I looked at the beautiful silver-haired little boy with a proud heart. Since his foundation was good, hope welled up that I could prevent the death ending if I taught him well. But that was only momentary. William approached me step by step while holding a blue sword.
Hey, little one… You should put down such a scary thing. Besides, what exactly are those attendants doing? They’re not even stopping a child this young from carrying around a sword.
When I glanced up slightly to check on the attendants, far from trying to stop him, they seemed busy looking out for themselves.
I knew it wasn’t proper palace etiquette, but I couldn’t stay still any longer. Not because I was afraid of the sword, but because I was worried that small child might get hurt by the sword.
“Your Highness.”
William, who had been walking toward me, stopped in place. His retreating stance showed he was startled by my call.
“What’s wrong? Who are you to call me? Why aren’t you running away?”
Good. He’s starting to show curiosity. All learning begins with having curiosity. But what should I say?
If I make a mistake, I could lose my head to that sword – I have to be careful with every single word.
Since he’s a little kid full of rebelliousness, if I say no, he’ll obviously rebel more. Then there’s only one answer.
“Isn’t that sword too heavy for you? Ah, of course Your Highness is an excellent dominant Alpha, so you could easily handle such a sword, but since the length doesn’t match, it seems less elegant.”
The prince’s shoulders flinched. William’s personality of being meticulous and particularly caring about appearance was information I had memorized from the book. They said if he didn’t have clothes he liked, he wouldn’t even go out, so he probably couldn’t stand being told he didn’t look elegant.
Now, Willy, what will you do? You know that if you get angry here, you’re really rotten from the start, right? Then I’ll give up on education and everything?
While I was throwing subtle threats inwardly, William blinked and asked.
“Then how can I look elegant? Like this?”
William gracefully lifted the sword.
I momentarily lost words and stared at William as if entranced.
A small boy with silver hair sparkling in the brilliantly shining sunlight in front of the prince’s palace, holding up a splendid sword high…
So cute.
The most beautiful, cute, and lovely doll I’d ever seen was alive, breathing, and talking! I stared at William as if enchanted for a while. When I came to my senses, William was getting angry.
“Lambert, answer quickly! I asked how it looks now.”
“May I stand up to take a closer look?”
When William nodded, an attendant from behind intervened.
“Y-Your Highness… That won’t do. It’s already surprising enough that you’re speaking with a lower-class Omega, but to let him stand before Your Highness!”
I, who had been lifting one knee to stand, looked back and forth between William and the attendant in an awkward position, unable to either stand or sit. William’s face began to turn increasingly fierce.
Whoa, what kind of scary expression is that little kid making? The expression he hadn’t shown me since we got closer was cold enough to freeze everything around us at once.
Embarrassingly, I was so scared of that expression that I averted my gaze.
“That’s why I said not to select any Omegas! Who told you to select them?”
At one word from the young prince, the old attendant’s mouth closed.
“And now you’re telling him not to speak? Fine.”
William slashed the sword he was holding diagonally. The ten-year-old boy was so strong that just one swing of the sword made a whooshing sound of wind.
Only then could I understand their fear. A dominant Alpha with royal blood is an amazing person… If I just think of him by adult and child standards, I’ll be in big trouble. No, what has this damn book been doing without telling me such important information?
Then an information window appeared in the air.
[I don’t answer what wasn’t asked.]
Yes, yes. Of course you would. I understand completely.
“Y-Your Highness… I think my thinking was short-sighted. It seems there wouldn’t be any big problem if you do as you wish.”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
The prince, who silenced him with one word, looked at me as if he would strike me down with his sword immediately. I boldly met his eyes without being intimidated. A brief staring contest ensued, and neither of us looked away first. At times like this, the way to maintain the prince’s pride and handle things maturely was to smile first.
I smiled at the prince. Then the prince began to smile following me. As expected, he was just pretending to have a temper on the outside – inside he was definitely still a child.
“Haha.”
“……”
At William’s laughter, the surroundings suddenly became noisy.
“D-did His Highness just laugh?”
“It seems like he laughed looking at that Omega.”
“…My goodness.”
Come on, people can laugh while living – is it worth making such a fuss just because a kid at an age where he’d laugh even watching stones roll on the ground laughed a little?
Anyway, laughing was good, so I continued smiling at the prince. But suddenly the prince’s expression changed completely.
“Lambert, or was it Daniel?”
“Yes. It’s Daniel Lambert.”
“Right. Are the words of a lowly attendant more important to you than mine? I asked you how I looked.”
Chills ran down my spine at William’s deliberately dignified voice.
