* * *
“Hm? Ben. You don’t actually hate me, right? That’s why you even know my name, isn’t it?”
As Joel was walking through the forest, he happened upon an unexpected scene: Benjamin was being harassed by some Alpha guy.
“Brett, I think you’ve misunderstood something…”
Benjamin was visibly flustered, unable to shake off the Alpha pestering him.
Normally, his escort knight would have been there to handle this, but strangely enough, Benjamin was alone that night.
The Alpha bothering Benjamin—his name was Brett—looked vaguely familiar.
Joel guessed he might be a fellow student from the Royal Academy, though he didn’t recognize him specifically.
That meant the Alpha was likely from a minor or undistinguished family—someone Joel wouldn’t have bothered to remember.
Benjamin was the eldest son of a Duke.
If he wanted to, he could’ve chased someone like that away with just a word.
But instead, he was enduring this humiliation, unable to say anything directly.
Frankly, Joel thought Benjamin looked like an idiot.
If he had Benjamin’s status, he wouldn’t have wasted time listening—he would’ve just kicked the guy between the legs.
If it had been anyone else being harassed, Joel wouldn’t have intervened.
But this was Benjamin—the same person Joel still felt guilty toward for spilling tea on.
So, he made up his mind to help.
Pushing through the bushes, Joel stepped forward.
“You’re pestering him this much and don’t even know his name? What are you, a goldfish?”
“Who the hell—Joel?”
Startled for a moment by the sudden interruption, the Alpha’s expression quickly returned to arrogance when he recognized Joel.
Just as there are men who take pride in overpowering women, there were Alphas who felt proud of dominating Omegas.
And this Alpha harassing Benjamin was exactly that kind of scum.
He looked Joel up and down with disdain.
No matter how rude Joel’s personality was, he was still an Omega.
If it came down to it, the Alpha figured he could overpower Joel with brute strength or pheromones.
“Stay out of it, you adopted mutt.”
Joel gave a crooked grin at the arrogant remark.
Normally, he would’ve lashed out with sharp words to vent, but maybe because of the Crown Prince’s rejection earlier, he was feeling tired.
He didn’t want to waste energy on this nonsense—so he simply released his pheromones.
Caught off-guard, the Alpha collapsed helplessly to the ground.
Using pheromones to subdue another secondary gendered person was technically considered assault—and punishable by law.
People who did that would be condemned, even face serious charges.
But with Count Lucas backing him, there were very few in the Empire who would dare drag Joel into court.
In fact, Joel had done something similar when he first enrolled and had faced no consequences.
Apparently not expecting Joel to take such a brute-force approach, the Alpha protested with a pained expression.
“What kind of uneducated—ugh—”
“And you’re so ‘educated’ that you think it’s okay to harass someone who said no?”
With that simple retort, Joel shut him down completely.
It was such an easy win, it almost felt anticlimactic.
“Let’s go.”
Leaving the Alpha crumpled behind, Joel hooked arms with Benjamin and cheerfully walked away.
Even after all that, the ever-kind Benjamin worried about the Alpha left alone in the woods.
“S-shouldn’t we call the guards…?” he murmured, but when Joel snapped back that there was no need to care about someone like that, Benjamin closed his mouth.
“Let’s call this even for the tea incident, alright?”
Joel’s apology was half-hearted at best, but Benjamin kindly accepted it.
He even told Joel that he could call him by the nickname “Ben.”
Joel initially wanted to reject the offer.
He didn’t want to get close to Benjamin, especially since they were rivals for the Crown Prince’s attention.
But then Benjamin added, “Just because we’re rivals doesn’t mean we have to be enemies.
Rivals can be friends too—you know, like healthy competition?”
It was nonsense logic, but to the somewhat dumb Joel, it sounded oddly convincing.
So in the end, he agreed to be friends with Benjamin.
Much later, when Joel looked back on that day, he would wonder if maybe… he had just been lonely.
From that point on, Benjamin quietly helped Joel in many ways.
When a party was coming up and no one had told Joel the dress code—risking public embarrassment—it was Benjamin who secretly tipped him off.
When Joel nearly embarrassed himself in front of the Crown Prince, Benjamin subtly covered for him.
Even in a past life, when Joel was caught faking a pregnancy and thrown out of the count’s estate to await punishment, Benjamin was the only one who came to comfort him.
So when Joel unexpectedly received a marriage proposal from the Crown Prince and was wondering how to shake him off, he made up his mind to push Benjamin and the Crown Prince together.
If Benjamin took the initiative, it would make it much easier to get rid of the Crown Prince.
Joel didn’t like the idea of the Crown Prince showing interest in any other Omega—but if it had to be someone, he figured it might as well be sweet, kind Ben.
Besides, he did feel a little bad about how he’d treated Benjamin all this time.
And honestly… Benjamin and the Crown Prince kind of looked good together.
Benjamin wasn’t as attractive or rare in secondary gender as Joel himself, but he had a noble heart and good character.
He’d make a fine spouse for the Crown Prince.
So, even though he couldn’t stand the idea of Benjamin and the Crown Prince going off alone together, Joel made up his mind—and inserted himself into the inspection trip they were both set to attend.
The inspection team selected by the Crown Prince had gathered early in the morning in the garden of the Crown Prince’s palace.
For a group led by the Crown Prince himself, the number of people was surprisingly small.
This was by the Crown Prince’s own wishes—he wanted to travel with only the bare minimum.
After all, Sir Bennet’s incident wasn’t such a serious matter.
The Crown Prince had ordered that both luggage and personnel be kept to a minimum.
As a result, the inspection team consisted of just eight people: Joel and Benjamin, three members of the 4th Order including their captain Abe, and one royal physician.
The Crown Prince originally wished to bring along Dale as the royal physician.
But when Joel earnestly asked him to switch to Robert, the Crown Prince agreed without much resistance.
Count Lucas didn’t provide Joel with a carriage or servants.
Though the Crown Prince had ordered the preparations to be kept simple, in the end, it was practically a silent challenge—do whatever it takes to stay close to the Crown Prince.
In contrast, Duke Melfis gave Benjamin a personal carriage and assigned him the escort knight who always accompanied him.
Even at the risk of displeasing the Crown Prince, he went against His Highness’s wishes to ensure his son’s comfort.
Watching Benjamin arrive in a separate carriage, Joel couldn’t help but bitterly think, Is this the difference between a biological son and an adopted one?
Just before departure, while the luggage was being checked, Benjamin approached Joel.
The moment he saw Joel, he beamed and said, “It’s only been two months. Why haven’t you contacted me at all?”
Joel had already made up his mind to completely step aside for the Crown Prince, so he couldn’t treat Benjamin as casually as before.
Still, he tried not to resent Benjamin too much and made an effort to keep things civil.
As the final checks wrapped up and Benjamin was about to climb into his carriage—
“Ben, wait a second.”
Joel suddenly called out to him.
Benjamin’s escort knight, Felix—who openly disliked Joel—muttered just loud enough to be heard, “And just who do you think you are, bossing people around?”
Joel considered firing back but decided against starting a fight first thing in the morning.
More importantly, Benjamin quickly scolded Felix and apologized, so Joel chose to let it slide.
“Joel, what is it?”
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
“A favor?”
Joel never asked anyone for favors unless it involved the Crown Prince.
Knowing this well, Benjamin looked at him with a curious expression.
Joel gave a grin and gently took his hand.
* * *
