The atmosphere within the Noble Preparatory Hall remained lively and carefree, filled with the sounds of children running through the open gardens and pathways, their laughter echoing beneath the warm afternoon sky as attendants watched from a distance, allowing the young nobles to mingle freely among themselves.

Some chased each other across the grass, others argued loudly over childish games, while small groups gathered beneath shaded trees, exchanging secrets they believed to be important enough to whisper about.

A little distance away from all that noise, Cecelia knelt quietly beside a small flower blooming near the edge of the grass, completely separated from the rest of the children as though an invisible boundary existed around her. Her unfocused eyes remained fixed in its direction, her small hands supporting her cheeks as she leaned closer, observing it with complete concentration.

"It’s... yellow..." she murmured softly to herself, her childish voice filled with innocent fascination. "A little warm... like... morning..."

She tilted her head slightly, trying to understand the sensation in her own way, her expression calm and absorbed despite the fact that she could not truly see the flower before her.

And she was alone.

Entirely alone.

Then voices approached.

"What is she doing?"

Another child answered immediately, her tone dismissive.

"She’s playing with flowers again... after all, nobody wants to play with her."

Cecelia slowly lifted her head at the sound, her unfocused eyes turning vaguely toward the voices as a few girls around her age stood nearby, watching her with open curiosity mixed with discomfort.

"Eew..." one of them muttered without lowering her voice. "Look at her eyes... they’re so creepy..."

Another girl crossed her arms as she frowned.

"Hey, stop looking at us and look away..."

Cecelia lowered her gaze again without saying anything, her small fingers brushing lightly against the grass as though trying to retreat back into the quiet world she had created around herself.

But the girls did not stop.

"Hmph... no wonder nobody wants to talk to her," one of them said. "She always talks about weird colors and strange things nobody understands..."

"Yeah!" another chimed in quickly. "Every time she speaks, it’s always ’warm color this’ and ’cold color that’... it’s so dumb!"

"Hahahahaha..."

The laughter that followed was careless and sharp in the way only children could be, cruel without fully understanding the depth of it.

Then another girl leaned closer, lowering her voice slightly as though sharing something scandalous.

"It’s not just that... I heard she touched Rina once, and then Rina got really sick after that. She never even came here again..."

Cecelia’s fingers tightened faintly against the grass.

"I-I... didn’t do anything..." she whispered quietly, her voice small and uncertain.

One of the girls immediately stepped back slightly, her eyes widening.

"So this bitch is cursed too...?"

Another girl blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar word.

"What’s bitch?"

The first girl suddenly hesitated before awkwardly answering,

"Ahh... t-that’s... it’s something really bad... my mom always says it to my father’s other wife..."

The second girl nodded slowly in understanding.

"Ohhh..."

A brief silence followed before the girls looked toward Cecelia again, only to notice that she had lowered her attention back toward the flower, no longer responding to them.

One of them frowned immediately.

"Look at this bitch... she’s ignoring us now."

"Yeah..." another repeated indignantly. "How dare this bitch ignore us?"

The girl with the sharpest tongue among them folded her arms as she stared at Cecelia with growing irritation before raising her voice again.

"Hey, bitch... look up when we’re talking to you!"

Cecelia slowly pushed herself up from where she had been kneeling, her small hands brushing lightly against her dress as she stood unsteadily before them, her unfocused eyes turning toward the voices once more. She could not see their expressions, yet the hostility in their tones alone was enough to make her shoulders tense.

The moment her gaze lifted, another girl recoiled dramatically.

"Eeeww... she’s looking at us with those creepy eyes again..."

The girl who clearly held the most influence among them stepped forward at that, her posture filled with childish arrogance as she moved closer to Cecelia. In doing so, her shoe came down directly upon the small yellow flower that had been resting in the grass moments before, crushing it beneath her heel without even noticing.

Cecelia froze.

Her expression shifted instantly.

The girl stopped right in front of her, lifting her chin slightly as she glared down at Cecelia.

"What did I tell you about looking at us with those creepy eyes?"

