A teenage girl with a ponytail guided the redhead through the door. Entering the large room, they bowed before a man, seated at a table that seemed to be overflowing with stacks of documents. The redhead felt a bead of sweat going down her neck, knowing that one mistake could mean the end of her life.
Looking down at the floor, the redhead gulped, hearing the man set down the pen he was holding. "Did you find anything suspicious about him?"
"None, though sometimes he goes out of the manor for hours at a time, always returning with disheveled clothes "she replied.
"His excuse?"
"He claims he goes to the forest for its clean air and solitude" The man tapped his finger on the table in contemplation. Aside from the fact that he had always despised having his clothes even slightly soiled, why would he travel to the forest in the first place? Was he hiding something?
"...besides that, you mentioned he got home strangely late from the royal banquet a few days ago…how is he now, has he said anything about what transpired that night?"
"W-well, he seems to be injured somehow, he walks with a slight limp and bruises can be seen poking out from his clothes sometimes, but other than that, nothing seems off about him, sir. He claimed that he simply got drunk at the banquet and got lost in the forest outside the manor, though there aren't any witnesses to substantiate his claims"
"I see… and the information you brought up during your last report, have you found any more information on it like I requested?" The man's voice took on a noticeably darker tone to it, the room's temperature dropping noticeably.
The woman before him withheld a shiver. "Y-yes sir, about that, I overheard that his engagement to Min Jiwon was a simple matter of business to allow her to take over leadership of the Min County, they hold no romantic feelings for each other, sir." At that the prince's composure seemed to lighten slightly, the room's air going back to being bearable.
"...and… the other topic you mentioned?"
The informant's head almost shot up in surprise, the only thing stopping her was her utter fear of the man in front of her. If she hadn't known any better, she would've thought the man's tone seemed eager, if not a bit shy. "Errr, yes sir, it seems Sir Dokja has a dislike of tomatoes, he often picks them out of his food or opts to not touch the dishes containing them, handing them over to his family instead. And for his novels, he tends to like protagonists that are stoic and proactive…"
"...hmph, very well, make sure to update me on any suspicious move and follow him if need be," he ordered his informant, picking up his pen and returning to signing his documents, the tip of his pen dragging slightly on the paper with each flourish.
"…" The woman tried to speak but couldn't get any words out.
"Are we clear?" the woman swallowed roughly.
"Yes, Your Highness", she replied, nodding.
The man nodded back. "Then, you may be excused." The two women bowed to him once more before turning to leave the room. When the door shut behind him, the woman's escort spoke to her as they were walking.
"You should always follow his orders, Asuka Ren."
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Yesterday, the Underworld Ducal arrived in the slums of the countryside. While they were warmly welcomed, it looked like there was no vigor left in the village. There were barely any plants or trees nearby, with the village being built on loose dirt and gravel. Unlike the vast wheat fields that had greeted their carriages upon entering the countryside, this area's homes were mere hovels made of rotting wood and on the verge of collapsing.
The majority of the small village was made of young children and elders. The adults were either off in nearby villages doing meager jobs to collect scraps of money or had abandoned their children and families completely. The village's elders were too frail to do any jobs available in the area, forcing the children to work under dangerous conditions to make a living.
While some of the elders were remorseful of this fact and tried their best to split the already scarce resources with the children, others weren't as sympathetic, taking the majority of the children's earnings and scraps for themselves,and beating them harshly if they didn't comply.
Kim Dokja had found out that the Duke and Duchess did various activities to try to help the children. They'd take in some of the children and train them to do basic jobs around manor for pay, allowing them to live in a good environment and letting them send their pay back to the village. That was how Asuka Ren got employed into the Underworld Ducal, and why she seemed so passionate about the countryside when Dokja mentioned it to her. Other times they'd gather up a few of the other Ducals and Counties that they were acquainted with to donate a large amount of money to the families and children.
But right now, the Underworld Ducal had come to the countryside to hand out food and other goods like durable clothing, toys, and books for the children to enjoy.
