“Your Highness, my life and Your Highness’s life have different values. If something happens to Your Highness, I’ll die too, so please just stay here quietly. I’ll really go secretly without anyone knowing, just take a look, and come back.”
“No.”
If I had more strength, I would have pushed him aside forcibly and left, but my strength was insufficient to overpower a prince, so I couldn’t do that either.
That’s when it happened. When a loud bang! was heard from outside.
The prince and I simultaneously stood up and opened the window. Since the sound came from the window side, this would be sufficient to check without having to go outside.
And the prince and I, looking down below the window, froze solid just like that.
We repeated looking at the unbelievable scene below, then at each other’s faces several times.
“What on earth is happening right now…”
“Right. No matter how I look at it, the person down there is…”
It was Kalroy.
I had no idea why he had come here, but it was definitely Kalroy.
As if he had fallen from a tree, he was under the tree, patting his shoulder and groaning in pain.
I quietly closed the window. William flared up.
“Why are you closing the window? I should immediately bring soldiers and ask why he was spying on me at this hour!”
“Your Highness, if spying was the purpose, he would have sent someone else.”
William nodded with a displeased face, seeming to agree with my words.
“Right. That’s what’s strange to me too. It’s not like the Crown Prince’s palace is empty of people, so there’s no reason for him to come spy personally all the way here.”
“Please let this slide quietly just this once. Anyway, by tomorrow his power will be greatly weakened…”
William nodded with a reluctant expression.
“To avoid becoming a poisoned pheasant, I should listen to Daniel.”
He was admirable.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
After that, I told him several more modern creative fairy tales like the story of a rabbit who loved a tiger and the story of a whale who came to land. After William’s eyes began to close, I lowered my voice and patted his back, and soon he fell into deep sleep.
After putting William to sleep, I was worried about Kalroy, who might still be outside. There had been a loud thud, and he seemed to have fallen from a tree, so if he had broken a leg or something, he wouldn’t be able to go back.
In this situation, I couldn’t delay any longer.
I carefully went outside so as not to wake the sensitive William. Walking toward where the window was, as expected, Kalroy was holding his ankle and groaning in pain.
Good grief. What on earth was he thinking, coming out alone without even a single servant? No, more than that, what were the servants doing, not even stopping the Crown Prince’s nighttime outing?
Thinking this far, I nodded while considering the Crown Prince’s temperament. Even if the servants had tried to stop him, if Kalroy had stubbornly insisted, no one could have stopped him.
I sighed and approached where the Crown Prince was.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“Eek!”
When our eyes met, Kalroy was so startled as if he had seen a ghost that he fell backward.
“H-how did you know?”
Kalroy’s stammering appearance was astounding.
When I looked at him as if he was pathetic, Kalroy seemed flustered and couldn’t say anything, then composed himself and spoke seriously.
“How dare a lowly Omega speak first without proper etiquette! I must question your crimes. First, carry me on your back. Carry me to the Crown Prince’s palace and drink warm tea… No, I’ll interrogate you there!”
Why does this guy keep flip-flopping? Who’s the one who should be interrogated right now, what is he saying? His shamelessness was sky-high.
“Then I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything and go back.”
“What, what did you say? You…”
“The reason I cannot follow Your Highness’s command is because a filthy, lowly Omega cannot carry the noble body of Crown Prince Your Highness on their back.”
“……”
Kalroy flinched, then came to his senses and continued.
“I’ll specially permit it just for today. So hurry up and carry me!”
“Please withdraw your command. I am Prince Your Highness’s lowly Omega. I cannot do something that goes against propriety.”
After finishing my words, I lifted my head slightly and Kalroy’s expression was a mess.
“You dare refuse the Crown Prince’s order despite being an Omega!”
“I’m not disobeying Your Highness’s command, but merely fulfilling my duty. Please forgive me. Instead, I’ll go directly to the Crown Prince’s palace to inform them of this situation for Your Highness who cannot move, so if you wait just a little, it will be fine.”
After finishing my words, I ran toward the Crown Prince’s palace without looking back. Behind my running back, I heard a voice full of resentment.
“No! Don’t go! I said don’t go!”
I pretended not to hear and covered my ears as I ran. A life where you can’t even sleep properly at night… it really was exhausting.
***
The next day.
