* * *
Truthfully, he’d always been interested in Joel from the beginning.
With those sparkling eyes and the way he followed him around like a puppy—it was impossible not to notice him.
Of course, the Crown Prince knew Joel wasn’t someone fit to sit at the side of a future Emperor.
Joel was foolish, pathetic, selfish, greedy.
He had every single trait the Crown Prince hated.
And yet, Joel also had one singular, overwhelming strength that eclipsed all his faults: he was cute.
Honestly, the Crown Prince had thought Joel was a bit cute for quite a while now.
Just earlier today, too. Joel had insisted he wouldn’t go on the inspection no matter what.
But the moment the name “Benjamin” was mentioned, he immediately changed his mind.
People that transparent were rare—nonexistent—in the palace.
Maybe that was why Joel felt so refreshingly easy to handle.
Like a puppy.
In any case, thanks to that stubbornness, the Crown Prince had to add Benjamin to the inspection party—something he hadn’t planned.
And to get Benjamin’s approval, he’d had to contact the Duke of Melfis in the middle of the night.
Fortunately, Benjamin had gladly agreed to the sudden request.
Now that the Duke’s precious eldest son was going to be brought along on a dangerous mission, the Crown Prince knew he’d have to offer proper compensation later.
Dealing with the calculating and meticulous Duke of Melfis would be a pain, but—
For now, the Crown Prince felt a certain satisfaction, knowing he’d be taking Joel with him, just as planned.
If he went on the inspection trip, he’d be able to spend a long time alone with Joel.
The Crown Prince himself didn’t know the exact reason why, but at some point, he had started wishing to quietly spend time alone with Joel.
Ever since… that night.
The night they shared a heated moment in the forest.
The Crown Prince suddenly recalled the scorching memory of that day.
Ever since he got hit in the head with that rock, the Crown Prince had found himself often haunted by vivid illusions of Joel.
The hazy image of lemon-blonde hair trembling beneath him, or the way Joel had moaned so seductively, “Ah… ahn! Ah!”
Just remembering those scenes naturally stirred heat in his lower body.
The memory of Joel struggling, belly swollen after being knotted, was so vivid—yet it was supposed to be only his imagination.
The Crown Prince smacked his lips in regret, alone.
Bringing up the proposal earlier during the conversation with Joel had clearly been an impulsive act.
Promising something he hadn’t even fully thought through—how unlike him.
But what baffled him even more was that, despite proposing so recklessly on impulse, he didn’t regret it.
In fact, he felt relieved.
Then… did he truly want to take Joel as his partner?
The Crown Prince clutched his head, deep in thought.
He knew perfectly well that Joel wasn’t a suitable candidate to become Crown Princess.
But still, he couldn’t deny the growing desire to place Joel in that very position.
He knew it was an irrational thought—but even so, that’s what he wanted.
Maybe he had really been hit too hard on the head that day and caught some kind of sickness, the Crown Prince mused for a moment.
“By the way, Your Highness… that man, the cult leader John. Do you think he actually has supernatural powers?”
“I’ve been in this business for years now, and you still fall for rumors like that?”
Already burdened with a pounding headache, the Crown Prince didn’t even bother hiding the look of exasperation from his face as Abe spouted nonsense.
The 4th Order of Knights, led by Abe, had handled all kinds of bizarre situations, including incidents far more serious than what had happened in Lord Bennet’s territory.
They even had experience dismantling a large-scale cult.
Abe had personally infiltrated the cult’s base and played a major role in capturing the leader—yet now he was being shaken by mere hearsay?
The Crown Prince couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
“But… I mean, that cult leader, John—they say he made a cripple walk again, in front of over a hundred witnesses…”
“So you believe that? At this rate, you’ll end up handing over your entire fortune just like Lord Bennet did.”
The Crown Prince scoffed.
Abe had been about to defend himself, but ended up closing his mouth instead.
Even he realized how foolish he sounded for letting such nonsense sway him.
