William gestured toward a corner of the room with his chin. There was a small door I hadn’t noticed before.
“That’s your room.”
When I turned my head in that direction, William added.
“Go take a look.”
Since I wouldn’t be able to refuse saying I didn’t like it, those words were probably a command rather than a suggestion. I couldn’t know the clear reason why William wanted me to stay with him and serve him, but I had achieved my purpose of entering the palace.
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
While William elegantly drank his tea, I carefully walked to my room. Though it wasn’t spacious since it was attached to the prince’s room, it was cleaner and nicer than the house I first lived in when I came to this world.
Well, this isn’t bad. If I live attached to his room, I can monitor the prince’s every move and discipline him immediately whenever he shows tyrannical qualities.
Still, I didn’t know it would happen this quickly.
Lower-class Omegas can’t form deep relationships with princes. So after entering the palace, I planned to use my maximum-level social skills to somehow secure at least a lower attendant position and slowly build a relationship with the prince. Since William still had time before becoming an adult.
But I didn’t know the development would be this fast.
It felt like I was bewitched by someone. My naturally cautious and sensitive nature kept sending warnings from within.
This isn’t right. There must be some trap.
But right now I had no choice at all. I had to stay tense and not let my guard down just because things were going according to plan…
I felt I should show some sincerity, so I pretended to look around the room in a circle. And in that small room, I discovered something. On the desk, a note was spread out conspicuously, written in Stamili Empire language:
[If you don’t kill Prince William, you will die.]
Wow… Even though I know who the mastermind is, they have some nerve.
This is William’s prince palace, and William’s people… I sighed while thinking. From what I could see, this place had long ago fallen into the hands of the crown prince who had seized power. Except for one old attendant.
However, no matter what, how could they spread out a secret message so conspicuously?
I quickly folded the secret message and put it in my pocket. When I came outside, William was smiling with an unreadable expression.
Though it was a beautiful face, his cold smile sent chills through my chest.
He spoke as if he had never smiled like that.
“How is it? Do you like it? It’s a room I specially had prepared for my lower-class Omega.”
The moment I heard William’s words, an ominous feeling enveloped my body.
William’s rampage was said to have happened suddenly out of nowhere. So they urgently recruited lower-class Omegas, and as far as I knew, even if lower-class Omegas were selected, they couldn’t be kept nearby like attendants.
In front of the prince’s palace, William swung his sword at the attendants asking why they brought in lower-class Omegas when he didn’t need such things. While shouting for everyone to get lost.
But he prepared it in advance?
I couldn’t tell if he was lying or if his sword-swinging in front of the prince’s palace earlier was acting.
The important thing was that this young prince was playing some scheme with me, but I, as an adult, couldn’t grasp it at all. Moreover, I couldn’t tell if the person who submitted that secret message was the crown prince, or if it was William’s test to identify a spy.
I really couldn’t let my guard down for even a moment.
While pondering what to do, I knelt again.
“Thank you. I’ve never had such a beautiful room in my life.”
William snorted.
“Hah? Daniel… You don’t need to pretend to be good. You want to leave here right now, don’t you? You want to go out and report to my brother.”
Saying that, William got up from his seat and slowly approached me. He bent one knee like a knight and sat down to match my eye level. Wondering what he was trying to do, I stared at him intently, then he raised his hand to lightly pinch my cheek before letting go.
I opened my eyes wide in surprise. William’s eyes were filled with deepened hatred and mockery.
My heart sank at the clear hostility directed toward me. I felt wronged too. I only want to make you a sage king. I’m not a spy… But thinking differently, if it were William who witnessed his father abandoning his mother when he needed her most, and faced the crisis of being killed by his own blood, I could understand why he was acting like this now.
Let me, as an adult, be patient. What wrong could a child have done? If there’s any sin, it’s only being born pretty…
I swallowed my dry saliva and looked at William. I relaxed my eyes and thought of Youngsik, the cutest student in my class, to show affection. Just from making eye contact, I could see William’s eyes shake slightly.
“Your Highness, if I have been rude, please forgive me. But I am not a spy as you suspect. If I were a spy, I wouldn’t have helped you in front of the prince’s palace.”
William’s hand that had been grabbing my face hard enough to press my cheek fell away.
