░6░ A Sudden Thief

"What the?!" was what Damon exclaimed after seeing Iris ran towards the running thief. She was chasing after him when Damon was picking up the ingredients that had fallen to the ground. With that in mind, he decided to go after her reflexively knowing that she could be in danger if he ignored their situation. He’s also considering that she’s not just someone to him. She’s the first commoner he made friends with his fake identity that’s why he needed to keep her safe

He immediately stood up and was about to go ahead where Iris was, if he didn't remember about the ingredients. So he immediately put all the ingredients that were on the ground earlier into the bag. He rearranges them and as he talks to a commoner guy watching the scene innocently

"Do take these ingredients to the Loughes bakeshop. If I found out that you didn't deliver these to the shop, I might hunt you for the rest of your life," the innocent commoner heard Damon’s venomous and dangerous voice in accordance with his expressions. That moment, the person thought he’s surely a dead meat if he disobeyed the dangerous guy. Gulping and looking afraid as his whole body was shaking, he nodded respectfully to Damon. Earning Damon a wide smirk inwardly

"U-understood," the guy had been stuttering because of Damon's expressions. Expressions like he wanted to eat the guy alive. With that, Damon immediately smiled at him but the kind of smile that was creepy enough to make the person almost jump out of his place. Not enough warning, Damon started gripping his shoulders tight to make the guy squirm in pain as his reminder

Making that his cue, he immediately disappeared in front of the guy's sight and chased after Iris who was also chasing the thief

'Such a troublesome stubborn commoner friend I have for the first time'

He thought with a playful smile creeping its way up to his lips unexpectedly

"Stop running or I will chase you to the pits of hell, I'm not kidding there!" Iris, on the other hand, yelled at the thief who was holding the lady's purse. Yet, the thief did not giving a damn to what Iris was yelling. Instead, he continued running as fast as he can until he was on a dead-end alley

'Tsk, pathetic. If it weren't for this damn girl. I would've been able to buy a loaf of bread for my sister'

The thief, who had torn dirty clothes, thought while looking frustrated at the young woman in front of him

'Why is she covered in brown clothing in the first place? Damn lady, making everything here creepier'

He added while looking around for an escape but instead, he only looked at one possibility that could lead him escaping. So he ran fast enough towards the young woman after seeing an opening in her position. Leading him to escape her grasps now and ran as fast as he could

Iris would have caught the thief if it weren't for Damon, who gently pulled her towards him. He was covering her mouth for a moment as she leaning her back to his chest. Even though Iris was struggling to move away from his grip, he was gently strong enough to make her calm down

Afterward, when he felt that Iris seemed calmed enough, he made her face him gripping her shoulders gently but tightly while looking seriously

'What's his problem?! I was about to catch the thief if it weren't for him!'

Iris wanted to shout those words in her mind. She wanted to blame Damon for what had happened. Et, after looking at his serious face, she became numb. She felt like she had seen a dangerous young guy compred to the El – Damon – that she knew earlier

The gorgeous young guy – Damon - was scary for a moment creating shivers down Iris' spine with goosebumps all over her skin. She was about to push him away, deciding to search for the thief but instead, his tight grip on her shoulders made her glared at him for the first time after meeting each other

"You are stubborn, Iris. You just went there without me! You could have been accidentally killed somewhere and I could have taken the blame for it as you know of Selby!" Damon exclaimed in front of Iris who was now seriously looking at him

"Yeah I could've but I know how to defend myself, El! You knew what? I just lost this chance! I just lost a chance catching the thief and making him pay for stealing someone's purse!" Iris rebut in front of him.

The way that she spoke to him was a first to him. no one dared to speak like that to him because he was known as the young master of the Maxwell duchy. Yet, a mere commoner young woman dared and it made his surprise for the first time. That made his tight grip on her shoulders loosened a bit

Damon not intending to inflict any pain, was surprise when she looked at him seriously after what had happened. Damon only sighed and showed something out of his pocket, it's the purse that he caught from the thief's hands earlier before escaping from Iris' position

That moment, it made Iris embarrassed from the words that he said to Damon. She knew that she’s just caught in her situation. She didn’t even meant anything bad that she said to him. That made her even more surprised and embarrassed

She paused for a moment calming herself as she tried to look at Damon with her mouth opening wide while her eyes were seeking an answer to his now smiling face

‘How? What? Where?’ Iris wanted to ask him questions how he claimed the purse from the thief earlier but words just could not come out on her mouth

She kept being surprised, embarrassed and shocked that words won't come out to construct a question

"How did I do it? Simple, a commoner's trick was already learned by another commoner like me," Damon puzzlingly said raising one of his eyebrows over the other. Wiggling the purse in front of Iris, teasing her on how he got it after she chased the thief with such an effort. He said those pretending to be one and he never failed his act

