Still, seeing William laugh so refreshingly like this after a long time was a pleasant thing. So much so that I thought it would be okay to let William have his way with me a little more.
“Oh my, that’s really too much. I was genuinely scared.”
“Sorry, Dany. There’s no way I’d make our Dany do something dangerous.”
“Well, that’s true.”
In the vast, vast Stamili Empire. In a place where all kinds of schemes and intrigues ran rampant, William and I were each other’s only friend to whom we could show our backs. Today especially, the sunlight, the smell of grass, and the wind were all so warm.
***
Bruises here, bruises there.
So much for royal horses being good at following inexperienced commands – what nonsense. I truly died and came back to life every riding lesson. The first day I rode with William, it was literally because I was riding together with him that things were calm.
“Ouch, ah…”
“Ah, stay still for a moment. You keep moving so the medicine I carefully applied keeps getting wiped off.”
Erica said irritably. After riding lessons ended and I returned, I felt sorry for her as she examined my body asking how much I’d gotten hurt today, but it couldn’t be helped. I wasn’t getting hurt because I wanted to get hurt, but because I was born without athletic ability.
“Sigh, Erica… why am I like this? They say even little children can walk their horses alone after two or three days. Why can’t I do it?”
Erica pondered for a long time before reluctantly answering.
“Instead, Daniel-nim is smart.”
It was an answer that didn’t fit the context, but her heart wanting to comfort me came through sufficiently.
“Turn your body to the side. My goodness… did you fight with the horse today? Your side is all blue.”
“I never fought with it?”
“Then why is this like this?”
“Before getting on the horse, the horse suddenly neighed loudly and I was startled and fell.”
Erica was shaking her head and taking medicine from the medicine bottle when the door burst open and a familiar voice was heard.
“Dany!”
The only person who called me like that here was William. When I turned my head, William was looking at me with a scary expression.
“Yes?”
“What are you doing right now?”
Erica jumped in surprise like someone caught stealing and moved away from me.
Why is she acting like that when she did nothing wrong? That makes it look even more suspicious.
Since I had done nothing wrong, I answered calmly.
“I got hurt while riding and was applying medicine.”
William snatched the medicine from Erica with a displeased face. The quick-witted girl bowed her head and fled from my room as if escaping.
“Your Highness, why are you only being mean to Erica? She’s an attendant you personally selected and granted to me. Did Erica do something wrong to Your Highness?”
“No? Who said that?”
“Then why…”
“I don’t know. I don’t like her. An attendant should just do attendant work, but she’s excessively affectionate toward Dany – she must have some ulterior motive.”
“……”
“Don’t you remember? I told you there were kind attendants when I was a prince. Those people at first too…”
The repertoire of bad attendants continued endlessly.
Since we had argued about Erica like this several times, I felt that saying more here would only fan William’s anger, so I kept my mouth shut.
William put medicine on his hand and examined my wounds.
“Really… if it hurt this much, you should have said something. Are you stupid? I didn’t know because you didn’t say it hurt during riding lessons.”
Worry about me seeped through every word he said. It was truly strange. It wasn’t much different from the nagging Erica did, but William’s worry touched my heart more… I guess this is why they say you can’t ignore time spent together.
“It’s fine. Since Your Highness is personally applying medicine, I already feel better.”
“If you can’t speak, at least you’re not annoying. From next time, tell me immediately when it hurts.”
“Yes.”
Everywhere William’s hand passed, I felt a tingling sensation.
He’s not even emitting pheromones, so why am I like this?
Now I was quite accustomed to an omega’s body and could distinguish pheromones, but William right now was in a stable state. Yet feeling such a prickling sensation was definitely problematic.
When Erica touched me, I felt nothing…
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of other things.
Gapa who shed tears while returning to Putdy after finishing teaching techniques to the children, the cute children who burst into cheers seeing lopeia, clean clothes and delicious food, and William who said Dany’s old stories were the most interesting… Huh? William?
Ah, this was really a big problem. These days, no matter how much I tried to think of other things, all my thoughts ended up being about William.
It wasn’t like this from the beginning, but the longer I spent time with William, the more affection accumulated. Even though it was natural, I wasn’t pleased with that fact.
Of course, having feelings for William and leading the empire together with him would be a wonderful life, but that came with the condition of continuing the Stamili Empire’s lineage. Moreover, as long as I was here, William would strongly oppose connecting through marriage with a family that would support his power.
Considering various situations, it was right for me to leave once William was stabilized.
I can’t keep wavering like this. Let me steel my heart. Seo Ajun.
