* * *
Joel, now the adopted son of Count Lucas, lived each day as if walking a tightrope.
The capital’s nobles constantly looked for faults in him, and not just the nobles— even their servants dared to belittle him.
Count Lucas, his adoptive father, had no interest in protecting Joel; he was far too busy scheming how to use him.
Even adorned in rare jewels and luxurious clothing, Joel’s heart remained hollow.
All that remained after his thorny life in the capital were stress, a deep sense of persecution, and a sharp-edged personality.
Joel had never once desired power. He had no ambition to be treated as a true member of the Lucas household.
The only reason he’d accepted the offer of adoption was because his biological father had been overjoyed, believing it to be a great honor.
And the only reason he endured the hellish life afterward was because he had wanted to stay close to the Crown Prince.
But whatever hardships Joel had faced, they would pale in comparison to what the unborn child—descended from royalty—would suffer.
Those who seek to wear the crown must bear its weight.
If the child resembled the Crown Prince and inherited his cleverness, perhaps they would be able to navigate the trials ahead.
But if the child took after Joel and was foolish, they might not even be able to protect themselves—much less survive court politics—and would meet a tragic end.
All Joel wished was for his child not to live a life filled with suffering.
And so, Joel had made up his mind to run away with the child.
He hadn’t asked for the baby’s opinion, and he knew he was selfishly altering their fate, but in his eyes, escape was the only choice.
Joel’s resolve was absolute, and he had no intention of changing his mind.
The problem was—the Crown Prince didn’t seem like someone who would give up easily.
He was not the type to go back on his word.
A man of weight and seriousness, he wouldn’t have proposed lightly, without thought or preparation.
Though in truth, the proposal had been impulsive on the Crown Prince’s part—but Joel, never having seen him act rashly before, couldn’t believe that.
This was shaping up to be a difficult battle.
As if it wasn’t enough that he’d unwillingly slept with his unrequited love and ended up carrying his child—now he had to push that man away, too.
Joel couldn’t help but think his fate was unbearably cruel.
Perhaps the reason the gods turned back time for him… was to punish him.
Just as he involuntarily sniffled, the Crown Prince suddenly opened his eyes, glittering as if it were all a lie.
“Are you… crying?”
The Crown Prince whispered in a husky voice as he gently brushed Joel’s cheek.
Joel averted his gaze and mumbled, “No.”
“Feels like you are.”
The Crown Prince tenderly wiped away Joel’s tears.
Still, Joel insisted, “I said I’m not crying,” clinging to his pride to the very end.
Admitting to tears felt like surrendering—like losing to some god watching over him from above.
As Joel continued to stubbornly deny the obvious, the Crown Prince extended his arms, pulled Joel into an embrace, and gently stroked the back of his head.
His touch was unbearably tender.
Joel, without meaning to, wrapped his arms tightly around the Crown Prince’s waist.
When it came to Benjamin, Joel held complicated feelings.
Contrary to public perception, Joel didn’t simply hate Benjamin.
He had kept an eye on him because Benjamin had long been seen as the most likely candidate to become Crown Princess, but in truth, Joel had both given and received help from Benjamin.
More than that—they had quietly built a rather close and genuine friendship.
While there had been positive emotional exchange between them, if Joel were to pick the dominant emotion he felt toward Benjamin, it would undoubtedly be inferiority.
That had been Joel’s very first feeling toward Benjamin as well—plain and simple inferiority.
It was well-known that Benjamin had been close to the Crown Prince from a young age, frequently visiting the palace.
Even before a person’s secondary gender manifested, people could usually guess based on physical traits—and anyone could see Benjamin was born an Omega.
He was a bit shorter than the average Beta male, with a much slimmer frame, and full, red lips.
He was from a ducal family—nobility of the highest order.
He had been close to the Crown Prince since childhood. He was expected to present as an Omega.
To top it off, there were rumors of rare dominant genes somewhere in his lineage.
