“Hic—hic—sniff!”

The girl cried with her shoulders shaking, tears pooled in her pale lilac eyes.

“You’re loud.”

Damian muttered.

“…Aren’t you—hic!—scared?”

In response to Damian’s curt remark, the girl asked, hiccupping. She had stopped crying for a moment, only to start hiccupping instead. Damian looked at her as though she were pitiful.

“Not really.”

“Y-You’re amazing…”

“Am I?”

Damian felt awkward under the girl’s innocent admiration. He felt his ears heat up and shifted his body. Not that it made much difference — the storage room was cramped to begin with.

“I’m—hic!—so scared…”

She mumbled through hiccups, her voice heavy and drained.

‘Honestly…’

It made things uncomfortable.

In the end, Damian, who had turned his back on her, rolled over again. He stretched out his hand, which was bound with rope, and took hold of hers.

“Here. Isn’t it less scary like this?”

“Mhm!”

The girl grabbed Damian’s hand tightly and smiled brightly. She had been crying just moments ago — why was she so happy now? Idiot.

“Stop crying and go to sleep, kid.”

Damian pursed his lips as he spoke, then closed his eyes.

The girl beside him rustled around for a while, then fell asleep.

When her breathing became deep and steady, Damian quietly opened his eyes.

Using the moonlight as his guide, he gazed at the girl who was holding him as though he were something precious.

That was the moment.

It was the first time that Damian truly took Seraphina into his sights.

***

The slave traders were merciless. They dragged the young boy and girl around as though they were true slaves.

They were barely given any food. Every night, they were forced to sleep in the storage room. Whenever the traders were in a bad mood, they resorted to violence without hesitation.

“Hit me instead — not her!”

Damian threw himself over the girl, shielding her with his body. The trader who had been about to kick her stopped, spat in Damian’s face and left.

“I told you not to b*tt in!”

Despite the threat, Damian did not retreat. The girl was trembling violently behind him.

The traders did not lay a hand on him.

However, they showed no restraint when dealing with the girl.

They threw food bowls at her, causing her forehead to bleed. They kicked her viciously, as they were doing now.

Each time, the girl cried out pitifully.

“Hu—ugh… waaah…!”

The slave traders would beat the girl whenever she cried.

She gradually learned to cry silently.

Whenever Damian heard her muffled sobs — the quiet, choking sounds she made throughout the night — his chest ached sharply.

“This b*tch is crying again. Huh?”

“She’s crying because you’re hitting her!”

“You little runt!”

As Damian and the trader grappled for the girl, the man suddenly raised his hand. Just as he was about to hit Damian, the person who had brought him there stepped between them.

“Are you insane? Do you know how much he’s worth?”

“F*ck, that tiny bastard’s really pissing me off!”

The trader leaned in and whispered something to his angry companion. The man’s expression changed rapidly as he listened.

“That’s real?”

“Yeah! We’ve hit the jackpot with this one!”

“You should’ve said so sooner.”

The man’s eyes gleamed as he broke into a grin.

And from that day on, the girl was no longer beaten.

***

“I’ll be rescued soon. I’ll get you out too.”

“Really?”

At Damian’s suggestion, the girl’s pale, lilac eyes sparkled.

Before they knew it, they had become unable to feel at ease without each other. They always slept pressed tightly together.

Just like this.

“…Want me to tell you a secret?”

The girl nodded vigorously in response to Damian’s words. Seeing her eager reaction, he smiled softly.

With her, he found that he could say anything.

Perhaps that was why he confided in her about a worry he had never even mentioned to his wet nurse.

“Actually… I still haven’t manifested. I’m supposed to become an alpha.”

“But we’re still kids,” the girl said without hesitation. “You don’t need to worry. You’ll definitely become an alpha.”

“And how do you know that?”

Damian let out a quiet laugh at her confidence.

It was something he had been too afraid to tell anyone about. Hearing her say it made it feel as though it really could come true.

His smile faded and he looked at her properly. The girl, already small, had curled up even tighter and now looked unbearably precious.

After staring at her for a moment, Damian called out quietly.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“If I become an alpha, you be an omega.”

“So what’s good about that?”

She asked with wide, round eyes. Damian swallowed hard, then spoke, nerves tightening his voice.

“We can stay together. Always.”

“Okay!”

The girl beamed and nodded without a second’s hesitation.

“Kid. If we get out of here alive, let’s meet again. For sure.”

“Yeah!”

The girl smiled brightly and nodded again.

That night, the boy and the girl intertwined their little fingers.

They promised to be each other’s alpha and omega.

They promised to meet again outside, no matter what.

***

The Imperial Knights stormed the camp of the slave traders.

They had come for Damian.

As the knights swept through the hideout, cutting down the traders, the girl could only tremble in the corner of the storage room.

“Hic—ugh!”

“Idiot! What are you doing like that?!”

Damian shouted in frustration. The trader who had abandoned his companions and fled from the knights could burst in at any moment and capture them.

Yet the girl remained curled up and crying.

Damian impatiently untied the ropes binding her.

“Run—now!”

“Y-You… what about you?”

The girl sniffled and hesitated.

Only then did Damian realize why she hadn’t run away in the first place.

Because he was there.

She didn’t want to be separated from him. Despite being scared, she had stayed in the storage room because of him.

“…I—I’m fine.”

Damian’s throat tightened. He hastily wiped at his stinging eyes with his sleeve and forced the words out.

“You didn’t forget our promise, right?”

“Y-Yeah…!”

The girl answered, her wide eyes brimming with tears. Damian forced a smile and tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“Those knights came to find me. So you and I—we can both go home.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

The moment Damian finished speaking, the storage room door burst open with a loud crash.

A silver-haired knight rushed in, spotted Damian, and shouted.

“Found him!”

The knight scooped Damian up in his arms. As he was carried out, Damian shouted back in a panic,

“We’ll meet again for sure! I’ll come get you! Wait for me!”

“Yeah!”

The girl left behind in the storage room waved at him.

Damian couldn’t tear his eyes away until she disappeared from sight—no, even after she was completely gone.

***

On the day he returned to the Imperial Palace, Damian fell victim to a violent fever.

The back of his neck throbbed painfully, and his entire body ached. Burning with fever, he thought of the girl.

When the slave traders had beaten her, had she felt this much pain?

Had she made it home safely?

‘I should have told her my name. Or at least asked for hers.’

“Crown Prince!”

How many days had passed?

Damian woke up, drenched in sweat. When he opened his eyes, he saw a stranger standing before him.

He stared blankly at the woman in the ornate dress, realizing who she was a moment too late.

“…Your Majesty. The Empress.”

His mother.

The woman who locked him away in the guest palace and never visited him once.

There she stood, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked down at him. In a voice thick with emotion, the Empress said.

“Crown Prince, you did well. Truly, you did.”

“…Pardon?”

Damian frowned. He had no idea what she was talking about.

Without offering any explanation, she turned and left the room as if she had finished her business there.

It was only after she had gone that Damian finally learned the truth from the palace physician who came in afterwards.

Why he had been so ill.

And what it meant.

Damian had become a dominant alpha.

Just as the girl had told him he would.