No matter how many ordinary people gathered around, they were no match for an alpha.
Hoping that security guards would come to their rescue, Shushu shrieked at the top of his lungs.
[Help me! Help me!]
The man forcefully shoved a handkerchief straight into Shushu’s mouth to silence him.
Covered in dust from rolling on the ground, his mother scrambled back up to her feet and lunged at the man.
[You bastard! Give me back my child!]
His mother ripped him away and pulled him tightly into an embrace.
Wrapping his arms around her neck, Shushu trembled violently.
At that exact moment, the door of a speeding carriage flew open, and multiple arms reached out, yanking both his mother and him inside in one swift motion.
Trapped in panic, as Shushu wailed at the top of his lungs, his mother cupped his head with her hands and murmured.
[Mom will protect you, no matter what.]
While Damian was off sleeping, Callix personally met with the young servants assigned to look after his younger brother.
Typically, attendants assigned in childhood grew up alongside their master and maintained a bond as close as brothers.
Therefore, they selected clever boys from good families with pleasing appearances.
Three young attendants stood in a row with tense expressions on their faces.
Chosen personally by the butler, they were all exceptionally talented individuals.
Since he wouldn’t regret choosing any of them, all he had to do was pick the one that struck his fancy.
“Your master likes sweet foods. What would you do about that? Answer starting from the right.”
The brown-haired boy replied that he would bring him delicious desserts as snacks every day.
The blonde boy next to him gave a similar answer.
Assuming the final boy would offer the exact same response, Callix concluded there were no attendants worth picking among them.
However, the gray-haired boy gave a different answer.
“I will stop my master from eating sweet foods. Because eating too many sweets at a young age rots the teeth and ruins one’s health.”
“Accepted.”
The other attendant candidates expressed deep regret, wishing they had thought to offer similar advice.
However, the reason he favored the gray-haired boy differed from what the other young servants guessed.
Only by having this boy serve as Damian’s attendant would Damian be restricted from eating sweets freely, while Callix—who would still provide them—would reap all the generous favor, which was why he chose him as his brother’s attendant.
“You probably already know the name of the master you will serve, but it is Damian Vesper. He is my younger brother.”
“Yes, Young Duke.”
The attendant clasped both hands politely, looking far more mature than his age—three years older than Damian—implied.
At a young age, even a three-year-old gap was significant.
No, it was probably because his younger brother’s growth was stunted compared to his peers.
Because not a single person had bothered to feed the child properly, a child of the Vesper bloodline had nearly starved to death.
Saying such a thing out in the common streets would have gotten one mocked as a raving madman.
Now that he knew the child was his Gem, from this day forward until the day he died of old age, there would never be a single missed meal. He would make damn sure of it.
“Damian is taking a nap right now, so once he wakes up, dress him neatly and bring him to my office.”
“Yes, Young Duke.”
Dismissing the boys, Callix then instructed the butler to send in the candidates for a nanny.
While Shushu was napping, a hand gently patted his belly, and he mumbled, “Mom.”
Then a voice replied, “Yes, our baby.”
Startled wide awake, he opened his eyes to see his mother, her hair dyed brown, standing before him.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
How on earth had she found him?
He had clearly sent his mother away back in the village.
“Mom can find our Shushu wherever he is.”
How she had managed to track him down didn’t matter.
Even though he had sent her away for her own safety, the moment he saw her face, tears burst forth.
He had missed her so terribly and yearned for her so much.
Now, even if he wanted to send her away, he couldn’t.
“Sob. Waaah. Mom! Mom!”
“Shh! Shushu. Mom is working as a nanny taking care of the second young master of the Vesper family right now. Our Shushu is also on a secret mission, right?”
“Mm-hm. Yes.”
Sniffling back his snot, Shushu nodded his head.
“It’s a game where Shushu pretends to be Damian, and Mom pretends to be his nanny. If we successfully finish this game, we can go back home.”
Shushu buried his face in her embrace.
She was lying to him so that he wouldn’t be punished for impersonating a noble.
“So from now on, you have to call Mom Melissa. Understand?”
“Yes.”
It was a huge struggle because he kept wanting to act spoiled around her.
Right now, Callix was treating him kindly even after discovering he was a Gem, but there was no guarantee he would keep doing so in the future.
They had to stay as tense as if walking on thin ice.
If he got caught as a fake younger brother, even his mother might be executed.
Pulling himself together from his weakening resolve, Shushu lifted his head from Melissa’s embrace.
“Now, Young Master. Let’s go wash up that tear-stained, messy face of yours.”
Holding Melissa’s hand tightly, Shushu headed to the bathroom.
A stepping stool that hadn’t been there yesterday was placed in front of the sink.
Climbing up the steps, she washed Shushu’s face clean with fresh water.
“I’ll introduce you to an attendant in a little bit. Cain went to fetch clothes for the Young Master, and he’ll be here soon.”
Just as she said, as they stepped out of the bathroom, a gray-haired boy appeared pushing a clothing rack.
Placing his right hand over his chest and putting his left hand behind his back, he bowed at the waist with an elegant gesture to greet them.
“Greetings, Young Master Damian. I am Cain Blanche, the third son of Baron Jordi Blanche.”
Shushu rolled his big eyes, wondering if he needed to do that kind of aristocratic greeting himself, and tried clumsily to imitate it.
Naturally, because it was his first time doing the movement, he staggered around without being able to pull off the posture properly.
Cain quickly reached out and caught him.
“It is quite alright, Young Master. To think a master would show such full respect to his attendant.”
“Hello there. U-um, I’m Damian.”
Since he was the child of a baron’s family, that meant he was a noble.
Shushu worried what the boy might think of him if he couldn’t speak properly and looked at him anxiously.
Contrary to his expectations, Cain burst into a bright smile.
“Forgives me. You were just so cute, I couldn’t help it.”
Looking as though he couldn’t control the corners of his mouth, Cain pressed down on them with his hand.
“If it wouldn’t be too improper, might I touch your cheek?”
Shushu recalled Callix, who during their very first meeting had poked his cheek and warned him not to mistake himself for being cute.
Judging by Cain’s reaction, that must have been what it meant to be called “cute.”
Realizing the true meaning belatedly, Shushu nodded.
Looking thrilled, Cain squished and massaged Shushu’s chubby cheek fat.
“Ah, just as I imagined. It feels like a soft, chewy marshmallow.”
“Marsh-mellow?”
“Yes, a marshmallow. You haven’t had one yet, have you?”
“Yes!”
Shushu waited for a response like, “Shall I go bring you one?” or “I’ll give you some later.”
Instead, Cain delivered a harsh reality check.
“Don’t ever eat them in the future either. If you eat stuff like that, you’ll get fat.”
“Now, let’s hurry up and change clothes to go meet the Young Duke. The Young Duke has been waiting for a long time.”
Cain explained that he had brought clothes Callix used to wear when he was little.
Getting a tailor to custom-make clothes would take too much time, and since there was nothing immediately available to wear, it couldn’t be helped.
Despite being old garments, they were so well-kept they looked brand new.
He wore a silk shirt paired with a blue velvet jacket and matching joggers.
