* * *

“No, Your Highness. I was asking about the family that won the—”

“In Deer Creek? When? With whom?”

“Your Highness…”

“Don’t tell me. Was it… again…”

Gulp. Remy swallowed nervously.

“With Ashton. Just the two of you?”

Ah… Remy let out an involuntary groan.

Watching the disaster he’d unleashed unfold in real-time, he couldn’t help but curse his reckless mouth.

Why did things always go so wrong?

And now, how was he supposed to clean this up?

“Answer me, Remy. Just the two of you with Ashton?”

Resigned to his fate, Remy decided he might as well brazen it out.

After all, it wasn’t as if Haywards wasn’t already walled off emotionally.

What else could possibly go wrong? He’d just go all in.

“Yes. Just the two of us. With Ashton.”

“…?!”

The esteemed prince’s face showed a truly, thoroughly, utterly shocked expression.

It was enough to make Remy flinch, but he resolved to double down and threw an even bigger bombshell into the mix.

“Ashton offered to teach me how to swim.

He held my hand while I learned, even cradled me as we splashed around, and we played in the water together. It was an incredibly enjoyable time.”

Boiling.

It wasn’t stew simmering on a stove somewhere, but the sound of something bubbling up inside.

If anyone heard it, they wouldn’t be imagining things.

Listening to Remy’s recounting, Haywards’ insides were churning violently.

‘What? Swimming? Holding hands? Cradling? In the water?? Just the two of them???’

Haywards was seething.

No matter how close the two had been since childhood, sticking together so… intimately was beyond acceptable.

No, it didn’t make sense at all.

An Alpha and an Omega as just friends? How was that even possible?

“Remy.”

There were thousands of things Haywards wanted to say.

Yet he compressed and compressed them all into a single sentence.

“Ashton is not the one.”

Remy stared blankly, trying to process what he’d just heard.

“What? I… What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Remy.”

“Yes?”

“You’re too naive to realize it, but Alphas like him are a dime a dozen.”

“What…?”

“Those Alphas, who use their silver tongues to seduce pretty, innocent Omegas like you who don’t know any better.”

“…???”

“Do you truly believe an Alpha and an Omega can just be friends?”

“No, Your Highness. I think you might be misunderstanding some—”

“No, I’m not. Not at all. You need to learn more about what kind of creatures Alphas are, Remy.”

Remy clicked his tongue in disbelief.

‘Isn’t it thanks to Your Highness that I already learned a bit about Alphas back in the bathhouse?’

“Remy. Alphas, you see, cannot see you as just a friend anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because they want to knot you.”

“…”

Haywards’ eyelids lowered lazily, his gaze becoming so seductively perfect it could only be described as devastatingly alluring.

Tilting his head slightly, he placed a single finger on Remy’s chest.

Remy stiffened, staring at the finger resting on his chest.

Slowly, it began to trace circles, moving deliberately over his skin.

“Alphas are driven by instinct. They want nothing more than to spread their genes. And the more beautiful and sweetly scented the Omega, the stronger that urge becomes. Just imagining you carrying my child is enough to drive me mad.”

As Haywards spoke, a shiver ran down Remy’s spine.

Being told such things was both disturbing and strange.

For the first time, the reality of being an Omega truly sank in.

What made it worse was that everything Haywards was saying felt like a window into his true thoughts.

“Remy.”

Haywards leaned closer, his face nearing unbearably.

His piercing gaze pinned Remy in place, leaving him breathless.

The intensity of his stare made Remy’s chest feel tight, almost as if he might cry.

Was this the possessiveness of an Alpha?

For the first time, he felt the crushing force of it, leaving him utterly confused.

“I’m sorry if what I said was too harsh. But I needed you to understand why you can’t be alone with an Alpha. Why you shouldn’t be in secluded places, just the two of you.”

Remy bit his lip hard, glaring coldly at Haywards as he responded.

“Yes, Your Highness. I have already learned that lesson painfully well, thanks to you. In the bathhouse. Surely you remember what you did to me, when we were in a secluded place, just the two of us.”

He hadn’t intended to bring it up. But in the end, Remy opened that box.

“Ha.”

Inside that box was a truth Haywards had also wanted to keep buried.

That very truth was the only thing that had allowed him to maintain his gentlemanly facade around Remy—until now.

But now, with everything laid bare, fair play no longer mattered.

“You’re right.”

“Your Highness.”

“If it hadn’t been for Ashton that day, I would have knotted you.”

Remy’s face froze.

The fact that Haywards could say such things so casually was both shocking and chilling.

“No. More than that. I would have done anything to make you mine. To ensure no other Alpha could lay a hand on you.”

‘He’s insane.’

Haywards’ words were more terrifying than anything Remy had ever heard.

His trembling eyes met Haywards’, finding not just possessiveness but an obsession.

A madness he had never encountered before.

“There’s nothing more to discuss between us, Your Highness.”

Remy stood to leave, but Haywards grabbed his wrist, pulling him back down with enough force that he had no choice but to sit.

“Sit down. I’m not finished.”

Haywards’ sudden forcefulness was terrifying.

Remy froze.

Haywards had always been warm and gentle, no matter how coldly Remy treated him.

What had changed him?

What had driven him to this extreme?

“Your Highness. Please let go of me. I’m asking you.”

“No. Not until I’ve said everything I need to.”

“…”

Haywards leaned in again, so close it was suffocating.

His gaze was icy as he spoke.

“Do you think I’m the only one who feels this way about you?”

Remy frowned.

“What are you saying…”

“Do you think I’m the only Alpha who looks at you and thinks these things?”

“Your Highness.”

“Listen carefully, Remy. I’m telling you to distance yourself from Ashton. The facade of childhood friendship is over. The moment you manifested as an Omega, it was already over. Who do you think Ashton is thinking of late at night? Whose image do you think keeps him company?”

“…Please stop. I don’t want to hear this.”

“No. You need to hear it, even if you don’t want to. You need to understand what Alphas are.”

“Your Highness…”

“So don’t ever be alone with Ashton again. In fact, don’t ever be alone with any Alpha.”

“…”

“I don’t want to lose you to another Alpha.”

His face was more serious than ever before, his gaze filled with a heart-wrenching sorrow.

“I… want you. Truly.”

In that instant, it felt as if the noisy world around them had been muted.

Time seemed to stop, the movements of everything around them frozen, as if they were suddenly isolated in a blank, white void.

This was undoubtedly a confession.

One impossible to escape, no matter what excuse he tried to make.

* * *