As soon as dawn broke, Leonhardt hurried back to the capital.
He intended to secure the Emperor’s permission and hold an engagement ceremony with Damian as quickly as possible.
It was because Callix’s bizarre obsession with his own younger brother had bothered him the entire time.
He was certain that Callix would try to sabotage this engagement.
However, Callix’s movements were faster than Leonhardt’s.
During breakfast, he asked the Duke for permission regarding his younger brother’s engagement.
“What? You want to engage Damian to the Blanche family? What are you talking about!”
Flustered, the Duke stared at Callix as if to say, ‘Have you lost your mind?’
It was utterly absurd to propose an engagement between boys with a gap in status as vast as heaven and earth.
“Grand Duke, Shushu likes Cain.”
“They’ve known each other since they were kids, so they might just be confused. This is far too hasty.”
“No, you were the one who said it yourself, Grand Duke. People get engaged around this age.”
Callix—who had previously bared raw, bleeding-flesh emotions at the mere mention of engaging his younger brother—was now, for whatever reason, rushing Damian’s engagement overnight.
Wondering if some accident might have occurred between Damian and Cain at the party last night, the Duke glared at the grey-haired attendant.
Cain quietly kept his head bowed and refrained from stepping forward.
“How dare a mere Blanche aim for a Vesper! After taking in that stray dog of a thing, he dares to look past his master?”
Furious, Duke Maldini slammed his palm down onto the dining table and stood up.
He resolved to drag Cain down to the dungeon and make him pay dearly for daring to touch an omega who had barely manifested.
Callix spoke to the agitated Duke Maldini.
“It’s simply because Cain Blanche is the most suitable match to be Shushu’s fiancé.”
“What kind of nonsense is that! Someone of your younger brother’s caliber wouldn’t be out of place even if he met the crown prince of a neighboring country!”
Duke Maldini was right.
Once Damian stepped out into high society, rumors regarding his breathtaking beauty would rapidly spread even to other lands.
He knew better than anyone the rapturous trance princes and princesses of foreign nations would fall into the moment they laid eyes on Damian.
They would bend over backward to capture Damian’s heart, bringing treasures of gold and jewels to the ducal estate just to beat out their rivals and secure an engagement.
This was precisely why nobles treated the manifestation of a dominant omega child as equivalent to discovering a gem mine.
“The Crown Prince fell in love with Shushu at first sight.”
“……Then that works out wonderfully. We can just use this as an opportunity to mend our relationship with the imperial family, can’t we?”
“The Crown Prince reportedly has a sadistic inclination for beating omegas. I’ll be damned if I let my little brother live a life of getting beaten.”
“What on earth… I’ve never heard a single rumor like that. You must have misinformed yourself.”
Naturally, the Duke had never heard of it.
Because it wasn’t true.
Yet Callix slowly shook his head with a gloomy expression.
“It’s intelligence brought back by a spy planted within the imperial palace. The Crown Prince allegedly favors things that are perverted and sadistic. Bring it here!”
At Callix’s command, his retainer brought forward a wooden box.
Shocked at the sight of the gags, handcuffs, whips, and vibrators inside, Duke Maldini collapsed heavily back into his chair.
These items might be fake, but why on earth would his own son fabricate such a lie just to push his younger brother into an engagement with a mere minor noble?
“Good grief! How obscene. How are we supposed to leave the future of the Adamantian Empire in the hands of a beast like that?”
Lost in deep contemplation with his hands clasped together, Duke Maldini finally hardened his resolve.
Rather than handing over the son his wife had left behind to a sexual deviant, it was far better to marry him off to an accessible family’s alpha and protect him under his own shade for the rest of his life.
“Father, please hurry and draw up the engagement certificate for Cain and Damian. It will be too late once the engagement certificate arrives from the Crown Prince.”
Spurred by Callix’s urging, Duke Maldini snapped back to his senses and had the butler quickly fetch the engagement certificate.
Shushu and Cain signed to affirm their engagement, and the Duke likewise signed to grant his permission for their union.
Grabbing the engagement certificate, Callix immediately had it notarized by the family lawyer.
With this, Damian’s engagement was officially finalized.
An overwhelming sense of relief settled over the alpha’s face, washed away by the anxiety of potentially losing Damian to the Crown Prince.
Shushu had no idea at the time.
He didn’t know that the novel he had transmigrated into was careening horribly off course.
The Crown Prince returned to the ducal estate.
The engagement certificate stamped with the Emperor’s seal bore the names of Leonhardt and Damian.
As if waiting for this exact moment, Callix handed the Crown Prince—who had brought his own engagement certificate—the engagement certificate belonging to Damian and Cain.
“What, what is the meaning of this?”
It had only taken him two weeks.
Aside from the insane amount of time spent frantically traveling back and forth between the capital and Wintergarden, he hadn’t wasted a single hour of idle time getting the Emperor’s permission, yet in that short span, the omega he had fallen in love with at first sight had gotten engaged to another alpha.
“Is this something Young Master Damian consented to?”
“Anyone listening would think I threatened the boy into engaging another alpha. Your Highness, Damian and Cain are a couple who grew up together since they were little. Their romantic feelings naturally blossomed, leading to an engagement, that is all.”
“I must see Young Master Damian.”
The Crown Prince could not accept this reality.
Of course, it was possible to get engaged to an alpha friend you grew up with.
But why right before he sent his own engagement certificate?
“I apologize, but Damian has taken to his bed due to poor health.”
“Then all the more reason I must pay him a visit.”
Leonhardt desperately begged for a meeting with Damian.
From the very first moment he laid eyes on him, he had never once forgotten that beautiful boy.
Even while riding hard on horseback without rest, the thrill of getting to see Damian had kept him from feeling any exhaustion.
“He is not in a condition to receive visitors. Now, please take your leave.”
Callix turned his back, signaling that he would no longer entertain a conversation.
Left with lingering attachments, Leonhardt wandered around the ducal estate’s garden in hopes of catching even an accidental glimpse of Damian, only to discover a single shoe discarded among the bushes.
It was Damian’s—the one that had slipped off when he fled from the ballroom. Picking it up, Leonhardt’s heart sank heavily into his chest.
“Something is wrong.”
Callix’s obsession toward his own younger brother was abnormal.
Leonhardt desperately wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t help concluding that Callix harbored filthy, romantic affections for Damian.
This sudden engagement of Damian’s had undoubtedly been a calculated move pulled by Callix right before he could send his own engagement certificate.
He wondered if the Duke was even aware of this fact, but decided against seeking his help.
