach him a lesson?”

The other kids in Carsen’s gang chimed in.

Oh, you’re going to regret that. This was Damian, the Damian. He might just be another orphan in this facility right now, but Duke Schuetz was combing the land to find him. He would search the entire empire until he came across the orphanage, and he would find out about Damian’s suffering. He would hold the director responsible, and Carsen and his gang would be kicked out for what they did to him.

“Ellie, you’ll be joining us, right?”

And I was a member of that gang, too. Like Carsen, I was thirteen, and I usually kept watch while he and his goons stole food from the director or money from the teachers. I didn’t feel guilty about it, as it was small potatoes compared to the way the director was exploiting us. Most importantly, Carsen and his gang would give me some food from time to time in exchange for my help.

So “Ellie” joined Carsen’s cronies, doing her best to help him bully the other kids. At least, that was what happened in the story. But I, the current “Ellie,” didn’t want to bully anyone. Most of the kids here had lost their parents to war. Disregarding a few exceptions, they were innocent and sweet. Why would I want to harass innocent children? Our interests aligned only when Carsen was pitting himself against the director. No more, and no less.

“No, thank you,” I replied.

“Why do you always say no to this when you do everything else with us?” Carsen frowned when I turned him down. I knew from experience that whenever he talked like that, it meant there was about to be trouble.

“It’s just, he looks weak.”

That was what I always said to talk my way out of it. But at that moment, I met Damian’s gaze through his tangle of hair. His shadowed blue eyes stared straight at me. Had he heard me? I couldn’t help flinching, but the boy didn’t even move as he looked at me, just stood there like a doll.

The director clapped to get our attention, breaking the strange tension between us. “Now, it’s time to prepare dinner. To your assigned places, all of you!”

The children all headed out. Some went to the kitchen, some to the dining hall, and still others to the warehouse. But even as the kids all scattered, Damian didn’t take his eyes off me.

“Ellie, aren’t you coming?” one of the younger kids asked.

“Huh? Ah... Yes, I’m coming. Let’s go.” I took the little girl’s hand and left the room, feeling strangely guilty. I couldn’t help looking back. All the kids were on their way to work, but Carsen and his gang weren’t among them. Carsen’s bullying of Damian would begin today. According to the original story, I was supposed to be among them, but... I could avoid their bad end if I just turned a blind eye and moved on with my life. But for some reason, my eyes kept being drawn toward Damian. Was it because of the eye contact we’d just shared? It’s probably just… all in my head. I tried hard to erase the image of Damian’s eyes from my mind.

All the same, my resolution didn’t last long. I let out a huge sigh. The closed door looked like an impenetrable barrier. “I’ve seen so many people pay the price for meddling in others’ business,” I muttered, glaring at the doorknob as if it were responsible for what was going on.

I shouldn’t have met his eyes. I sighed again as I banged on the door so they could hear me. I opened the door to find Carsen looking in my direction with a surprised look on his face, obviously thinking I was the director. He relaxed as soon as he saw it was me. “What, Ellie? You surprised me.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You know. We’re educating the new kid,” he said, gesturing with his chin. I looked to see Damian standing there, his cheek red and swollen. Speechless, I unconsciously clenched my fists. I’d seen kids get beaten before, but I’d never felt so angry.

“Do you want to hear something funny?” Carsen jokingly asked with a smile, sensing my gaze was on his victim. “I thought this one was a girl, but it turns out he’s a boy!”

“So what?”

“Isn’t that hilarious? A boy with such a pretty face?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I think his face is better than yours.”

“What?”

“Just kidding,” I said with a huge smile so Carsen couldn’t pick a fight, even though his pride was hurt.

“Huh, what’s there to like about that girlish face?”

It took tremendous effort not to fire back at him. Carsen was making even me mad, but Damian himself wasn’t showing any reaction, staying as still as the dead.

“Why are you here? We were just about to begin the real fun,” Carsen said, looking at me.

I casually replied, “The director’s looking for you.”

“What? That hag’s looking for me? Why?”

“I don’t know. She just looked around and asked where you were.”

She wouldn’t be very happy if she saw what you were doing here, right? At my words, Carsen sighed in disappointment and let go of Damian’s collar. He and his gang left, passing me on their way.

After I made sure they were really gone, I closed the door and approached Damian. “Hey.”

He gave no reply.

“Are you okay?”

He didn’t look at me as he wiped away the blood on his face with his sleeve, rubbing hard as if he couldn’t feel anything.

“Hey, you’re making it worse!” I quickly took out a jar of ointment from my pocket. This was an ointment I’d stolen when I snuck into the director’s room. It was made of expensive herbs, so it worked a lot better than regular ointments. “Here, use this. It’ll take away the pain.”

Damian stopped scrubbing at his face and slowly dropped his hand. He stared at the ointment I was holding, then spoke. “No need.”

“What?”

“I said, I don’t need it.”

I nearly lashed out in annoyance at his flat refusal, but a weak but sweet voice came through his scabbed lips. “They’ll hit me again before it can heal, anyway.”

“What...?”

“I said, they’ll just hit me again.” His voice was full of resignation.

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know what to say.

Without a hint of emotion, he said, “So I don’t need this, either. Even if I heal these wounds, they’ll just give me new ones.” The boy’s face was utterly blank.