* * *
Although he had agreed to casually date the Crown Prince during the inspection tour, this was merely to sever his last lingering attachment.
There was no change in his plan to leave far away and start a new life.
Therefore, there was no need to be newly disappointed by the fact that the extent of the Crown Prince’s affection could not be the same as his own, yet Joel still felt sadness creeping in.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince, noticing Joel’s sudden gloomy mood, was entirely mistaken, wondering ‘is he so unhappy about having to keep his distance from Benjamin?’
The Crown Prince knew that Benjamin was the only person Joel could call a friend.
But could he guarantee that the two were truly just friends?
The truth was, Benjamin had been strangely favourable towards Joel all this time.
Now that he thought about it, Joel seemed excessively sad about being told to keep his distance from Benjamin, and there was more than one suspicious point.
Even though Benjamin was an Omega, Joel was so cute that the Crown Prince simply couldn’t relax.
Without realizing that he was rapidly becoming entrenched in a line of deduction only a fool would pursue, the Crown Prince reaffirmed his decision to be absolutely vigilant of Benjamin in the future.
It felt a bit cruel to deprive Joel of his only friend based on mere suspicion.
But he couldn’t help it, as he hated the thought of Joel showing interest in anyone other than himself.
If Joel truly needed a friend, then he could just be Joel’s friend, couldn’t he?
The Crown Prince thought arrogantly and held Joel in his arms even more carefully.
He had more than enough confidence to become Joel’s good lover and his only friend.
The Crown Prince suddenly realized that his possessive attitude resembled the old Joel, and he let out a small laugh.
“…Pfft.”
“Why are you laughing all of a sudden?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Replying in a nonchalant tone, the Crown Prince adjusted Joel in his embrace.
But he was already lost in nostalgia, recalling the former Joel’s cute displays of jealousy.
For the past three years, Joel would get utterly frustrated whenever the Prince so much as exchanged glances with an Omega at a social gathering.
Not only short conversations with Omegas, but even shaking hands with Betas or Alphas was observed with a cautious eye.
Of course, even when angry, he dared not show it to the Crown Prince himself, and could only manage to fiercely glare at the other person.
Anyway, back then, he had merely found such behaviour tiresome and annoying, but now, thinking that Joel might have felt this way too, he felt a little apologetic.
But wait.
If that was the case, could Joel now be feeling bored and tired, just as he had back then?
At the sudden possibility, the satisfied smile on the Crown Prince’s lips vanished.
Honestly, he himself had found Joel annoying back then, so he couldn’t guarantee that Joel wasn’t feeling the same now.
Imagining Joel looking at him with an exasperated expression, his heart gave a painful lurch.
He hadn’t realized that receiving a cold gaze from the person he loved could be so hurtful.
The Crown Prince, realizing the extent of the pain he had inflicted on Joel in the past, regretted that he hadn’t been a little kinder to Joel.
Since he couldn’t turn back time, he couldn’t undo the mistakes he had already made.
The only way to atone to Joel was to cherish and love him more in the future.
The Crown Prince firmly vowed never to hurt Joel again.
From now on, he would treat Joel more preciously than the jewels passed down through the Imperial Family, handling him carefully as if he were a delicate flower.
Unaware of the future Joel in his arms was dreaming of, the Crown Prince began to meticulously map out the future he would share with Joel in his head.
And when the Crown Prince’s entourage briefly stopped the carriages for a late lunch, Benjamin, who knew nothing, approached Joel with his usual friendly smile.
“Joel! How are you feeling? You’ve been travelling in a carriage for four days, aren’t you tired?”
But just as Benjamin was about to grab Joel’s arm, the Crown Prince suddenly appeared and wedged himself between Benjamin and Joel.
The Crown Prince, who had always treated Benjamin with manners, for some reason had a look full of displeasure in his eyes.
He hid Joel behind him and answered Benjamin’s greeting instead.
“Joel says he’s fine. You’re working hard, too.”
“Excuse me? Ah. Yes. Not at all…”
“If you have nothing more to say, let’s go have lunch, shall we?”