So, long before his presentation, Benjamin had been considered a prime candidate for Crown Princess.
But contrary to expectations, Benjamin turned out to be a regular Omega—not a dominant one.
And in this Empire, a marriage between a noble and a royal without dominant traits was considered a disgrace.
From that moment, talks of a union between Benjamin and the Crown Prince began to fade.
However, when Joel turned out to be the only dominant Omega in the same age group as the Crown Prince, people—disgusted by Joel’s lowly origins and lack of refinement—began to shift their support back to Benjamin.
Joel had always known that if Benjamin had presented as a dominant Omega, the role of Crown Princess would’ve gone to him without question.
Joel wouldn’t have even had the chance.
So as someone who loved the Crown Prince fervently, Joel couldn’t help but hate and be wary of Benjamin.
(And honestly, the Crown Prince’s two-faced attitude had a lot to do with it too. Early on, he’d treated Joel with nothing but indifference, while showing Benjamin only the utmost respect.)
In any case, Joel’s resentment toward Benjamin was born from his feelings of inferiority.
And those feelings only deepened once he realized that Benjamin—unlike his own petty self—had a truly generous heart.
Joel had hit emotional rock bottom during his first semester at the Royal Academy.
The Crown Prince, due to affairs of state, didn’t join the school until two months after the term began.
But from the very first meeting in May, Joel had already left a terrible impression on him.
That spring, Joel picked fights at every turn, lashing out in frustration.
And poor Benjamin—unfortunately—got caught in the crossfire.
He ended up doused in tea because of it.
It had happened at a weekend tea party hosted at Benjamin’s mansion.
Normally, Joel wouldn’t have been able to attend such a high-society gathering without relying on his adoptive father’s influence, but this time he had received a personal invitation from Benjamin.
It was the first time Joel had ever been invited to such an event, and he’d gone with a bit of hope in his heart.
But what awaited him was the subtle ridicule and ‘noble’ contempt that only aristocrats could deliver.
Surrounded by well-bred trait-bearers who made their disdain clear, Joel’s bitterness boiled over—and it landed on Benjamin.
Convinced that Benjamin had invited him just to humiliate him, Joel poured tea over Benjamin’s head and stormed out.
‘But Joel came to realize soon enough. Benjamin had only invited him because he felt sorry for Joel being isolated for months—nothing more.’
Even after suffering the humiliation of being splashed with tea, Benjamin continued to treat Joel with warmth.
No matter how much Joel insulted his looks or tried to provoke him face-to-face, Benjamin’s gentle and kind demeanor never wavered.
That’s just the kind of genuinely good-natured person Benjamin was by birth.
As the saying goes, ‘a sharp awl in your pocket will eventually poke through’—Joel, who had misunderstood Benjamin’s kindness due to his own inferiority complex, finally came to see Benjamin’s good nature for what it truly was.
He admitted to himself that he had been wrong and stopped tormenting Benjamin.
In fact, all the past conflicts between Joel and Benjamin had been entirely one-sided—Joel had been the one picking the fights.
So once Joel stopped bothering him, the two naturally became rather awkward and distant.
And the turning point that brought Joel and Benjamin closer began like this:
It was a midsummer night during a grand ball held at the Imperial Palace.
By then, spring had passed and summer was in full bloom, and Joel’s once-wild temper had mellowed considerably.
Still, around that time, the only person in the entire Royal Academy who ever approached Joel with kind intentions was none other than Benjamin.
Thanks to his adoptive father, Joel had managed to secure the coveted spot as the Crown Prince’s dance partner for that night.
But the Crown Prince, after dancing with Joel just once as a formality, claimed to be tired and left the ballroom.
As a result, Joel was left looking quite the fool.
Not wanting to stay and hear the whispers about how the arrogant adopted son of Count Lucas had just been ditched by the Crown Prince, Joel, now feeling dejected, left the ballroom and decided to take a solitary walk through the woods.
* * *