“It’s done.”
William muttered while closing the medicine bottle lid.
“Really… no matter how much he likes an omega, there probably isn’t another crown prince anywhere in this world who would personally apply medicine.”
I smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. There’s no one anywhere as warm and beautiful as Your Highness William. That’s why I really like you.”
William’s shoulders twitched and he cleared his throat with a “hmm hmm.”
“It’s not free.”
“Ah, I know. Everything comes with a price. What kind of story do you want today?”
William chuckled. Lately he sometimes laughs like that, but I still haven’t built immunity to that laugh so it felt unfamiliar.
“The crown prince treated you, and you want to repay that with just a story?”
“…Then what do you want?”
“No, it’s not about what I want, but stories are originally heard at bedtime. The sun hasn’t even set yet!”
In the midst of this, I almost laughed because William’s idea that stories should only be heard at night was cute, but I stiffened my expression after hearing his next words.
“Give me a kiss.”
At this request I was hearing for the first time, I looked at William doubting my ears. However, as if to let me know I hadn’t misheard, he tapped his cheek and said,
“A kiss here, once.”
When I gave no response, William frowned. Giving him a kiss once wasn’t difficult, but I was curious about the reason he wanted it.
“Um… I’ll do it for you, but may I ask why you’re suddenly making such a request?”
“I saw everything.”
“What?”
“You kissed the kids at the workshop a few days ago!”
Wondering what he was talking about, I carefully retraced my memories and recalled what happened a few days ago. The children who learned well from Gapa and produced quality lopeia were so precious and cute that I was teaching them mathematics for an hour each day, and that day was the day I taught multiplication.
I kissed the cheek of a child who persistently solved a difficult three-digit multiplication problem because I was so proud, and seeing that, he was now requesting it from me.
“Don’t you give it when someone does something well?”
“No… those are tiny little kids. Your Highness is the great Stamili Empire’s…”
While speaking, I paused and thought – something was strange. Since when did I stop giving candy to little William when he asked for it and start thinking of him as an equal peer?
From the moment I came to this world, I only treated him as someone I had to protect. But… at some point, I was sometimes thinking of William as someone my age and trying to rely on him.
Damn. This seems to be very, very wrong, doesn’t it?
Belatedly coming to my senses, I hugged William tightly and patted his back.
“No. I misspoke, Your Highness. A kiss is a meaning of praise and gratitude.”
I placed my lips on William’s slightly flushed cheek. After about 3 seconds, just as I was about to remove my lips from his cheek, William grabbed my shoulder and this time he placed his lips on my cheek.
At the utterly innocent kiss, an equally bright laugh came out.
As he got older he should become more mature, but William only kept getting cuter – this was a big problem.
***
Last night I couldn’t sleep a wink thinking about how I could stop my feelings for William.
Today was the day to display the lopeia the children had made before His Imperial Majesty and various nobles. So I had to move busily from morning because of Erica making a fuss.
“It’s not about presenting me, but showing the lopeia, Erica.”
“Yes. Who’s saying otherwise?”
“But what is all this? It’s too cumbersome.”
Erica sighed deeply.
“Daniel-nim, you know Duke Dekal, right?”
“Yeah, I know him.”
In the Stamili Empire, Duke Dekal was so famous that if you didn’t know him, you weren’t considered an imperial citizen. Not because of his political moves or ducal status, but because he was called the emperor of high society due to his handsome appearance and manners. The clothes and accessories he wore would soon be sold out day after day. Duke Dekal’s influence was also part of why the imperial palace craftsmen became so arrogant.
“What do you think is the reason the items he wears become trendy?”
“Hmm… because they’re unique and pretty?”
“You don’t know. The completion of fashion is the face. Because his face is cool, everything he wears looks cool too, right?”
Erica was explaining enthusiastically, but my head was getting more and more confused.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Oh my. So, if we’re going to present lopeia anyway, the model is important. Will eyes go to the gems displayed in the exhibition hall, or will they go more to the gems worn by two handsome men?”
“Ah.”
Only then could I understand what Erica meant.
I looked anew at my appearance reflected in the mirror. In the mirror, I in gorgeous attire was looking at myself as if at a stranger. Having gone through Erica’s hands, I had certainly become beautiful, but it was difficult to completely agree with her words.
Though I had the unique atmosphere of an omega, compared to William or Duke Dekal, I was an ordinary person…
Erica, who had been looking at me, spoke as if reading my mind.
“Daniel-nim is objectively pretty. And Daniel-nim has something more important than appearance. A kind of symbol!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
