I clutched my waist that felt like it would crumble and knelt down again.
“Your Highness, I believe breaking off the engagement would be the right course of action!”
I bowed my head while using extremely formal honorifics that you’d only see in historical dramas.
“What?”
I had been taking things too easy. The original story’s developments had continued without me marrying Eldon. So I had simply thought that Eldon would break off the engagement and kick me out in order to take Seha as his companion, and I had been complacent, not preparing any other countermeasures.
But the plan had gone completely awry. I frantically racked my brain. I considered the option of leaving the palace and then going into hiding, but if I ran away recklessly, the entire Chendewden family would suffer harm. Although I had no particular affection for them, I couldn’t let countless people—relatives and servants alike—suffer hardship because of me. I recalled the people who had filled the banks of the Serian River. They were all alive. Beyond the clock tower, in the world that spread out, there would be even more lives. And each of the countless people connected to the servants and the Chendewden family had their own lives too. I couldn’t treat them as novel characters and ignore them.
Moreover, other people like the knights in charge of my protection would also suffer damage. As expected, there was no other way besides having Eldon break off the engagement.
“I told you never to speak those words again. Do you truly wish to become a slave?”
No. NEVER! As if that could happen! I don’t want to become the Crown Princess, and I don’t want to become a slave either. Even more so, I don’t want to be imprinted on by the main character without even knowing it!!! So I’m going to leave!
“There is a valid reason why the engagement must be broken!”
“What?”
“This humble one is not qualified to become the Crown Princess.”
“What do you mean?”
Eldon tilted his head at an angle and stroked his chin with his manly, calloused fingers. It seems he’s finally willing to listen to me.
“The reason the Imperial Family welcomes an omega is to produce excellent heirs. However, this humble one will not be able to fulfill that duty.”
“What?”
“This humble one’s body is small and wretched, making it difficult to receive Your Highness’s magnificent jade stem. Furthermore, along with losing my memories, I also forgot the bedroom arts, so I cannot satisfy Your Highness. Moreover, I have completely forgotten the laws, culture, customs, and history of the great Keltan Empire as well. Therefore, I lack the knowledge to become the Crown Princess.”
Eldon stroked his chin without answering.
“As you already know, I’m truly hopeless.”
Even in a loveless marriage, the wedding night should be heart-fluttering and romantic, but Eldon tried to strangle me right after we did it, threatening to kill me. It really was terribly awful. It hurts my pride a bit, but I have no choice but to acknowledge it.
Yes, I have zero charm! My sex skills aren’t even level 1.
Moreover, right now I felt like I was going to die from pain. Actually, I missed and longed for Eldon’s pheromones, but I think I could just leave it as a thought. This wasn’t even a wet dream—I didn’t want to have sex in reality anymore. No, I didn’t think I could.
“As you said, it was hopeless.”
I know. I know better than anyone!
“…It seems this humble one has no talent for copulation. I’m thinking of breaking off the engagement and holing up in the mountains to paint.”
“……”
I sneakily raised my head to observe Eldon’s complexion. It seems he’s convinced. It really must have been seriously bad.
If this were a different genre of novel, he would have been bewildered, asking what the big deal was about such a thing, but perhaps because he’s the protagonist of a hardcore cruel story, my words seemed to resonate seriously with him.
“If you wait just a little, Your Highness’s destined one may appear, so it would be proper to nullify the first night ceremony and cancel the engagement as well…”
I was trying to drive the point home when Eldon cut me off mid-sentence.
“In short, it hurt too much so you don’t want to do it again?”
The nuance was a bit strange, but it wasn’t wrong.
“Roughly speaking, yes.”
The moment I nodded, Eldon burst into laughter. It was such a big laugh that the expression “guffawing” would be fitting. That Elegy bastard, why is he laughing like that when the other person is speaking seriously?
I kept my head bowed while reading the room, when he suddenly pinched my cheek.
“Haah, really, what should I do with this. Should I just kill you?”
“……”
Eldon executed one of the psycho’s high-difficulty skills: ‘Sentencing someone to death while smiling.’ As expected, he’s a scary guy.
“I was going to let you off today, but it seems you want to die with your waist broken.”
“No! I don’t want to die. I was wrong!”
Eldon smirked and slipped his hand inside my clothes. Since I was only wearing light undergarments under my coat, his hot hand immediately touched my thigh. Eldon touched my legs, then frowned and simultaneously lifted both the coat and undergarments.
The semen that had flowed down my buttocks and thighs was completely dried and crusted. With the skin covered in blotchy marks and semen layered on top of it, it was not a sight that could be called beautiful even as empty flattery.
“I-I was tired so I haven’t washed yet. I’ll take a bath. Please return for now.”
It seems today has gone wrong too, so I’ll have to postpone the engagement breaking until tomorrow. I was about to ponder specific plans while bathing, when Eldon suddenly lifted me up.
