I had hoped he would just let it pass, but once William became persistent, he knew no bounds and demanded an answer again.
“No? Then what was that you just said?”
“I don’t understand why Your Highness interprets my saying I’ll stay by your side as a concubine as forcing myself to stay by your side.”
I was being cowardly by nitpicking at words for no reason. But I couldn’t help it since I hadn’t expected to feel such emotions either.
That said, I didn’t want to lie to William like I used to. No, actually, saying that I wanted to stay by William’s side wasn’t entirely a lie.
Because I did like being next to William.
However, having thought from the past until now about making William into a wise ruler to prolong my own life and then leaving, I felt guilty about honestly expressing this change of heart.
William said with a deflated tone.
“You’re staying because you like it, right? Danny.”
He stepped closer. I couldn’t give him a refreshing answer to those words, nor could I step back, so I had to fully bear the weight of him leaning against my body. Today, the burden on my shoulders felt several times heavier than usual.
“Yes, I’m staying because I like it.”
I’m sorry, William…
Later, when you meet a good companion Omega and your attachment target changes, you’ll be able to understand someone like me.
Normally, these words would have been enough, but William, having already experienced anxiety once, was more persistent than usual today.
“You’re staying by my side because you like me, right?”
“Yes. Because I like Your Highness, this morning of going to Stamili was happy for me. That’s why I sang and was joyful…”
William’s hands, which were hugging me tightly, began to tremble.
Only then could I snap to my senses.
What have I done to William, who is completely bound up in anxious attachment? Even though he had often shown mature attitudes, that didn’t mean his anxious attachment had changed to secure attachment…
I suppressed the urge to hit myself on the head and patted William’s back.
“Your Highness, I must be a natural storyteller.”
William pulled away from my embrace and met my eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?”
“Being a storyteller, even when I have something I want to express, I’m not good at it directly and end up expressing it through stories.”
William blinked his eyes wide twice. It was probably an expression that he still didn’t understand what I meant.
“So it might be frustrating and disappointing for you, but please bear with me. I’m still trying my best to express everything as honestly as possible to Your Highness.”
Finally, I found the most educational and honest expression that wouldn’t make me run away or get caught in self-censorship. What I had just said was the sincere truth of my heart.
Perhaps that feeling got through, as William smiled, pulling up the corners of his mouth, and nodded.
“Danny has always been honest. The problem is me, being too suspicious and obsessive. I know I have problems too. So Danny, please bear with me.”
William’s words were even more raw and sincere than what I had said, making me embarrassed again.
I thought as I tied William’s waist sash that he hadn’t finished tying.
When teaching children, I learned much more than I taught, but being by William’s side seemed to make this happen more frequently.
Maybe this was why I was suffering?
Because William was such an excellent student, I often felt I was far from adequate and frequently fell into self-loathing, which made me censor myself more.
Yes. That must be it.
***
“Skipping meals? That won’t do. Get up right now.”
When Rob pulled away the blanket Kalroy was covered with, Kalroy buried his face in the pillow while lying face down.
‘Food, my foot. Do I look like I’m in any state to eat right now?’
“Please, I beg you. You’ve done enough at this point.”
He wished to be left alone, but Rob stuck tenaciously and wouldn’t leave.
‘Wicked thing. Impudent thing. How can he be so heartless?’
Kalroy couldn’t forget the last sight of Daniel, who had left without looking back despite being given all the Pashan stones he could gather as gifts.
‘Why does that lowly, dirty Omega have such pale skin and such red lips? And if he’s really dominant, why doesn’t he even smell disgusting anymore…’
The more he thought about it, the more his anger exploded and his chest ached.
“Your Highness, you clearly said yesterday. If I let you stay in the room where Lord Daniel had stayed, even just for a while, you would work hard as Crown Prince starting today.”
At Rob’s words, Kalroy covered his ears. He was grateful to Rob, who would do whatever he asked for without being fooled just once or twice, but that didn’t mean his nagging was welcome.
“Please just leave me alone.”
“I cannot. If your body is tired, you can start work tomorrow, but I cannot let you skip meals.”