“This is just another cult stirring up trouble, same as last time. We’ll quietly sneak in, gather a few solid pieces of evidence that prove the leader is deceiving and exploiting the villagers, and arrest him. Don’t waste your energy on useless thoughts.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Having given Abe a warning, the Crown Prince stood from his seat.
With the last tiresome task finished, it was finally time to return to his bedroom.
To his small, cute, and feisty little kitten who would be waiting for him there.
Joel, who had been fast asleep for quite a while, woke in the Crown Prince’s arms.
The sky was beginning to brighten—it was almost dawn.
It was far earlier than he usually woke up, yet oddly, he felt completely alert and refreshed.
Joel instinctively knew that it was thanks to the Crown Prince’s pheromones.
Omegas needed their partner’s pheromones during pregnancy.
Without proper exposure, they’d become anxious and sensitive.
That’s why, in his previous life, when Joel faked a pregnancy, the Crown Prince never let him sleep alone—not even once.
Joel hadn’t been sleeping well while staying at the count’s estate, but since he had no access to the Crown Prince’s pheromones, he had simply endured the exhaustion.
So, being hit with a full-on pheromone shower now had resolved all the deprivation in one go.
The accumulated fatigue that had pushed him to the edge was now completely gone.
As he savored this rare sense of refreshment—one he hadn’t felt in nearly two months—Joel looked down at the Crown Prince, who was sleeping soundly while using his arm as a pillow.
The first thought that crossed Joel’s mind upon seeing that face was: ‘He’s really, unbelievably handsome.’
The second thought was: ‘I never, ever want to lose him.’
When the Crown Prince had suddenly proposed, Joel had been genuinely happy.
He thought he had already sorted out his feelings for the Crown Prince, but in that moment, he realized he hadn’t at all.
If he really had moved on, he wouldn’t have wanted so desperately to accept that proposal.
But even so, Joel had made himself refuse it.
For the Crown Prince’s sake, for the baby’s sake, and for his own sake—leaving was the best choice.
He felt sorry for burdening the child, destined to be heir to the crown, with the life of a commoner.
But even so, Joel firmly believed that running away was the right decision for the child.
If he gave up on fleeing and revealed the truth to the royal family, the child would be accepted as the Crown Prince’s heir.
If Joel became Crown Princess, the child would be recognized as royalty—perhaps even as the next Crown Prince.
If Joel became a royal concubine instead, the child might be acknowledged informally, but would remain illegitimate.
Either way, the child would grow up in comfort and wealth.
But would that guarantee happiness?
Joel had lived both lives—one as a near-commoner in the countryside, and the other as a noble in the capital’s glittering high society.
Before being adopted into the Count’s family, Joel had been the son of a poor rural lord.
Back then, he had no precious jewels, no expensive clothes, no servants to wait on him.
By the capital’s noble standards, he had lived in near-poverty.
But Joel had never once felt lacking.
In that home, he wasn’t an outcast or an unwanted child—he was Lord Bennet’s beloved son, cherished by all.
Sure, he got scolded now and then.
When he tried to skip studying and got caught, his tutor or Wycombe would lecture him, or his father would summon him for a stern talking-to.
But even when they scolded him, no one ever thought of Joel as pathetic.
Even when he made dumb mistakes—like getting basic spelling wrong—his birth father, Lord Bennet, only ever smiled and said, ‘Just grow up healthy, that’s all I ask’, and doted on him.
Back then, Joel could run outside at sunrise and play with the village kids until sunset.
Sometimes, when he missed his late mother, little Joel would visit her grave.
He’d spend all day there, playing in the dirt under the sun, and when he got tired, he’d spread out a cloth and nap.
No one ever scolded him for behaving “uncouth” or “undignified.”
In fact, whenever Joel returned from napping beside his mother’s grave, everyone in the household would shower him with concern.
The cook would make all his favorite dishes for dinner.
Lord Bennet would finish his work early to play with Joel all evening.
And butler Wycombe would read fairy tales to Joel until he fell asleep.
Compared to that… how had life in the capital been?
* * *
