The circulating rumors were outrageous.
I understood the adults’ position of thinking they didn’t need to respect me because I still looked like a child, but what was the point of speaking so openly like that!
Every time they did that, I would shrink my body like someone who had committed a crime and quickly escape from that place. If only I could, like the fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”… Wait, thinking about it, I could tell a Western fairy tale for tonight’s bedtime story, couldn’t I? It has a lesson too…
At the sudden thought, I smacked my forehead hard. This wasn’t the time to be leisurely thinking about old stories.
Since William didn’t allow me to be away from his side for even a moment, I couldn’t even stay outside for long. I walked quickly to William’s office.
“Where did you go that you’re only coming back now? I had a hard time waiting.”
“Your Highness is the one being too relaxed, aren’t you? The Crown Prince investiture ceremony will be held soon… I heard there’s a lot to prepare.”
Behern, who was standing beside him, answered as if he had been waiting.
“The ceremony preparations are done by the attendants, and His Highness the Crown Prince-designate only needs to memorize the declaration, but he’s so clever that he’s already memorized it all, so there’s nothing to do.”
William raised his chin high. He was like a peacock showing off how remarkable he was.
“Did you hear? So hurry and come over here. I have something for you to do.”
Is it something urgent? Or did Aren leave him some homework?
I approached where William was and looked over his shoulder at the table. I thought he might be looking at something secretive, but it was the ethics book I usually saw.
Then why did he call me?
Unable to understand his intention, I was just rolling my eyes when William suddenly put my hand on his shoulder and said.
“Massage my shoulders. Like last night.”
I looked at Behern with a troubled expression. The perceptive man cleared his throat and left his seat. He was indeed a seasoned attendant.
Sighing, I placed my hands on William’s shoulders. Though he was still a child with no tense spots anywhere, William bent his head back and met my eyes.
“Ahem, there are no tense spots on your shoulders at all!”
“Would Danny prefer if my shoulders were tense?”
“That’s not it, but… please stop saying strange things in front of Behern. It’s hard for me to even walk around the Imperial Palace with my head held high.”
William raised his arm and grabbed my hand firmly. Seeing a different light in his eyes looking at me, there must have been something else that displeased him.
“Danny doesn’t know anything. Why I’m doing this, what I’m thinking.”
“……”
I looked down at William with my mouth closed. Was it my imagination that his eyes seemed to be getting moistly wet?
“I’m always the only one being sincere. Danny is surely always thinking about leaving my side.”
“…What?”
I asked back in surprise. William straightened his head and avoided my gaze. In the past, it wasn’t difficult to figure out William’s intentions no matter what expression or words he used, but lately it had become hard to understand his intentions when he did or said something.
Rather, William was often the one who saw through my intentions, so there were more times like now when I broke out in cold sweat.
“It’s always been like that. Everyone I give my affection to leaves my side. Mother, my wet nurse… they all left. So Danny will leave too. Well, I think it’s natural.”
I had only asked him to be moderate so the attendants wouldn’t misunderstand more deeply, but how did he interpret it that way? Even if words without feet travel a thousand miles and rumors that have already spread can’t be helped, I had to clear up at least the misunderstanding William was having now.
I had never once thought about wanting to leave William’s side. Rather, I was determined to stick closely by his side until he ascended to the Emperor’s throne and make him into a wise ruler.
“Your Highness, it’s a misunderstanding. I have no intention of leaving Your Highness’s side. Why are you suddenly thinking such things?”
When I asked seriously, William raised his head and looked at me.
“I’m desperately trying to create misunderstandings and inflate rumors so I won’t be separated from you, but you said you didn’t like that. Aren’t you doing that because you want to leave my side?”
By this point, I was really curious. What on earth did not being separated from me have to do with spreading rumors?
“Your Highness, what does my being a formal concubine Omega who serves you at night have to do with not being separated?”
William looked at me with a flustered face. His expression seemed to want to ask back if I really didn’t know that. I smiled innocently and asked again.
“I can stay by your side even if I’m not an Omega who serves you at night, can’t I?”
William looked even more troubled.
“What on earth did Behern teach you? Or did you sleep during class?”
I flinched my shoulders. William chuckled.
“As expected, you dozed off thinking it was unnecessary. Listen carefully from now on. I’ll explain why those rumors are important.”
