My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

He sighed. Damon began to wonder if he was a villain or if he should even tell them more. But he was already here, so he might as well continue. Besides, after everything they had survived, they seemed a little more mature.

The idea that children couldn’t handle the truth was condescending. Most children were smart and had their own unique perspectives.

However, that may have been the case, but it was also cruel to burden them with something like this. Damon felt like a sinner who had come to a confessional and could no longer hide anything. Perhaps it was the years of guilt, but he simply didn’t care anymore. The truth was heavy on a heart that cared.

Damon loved Ric. He loved the boy very much, even if he tried not to admit it. Almost losing him in these mountains had been harder than he wanted to admit. Ric deserved more than half-baked truths. It was time for him to be let in on the family lore.

And realize he was related to villains.

Or, better yet, broken people.

He smiled at Ric and took a deep breath.

”Listen to me, Ricky. I want you to understand that I care about you as if you were mine. After all, I raised you. I was the one who paced around when you had a fever while Lilith nursed you all night.”

Ric’s expression softened slightly.

”I was also the one who gave you your first sharp object, and you got yourself cut. You had to get healing from Renata while I got scolded for being irresponsible. I taught you how to ride your first horse, which was a demon horse, and you got thrown off and broke your arm...”

Damon paused.

That wasn’t exactly a good picture, considering Renata had been forced to heal Ric while yelling at Damon for his stupidity.

”I took you fishing in the sea and almost got killed by a flock of wild wyverns.”

Lilith had needed to perform a greater teleport to come and retrieve Ric, leaving Damon alone with his little fishing boat in the middle of the sea.

”I taught you how to swing a sword, cast spells, lead an army... although none of those things were particularly useful to a little boy your age.”

He smiled faintly before his expression gradually became more serious.

”In my heart, I always felt guilty for separating you from your father, so I... I tried my best to fill that role. Sure, I did a terrible job at it, but I want to be frank with you and...”

His voice grew softer.

Damon was quiet for a moment before finally speaking in a slow whisper.

”I want you to know that I love you very much. More than you could ever hope to understand. I don’t want you to hate your father...”

He paused when he saw Ric’s expression.

The boy was crying.

”Wha... what happened? Are you...”

”You love me... Master...” Ric sniffled. ”I can’t believe you would say that... Sorry, I was raised right.”

Damon nodded and closed his eyes.

”I understand. You’re moved...”

”No. I can’t believe you would say that to me. Disgusting.”

Ranar rolled her eyes and smacked Ric on the back of his head.

Damon stared at him for a moment before reaching out and smacking him on the head as well.

”Can’t you see I’m in a woman’s body right now? Of course I got emotional. It’s this damn body. Forget I said anything.”

”Ohhh.” Ric nodded thoughtfully. ”I see. I get it now. It must be that time of the month for this body. Don’t worry, Master. You are forgiven.”

Damon felt like crying.

He had just poured out his heart to this child, and this was how he was treated.

Who raised him?

Ranar couldn’t help but look at the two of them and think that they really were the same. No wonder Ric acted so much like her father.

He was weird too.

”Ahem. Ahem. Forget that last part.”

Damon cleared his throat and forced himself to regain his composure.

”Now then, as I was saying... The reason I took Ric under my wing was all because of a deal I made with his father, which Ric already knows about. What I failed to tell you were the details and the reasons behind it.”

Ric nodded slowly. The details were vague. Damon had never gone into much detail, and Ric had never cared enough to ask.

Damon sighed.

They had been through a lot. Maybe now they could understand where he was coming from.

”When I was young, I lived on the streets of Valerion, the capital. I had run away from my village with my sister, Luna, because we had to survive.”

He paused as the memories resurfaced.

”I worked as a pickpocket. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work. Well... at least I want to say it was. There is no honor among thieves.”

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

”I eventually met some unsavory people. To make matters worse, my sister had an incurable disease. I had to save her while also protecting her from the life of a street child. I had to keep her fed and alive, and I would do anything for her.”

A chilling wind swept through the mountains.

Damon paused, then reached down, picked up a few pieces of wood, and casually arranged them before igniting them with a flicker of magic. The small fire immediately began to crackle, its warmth pushing back against the cold night air.

”I didn’t really care if I died. I just wanted her to live. Our parents were dead. They had died during the Demon Wars. Because of that, my sister hated demons. I, on the other hand, hated humans because they were just as cruel as demons.”

He stared into the flames.

”No. I had never even met a demon back then, so humans seemed cruel by comparison. Friends, relatives, all of them. I hated them all.”

His expression darkened.

”But I also refused to die. Not because I had something worth living for.”

He looked at the two children.

”I refused to die just so I could spit in their faces.”

Ranar and Ric fell silent.

They had never heard Damon speak like this.

He had always been arrogant, playful, or casually cruel. Even when he was angry, there was usually some humor beneath it.

This was different.

Damon’s voice carried the weight of someone remembering a life he had buried long ago.

”You see, the reason I ended up as a street child began years before either my sister or I was born.”

He reached toward the fire and adjusted one of the burning pieces of wood.

”My mother was the daughter of a powerful Grand Duke. She was a princess who had everything a person could ever want. Wealth, status, influence, a future that had already been decided for her.”

He paused.

”But one day, she fell in love with a nameless knight who served her.”

Damon shook his head faintly.

”He was just a nobody. But he was a stubborn man. A fool who carried the ideals and convictions of a knight, just like the fools they were. Somehow, those two fools fell in love.”

”Why were they fools?” Ranar asked.

Damon glanced at her.

”Because a commoner has no place in a noble’s life, especially not one who stands so far above his station.”

”The Grand Duke wanted him dead. But somehow, my mother convinced him to let them be together. She was exiled from the family so she could live with her lover.”

He gave a faint, humorless smile.

”It was her father’s final kindness to his daughter.”

He stared into the fire again.

”A lot of things could have been avoided if he had simply killed that knight then and there. But he didn’t because she threatened to kill herself as well.”

Damon’s voice became quieter.

”Their union produced two children. One was a boy named Damon Grey.”

He paused.

”The other was his sister, Luna Grey.”

”For a time, this family lived happily.”

His eyes reflected the flames.

”Happiness does not last forever.”

His expression slowly hardened.

”In fact, happiness is fleeting.”

He looked at the two children.

”There was a war.”