Arlo’s firstborn was called Damien.
Little to nothing was known about him until he made his public appearance on that day, seven years ago.
At first glance, he was taken as an otherwordly young lad with nothing special about him except for his noble background and powerful father, but his features were so refined and angelic that Drew and Sue, two famous poets of the empire born in the same day and to the same mother, composed and dedicated a lengthy poem to him, praising him to the highest heaven, saying a man like him who is like a God’s beloved angel descended from heaven and has hair that carries the illusion of being lined with a thousand luminous pearls need not be strong to overcome his opponents, for his blinding smile and hypnotizing eyes is enough to charm and kill all.
The fourth trial of the adulthood ceremony that year was held in an endlessly stretching terrain.
Everyone needed to survive for three days, but on the first day, Damien hunted down 1-3rd of the participants, kicking 33333 youngsters out of the road to adulthood in 24 hours.
His deeds spread like wildfire and quickly became known among the remaining participants, and they feared that if they didn’t team up against him, the only one becoming an adult this year would be Damien.
They grouped together and planned to overcome him, making up their minds to overcome him with numbers.
It was him against tens of thousands of unawakened youngsters.
He was at the same power level as them, but he defeated them all.
No!
It would be better to say he crushed them like ants.
The illusion of him being an angel that was rooted in the people’s minds was quickly dispelled as he crushed an entire generation under his feet like a devil from hell and walked up the stairs with earth-shaking steps to stand in the middle of the most glorious platform under the eyes of a million people.
After his glance swept past the appalled, horrified, and offended crowd and stopped on the Emperor, he sat down on the 500 meters wide awakening platform, and seeing that he had seized it all for himself just for today, he laughed as the platform lit up in golden lights that quickly turned blood red as he awakened, becoming an adult.
The first thing he did after becoming an adult was sigh.
Then, as if he had had enough of being in the limelight and the center of attention, he turned around and left the stage without a word.
Knights and mages chased after him, wanting to swear fealty to him, desiring to take him as their lord, and ready to enter his servitude, but he shot them down with a bone-chilling gaze, signaled his butler to help him wear a black gown with a hoodie so that he can cover his pale white, almost vampire-like skin from being burned by the Sun, and returned to a manor in the outskirts of the capital that he had recently purchased in exchange for a considerable sum from a humble old man.
The number of people that knocked on his door thereafter was uncountable.
If they were to be lined up, it would create a line of people stretching from the Meridian gates of the capital all the way to the northern dukedom.
Furthermore, busty and slender women of the capital, including princesses, fawned over him in every way during his stay in the forbidden capital, but they failed to win his heart.
Those who tried to “coincidentally” bump into him to strike up a conversation with him only heard the sound of the autumn wind scraping over their dress.
Those who tried to drop into his lap to seduce him dropped behind and before him.
When he was 20, the Imperial family performed a sacred ritual, causing the mystic realm to open. He entered it, and so did thousands of aura grandmasters.
He got into a conflict with a group of them and ended up pulling his sword out of his sheath and swinging it at them.
As a result, not only all of them but even the thousands of trees and the far away Mountain range were chopped apart.
Ever since then, people started referring to him as the Golden-Eyed lord, not by his name.
They all believed that he would be becoming a count, if not a marquis, soon, but he betrayed their expectations.
When he was 20 years old, he already had enough merits to become a full-fledged feudal lord.
It’s just that he wasn’t interested in ruling others and running a territory.
So, he just bought the feudal lord title before leaving the forbidden capital overnight.
No one knew where he went. He wasn’t heard of again. News about him died down. Three years passed without him causing any waves.
Who could have thought he would have settled down in this small village?!
Julian talked about the golden-eyed lord incessantly, listing all the rumors and stories he had heard about him while growing up.
He was one fierce man and the nightmare of children!
Mothers would tell their children to sleep because if they didn’t, he would come to their side at night and scare them into staying awake forever.
Listening to him, Roy got an in-depth understanding of his cousin.
Roy eyed him suspiciously, “Why do you know so much about him? Are you his fan?”
“No, he is my nightmare! I was compared to him by my siblings each time I did wrong. They did it to make me feel inferior. Still, a bitter taste was left in my mouth whenever I was reminded of him. Thoughts about him kept me distracted for years. Every time I would feel down, knowing that there is someone like him out there would make me feel much worse.”
Standing beside him, Arlo spread his hands helplessly.
His son was too amazing. He could offend others by just existing! What could he do about it?
“Your cousin’s real name is big yellow. He looked like a fluff ball when he was born, so I named him as such and had it legalized. But your aunt kicked me out of the house for that and had his name changed to Damien. He didn’t stop wetting his bed until he was six. He needed me to accompany him to the bathroom at night until he was 12 because he was afraid of darkness. You can use his embarrassing past against him if he gets on your nerves or refuses to train you.” Arlo mentally communicated to Roy.
“Who goes around sharing their child’s embarrassing past with their nephew?
“Me.”
Roy looked at him in shock and then in gratitude.
“Will I be able to coerce him with that?”
“Mm-hmm.” Arlo voiced out his agreement.
Then, he mentally communicated a thought-provoking and lengthy sentence to him again.
“I have one more important thing to tell you before we reach the manor. You need to know that you will feel on edge in his presence, but that’s just a side effect of standing in the presence of someone with a superior bloodline to ours. So control your desire to lash out at him. It’s not like you can win against him anyway. He has all the advantages you have and is both a knight and a mage. But don’t mistake him for a pure-blooded Baldwin. He is nothing like us.”
Hearing his words, Roy fell into thoughtful silence.
‘Damien’s bloodline is more special than ours, but he can’t be considered a pure-blooded Baldwin? That means not only my uncle but even my aunt has a special bloodline, and he has inherited both the special bloodlines from them!’