Chapter 185: Shadows of a Father
While she never overstepped the strict lines between master and servant, there was no doubt she had carried deep resentment toward him. To Dominic, Eline must have been like a mother figure.
Gabrant had tried, with full intent, to forget Dominic. He had tried to avoid being involved. Yet despite himself, his eyes would still follow the boy.
When Dominic became a knight, he felt pride. Watching his matches from the special viewing seats at the martial arts tournament, Gabrant found his fists clenched with tension and his palms sweating. Seeing his son crowned champion filled him with boastful joy.
When Dominic trained tirelessly and devoted himself to his duties as a knight, Gabrant felt a quiet happiness, as if his son was striving to follow in his father’s footsteps.
But even then, he never made the effort to truly connect with him. Dominic had grown into a strong young man, his boyish softness long gone, yet the golden shine of his hair and the beauty of his face—so much like Ashe—still struck pain deep into Gabrant’s chest.
What exactly Dominic meant to him—Gabrant had only come to understand that very recently.
It was inside the confinement chamber in Dalmasca. In that wrecked and ruined room, when he saw his son who had lost his sanity.
Covered in blood, drenched in filth, his body broken and battered, with eyes so vacant they reflected nothing at all.
The shock that ran through Gabrant’s chest at that moment was indescribable.
Inside the whirlpool of panic, despair, anger, and a storm of violent emotions, there was something clear and undeniable—his feelings for Dominic. The unconditional bond, the instinctive love a parent feels toward their child.
The one most surprised to discover such emotions still existed within him was Gabrant himself.
But he had not known what to do. His hands had been pushed away, his help rejected, and in the end, it was Shiao Yi who saved his son. The boy who openly declared that Dominic was his partner.
Gabrant panicked. He thought his son was being taken from him. Dominic was his son. His heir. And now, he was being claimed by some other man, one who could not even bear children.
Because of that fear, Gabrant suddenly became eager to arrange Dominic’s marriage, something he had not cared much about before.
The match with a noble of Dalmasca had failed, but many offers had come from the homeland as well. He believed he could still take Dominic back.
Perhaps he had moved too quickly.
The proposal for Lady Camilla, the Prime Minister’s daughter, was an excellent match. The rank and position of the other side could not be surpassed. The young lady herself adored Dominic deeply, and her family was strongly in favor. Gabrant had pushed the matter forward until it reached a point where Dominic could no longer refuse.
Among the nobility and royalty, political marriages were normal, even expected. Within that, this proposal had been an extraordinary opportunity, a rare case where both sides could truly benefit.
But in the end, the result was that Gabrant lost his precious son in the most decisive way possible.
Now, within the royal palace, the preparations were being made to push forward a new form of industry, and it had thrown the entire place into a frenzy, like a beehive struck with a stick. Because of that, the engagement with Lady Camilla had been temporarily frozen, but there was no doubt it would collapse entirely. And when it did, it would be seen as a disgrace, a failure entirely on the side of Beaumont. Gabrant would have to take responsibility for humiliating the Prime Minister’s marquis household. His standing in the palace would fall apart.
Yet, to him now, such things felt like trivial matters. What weighed on him was far greater. More than anything, all his willpower had drained away. Nothing rose up from inside his body anymore.
All of his reasons for living, all his goals, every last thing had been stripped away. What remained was only one man, a lonely old figure with no vigor left in him.
At some point, time had slipped away without him noticing. When Gabrant finally realized, his study was already swallowed in half-darkness. Early spring evenings still carried a chill. He felt a shiver run through him and reached out to light the lamp sitting on the desk.
The small flame flared to life, pushing away the darkness around his hands and shining with gentle warmth. Yet, it seemed that the corners of the room, where the light of the flame did not reach, only grew darker and deeper, like the shadows were thickening instead of retreating.
Gabrant’s gaze turned toward that corner, and he suddenly shot to his feet. From within the darkness itself, as if it had seeped out of the shadows, a black-haired boy stepped forward.
His eyes were the same deep shade as the dark. It was as if the night itself had taken the shape of a boy. Neither presence nor magical power could be felt from him at all.
"Shiao Yi... is it."
As the boy stepped closer, Gabrant felt no anger. This should have been the hateful brat who had stolen his son. A boy who, by some trick, had bewitched that stern, unshakable man and taken hold of his heart.
Not long ago, even the mere thought of him had been enough to make Gabrant’s insides twist with rage. Shiao Yi had been an obstacle he had wanted to cut down with his own hands and crushed until nothing remained.
But now, all of that was gone. What stood here was nothing but an empty shell, a man stripped of everything. All heat, all feeling had already drained away. What remained was only a corpse that breathed.
"A man like General Gabrant, reduced to this. What do you think Dominic would feel, seeing you so spineless?"
Gabrant looked into Shiao Yi’s black eyes without any stir of emotion.