Cecelia flinched faintly, but her attention no longer seemed fully on the girls. Instead, her gaze remained lowered slightly toward the crushed flower beneath the girl’s foot, her small voice trembling as she whispered softly,

"W-warmth... n-no..."

The girl frowned immediately.

"Are you ignoring us again?"

But Cecelia barely seemed to hear her, her mind still lingering on the flower that had just been crushed, her tiny fingers curling slightly at her sides as though unable to process the loss properly.

That hesitation only irritated the girl further.

With an annoyed expression, she stepped forward and shoved Cecelia roughly.

The force was not strong by adult standards—

But for a small child, it was enough.

Cecelia lost her balance instantly and fell onto the ground, her hands scraping lightly against the grass as she landed awkwardly.

***

"What’s happening here?"

The atmosphere stilled almost instantly as Damon’s voice cut through the noise of the playground, calm yet carrying enough weight that every child nearby froze where they stood. Conversations halted mid-sentence, laughter disappeared, and one by one, the children turned toward him, their eyes widening slightly as they watched him walk forward with measured steps.

Damon paid none of them any attention.

His gaze remained fixed on Cecelia.

He arrived beside her and kneeled down without hesitation, one hand lightly supporting her shoulder as he helped her back onto her feet. Small traces of dust clung to her clothes from the fall, and Damon brushed them away calmly with his hands, his movements steady and unexpectedly careful.

Cecelia seemed startled by the contact.

"Y-young master..." she whispered softly.

Damon’s brows furrowed faintly again at the title, a quiet annoyance passing through his thoughts.

...What’s with this "young master"...?

But he did not comment on it.

Instead, he looked at her directly and asked,

"Are you hurt?"

Cecelia shook her head lightly.

Damon’s gaze sharpened slightly.

"Did they bully you?"

The surrounding children remained silent, their attention completely fixed on him now, while Damon slowly turned his eyes toward the group of girls standing a short distance away. The girl who had pushed Cecelia visibly flinched the moment his gaze landed on her, instinctively taking a small step backward despite trying to maintain her composure.

Damon stood up fully, placing himself naturally between Cecelia and the others as he looked down at them.

"Did you push her?"

The girls exchanged glances with each other, uncertainty beginning to spread among them, but the one who had acted as their leader forced herself to step forward despite the tension visible on her face.

"S-so what if I did?" she replied, trying to sound brave.

The guard accompanying Damon immediately moved forward at that, his expression hardening, but Damon stopped him with a simple gesture before speaking calmly.

"Go and call whoever is in charge here."

The guard bowed slightly and left at once.

By now, even the attendants who had previously been watching from afar had begun gathering nearby, whispering nervously among themselves as the situation drew more and more attention.

Damon, however, ignored all of it.

His eyes narrowed slightly as they returned to the girl before shifting back toward Cecelia, only to notice that her attention was no longer on the children at all.

She was looking toward the crushed flower.

Or rather—

Toward where it had been.

Damon’s gaze lingered there briefly before he kneeled beside her once again, his tone quieter this time.

"Was that important to you?"

Cecelia remained silent for a moment, her small fingers tightening lightly as though she still remembered the warmth she had associated with it.

Meanwhile, the girl who had spoken earlier noticed that Damon had not responded to her challenge at all, and the lack of immediate punishment began to feed her confidence again.

"Hehe... look at this," she whispered loudly enough for the others to hear. "Even he can’t do anything to us... he’s just like that dumb kid."

One of the girls beside her immediately looked uneasy and tugged lightly at her sleeve.

"H-hey... w-we should stop now... l-look at how big he is... h-he must be really strong..."

The girl quickly puffed herself up again despite the nervousness creeping into her voice.

"W-what’s there to be scared of? M-my brother just came back recently... he’s here today too... he’ll just beat him up!"

And then—

Damon turned.

A faint smile appeared on his face, calm and almost pleasant in a way that only made it more unsettling.

"Ohhh..."

His golden eyes rested on the little girl as he spoke evenly.

"Then why don’t you call your brother here?"

The smile on his face deepened just slightly.

"It will be much more convenient to deal with him directly."

***

"WHO IS IT WHO DARES TO CHALLENGE MY CINDERFELL MARQUIS FAMILY?"