Then he made a laughing sound.
The Regent Duke rubbed his curved lips with his palm and leaned his upper body toward me. With a table between us, his gaze, sunken like minerals, stared at my chest area.
“I know everything. Isn’t that precious place of yours where pretty milk comes out?”
“…In the case of male omegas like that, there are almost none—”
“Are you saying only the buds have ripened but milk hasn’t come out yet? That must hurt.”
My thoughts flowed slowly.
“…What are you saying, I—”
“I saw your pink milk buds. Both sides were maturely swollen, and if I fondled them gently, they looked like they’d release milk right away.”
He explained as if he were asking about a mine.
“If you don’t believe me, shall we try? If I’m lying, I’ll give you a thousand florins.”
“—Surely, you said you wanted to be on friendly terms with my brother—”
“That’s why I’m doing this.”
The Regent Duke rose. Even when he moved to the seat next to me, I remained frozen solid.
“Milk should come out from a place that’s grown so much. How have you been enduring it? Are you perhaps embarrassed? Is that why you hid your pain even from your brother?”
The Regent Duke continued to pour out mockery and lies. He deceived me, speaking as if ignorant me was truly pitiful.
“I want to help. I sincerely want to comfort that pitiful part. If you let me touch those pretty breasts, I’ll give you two thousand florins.”
“…Your Grace. Excuse me, but I must—”
“If you leave now, I’ll tell Count Meyer.”
The voice asking me to give just a little more time was detestable.
The premise was wrong from the start. I thought I was holding something good enough to be considered a trading partner.
Even if I had tried to trade an entire ancient island, the Regent Duke would have treated me like this just because I was an omega.
And swoosh, as water poured from behind, it felt like my entire mind was collapsing.
The palace servant who had returned at some point was holding a teapot.
“Oh my.”
The Regent Duke whispered dramatically.
“Since he’s physically impaired, he occasionally makes mistakes. I’ll properly punish him, so please understand, young count.”
I was soaked.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The palace servant bowed his head. Both in the bathroom earlier and now, he was an excessively nimble fellow. Even his leg disability was suspicious.
Water dripped to the floor. With the back of my top and my bottom completely soaked, I wiped the tea water that had splashed on my face with the back of my hand.
“You’ll have to bathe before you go.”
“Absolutely, absolutely not necessary.”
The room with the bathtub I had thought was luxurious wasn’t all it appeared to be.
A servant who deliberately made mistakes, a situation where I had no choice but to change clothes, the masterpieces hanging on the walls.
Somewhere in that bizarre painting depicting a massacre scene. I got goosebumps thinking that the Regent Duke had been watching me through a small gap.
“If rumors spread that a guest who entered the Grand Duke’s residence was sent away soaked, my reputation will suffer.”
The Regent Duke’s reputation is already rock bottom.
If he truly cared about his reputation, he wouldn’t act this way.
“You’ve already been sufficiently rude to me, Your Grace.”
“That’s your unilateral claim. I merely expressed sincere concern about your health. Do you have proof? So, are there even handprints left on your body?”
My collapsed mind settled down calmly.
“Don’t slander me. Rather, it’s you who has insulted your brother, Count Meyer. Didn’t you ruin your brother’s important transaction?”
I covered my face with my palm. I hid my expression.
“My reputation will suffer. Bathe.”
I was an idiot.
“If you just change clothes and leave, no one will doubt Your Grace’s reputation.”
“Then I must change in this room.”
I was arrogant thinking I knew the future, and while receiving gentle rain, I thought this state would be maintained forever.
“Change here.”
When I grabbed the clothes the palace servant brought and threw open the reception room door, as expected, about four or five male servants were waiting. I closed the door again and came back in.
“How about it? Please look at the clothes.”
The Regent Duke endlessly spouted words and actions that would only be fitting at the terrible parties he hosted.
“That’s all there is. But it’s good, isn’t it? Don’t you wear it normally?”
It was a skirt from a two-piece set that commoner women liked to wear.
“Since underwear isn’t worn under skirts, I didn’t prepare separate underwear.”
Ignoring him, I picked up only the top. Fortunately, the shirt was decent.
I turned my back while unbuttoning. The thoroughly soaked blouse came off at a slow pace.
While avoiding the Regent Duke, dirty words continued to pour out endlessly.
Is there no hair on your genitals?
Or did only peach fuzz grow like peach fuzz?
If you put on the skirt and show me your fluffy crotch fuzz, I’ll send you away immediately.
When I shook off the humid breath touching my ear, the Regent Duke laughed.
“Ah, you were a deformed omega, weren’t you? By chance, is it a smooth, hairless vulva?”
After hearing that far, I just shoved the skirt into the Regent Duke’s mouth. I couldn’t stand it.
I hadn’t heard that the Regent Duke had trained his body. He was from the academy. I kicked over his lower body as he flailed in confusion.
“Kek, what—”
The Regent Duke, who had suffered a back alley brawl, barely spat out the skirt.