'Guest I have to thank Lucius for this one'

Damon thought still teasing Iris, swaying the purse that he’s holding making her feel embarrassed and curious enough to satisfy his view

"Don't tell me you're a thief earlier pretending to have borrowed some money but you're a thi-------" Iris didn't finish her sentence when Damon handed her the purse

"What are you talking about? I'm just a commoner who's surviving in any right means. I learned how we lived in the first place. There are no safe places to call home," Damon said with a hurt voice - feeling pained - imagining Lucius on his shoes

He was an illegitimate son of the duke but he wasn't even treated noble in the first place. He was treated there for a backup plan if things were to go wrong. He's treated like a nobody in the household, if it weren't for their grandfather, he wouldn't be able to live and grow as one of the Duke's son inside the household

Iris seeing how pained Damon felt in his expressions made her calm herself. She tried to breathe slowly for her to say words properly for the time being

"I'm glad you already have the purse but we still need to catch the guy for him to reflect what he's done, El!" Iris exclaimed after calming down. But Damon just shook his head smiling sadly at Iris

"There's no need, Iris besides the knights here were not keen enough to forgive the guy – or rather you’d call thief. He'll be probably tortured or worse executed so just this once, - let him go. He still has a family to come home," Damon calmly said looking at Iris with his sad eyes enough to make her sigh

"You know what? I'm beginning to get curious about you. How did you know he had family in the first place?" Iris honestly asked being curious about the Damon. He’s like acting as if he's a strange person to begin with

"That's all for today folks! Anyways, what we should be dealing with right now was to give this purse to the lady and go back to the Loughes bakeshop now. We don't want to get Selby angry considering this is my first day at the shop. Oh boy," Damon said explaining to Iris their current situation. He continued his acting as a commoner for the second time. A commoner who was frustrated with the happenings earlier

Instead of responding, Iris eyes went wide, remembering about the ingredients

'Selby will kill me this time!'

Iris deeply thought starting to look anxious about the ingredients. She’s almost sweating all over her face. With Damon looking at Iris, he almost chuckle but controlled himself – not wanting to anger her again. Though, he probably enjoyed watching more of her dramatic expressions but when he saw her sweating hard

He picked up his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her face gently. That gesture made Iris looked at Damon who was also looking back at her. Now, he was looking at her with a sudden soft expression compared to earlier

"If you only knew what happened earlier, after you left me in the market – to chase the thief. I've already called someone to deliver the ingredients at the Loughes bakeshop. So don't worry about it. Instead, let's get going now," Damon said after gently wiping her face looking how Iris blushed for a moment

'So even a commoner like El's identity can make you blush, huh?'

Damon thought inwardly smiling as if he won something. Never did Iris know that he was trained to hold swords in the Maxwell household. That’s the reason he had gained different kinds of training - to combat dangerous guys in possible wars

A few seconds later, Iris sighed looking back at Damon who was now looking outside of the alley. With that gesture, Damon immediately pocketed the handkerchief knowing it had the symbol of the Maxwell duchy. He didn't want anyone to find out about him being a noble - that he already made some friends outside his circle

Iris in return, gently took his hands and pulled him towards her. Upon doing so, they walked out of the narrow alley and was about to go back to the market, when they bumped into someone along the way

Iris apologized immediately to the person but Damon remained stood at his place. He remained stood and unmoved in his position after knowing that figure very well. It was no other than Lucius

'Lucius' he silently screamed in his mind

The young guy immediately walked towards their opposite path making Iris - who was bowing earlier – wiped her forehead while looking at the guy whom she seems to have seen before

'Wait, is he the guy that saved me earlier from the carriages?!'

Iris nearly blurted that out when Damon hurriedly removed Iris hand from him. Then after a few seconds, he started running towards the man in black following his lead. Iris had no choice with the sudden actions of Damon. There, she unconsciously followed where he was heading only to know that he's following the trail of the guy they bumped earlier

Many people come in their way but Damon easily shoved them while he chased the young guy. He was determined to find the young guy knowing he was Lucius

'I know that figure very well, he was the one who saved Iris earlier from the carriages. What is he doing here? I thought he's in the duchy doing some of our father’s tasks. This isn't good'

Damon thought worrying about Lucius again because their father always beat the hell out of him. He was worried that the Duke might torture him again on the torture room that he built just for punishing Lucius. So he hurriedly ran as fast as he could until Lucius led him outside the market and inside the forest. He knew that forest very well. Considering that the place was the first time he showed Lucius his secret spot whenever he wanted to remove the pain he's feeling inside

That's the first time he trusted someone of his secrets and that was with Lucius other than – Aiden which is a different story.

'I never thought you'd still remember this place after how many years it was back then'

Damon thought and he was about to search around when he heard someone – some footsteps following him from behind. Turning his head only to know who it was

"Iris?!"