This can’t be. I’m getting chills from words spoken by a mere ten-year-old? Has my mind gotten younger just because my body got younger? Seo Ajun, get it together.
I secretly pinched my thigh hard to come to my senses and immediately stood up.
“No. I was just trying not to damage Your Highness’s precious honor…”
Before I could finish speaking, William interrupted.
“From the moment you greeted me, you’ve already insulted me and the prince’s palace.”
What?
Flustered, I could only blink while looking at the prince. Letters floated above the prince’s shoulders.
[Lower-class Omegas cannot offer greetings to a prince. In other words, they cannot speak to him.]
If that were the case, shouldn’t you have given me that information when I was studying palace etiquette? I couldn’t tell whether that book was trying to help me or kill me.
What do I do about this? While I was just stamping my feet in place, the prince spoke.
“Well, that doesn’t mean I’m thinking of cutting off your head, throwing you in prison, or sending you to a labor camp.”
Yes, yes. That’s quite fortunate. Even if it’s not those three things, I’m destined to die anyway if I can’t reform Your Highness. Whether I die now or later, it’s the same, so do as you please.
I swallowed words I absolutely couldn’t say out loud and quickly turned my mind. How did the conversation get this far? Right. The prince asked about his sword-holding posture, and I tried to stand up to look at that posture, which led to this trouble. Then…!
With a do-or-die attitude, I spoke to the prince.
“Your Highness, even if I must die, there’s something I absolutely must tell you.”
“Oh? I had something I wanted to ask too, what is it? Tell me.”
The prince’s silver-gray eyes sparkled. I gulped and courageously spoke.
“Excuse me, but could you lift your sword again?”
William raised his sword high and took a deep breath. Though young, his sturdy waist straightened and his gaze turned toward the sword tip. The sword was far too big for the prince’s body, but his posture was so correct and beautiful that we could film a movie right then.
However, the attendants’ faces were colored with shock. I thought I knew the reason this time. It would be surprising that Prince William, who always does the opposite when told to do something, immediately responded to my single word.
Feeling a bit proud, I looked the prince up and down. I knew it was presumptuous, but it was unavoidable for the next task – no, further than that, to preserve my life.
“How is it? Do you need more time?”
Perhaps tired of waiting, the prince urged me for an answer.
“No. You may lower it now.”
The prince lowered his sword as if dancing and looked at me with eyes full of expectation. It would be heartbreaking to see those eyes turn to disappointment, but it couldn’t be helped. I closed my eyes tightly and said what I had to say.
“Your Highness, may I speak honestly?”
His cute cheeks twitched. I wanted to bite them right away, but I had to endure. Didn’t I see it just before? The coldness dripping from that face… To prevent that coldness from turning into murderous intent, I had to be harsh.
“Speak!”
“Honestly, that sword is far too insignificant compared to Your Highness’s beautiful appearance.”
“What? This sword was made by the empire’s finest craftsman?”
It was an answer I had fully expected, so I wasn’t flustered. I calmly continued.
“The sword itself is excellent. But all tools must match the age and physique of the user to shine. That sword isn’t yours, is it, Your Highness?”
William’s beautiful face crumpled mercilessly.
“Gasp!”
The attendants suddenly gasped in unison and gave me thumbs up. They must have suffered a lot mentally because the prince had been carrying around a dangerous sword that didn’t even fit his physique.
Even without information from the book, the prince’s appearance holding the sword showed that his swordsmanship was high-level, but that would only apply when holding a sword that matched his physique. There were probably countless people injured by that sword.
“Insolent! How dare…”
Whether I had touched a sore spot, or because he was a smart prince who thought he had fallen for my scheme, he trembled even to his shoulders, revealing his anger. It was done. Now I just needed to embrace him warmly. Pretty and cute Willy, come to big brother’s arms.
I smiled affectionately at the prince with a much softened heart.
“Your Highness, does that sword perhaps have a story? Like it belonging to someone precious, or having blood on it that shouldn’t be buried.”
The prince’s face turned bright red. Not only his shoulders but his whole body trembled, and several attendants who had been watching the situation from behind had already fallen backward, pale with fright.
What kind of story could be contained in the sword? Why is he acting like that?
The story contained in the sword wasn’t in the original work, so I hadn’t asked knowing the sword’s story.
From seeing him hold the sword high with sparkling eyes, and getting excessively angry when I said it didn’t suit him, I knew William was obsessed with the sword. So I just asked wondering if there might be William’s own reason for being obsessed with that sword.
But looking at how things were going, something seemed very wrong. It felt like I had touched something I shouldn’t have touched.
“Hahaha, now that’s interesting.”
That’s when it happened. A loud laugh came from somewhere!
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