He was already bound at both wrists with the wet blouse.
“Ah, oh my, uhaha, uhahahaha,”
I stripped off the Regent Duke’s pants just like that.
I quickly took off my pants too. I frantically stuffed the Regent Duke’s pants over my still damp legs.
Whether his outrageous personality was right, even in his idiotic state, the Regent Duke was giggling and laughing madly.
“Your legs are very, haha, very pretty.”
“Stop it, I’m not scared at all anymore.”
I also retrieved the ridiculous palace map Mikhail had given me from the soaked pants pocket.
“If you’re going to threaten me, tell my brother. Give up the mine and try telling my brother that I betrayed you. You won’t even see the shadow of a magic stone.”
I huffed, but the Regent Duke only roared with laughter like a madman.
“Haha, a promise is a promise, so I was going to send you off.”
Looking down, I roughly untied the blouse binding him. Just as no evidence of the insults he inflicted on me remained, I didn’t want to leave any grounds that would disadvantage me.
Even though he was untied, the Regent Duke remained lying on the floor, leisurely looking up at me. He looked ridiculous with only underwear on below, but he didn’t seem to care.
“Next time I meet you, I’ll have to bring escorts. Look forward to it. Next time—”
I headed to the terrace. Pretending not to hear the base words until the end, I threw open the curtain. The Regent Duke said he’d let me go obediently, but I didn’t want to walk out through the door where the palace servants had been standing like a blockade.
I was about to roughly swing my leg over the railing to jump down when I hesitated.
“You’re not a fool.”
“……”
“Hurry and come down. I’ll catch you.”
My contemplation was brief.
Prince Benedict caught me stably as I jumped down. Befitting a palace in the Imperial Palace, it was higher than an ordinary mansion. Without him, I might have sprained my ankle.
Then I hurriedly pushed the Prince away and got down.
The body heat that had briefly touched was surprisingly hot. Pheromones were flowing out, albeit weakly.
Prince Benedict’s pheromones, which I was smelling for the first time, were like roses.
“Why are you alone—”
I was so flustered by his pheromones that I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t believe the Prince in this state was here alone.
Just as I was about to ask something more, a commotion arose from above. I could see the terrace door I had come out of was slightly open. The Prince looked up without emotion and then led me. He seemed like someone who knew the reason for the commotion.
“This way.”
The Prince easily found a shortcut. Following behind him, I could tell what route Prince Benedict had taken to get here.
“Your younger sibling seems to have avoided it early on.”
In the distance, I could see the Imperial Palace carriage we had ridden in.
I unconsciously grabbed Prince Benedict as he turned his back. The feeling of the wrist I grabbed was so electrifying that I almost let go. I wanted to let go, but I didn’t.
“Why did you help me?”
The eyes I met looked slightly hazy.
The Prince alternately looked at my hand holding him and at my face once.
He lowered his head slightly. His heated eyes were visible up close.
“There’s a sufficient reason to help.”
Hot breath touched my cheek and scattered. With eyes that I absolutely couldn’t face calmly, he calmly whispered.
“Didn’t you give me water?”
“……”
“…Looking at your face, it seems you really did save me.”
I was dazed even as he briefly grabbed my wrist and removed it from himself.
Belatedly, I said thank you for helping me.
* * *
I boarded the carriage in a dazed mood.
My head was blank even until we exited the Imperial Palace gate. Wandering through my foggy mind, I lowered my tensed shoulders and looked at Rilke across from me.
“You,”
This is really absurd.
“If I tell hyung, what are you going to—”
“Nothing happened.”
Rilke cut off my words. The kid’s eyes blinked rapidly.
Looking at my expression, Rilke slowly regained composure. After scanning me up and down, he rolled up his lips and smiled. As if imitating the Regent Duke.
“I know the Duke couldn’t have done anything noticeably to you.”
“……”
The Prince knew that kid wasn’t his lifesaver.
“Thanks to that, I’m fine too, and you’re fine too, aren’t you, young master?”
What on earth are they thinking?
“Besides, don’t look down on me like a child. Try telling hyung-nim. I’ll say I didn’t do it.”
Go ahead and tattle like a child, Rilke said while showing me a letter. The Empress’s seal was stamped in the center.
“It’s a letter written directly by Her Majesty the Empress. The recipient is Mikhail hyung-nim, and it says she was pleased to meet you.”
The carriage we were riding in was an Imperial Palace carriage to begin with. All the escorts outside would have been bought off as well.
After thinking through various scenarios, I just relaxed my body. Too many things had happened, so my head was still pounding.
Although the incident of meeting the Regent Duke hadn’t happened in the past…
“I don’t know how you conducted yourself to get like that, but His Grace is showing interest in you. You’ll have to be careful from now on.”
I didn’t think anything even at Rilke’s words.
I roughly nodded my head and leaned my back against the chair. I truly wasn’t afraid of the Regent Duke. The information I told him too. If it proceeds that way, it’s a good thing.
Duke Yorick was someone who would die soon anyway.
