Before, just seeing William speak to me would surprise them so much they’d lose their words or scrunch up their faces… Their different reaction from the others made me even more flustered instead.
“But Your Highness…”
As I trailed off while watching the people around us, William grinned and replied.
“I know what you’re thinking, but there’s nothing to worry about. From today, you’re not a lower-class Omega but a regular Omega!”
“Pardon?”
When I asked back, William said it again loudly.
“A regular Omega!”
If William hadn’t been holding my hand, I would have fallen backward. To think status promotion would happen this quickly… Aren must have had much stronger power than I had thought.
William bragged with a proud expression.
“How about it? Aren’t you happy? Now you don’t have to watch people’s reactions. In terms of rank, you’d be right below Behern!”
“Ah…”
William was looking at me with such sparkling eyes that I pretended to be moved, but actually I didn’t have any particular thoughts about it. Since coming here, I had naturally accepted my circumstances as a child with humble status.
I didn’t really care what happened to my status in this unfamiliar world, but if my status rose, I might achieve my goal of keeping myself alive by making William into a wise ruler faster, so either way it was a good thing.
“Thank you.”
At my polite greeting, William whispered in my ear.
“If you’re grateful, tonight, you know?”
“…?”
Even knowing it wasn’t meant in a strange way, my face instantly reddened and my breath caught. It seemed I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts, as the other attendants’ faces also turned red.
Is there really something wrong with my body? Why am I reacting like this to a child?
This was a situation that would never have happened if I were in my original world.
My face felt hot, so I pressed it with my cold hands to cool it down. William tilted his head and looked at me.
“What’s wrong? Are you hot?”
“No.”
When I turned my head in embarrassment, William also turned his head to meet my gaze.
“Tonight I want to hear a more exciting story. I’m already looking forward to it.”
Right. It was about stories.
No matter how much I had an Omega’s body and a child’s physique, I couldn’t forgive myself for showing such an immoral physical reaction toward William.
Seeing me like this, William asked with a sullen face, having misunderstood.
“Why? Have you run out of stories to tell?”
“No. It’s not that…”
Just then, the office door opened and Aren appeared. He was smiling brightly, as if something good had happened.
Aren sent all the attendants outside, then spread out what looked like either a map or a picture on the large table.
“What is this?”
I wanted to see it closer, but worried it might be rude, so I just craned my neck while standing beside William. Aren smiled and said.
“You come here too and look together. Your role is also important.”
I quickly went over to examine the paper. Along with hard-to-decipher pictures, something like an incident log was written. Seeing it, I looked at William in surprise. William’s eyes had also grown round.
“So… you’re going to eliminate Kelton in this way. Wow!”
“Your Highness has nothing to do. However, we need Daniel’s help.”
I nodded vigorously.
“Yes. I can do anything.”
It was a natural answer. The person who tried to poison William to maintain his own power and even brainwashed Kalroy from behind deserved to disappear.
“Behern said you were small but spirited, and those words weren’t wrong.”
“What can I help you with?”
Aren pondered for a moment before opening his mouth.
“I heard rumors that Crown Prince Kalroy likes you very much…”
Huk, Aren knew that much too. It was the information network befitting a powerful figure. But I couldn’t acknowledge that here. There was no reason to provoke the young lion who was already growling with possessiveness over me.
“N-no. Rather, whenever he sees me, he calls me lowly and dirty and disgusting, and avoids me so he won’t even bump into me.”
Aren patted my head and laughed. Even though I was actually similar in age to when I lived in my original world, having a child’s body made him feel more like an adult.
“That’s because you take the Crown Prince’s twisted signals at face value.”
I know that too. That’s why I’m going crazy. But since I can’t show that, I had no choice but to put on an innocent smile pretending I didn’t know anything…
“No way!”
William, who had been quiet, suddenly interrupted. He grabbed Aren’s wrist that was patting my head and pulled it down, fuming.
“I’m already going crazy because he tries to take Daniel away whenever he gets the chance, and now you want to send this child there? I absolutely cannot allow that.”
