Tears welled up in Patrick’s deep blue eyes and fell drop by drop. I was going to give him a sharp word, but how can I scold him when he’s like that…
If things continue like this, Viscount Bellos will be framed for Grand Duke Curtis’s crime and executed. But that won’t happen. Eldon and Seha will bring evidence tomorrow.
I stood up.
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do for you. Forti, let’s go.”
I was about to tell him not to worry too much since the false accusation would be cleared tomorrow, but stopped. He’s a child who revealed his secret just from seeing me take care of Forti.
There’s no one easier to make mistakes than a child who’s conceited that they’re smart and all grown up.
If I gave him a hint in advance and Patrick carelessly ran his mouth, and if Grand Duke Curtis prepared for it, the situation would become uncontrollably serious.
I was about to open the door and leave when Forti stood stock-still and looked at the sobbing Patrick.
“Forti?”
“…Rosenthal, can’t you help him?”
Being the same beastman must weigh on his mind. But I firmly held his hand.
“Let’s go.”
“But…”
While Forti hesitated, Patrick, who had been shedding tears, raised his head and shouted.
“Take me as your mistress!”
“…What?”
What kind of nonsensical talk is this?
“I’m nine years old! Take me instead of that decrepit old man! The younger the better for a kept boy, right!”
“Old man?”
Forti’s voice trembled with shock at being attacked with ‘old man’ by a nine-year-old brat. I was flustered too. This bastard trying to paint me as a pedophile! My head spun for a moment at the empire’s common sense of keeping young boys, but I quickly came to my senses.
“Sir Fortis is my knight sent by His Highness the Crown Prince. Young master, I will not forgive any further rude words or actions.”
“…Kn-knight? That’s a lie. He’s a beastman though…?”
“Sir Fortis, let’s go.”
I deliberately maintained full courtesy, and Fortis followed me with heavy steps, though reluctantly.
Since I’d sent Raki back first, armed with sex toys and erotic novels, only Forti and I remained in the carriage.
“Can’t you help Patrick? Can you really not help him?”
Forti said with a worried face. Usually once I draw a line, he doesn’t ask again, but as soon as he recovered from the ‘old man’ attack, worry seems to be rising again.
“Viscount Bellos made the best choice. If he takes on Grand Duke Curtis’s crime, he dies alone, but if the fact that his son is a beastman is discovered, not only himself and his child but all his relatives and servants could lose their lives.”
“…Is loving a beastman son enough to deserve death?”
I looked at Forti, startled by his sharp voice. His eyes were filled with bleakness unlike usual. I removed Forti’s robe that was still covering his face and stroked his head.
“Don’t worry. Viscount Bellos won’t die.”
“Will Rosenthal save him?”
“Not me, but His Highness the Crown Prince will save him.”
I said, suppressing my complicated feelings.
Eldon and Seha will bring the evidence. Viscount Bellos will be exiled, but Patrick will safely inherit the family. He’ll claim until the end that he took on the crime out of loyalty to Arleigh, and the fact that his son is a beastman won’t be revealed.
Though I knew Viscount Bellos was falsely accused, I hadn’t thought much about it until now. He wasn’t a prince with excellent character, and throwing his life away to make that pervert Arleigh the Crown Prince seemed extremely foolish.
But it was because of his son. This was content that never appeared in <Three Crowns>. Viscount Bellos was a minor character, and moreover a villain. There would have been no need for the backstory of a villain that Eldon didn’t uncover.
I was blindsided in an unexpected place by only believing the novel’s content.
“…Does Rosenthal trust His Highness?”
Forti gazed at me quietly. There was a strange distrust in his eyes.
“Yeah. I trust him.”
I trust the power of the original work.
“And I’ll petition to reduce his sentence.”
Since asking Eldon would obviously backfire with him saying I’m taking Arleigh’s side, I should ask Duke Chendewden for the sentence reduction.
The process will get a bit complicated, but as the Crown Prince’s fiancé, it’s my first and last petition so I should make an effort. Both I and Forti would feel bad to turn away like this.
“Yeah… I’ll trust Rosenthal.”
“Thanks. It’ll really be okay.”
I stroked Forti’s head. If it proceeds according to the original, it’ll be fine. I felt a bit sorry to the author for depending on it now after destroying the original plot like eating meals, but right now I have no choice but to believe.
***
Seha was a pickpocket. He’d lived his whole life in back alleys surviving only on pickpocketing skills and fast feet. But in his appearance of stealing things and nimbly running away, you couldn’t find the fishy smell of back alleys or nauseating sewage.
He was clear and pure like a pristine white flower that didn’t know filth. This seemingly pure atmosphere was a much more powerful weapon than fast footwork or pickpocketing skills.
Seha always looked the cleanest in this world. His frantically running figure, even the drops of sweat falling on his ear wound were transparent like dew.
When he was young, and now too.
A innocent smile formed in Seha’s eyes as he ran quickly. After staying in Viscount Bellos’s territory for two weeks, he finally found it.