What? Was there another intention?
I reluctantly nodded.
“…Yes.”
“When I become Crown Prince, people like Kelton will attach themselves before long. You can see that clearly from Kalroy’s case. Actually, Kelton’s daughter became the Crown Prince’s Companion Omega. She’s essentially the Crown Princess. In Kalroy’s case, since there was no regular Omega serving him, he could welcome a Companion Omega, but my case is different.”
“What’s different? Even if a Companion Omega becomes Crown Princess, you can still have regular Omegas according to etiquette, can’t you?”
“It’s etiquette. But there’s another etiquette rule there.”
“What?”
“That regular Omegas can be filled with Omegas chosen by the Companion Omega. Excluding lower-class Omegas who don’t directly serve the Crown Prince, even if a regular Omega had been serving since the Prince’s time, they have to leave the palace. This is etiquette created to eliminate unnecessary power struggles.”
My mind became increasingly confused. Then there should have been no incidents where Empress Ihelina and William’s mother, Imperial Consort Cephilia, met misfortune due to power struggles. Moreover, there were more Crown Princes of the Stamili Empire who came from Imperial Consorts rather than from the legitimate wife.
“But Empress Ihelina didn’t expel Imperial Consort Cephilia until she framed and killed her. That’s why Your Highness was born, wasn’t it?”
“Right. That’s exactly it. Even if a Companion Omega is decided, there’s an exception that cannot be expelled… if it’s a regular Omega who spent the night with royalty before the Companion Omega was decided, they cannot be expelled. Because royal seed is considered precious, they can’t send an Omega who might be pregnant outside the palace.”
“Ahh…”
I unconsciously let out an exclamation.
To think he had thought of all this and created and spread rumors… From my position of needing to stay by William’s side until he ascended to the Emperor’s throne, it was fortunate.
“I didn’t know there was such a deep meaning. If I had known…”
William wrapped his arm around my waist and sat me on his lap. Since the Prince’s chair was quite wide and both of us were children, there was no problem sitting on one chair, but his constantly pressing our bodies together like this was endlessly troublesome.
William, who pressed his lips to my ear, whispered.
“If you had known?”
“Then… I would have been grateful. As I told you before, I’m just a lower-class Omega with nowhere to go. I’m not someone who can be somewhere just because I want to be there, or leave just because I want to leave.”
William gripped my hand that was placed on his lap tightly and said.
“Lower-class but… Dominant. And nobles roll their eyes red and rush to make such kids their concubines. Since only nobles are Dominant Omegas, none of them want to become concubines. But a Dominant Omega who’s lower-class? Then everyone would try to catch such a kid and make them their plaything.”
I was flustered about where this young Prince had picked up all these words. Well, there’s no place with more ears and mouths than inside the palace, so he would have heard them, but as a teacher, I began to seriously worry about my student’s educational environment.
“Your Highness… you don’t need to know such things.”
“Foolish words! There’s no duty more important for royalty than maintaining good bloodlines. That’s why we learn these things from the time we can hear and speak.”
“Hahaha…”
I could only laugh helplessly in the end. William laughed along with me too.
“Anyway, Danny has no intention of leaving me at all, right?”
“Yes.”
William gripped my hand tightly.
“That’s a relief. Even if you said you were going, I wouldn’t let you go anyway, but it’s still better if you want to stay yourself.”
“Th-that’s true.”
“Yeah!”
With William smiling with an innocent expression behind me, I was able to leave the office with the excuse that it was time for snacks. My plan to quiet the rumors a bit had come to nothing, but knowing the reason William was spreading false rumors did relieve some of my frustrated feelings.
Sigh… but why do I feel so suffocated? When I think about it, William doesn’t seem to have done anything wrong…
Feeling uneasy, I came outside. Just then, the sound of the knight order’s footsteps began to be heard. With an excited heart, I hid my body and was just poking out my head when a familiar face was looking at me right in front of my eyes.
“…Rob?”
“Now you don’t even use honorifics at all.”
Rob smiled and pulled me out of the grass.
“What’s the matter? It’ll be big trouble if His Highness the Prince sees.”
I said this hoping he would do it moderately and go back. The only way to relieve accumulated stress was meeting the knight order, and I didn’t want to spend that precious time arguing with Rob.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
