Joohyun (Lisrene)

Chapter 28

After Damian arrived, the serenity in Roam remained the same as usual. Joohyun's life did not change either.

During the day, she would take care of the garden and in the evening, she would read books in the study. Since the Lady of the House was the same as usual, the servants who were a little nervous went back to normal.

Meanwhile, Damian was busy studying hard. He spent most of the day alone in his room looking through books. For the boy, the Academy was the only thing that could prove his existence. He could never relax on it.

The boy who had been completely absorbed in his books, lifted his head to the sound of knocking coming from his door.

A while after, a servant came in, stood by the door, and spoke.

"Young master, dinner is ready."

"Okay."

He didn't realize that so much time had flown by. Damian closed the book without any hesitation and stood up. He walked out of the room and his steps towards the dining room were light. Twice a day, for lunch and dinner, Damian ate with the Duchess.

It was just sitting down, facing each other, and having a meal but as time passed, Damian began to look forward to this time.

When Damian arrived at the dining room, no one had arrived yet. He sat down and waited for a bit then Joohyun came in. Damian quickly got up, took out a chair and helped Joohyun into her seat.

"Thank you, Damian."

Joohyun smiled, greeting him and in response, Damian bowed his head slightly then he returned to his seat. It was quiet throughout the meal.

There was usually next to no conversation between them as they ate. There were even more times when they didn't utter a single word.

Damian was unlike a child in that he was reserved and Joohyun was also not the talkative type. However neither Damian nor Joohyun felt that the silence was uncomfortable.

While they were eating, Damian accidentally dropped his fork and a maid quickly approached to replace it with a new fork. This minor mistake passed smoothly as though nothing had happened.

Damian glanced at the maid that had moved to serve him. He could tell that the attitudes of the servants that attended to him were very careful.

This didn't mean that servants were rude to him before he left for boarding school. Even though people said all sorts of things about his illegitimacy or what not, from the standpoint of the servants, he was in a very high position.

However before, they seemed like a sturdy robots that only fulfilled their duties. In comparison to that time, they showed a bit more enthusiasm as they served and complied with his wishes.

Damian knew all about the Duchess' favor and the Duchess did not conceal her goodwill towards him. And since the servants watched and listened as they served, they acted a lot more careful with Damian.

The amount of time in a day that Damian met with the Duchess did not amount to much. Most of the time, he was studying, then it was mealtime and afterwards, they would take a walk. The Duchess' favor was not excessive, and she did not try to rattle his mind or bring it down. As time passed in this manner, Damian's boundaries relaxed.

If Damian was even a little bit older, the door to his heart would have been tightly shut but he was just eight years old. He was a young child that longed for affection but had never even learnt what it was.

After dinner, neither of them said a word about going to the garden for a walk but they naturally began to walk there together.

"You are studying hard most of the time, aren't you? I find that admirable." (Joohyun)