As William had said, rumors spread wildly throughout the imperial palace. It was the rumor that the Crown Prince was suffering from a serious illness.
And that rumor was inflated and inflated again, distorted from suffering from a physical illness to having such serious mental illness that he couldn’t even go outside.
The Emperor, upon hearing the rumors, soon submitted the matter of Kalroy’s qualification as Crown Prince to the noble council.
William and I watched the situation with the mindset of “let’s watch the show and eat rice cakes,” not getting involved. If we could drag Kalroy down from that position by other people’s hands, nothing could be better than that.
As expected, those political noble bastards didn’t deviate an inch from my expectations. The nobles who until recently had been on the Crown Prince’s side, obsessing over the crumbs that would fall to them, completely changed their attitude and began discussing the Crown Prince’s qualifications.
And surprisingly, the person who took the lead in criticizing Crown Prince Kalroy was none other than Lord Kelton.
The sight of him immediately turning his back after having done all sorts of bad deeds using the young Crown Prince as a front…
I felt so disgusted I could vomit.
William seemed to feel the same way as he couldn’t eat well. I asked William with a worried voice.
“Your Highness, you’ve left half your meal again today. You’re not sick, are you?”
“Yeah, I’m not sick…”
“Is there something troubling you…”
“No! Not at all. I’m perfectly fine. Even if Lord Kelton is the mastermind, it’s not like Kalroy is without fault.”
As expected, William was also concerned about Kalroy.
“Haah…”
William’s sigh followed.
Although he still occasionally lost his temper and said mean things, William was a child with a good nature. The real villain was someone else, but his older brother, who had only done foolish puppet work, was taking all the blame – this situation must have felt uncomfortable.
I felt like I needed to come up with some kind of plan…
Actually, the method to resolve this uncomfortable feeling was simple. It was to tell the Emperor what I knew through William’s mouth.
But there were problems with doing that.
First, William still didn’t have the power to back him up, so he couldn’t wage an all-out war against Lord Kelton. Moreover, it was uncertain whether the Emperor would believe those words.
Second, even if the Emperor believed William’s words, it would still be problematic. Then the Emperor would forgive Kalroy and place all responsibility on Kelton. There might be variables, but it meant William could never again covet the Crown Prince’s position. If that happened, my risk would increase due to the completely twisted original story content.
Third, people like Kelton who try to gain power by leaning on the Crown Prince would always emerge again, and the possibility of another disaster like William nearly being poisoned would increase.
What to do? It’s a problem whether I speak or not.
While I was worrying, Behern came in.
“Your Highness, Duke Aren requests an audience.”
“Duke Aren? Tell him to come right away.”
When I tried to go to my room to give them time to talk, William urgently turned me around.
“Where are you going?”
“I was going to listen to your conversation from my room so as not to interfere.”
“No, stay beside me. I’m going to test Duke Aren today.”
“Test him?”
It was an unexpected statement.
“What are you planning to do?”
William winked and gestured toward me.
“Come close.”
I hesitated, unable to approach William. Even though I was the only servant who had William’s trust, I was still a lowly Omega. If Aren saw me staying close to the prince, it might create unnecessary problems.
“Your Highness… that’s a bit…”
“I’ve been treating you well lately, and now you’re going to provoke my anger? Are you going to overturn all our strategies and everything?”
“N-no. I’ll come.”
I stammered and approached him. William smiled gently as if telling me not to worry and briefly held my hand before letting go. At times like this, I was truly at a loss. Where did this kid learn to act like a playboy despite being so young?
Kid, you’re younger than the upper elementary students I used to teach.
Swallowing words I couldn’t say out loud, I bowed my head deeply. A large shadow cast long across the floor. It was Aren.
“Infinite glory to the Stamili Empire and Prince William!”
“Welcome, Duke. Please dispense with the formalities.”
Aren raised his head with a moved expression. Seeing him up close, it was really as William had said. It was the affectionate face of someone looking at their own son.
Aren stood up from his position and sat across from the prince. I kept my head down, worried that our eyes might meet. Even so, I felt a piercing gaze on the top of my head. He was probably bothered by having a servant at close distance who hadn’t been there during their previous meeting.
“You need not mind Daniel. Although he’s a lower-class Omega, in this place where I can trust no one, he’s the only person I can trust along with Behern.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