He knew that when Rob came out like this, there was absolutely no compromise. In the Stamili Empire, Kalroy would follow whatever he was commanded to do, but since coming to the Ohariko Empire, Rob made him follow his words somehow, using the justification that he had to protect Kalroy.
“My stomach hurts. Just for today… please.”
“I anticipated this and already told the palace chef to prepare easily digestible food. The cooking should be finished by now, so the timing is perfect.”
Rob was thorough to an astounding degree.
“And… I found it.”
At Rob’s words, Kalroy bolted upright from the bed. It was such quick movement that his claim of being sick seemed meaningless.
“Really? Are you sure it’s really something Daniel used?”
“…Yes. That’s correct. I knew you would be like this, so I separately saved a book that Lord Daniel was reading.”
“As expected… Rob is the best. Bring it right now!”
Rob, who had been silently watching Kalroy whose voice was brimming with energy as if he had never been sick, finally spoke.
“If you eat first, I’ll give it to you after that.”
He had no appetite because everything tasted bitter. But Rob was someone who, once he said no to something, would say no even if a knife came to his throat, so enduring longer would only delay receiving the object that Daniel’s hands had touched.
In the end, Kalroy could only receive the book Daniel had read from Rob after finishing his meal and completing all the work he had to do that day.
That night, Kalroy fell asleep tightly hugging a box made of Pashan that contained traces of Daniel.
However, Daniel didn’t allow him to see himself even in dreams.
The night was dark, and the dream was a nightmare as always.
His mother and Kelton appeared in the dream. Becoming a third party watching himself suffer at the sight of them, Kalroy suffered even in his dream.
“No. I, I… don’t want to be left alone. Don’t go… No, come with me, Danny…”
When he woke up calling Daniel’s name, a large, firm hand covered Kalroy’s eyes. It was a grateful hand that felt warm.
And a low, gentle voice was heard.
“I didn’t let you go alone. And I’m still by your side now. Always… I’ll be by your side.”
Since the hand blocked the light, even when he opened his eyes it was dark, so he couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality. Kalroy fell back asleep in a drowsy state.
While thinking of Daniel’s cute and pretty face…
***
Time passed again and William and I turned eighteen.
This year brought a good harvest to the Stamili Empire, leaving an abundance of mined lopeia. However, there was no worry. We could store it in warehouses and take it out anytime when bad harvests occurred.
William, now eighteen, had grown broader shoulders and taller again, so now I had to completely lift my head to meet his eyes. But his anxious attachment was still the same, sometimes doubting and pressuring me, though I was getting good at this tug-of-war with him.
If there was something that hadn’t changed at all, like William’s obsessiveness, it was Aren and Behern’s loyalty and Erica’s nagging.
Everything was flowing peacefully if I could endure just a bit of discomfort.
However, if there was one thing that bothered me… it was the fact that the Emperor’s health, who had been so formidable he could chew iron and blow up empires, was visibly deteriorating.
Among some nobles, there were even talks about whether it wouldn’t be better for the empire’s peace to abdicate early.
Added to this, as the Emperor’s health worsened, the pressure on William grew increasingly severe. That pressure was none other than to welcome a companion Omega.
William welcoming a companion Omega was something I also agreed with, but not right now. Of course, as long as Aren was solidly supporting him with power, he wouldn’t become a victim of political strife, but the problem was William’s anxious attachment. If he welcomed a companion Omega while still unstable, troublesome things would obviously happen.
Added to that, my body wasn’t the same as before.
I hadn’t mentioned even the ‘h’ in heat cycle to William, but from my own awareness, two heat cycles had already passed.
One strange thing was that if I was truly a Dominant Omega, there was no way my heat cycles would pass so ambiguously like this.
Something was odd, but since I had only read about the Alpha and Omega worldview in books and had never experienced it myself, there was no way to find out about this.
Even when I opened the information window, the only information about Daniel Lambert was ‘Lower-class Omega,’ which I had seen when I first came to this world.
Anyway, the important thing was that if William knew I was having heat cycles, he would try to burst out with everything he had been holding back until now, and if that happened, I, being relatively weak, would be overpowered by William.
According to the original story, William would become Emperor when he turned twenty. That meant about one year remained from now.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