His appearance glaring at Aren with clenched fists was as resolute as when he wielded his sword in front of the Prince’s quarters.
That damn temperament… At least he could listen to what it’s about first before discussing whether to agree or not.
I approached to calm William down, promising that I would never side with Kalroy. But Aren was faster.
“As they say, blood cannot be deceived – Your Highness resembles my sister very much.”
Aren seemed to find his nephew cute even when he got angry and had a rampage after meeting him for the first time in so long. Affection dripped from his slightly curved, smiling eyes.
Looking at Aren, I erased all my remaining doubts. If it was Aren who missed his sister and looked at his nephew with such eyes, I thought I could trust him.
William, who had been speechless for a while at the mention of his mother, finally spoke.
“Even if you talk about my mother, what’s not allowed is not allowed. I don’t want to have my things taken away, and it’s too dangerous.”
Hahaha. My, my things. William’s words were so absurd I almost laughed out loud.
And saying it’s too dangerous. Baby, your teacher is actually nearly three times your age, so I don’t think you need to worry about me going there.
“How about listening first and then deciding?”
Aren asked William in a gentle voice. His appearance of maintaining composure without getting excited even for a moment despite being a military man was mature. In many ways, he definitely didn’t seem like someone who would harm William.
But the problem was William. Even as Aren explained the plan step by step, William stubbornly refused, saying he absolutely couldn’t use me as bait.
I carefully added my voice.
“Your Highness, I’m fine.”
“No. Be quiet.”
At William’s firm refusal, I felt like a puppy that wouldn’t listen to its master’s commands and was running wild. I sent a pleading look toward Aren. He also looked troubled.
“Duke Aren, let’s revise the plan. Having Daniel persuade Kalroy to dig out Kelton’s weaknesses doesn’t seem like a good method. The probability of failure is high too. As uncle knows, Kalroy isn’t as easy-going as you might think. Right now he’s slightly off due to anxiety… No, being off makes him more dangerous. What if that crazy bastard harms our Daniel?”
When the rational William listed reasons why it wouldn’t work point by point, Aren’s expression was colored with surprise. I knew what that reaction was. I had also been surprised by William’s mature behavior when I first saw him.
William was so exceptional that calling him intelligent wasn’t enough – he surprised everyone around him. This was also because he had been in a position where his life was threatened. So at first I was proud of William, but now I felt sad whenever I saw such behavior.
Aren couldn’t easily suggest another alternative and just kept repeating “Well, this is…” with a troubled expression. William, who had been staring into space lost in thought, slowly opened his mouth.
“Uncle, do you know the term black propaganda?”
“…Pardon? It’s the first time I’ve heard that word.”
Hearing William’s question, I almost spit out the water I was drinking. To think he remembered and used the word that had accidentally slipped from my mouth. As expected, the saying about not drinking water carelessly in front of children wasn’t there for nothing.
“Simply put, it’s using scandals. Isn’t the reason Kalroy’s influence has declined also due to scandals about him being sickly?”
Aren rubbed his chin and nodded. Then he suddenly asked as if something had occurred to him.
“What kind of scandal are you referring to? What I planned was to reveal the fact that Kelton was behind Kalroy.”
William smiled wickedly. He was like a little devil.
“Scandals can be created as needed. People will say they saw something big even when they only saw something small.”
From then on, William rattled off plans to eliminate Duke Kelton using scandals with storytelling skills that rivaled professional storytellers.
When I, as an adult, listened and judged, it was an excellent opinion that would be perfectly fine to proceed with as William suggested. While I was proud of him in one way, I simultaneously felt uneasy as if I were raising a tiger cub.
***
That night, after confirming William had fallen asleep, I carefully got up. I returned to my room and concentrated my mind. It was to open the information window.
Scandals… What kind of content should I create scandals with?
Recalling William’s coldly smiling expression, I began pondering content that would support his plan. The book’s information window, while it didn’t directly predict the future regarding my destiny, provided sufficient information about any character who appeared, even if they were new. In other words, it was like an X-file that could be used anywhere, anytime.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