“Helped… Right. You did help. No one else had ever told me such a thing. No, they wouldn’t have dared to.”
Loneliness settled on William’s face. For a young child to make such an expression… My heart ached again. To feel such pity for someone who might kill me… This world is full of unknowable things. Well, my sudden arrival here was already an unbelievable event.
“Well, yeah. That’s something we’ll see as time goes on. Depending on who dies first in this tiresome prince’s palace, we’ll be able to tell whether you’re telling the truth or I’m telling the truth. But that’s not what’s important.”
I stared at him in bewilderment. The moment our eyes met, William’s face crumpled.
“How would I know what ulterior motive you came with? Before, there was an attendant who pretended to help me on my side, then secretly put medicine in my water jug. There’s no one on my side in this palace, so I had false hopes.”
So what William wants to say now is that I also approached him with the purpose of harming him like that attendant.
Strictly speaking, I did approach him with a purpose, but if I had a purpose, it was only to protect myself. I had no intention of harming the prince.
While I pondered how to ease the heart of a child filled with distrust, William brought a sword hanging on the wall. Looking closely, it was the sword he had been wielding in front of the prince’s palace. The sword that had made the prince’s body tremble when I asked if there was any story behind it.
In the blink of an eye, the sword was stuck in the floor right in front of my nose.
It looks like a marble floor, but for a child’s strength to stick a sword in the floor… I lifted my head in surprise. His silver-gray eyes were shining cruelly.
“Now, let’s stop the acting, Daniel. We’re both wasting time, aren’t we?”
I answered firmly while trembling.
“I-I’ve never acted!”
Of course, my trembling wasn’t because I was afraid of the prince. It was because I was afraid of the sword.
William sighed and pressed his forehead. It was fortunate he didn’t pull out the sword, but his expression was murderous.
“Why do you want to have a pointless battle of wills? Huh? Because your life is precious? Fine. If you honestly tell me your purpose, I’ll promise on the prince’s honor to spare your life.”
I stared at William for a long time to calm my startled heart. Looking carefully, though he was pretending to threaten, it didn’t seem like he really intended to threaten me. If threatening was his purpose, he would have put the sword to my neck instead of sticking it in the marble, and William’s voice now was closer to pleading than threatening. I was beginning to see a way to survive.
“Your Highness, by any chance… do you suspect His Highness the Crown Prince?”
William’s shoulders flinched. Perhaps flustered that his inner thoughts were exposed, I quickly grabbed his wrist as he reflexively tried to grab the sword. William was startled.
“In-insolent! How dare you… A mere lower-class Omega being so presumptuous.”
“I am the only Omega Your Highness has chosen. Do I really not have the right to stop Your Highness’s rampage?”
Perhaps having nothing to say, William only moved his lips wordlessly.
“Your Highness, Prince William…”
I called his name earnestly.
According to a tip the book told me, when William’s mother called him, she always called him like this twice in a row.
Baby, our pretty William.
I couldn’t imitate a mother’s affectionate voice, but I hoped William would briefly recall his mother from my voice and find comfort. However, William’s gaze shone even more bleakly, and he forcefully shook off my hand.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you. And don’t call me like that. There’s no etiquette anywhere that allows a presumptuous attendant to carelessly speak a prince’s name.”
I wanted to chuckle.
Right. Did Your Highness William cause this trouble by following etiquette so well? Hm? Thanks to Your Highness going berserk, it became easier for me to enter the palace, but I don’t think you’re in a position to talk about etiquette to me.
“I’ll say it again. Your Highness, I am not a spy. Please don’t suspect me unconditionally, and if you have any suspicions, please ask me to clear up any misunderstandings.”
William walked back to his chair and sat down. Arrogantly placing one leg over the other, he said.
“Show me proof that you’re not a spy. Though there probably isn’t any.”
Seeing him say there’s no proof, the secret message I took from the attendant’s room earlier wasn’t placed there by William. Knowing it wasn’t William’s test should have brought relief, but instead I felt sorry for him. Still, I need to save myself first.
“Your Highness, are you asking while knowing there isn’t any to negotiate by catching my weakness? Or are you simply thinking of tormenting me?”
William’s face crumpled.
“What would I need from someone as insignificant as you to negotiate?”
Good. He finally fell for my strategy.
I answered with a much more relaxed attitude.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
