“I have something urgent and confidential to discuss with you. Please spare me some time.”
William frowned. Even though he had shown his displeasure during the meeting, the fact that this prudent person was requesting a private audience immediately without giving him time to compose himself meant the matter must be that important.
‘Sigh… I thought I’d have time to catch my breath.’
William sighed and agreed to the private meeting.
“Let’s go to my office.”
***
“Daniel’s reaction is unusual.”
William tilted his head at Aren’s words.
“I know he’s struggling because of his heat cycle. However, I don’t think you would request a private audience over something of that degree, Uncle.”
Aren stroked his chin with a serious expression.
‘What on earth could it be….’
William knew that the impudent Daniel had been deceiving him even while experiencing his heat cycle. The reason William hadn’t made an issue of it was because he knew that to gain one thing, one must endure the patience of giving up another.
When making Daniel his concubine, William had conspired with Aren.
They would change Daniel’s classification, who was clearly a recessive Omega. If they didn’t do this, Daniel could be in danger because of the stigma of being a concubine with poor genetics.
Until now, William had dealt with nobles who opposed him using scandals, following the method Daniel had taught him in childhood.
The proud and arrogant nobles would band together and resist when pressed with force, but when scandals were created to establish justification, they would act submissively out of fear of being entangled in those scandals themselves.
What William realized then was that he must never do anything that would give the nobles leverage against him.
With Kalroy gone, there was only one thing that could become William’s weakness: the fact that the person he wanted to make his companion Omega was a recessive Omega.
So William conspired with the imperial physician to declare that Daniel’s classification was extremely dominant Omega. But that alone couldn’t fool the cunning nobles’ eyes.
The person they brought in then was Erica.
Having graduated at the top of her class from the Imperial Beauty School, she had exceptional skills despite her young age and was good at pleasing difficult nobles’ tastes. So she had mainly worked on styling dominant Omegas.
They thought there would be no one more suitable than her to make Daniel appear as an extremely dominant Omega.
And William’s prediction was spot on.
Erica succeeded in making Daniel, a recessive Omega, more beautiful than any dominant Omega.
Of course, all of this was done after Aren, the imperial physician, and Erica, who knew about this matter, swore they would never reveal it until their deaths, so even Daniel himself could never know about his true classification.
The imperial physician’s explanation that extremely dominant Omegas, who appear maybe once in a hundred years, have heat cycles that come later than other Omegas had no problem deceiving the nobles, the Emperor, and even Daniel himself.
‘But then… Daniel’s reaction is unusual?’
“Uncle, please tell me. What exactly is strange about it?”
“According to the news Erica just urgently delivered, Daniel asked whether the imperial physician might lack skill and could have misjudged his classification. She said it wasn’t something to just overlook and reported it urgently… I also think it’s not something to just pass over.”
“That’s certainly true. It means he’s starting to suspect….”
William was annoyed at the situation where they might be discovered, but on the other hand, he was relieved that Daniel wasn’t suspecting him.
“He’s a very perceptive and wise person. I think you should be careful. He’s not just any dispensable concubine, is he?”
At Aren’s words, William snorted.
“You said Daniel is perceptive? He doesn’t have even a speck of perception and makes people so disappointed. A dominant Alpha right next to him… Tch, let’s not talk about it.”
Aren, whose tension was relieved by William’s honesty, chuckled.
“You have no words you can’t say in front of your uncle who’s too busy to even get married yet, nephew.”
“Exactly. I hear there are many Omegas following you around, so why are you still not going?”
“I waited until Your Majesty settled into position. Originally, Alpha men tend to become cautious once they have a wife and children.”
“…I’m always grateful.”
“That aside, what do you plan to do? How about being honest with him at this opportunity? After all, it was a scheme to deceive the nobles’ eyes, wasn’t it?”
William looked at Aren with raised eyes.
“Uncle, are you really asking because you don’t understand my intentions?”
At William’s sharp reaction, Aren closed his mouth and bowed his head.
‘He’s becoming more and more sensitive. I didn’t usually say anything even when I gave opinions of this degree…. Daniel is going to become His Majesty’s reverse scale.’
At that thought, he got goosebumps.
“I misspoke. If Daniel finds out he was deceived, he’ll immediately storm out of that position… that would be a big problem, wouldn’t it?”