He went to a grocery store and discovered Grand Duke Curtis’s lackey. Seha immediately followed them and found out the location where the secret ledger was kept.
All of this was ‘coincidence.’ The fact that it was coincidence rather than effort made Seha even happier.
As expected, all luck was with him. The prophecy wasn’t wrong.
He enjoyed the humid southern climate and recalled his childhood.
A Hyeon Tribe child receives the chieftain’s prophecy the moment they’re born. The chieftain who ignored the Hyeon Tribe people even as they were persecuted, starved to death, and sold as slaves, would suddenly appear whenever a baby was born to hand over a prophecy pendant.
You’ll beg for life. You’ll live as a prostitute. You’ll become a merchant’s concubine. A gambler, a mage, you’ll live as a maid then conceive your master’s seed and be abandoned.
These were extremely dry and realistic prophecies, and all were realized. Then because the prophecies were too accurate, a problem arose. Everyone believed the prophecy and gave up on their own or their children’s lives, or didn’t make any effort.
So a new rule was created. The pendant containing the chieftain’s prophecy could be opened in the year one turned twenty.
The Hyeon Tribe had their own unique way of counting age. Unlike other peoples who aged with each passing birthday, the Hyeon Tribe aged simultaneously when the new year came.
The day his mother abandoned him, Seha saw his pendant rolling on the ground.
Before leaving, his mother wanted to see Seha’s prophecy one last time. So she secretly removed the necklace from her sleeping seven-year-old son. But she failed to open the pendant and left without a word of farewell.
What if good content had been written in the pendant? Would she not have abandoned me then?
Seha looked at the pendant with emotionless eyes before putting it back around his neck.
After that, no one celebrated his birthday. He didn’t remember it either. Each day was hard enough just to survive, and the boy grew up as a pickpocket.
Neither the birthday when empire people aged nor the new year when the Hyeon Tribe aged were his concern. They only held the meaning of earning a living.
For a pickpocket, the festival spanning year-end and new year was the best time. During the festival period, he frantically stole things and returned to a small house in the back alley with items overflowing from his bag and pockets.
Though he’d now become an adult at twenty in Hyeon Tribe age, he felt no great emotion. He was just organizing the stolen items methodically as usual when suddenly the pendant around his neck opened with a click.
January 1st had come.
Seha looked indifferently at the slip of paper that fell from the pendant. He wasn’t curious about the content.
It’ll be pickpocket anyway. He’d be satisfied if it just said pickpocket. He only hoped not to fall further from here like becoming a slave or beggar.
[Child of the Hyeon Tribe, Seha. You will become the Empress of the Empire. Through you the Hyeon Tribe will find glory, and all people will kneel before you.]
‘It’s long.’
That was Seha’s first impression. He’d seen the prophecies of Hyeon Tribe people several times before. But most cases only had the name and occupation written briefly. There were even prophecies that just threw out an occupation name, not even a sentence.
Seha checked again.
Could someone have played a prank? Could his mother have arbitrarily switched it before leaving? But that couldn’t be. If his mother had seen this prophecy, she wouldn’t have run away. A pendant locked with magic couldn’t be secretly opened, and there was no reason to secretly insert such paper to deceive him.
But Empress? Setting aside status, I’m a man though?
He tried to ignore it thinking it was ridiculous nonsense, but he absolutely couldn’t.
The Hyeon Tribe’s prophecies were accurate. Even in times when everyone believed the prophecy and didn’t make efforts, the prophecies ultimately came true.
Seha began collecting information about the imperial family. The first person who caught his eye was ‘Rosenthal Chendewden.’ The currently most likely Crown Prince candidate, 3rd Prince Arleigh, was said to be dating him. Rosenthal was a man but an omega, and a controversial figure spreading scandals with countless male nobles.
Right, ‘omega.’
The word ‘omega’ lodged firmly in Seha’s head. He’d often been told that his face was pretty and his body slender, just like an omega.
Maybe I’m an omega too. Most omegas manifested young, but there were cases where traits appeared after twenty.
Seha had come to believe the prophecy before he knew it.
The bedridden, ailing Emperor had an Empress from a grand ducal family. So even if I become Empress, there’s no possibility of becoming the current Emperor’s companion. The age difference too, it must be the Crown Prince’s side.
The person most likely to be invested as Crown Prince currently was 3rd Prince Arleigh.
Seha began preparing to become the Crown Princess and Arleigh’s companion. He learned noble etiquette, corrected his handwriting, and quit pickpocketing.
But suddenly the situation changed drastically. The brave 1st Prince Eldon, a war hero, returned and was invested as Crown Prince. Seha saw his triumphal ceremony too. And felt a thrill.
‘That’s the one. That person is my partner.’
He was seized by an intense premonition, and when Eldon became Crown Prince, expectation turned to certainty.
The Emperor indicated by the Hyeon Tribe’s prophecy is Eldon Generoanth. I will become his companion and become Empress.
