Chapter 32
Marie blinked.
“You. You don’t remember anything?”
“No. But it’s never really caused problems, so I’m fine.”
“…Ha.”
Something about the way he exhaled made her pause. And maybe it was that — his uncharacteristic gentleness today — that gave her the courage to ask what had been on her mind for days.
“Your Highness. There’s something I’d like to ask.”
“What is it?”
“My eyes…”
Marie hesitated, lightly brushing the skin beneath her eyes.
“They say I look like her, don’t they?”
“……”
“I overheard the ladies-in-waiting. And… your betrothed, they said she had the same color eyes as me. I also heard how she passed away.”
Asking about someone else — someone she’d never met, someone who’d once mattered — felt strangely intimate, strangely awkward. Marie didn’t know why it made her heart beat like this.
She couldn’t look him in the eye. And because of that, she didn’t see it.
She didn’t see the color drain from the crown prince’s face. Didn’t see the way his knuckles went white against the carved armrest. Didn’t see that, for the first time since they met, Russell looked almost afraid.
The expression on his face looked as if he had died with his eyes wide open, frozen stiff.
“If that’s the case, Your Highness…”
Do you find comfort when you look at these eyes? If so, then I don’t mind being a stand-in for someone else while I’m by your side. Even if that feels a little lonely.
…That’s what she wanted to say.
But then a blade-like voice cut through.
“You, how dare you overstep like that?”
The once surprisingly gentle atmosphere was sliced away in an instant.
“Your Highness?”
“Courtesan, do you not know your place? Who gave you permission to speak of her?”
Startled by the razor-sharp tone, she looked up. His face was colder than she’d ever seen, an expression that seemed like it could cut her down on the spot.
Why? Was it because she mentioned the fiancée? Did the lost betrothed still mean that much to him…?
“How dare you.”
The way he glared made her throat tighten. She needed to say something, anything, but the words wouldn’t come out.
“Y-Your Highness, I…”
“Don’t make me laugh. Who resembles whom? You? Her? How dare you say something so absurd?”
“…”
“Don’t forget your place. Courtesan.”
Courtesan.
Just a courtesan.
So that’s how he truly felt. The cold contempt in his voice ached in her chest in a way she couldn’t quite understand. His frigid back, retreating without a glance, burned itself into her vision.
‘I…’
The door slammed shut, and she could see the attendants and maids entering to tidy up, stifling their laughter. Their smirks, which hadn’t meant anything before, pierced painfully now. As if this moment couldn’t just be brushed off, as if…
Some tender shoot of feeling had begun to grow toward someone.
* * *
The knights stood outside the crown prince’s study, their expressions grim.
“Captain, what should we do?”
“For now… let’s wait.”
“But…”
Their lord, usually composed beyond reproach, would sometimes fail to suppress his Alpha pheromones and on such days, he dulled the pain with alcohol. Today must be one of those days.
From inside the closed study came a crash — the sound of something shattering violently.
“Haa…”
The knights let out quiet sighs. Invisible Alpha pheromones seemed to spike through the air like needles, pressing down on everything.
Though not comparable to an ultra-dominant Alpha, the crown prince’s guard was entirely composed of Alphas who now struggled to endure the suffocating discomfort and creeping fear radiating from their master.
“Is it because of that Omega?”
According to the attendants, the woman had, of all things, brought up that topic in the dining hall. How dare she. The knights found themselves seething with fury at the thought of that pale-faced Omega. Who does she think is the cause of His Highness’s suffering!
“I really don’t understand what she’s thinking. What kind of shameless person would say something like that to the prince!”
Yes, the brazen Omega was a problem, but truthfully, the knights were more troubled by something else.
As those tasked with shadowing the crown prince day in and day out, they had begun to notice something.
He was changing.
The crown prince was not as he once was. The relationship that should have been reduced to nothing but anger between Alpha and Omega was beginning to shift just slightly but unmistakably.
Something like affection, or perhaps interest, had begun to stir.
Their liege was faltering.
“Captain, His Highness, I’m afraid it’s not…”
“It seems he needs pheromone relief.”
“Then what should we do? Shall we bring him that woman?”
Among them, those who knew that woman was a dominant Omega wore especially troubled expressions. Even knowing she’s his enemy, is he truly unable to resist the pull of pheromones?
If their suspicions were correct — if His Highness was being drawn to her, to that Omega who ought to be torn to shreds…
If that explained why he kept treating her with such uncharacteristic leniency… if he was subconsciously paying her attention…
‘How terribly conflicting must it be inside his mind?’
“Let’s wait a bit longer.”
It was as the knights stood there, confused and uneasy, that the door suddenly burst open. The stench of alcohol hit them like a punch. And with it, an overwhelming wave of Alpha pheromones crashed down on them, sharp enough to flip their vision upside down.
“Kh—!”
The knights all went pale at once. Whether he noticed or not, the crown prince’s eyes were bloodshot and his face was flushed as he spoke. Or rather, something that may or may not have still been a man—something beast-like—growled for someone.
“Where is she?”
“Y-Your Highness, p-please withdraw your… ugh, your pheromones…”
“Where?”
“Marie. Marie Alphrose.”
The noble mistress who could unbind him.
“Bring her here.”
The Omega who had wounded him so deeply.
“Now.”
So he could breathe again.
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