[KHR] Becoming Primo's Son

Chapter 3: Predator, Prey

Damiano was about to break this table. The matron was slurring sweet nothings at him about how well-behaved and adorable these many children are, she was so honoured ot have someone like him under their homely establishment, and oh, if his most gracious would spare a generous donation that would be lovely...

Nevermind that every child approached by this woman trembled with fear and froze with shock in their eyes, hardly breathing as if their very heartbeat had once offended this woman—

—their poorly disguised bruises under those ratty excuse for clothing didn't help.

If Damiano knew something about Giotto after working for him, it was that if Giotto didn't want to do something, there's a reason. His intuition was insanely acute, even if the man himself dismissed these moments as whimsies.

That basically just meant Damiano was always left to deal with the shitty situation.

Agh, he wanted a vacation.

Or a distractio—

—a loud and terrifying explosion shook the very ground they stood on, the building shuddering and dust falling from the cracks. The children screamed and some fell, but Damiano reached out for the one closest to him until the shaking settled.

Yeah. Yeah, that'll do.

"What was that?!" He made sure the child was fine before getting up. He scowled without hiding it when he spotted the matron had hid under the table, all while the younger children cried loudly, terrified. "Is anyone hurt?"

No, just shaken.

"You," he spotted the other caretaker of the building, a significantly younger, shy lady that clung to the children and the children clung back— clearly, she was the nice one. "Take care of the children. I will see what's happened. It's come from the back, the east side... there is a shed, am I right?"

The matron gasped. "No! Not the shed!"

Damiano whirled to her reaction, the anger in his eyes a glowering beast waiting for the excuse to just kill this woman already.

"Why? Is there something you would not like to be seen?"

The matron was petrified, but her lips curled upward as she scrambled for any excuse, "n- no! I am just ashamed of how horribly I've unkempt the place! How could I dare let a nobleman like you enter the most run-down, broken place in my orphanage? It's unbefitting for your untainted eyes!"

Damiano sighed deeply.

"You would do well to read the papers," he spat. "You don't know a single thing about Count Vongola, and he abhors scum like you. He would extend his kindness to the very worms that crawl upon the ground, but you would never receive such mercy."

Leaving her, he left quickly.

-

"My lord, what did you do?!"

"Dami! Dami, oh, god, you need to help me, I don't know what to do!"

"So you broke a wall?! You do realize that's something Lord G would do, not you?"

"You know that when I get frustrated I start thinking like my Guardians! Don't blame me!"

Damiano would've continued being furious if not for the child cradled in Giotto's arms, clutching weakly at his shirt, staring up at Giotto's face as if it were fascinating.

The child barely blinked, only absorbed int he sight of Giotto's frantic expressions.

Damiano understood. He, too, was utterly flabbergasted staring at the both of them— the exact same face, even the puffs of their hair were similar. That shade of brown didn't resemble anyone he could immediately recall, neither were those amber eyes.

It was as if someone had taken Giotto and Cozart, and simply mixed their colours together like paints in a bucket, cherry picked what most resembled the sunset of their sepia past, and that child came to be.

No, no. Even a fool would know that was impossible. Things just didn't work that way.

But magic... magic can achieve inconceivable things. Perhaps...

"Dami, no time to think!" Giotto snapped, knowing exactly what Damiano had been lost in thought in. "What do I do?!"

Damiano jerked himself back into awareness and knew what he had to do. He came forward and checked the child— trying not to visibly wince at the injuries upon the child's legs. He checked the child's pulse, temperature, and throat— and sighed in relief.

"He seems stable for now. Take him to the carriage, we'll have him seen at the nearest inn," he instructed.

Giotto nodded. Frantic as he was, he still trusted Damiano to know.

"But the people here..." Giotto seethed, biting down on his tongue. He looked at the child with such crestfallen eyes— and suddenly Giotto's gaze whirled upward, catching someone at the door.

The matron.

"YOU!"

She jerked back, frightful, as Giotto's magic burned around him, razing the wood and rock once more so scorchingly Damiano flinched at the sudden rise in temperature.

"Count Vongola!" Damiano warned quickly. "You must not!"

"But that woman–!!" he insisted, but Damiano looked at the child, and Giotto instantly faltered. "...I understand," he admitted bitterly. The child came first.

"Please allow me to take care of this," Damiano said.

Giotto sighed deeply after a long moment. "Yes. I'll leave it to you... but Damiano," he said, sincerely, "please don't be kind. They deserve the worst."

Damiano huffed. "Of course."

-

When Giotto got to the carriage and left, he turned back around to the frightened children and a terrified young lady.

"Ah... the matron escaped, didn't she?" Damiano sighed.

The lady nodded.

"Listen to my instructions now," Damiano said. And he peeled off his gloves, brushing back his bangs, "run to the slums and search for the haunts of Taru. They will guarantee your safety."

"Wha... what, sir?" the lady faltered, "but... the slums are dangerous for these children. I—"

"I guarantee you," Damiano smiled, and flashed a single fang upon his molars that weren't there before. "If you stay here, it will be far more dangerous."

The lady nodded, realizing immediately that she was better off not questioning it all.

"Will you be chasing after her, sir?" the lady asked. "But she's gone so far. She has connections, she always does, to hide the children she sells."

Damiano huffed, loosening his tie.

"Oh, don't worry. Lions love it when their prey run away."

The lady couldn't ask anymore questions, because Damiano broke off into a run, and she scrambled to get the children away, abruptly realizing what she'd just witnessed.

(That was a beastman, wasn't it?)

(A human, artificially strengthened with another individual's magic to gain the form of a beast. It's a highly outlawed spell.)

(What sort of utterly insane man was Giotto di Vongola?)