The last words were added to test William. He hoped William would at least outwardly say what kind of big problem that would be, but his nephew showed no intention of doing so and revealed his true feelings.
“If that were to happen, I would also abandon the Emperor’s throne and try to be with Danny, wouldn’t I? Didn’t you say so yourself, Uncle? Originally, Alpha men tend to become cautious once they have a wife and children. So it would be difficult to pursue great endeavors, wouldn’t it?”
Though his tone was polite, it was full of thorns. William’s words were tantamount to a half-threat, saying that if Daniel left his concubine position, he would abdicate the throne, so Aren should handle the aftermath himself.
“Your Majesty, what are you saying…. Didn’t I say I misspoke? Please stop.”
“I’ll handle Daniel’s unusual reaction, so Uncle, please handle the nobles. If the nobles keep interfering….”
“It would interfere with running state affairs.”
William shook his head, denying Aren’s words.
“Do you think I would be hindered by just that much?”
Aren kept his mouth shut. He realized that the more he spoke, the more he touched William’s sensitive nerves.
William answered by himself as if he hadn’t asked the question expecting an answer.
“If the nobles interfere, Daniel will think about leaving my side for my sake. Daniel is that kind of person. Someone who thinks of me first in any situation…. How could I live after letting such a person go?”
“…Yes. I understand Your Majesty’s will well. I’ll be careful so no noise is heard.”
Aren spoke sincerely with inner admiration. Though he had never failed to respect William just because he was his nephew, whenever his nephew showed how deeply he trusted and cared for his people like today, Aren naturally felt loyalty arise.
‘Your Majesty is fortunate. Though you grew up with difficulties, you have someone you trust that much.’
Aren thought that William’s absolute faith in Daniel was like a religion that transcended love.
***
I took a deep breath and headed to William’s office. According to Behern, nothing special happened at today’s Noble Council, but there was so much work that he went straight to his office without even changing clothes.
How busy must he have been to go to his office still wearing the uncomfortable clothes he usually wears when meeting nobles?
I was thinking this while bringing clothes that William often wears when working to him.
I thought my caretaking role would end when William turned twenty, but I had an uneasy premonition that I’d have to continue for a while longer.
I finally arrived in front of his office. Now I just needed to open this door and go in, but like a thief with a guilty conscience, opening the door wasn’t easy.
What if he notices I had a heat cycle? I took medicine and recovered my condition, so that shouldn’t happen, but I couldn’t help feeling anxious.
I took a deep breath and opened the office door. William invited me to sit as if he had been waiting.
“You came? Sit here. I want to have a conversation after a long time.”
Wasn’t he supposed to be busy?
For William and me, the office was a space for concentrating on work. Though we occasionally exchanged jokes, even then he never took his eyes off the documents. It was strange that such a person would want to talk about something other than work as soon as he saw me.
“Your Majesty, I heard you’re busy. I was planning to just deliver this and leave.”
Since I didn’t know when my heat cycle might come and couldn’t trust how long the medicine would last, I planned to have as little contact with William as possible. So I handed him the clothes box I brought without even sitting down. He raised one eyebrow and stared at the box blankly.
“Aren’t you uncomfortable? I heard you went straight to your office after the meeting ended, so I brought this in case you might be uncomfortable.”
William still said nothing. When I first stepped foot in here, I didn’t feel anything particularly strange, but from the moment I held out the box, he seemed oddly displeased.
Still, he should answer when asked. What am I supposed to do when he keeps his mouth tightly shut like that?
“Your Majesty? Is there somewhere you’re feeling unwell?”
Instead of answering, William pulled my arm and embraced me. Because of that, the clothes box I was holding fell to the floor.
“…Your Majesty.”
“Danny, let me stay like this for just a moment.”
William, burying his nose in my nape and breathing, looked desperate enough that I couldn’t refuse.
Ever since William became Emperor, or more precisely, since he started conducting Noble Councils himself, I gradually came to know less and less about him.
I strongly felt as if someone was intentionally covering my eyes.
William, are you being bullied by the nobles? Are you struggling with something you can’t even tell me about because you’re worried I’ll be concerned?
Even without knowing what happened to him, I felt bad thinking that all the difficult things William was going through were because of me.
Because for perfect him, the only weakness and flaw was not having a companion Omega.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