The Crown Prince ended the conversation arbitrarily, pulled Joel away, and disappeared.
The dumbfounded Benjamin, left standing alone, stared at the Crown Prince’s retreating back—or, to be precise, at Joel, who was hanging onto the Crown Prince’s back and sending him an apologetic look.
Meanwhile, being dragged away by the Crown Prince, Joel complained to him in an embarrassed tone.
“Yo-Your Highness. Do you really have to go this far? Ben, I mean, Benjamin is so kind, why must you treat him so harshly…”
“Benjamin’s attitude is suspicious in more ways than one, so I have no choice. I hope you can understand.”
No matter how much Joel protested, the Crown Prince simply wouldn’t drop his strange suspicion about the relationship between Joel and Benjamin.
Far from dropping his suspicion about Benjamin, he even blocked Joel, who was trying to move to Robert’s side to eat.
The Crown Prince insisted that Joel must share not only his bed but also his meals with him from now on.
Joel, who at least wanted to eat his meal in peace, stood up to the Crown Prince, but when the Crown Prince’s eyes started burning with jealousy—asking things like ‘didn’t you request that the physician brought on this inspection tour be replaced with this man?’ and ‘we’ve had pregnancy confirmed by this man four times, what exactly is your relationship with him?’ and ‘sometimes you seem to call him by a nickname, why is that?’—Joel had no choice but to rub his forehead in exasperation.
“How many times do I have to tell you? Robert is just a friend from my hometown!”
“I can’t believe that.”
The Crown Prince, who stubbornly shook his head, seemed like a different person from the Crown Prince Joel knew.
Joel was so annoyed that he felt a pull at the back of his head.
It was to the point where he wondered if a five-year-old child was wearing the Crown Prince’s mask and imitating him.
“No. Then are you saying I should never spend time with my friends again?”
As he complained, thumping his chest with the frustration of having eaten a whole wad of biscuits, the Crown Prince replied with a peculiar expression.
“Well… Not ‘never’, but if we go through with the imprinting, I might let you off the leash a little.”
For a moment, Joel felt the Crown Prince’s persistent gaze focus on his neck.
It must be a joke, as he wouldn’t try to imprint a foolish Omega like himself, but perhaps because the gaze was so tenacious, he felt oddly uncomfortable.
Joel subtly raised his hand to cover his neck.
“What a strange joke.”
“How are you so sure it’s a joke?”
“Let-Let’s stop talking about that now. Anyway, Your Highness, let’s just eat our meal in comfort.”
“Then is my presence uncomfortable? I don’t understand. I think you should be more uncomfortable with Robert than with me. What else is there between us that we haven’t already shown each other?”
‘Oh, not this man again!’
Joel felt his face flush hot.
The Crown Prince had been constantly steering the conversation in an awkward direction.
Was he not afraid of being overheard?
Joel wanted to accuse him of being cowardly and mean, but if the conversation dragged on in this direction, he would be the one to suffer.
In the end, Joel threw up his hands and begrudgingly agreed to the Crown Prince’s wishes.
Joel, who ended up being dragged and made to sit in a sunny patch of grass as the Crown Prince led him, looked distraught.
It wasn’t an exaggeration; he truly felt like crying.
Mealtime alone with Robert was one of the few opportunities he had to eat his fill in peace.
He had been excited about eating lots of delicious food, but that opportunity was gone so senselessly…
Especially since it was already hard to curb his appetite because of the baby in his belly.
He couldn’t possibly shove food into his mouth crudely in front of the Crown Prince, so Joel began to mentally prepare himself to pretend he had no appetite, suppressing his sorrow.
Unaware of Joel’s internal turmoil, the Crown Prince opened the lunch basket he had brought with a cheerful expression.
Joel watched with sad eyes as the Crown Prince laid out well-baked wheat bread, a large cheese, ham, salted beef, cookies decorated with sugar around the edges, and a raspberry-filled pie from the basket.
* * *
HE SAID HE LOVED JOEL