“Your Highness!”
“I’ll wash you.”
“N-no!”
I shook my head vigorously, but Eldon walked with heavy steps and went outside the separate palace. Then he got into the carriage that was waiting outside and gave the order to go to Baekui Palace.
He’s determined to finish the first night ceremony after all.
Why does the situation get worse whenever I say I just want to break off the engagement! Why on earth! Isn’t this the kind of novel where good things are supposed to happen if you give up greed and live virtuously!
Every time the carriage rattled, raw pain was transmitted to my swollen anus and each vertebra of my spine.
When I came to the separate palace, I was preoccupied with worry about Hereis so I didn’t notice, but I really felt like I was going to die from pain. Was the ride quality this terrible? Still, with Eldon sitting across from me, it was embarrassing to show signs of pain, so I had no choice but to endure it.
I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, enduring the pain, when suddenly Eldon’s finger entered my mouth.
“You’re clenching so hard your jaw will dislocate. Do you have some complaint against me?”
“N-no. I’m just a bit uncomfortable…”
“Where?”
Are you asking because you don’t know?
“Just, a little… I think I have a cold.”
Eldon came closer and sat next to me, then laid me down on his thigh.
“Your Highness…”
The moment my head touched his hard thigh, I was startled and tried to sit up, but Eldon gently pressed on my shoulder, preventing me from getting up.
“Stay lying down. They say an omega’s body is flexible so it doesn’t hurt even if you stay up for days and nights, but that was nonsense.”
Who said such bullshit?
“…Perhaps I’m an exception. I might be a defective omega. But Your Highness’s destined partner will surely be an excellent omega.”
In the original work, Seha was lively even after doing it for days and nights. Of course, during his first experience he showed signs of some difficulty, but he didn’t whine like me.
Eldon isn’t the type to believe in rumors while exchanging lewd talk, nor would he read gossip magazines you’d see in taverns. He probably saw it in a book from the library. If it’s written that way even in officially recognized books, then it’s not about omegas but my personal problem. Since Rosenthal boasted more outstanding skills than Seha, the problem might be with me rather than my body.
“…I told you. I don’t believe in fate.”
When Eldon’s pheromones reached me, I felt the pain gradually disappearing. I’m screwed. Seeing how I feel stable from his pheromones, Rosenthal’s ‘destined mate’ really was Eldon after all.
“Do you not believe in the dictionary definition of fate, nor in the ‘destined mate’ caused by the pheromones of alphas and omegas?”
Eldon stared down at me. Surprisingly, he didn’t sneer and say, ‘Shall I bring you fairy tales and candy?’ Rather, he had a seriously thoughtful expression.
“In the Empire, you’re the only omega. If I were to feel a ‘destined mate,’ I should have felt it with you, but…”
He closed his mouth. He omitted the rest: ‘But you’re not it.’ Whether out of consideration, he didn’t say it to the end, but saying this much was no different from saying it directly.
It was natural. His destined mate is Seha. Just as I crave Eldon’s pheromones and feel stability from them, Eldon feels comfort with Seha.
It was decided from the beginning. I knew it. It would be stranger to be disappointed here.
I sat up. I don’t want to start an unrequited love that has no hope of being reciprocated. That’s more horrifying than dying at the hands of a cheating piece of trash.
“That’s not true. I heard there are several more young Manifesters.”
“They’re kids not even ten years old. Unlike you, I have no interest in children.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Who are you making out to be a pedophile! Wasn’t the misunderstanding about Patrick already cleared up?
“Anyway, besides the young Manifesters, there might be other omegas. They could be in small villages that haven’t caught the Assessor’s eye, or they might not have Manifested yet. And among them, there might be Your Highness’s ‘destined mate.’ I truly hope Your Highness finds your true destined mate.”
I smiled brightly and even clapped lightly. It was a calculated gesture to appeal: ‘I’m a harmless person. Jealousy doesn’t exist in my dictionary.’
“You want me to find my destined mate?”
“Of course. For the Empire’s prosperity, I hope you welcome an excellent Crown Princess.”
Even though Seha isn’t as virtuous in character as described in the original work. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so badmouthing him would only hasten my own demise.
“…Then what happens to you?”
Oh, is he coming around this time! Is it finally my escape!!
“Well. Wouldn’t breaking off the engagement look better than dethronement?”
“Breaking off the engagement rather than dethronement.”
Eldon nodded slowly, mulling over my words. This was really an opportunity!
“Yes! Your Highness! Breaking off the engagement rather than dethronement! Isn’t the procedure complicated if you want to dethrone someone? It’s also disrespectful to your future companion. No matter how much you are the Crown Prince, the hope of the Empire, wouldn’t a first marriage be better than a remarriage?”
“Rosenthal Chendewden.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If you say one more word, I’ll cut out your tongue.”