Children lined up in front of Kim Dokja as he distributed bread; their bodies were so thin that their ribs poked out their shirts, and their arms were so frail that he feared even a slight amount of pressure could shatter them. He winced, all too familiar with this kind of struggle. But he was happy to see the children's faces light up as they received fresh food.
But in the distance, he saw a girl being pushed to the ground by a group of other children. Stunned, Dokja shoved his basket of bread into Han Sooyoung's hands, spilling out a quick explanation before rushing over to the girl.
When he got to her, she was struggling to lift herself off the ground as three boys stood over her. "— it's true right? Your parents left you; you might as well just die."
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Kim Dokja roared at the children. The three boys flinched back, casting a scared glance at him before scrambling away, but the girl remained curled into herself. Dokja knelt down in front of her and slowly reached out to put a hand on her shoulder
"Are you alright?" he tried asking softly, but the girl let out a pained moan, making him worry. Scanning over her body for any injuries, he noticed that she was covering up her legs.
Gently urging her to sit up straight so he could assess her better, he noticed a stain of blood on the hem of her dress steadily growing in size. He pushed up the cloth to see a painful looking gash on her knee. But before Dokja could react, there was a shout from a distance.
"Yoosung!" A young boy ran towards the two. As he approached, he looked over at the girl, eyes widening at the wound on her leg.
"Are you ok?" It looked like he wanted to help her up, but tossed over a skeptical glance at Dokja instead.
"Umm....hi" he said with an awkward smile. He already wasn't good at human interaction, much less how to reassure two rattled children. The children looked at him, cautious eyes following his every movement. "umm...I'm Kim Dokja, and if you'd like we can go to treat her wounds…? Oh, I can give you bread, too." Damn, he sounded a little too much like he was some kidnapper luring children in with candy.
The boy helped his friend up and then the both of them looked back at Dokja, nodding but still keeping their distance from him. Dokja then took them back to where he and Han Sooyoung had set up their stand to hand out the food. When they arrived, she saw them and asked, "Who the he–?" before Kim Dokja put a finger to her lips.
He glared at her and told her not to swear. She huffed and pulled his hand away from her mouth. Kim Dokja led the two children to some seats after asking Han Sooyoung to get some bandages and healing salve.
When Han Sooyoung came back, he immediately set to work treating the girl's wound. For the first time, his high school experience was actually coming in handy, Dokja thought to himself rather bitterly.
After he finished patching her up, he gave the two children bread to eat. Just like the other village kids, the two were only skin and bone, and were dressed in filthy, torn up clothing. As he stared at the two kids eating bread, he suddenly realized he'd forgotten to ask something important.
"Ah, by the way, can I ask for your names?"
"Yoosung"
"Gilyeong!" The two said at the same time, their cheeks full of bread like squirrels. at the same time. Dokja let out an amused breath at how adorable they were and patted their heads.
"If you two don't mind me asking... where are your parents?" The two stayed silent and looked down, their faces ashen.
Gilyeong was the one to respond, his voice low "…we don't have parents." The children described their situations.
Apparently Gilyeong's parents had passed away already while Yoosung's left her abandoned her in the Countryside, leaving her to wander around until she found Gilyeong. In their struggle together, they became fast friends,surviving off of scraps they scrounged up together.
As the children described their experiences, Kim Dokja felt himself being stabbed in the heart. The way that the children spoke, their eyes and voices were empty, as if they'd given up all hope on life. He mentally cursed every adult that had failed these children.
'What disgusting humans they are.' He thought about their parents, who had left them to fend for themselves. He thought about the village elders, who let all the kids starve and who did nothing about the bullying and abuse between the children.
No, he couldn't let anyone else experience something like this again, he refused to. He may not have been able to save himself back then, but now he had the power to save someone else, to stop them from enduring the pain that he'd suffered through before. And he'd be damned if he didn't take this opportunity to help them in every way he could.
Not taking his eyes off of the kids, Kim Dokja called out, a firm edge of determination in his voice, "Han Sooyoung..."
The woman next to him, who had been silently listening, responded, "Yeah?"
"I'm going to adopt them."