* * *
The sheer absurdity of his words made me turn to stare at him.
But his gaze wasn’t on the princess—it was on Crown Prince Hamuel.
For a brief, pathetic moment, I felt relieved.
‘I hate that I find comfort in things like this.’
And yet, I couldn’t help it.
“What are you talking about? I was talking about the princess.”
“The princess?”
He spoke with a complete lack of formality.
It was so disrespectful that I instinctively glanced around to see if anyone had heard.
Luckily, most people were still focused on the imperial siblings.
But Raizen didn’t give up and asked again—
“Do you think the princess is beautiful?”
‘Can you at least use the proper honorifics?’
I had no idea why I was getting so worked up.
Surely, he wouldn’t speak like this in front of them, right?
“Sei, why aren’t you answering?”
“Huh?”
I had been so distracted by his casual speech that I hadn’t registered what he was saying.
Normally, someone would drop the subject, but Raizen was relentless.
“Is she beautiful? The princess?”
‘Why are you so obsessed with this…?’
“Well… isn’t she?”
Regardless of my personal taste, Princess Celina was objectively beautiful.
I hesitantly replied, and Raizen gave me an expression I couldn’t quite define.
He looked surprised, yet somehow dissatisfied.
Honestly, it was an expression I had never seen before.
‘Raizen has always been pretty expressionless.’
After our reunion, though, he had been smiling a lot.
“And the Crown Prince?”
He was unusually curious today.
I briefly glanced toward Hamuel.
Hamuel was… just Hamuel.
He had grown taller and broader, but his arrogant demeanor remained unchanged.
‘That expression of his is still a problem.’
The same smug look from childhood, now accompanied by an even more irritating air of confidence.
‘Maybe I’m just biased.’
He had left too strong of a bad first impression.
Judging Raizen based on rumors and then throwing his past wounds in his face.
“He’s just…”
“Just?”
Why is he so persistent?
“…He’s grown quite tall?”
That was the best I could squeeze out of myself.
Raizen subtly lifted one corner of his mouth.
I didn’t know why, but he looked quite satisfied.
‘But I never actually got an answer to my question.’
I could have just asked casually, like he did, but for some reason, my lips wouldn’t move.
I was afraid that if I spoke, he might notice these feelings.
‘I’m acting like a guilty thief panicking over nothing.’
While I hesitated, the Crown Prince and Princess approached us.
Up close, Princess Selina looked just like a delicate, porcelain doll.
Her slightly flushed cheeks and the faint, elegant floral scent surrounding her made my heart feel even more unsteady.
‘She really is beautiful…’
And on top of that, her pheromones also had a floral fragrance.
If Raizen’s scent was like a bold, rich rose, then the princess’s was like the refined aroma of pristine white blossoms.
‘Is it really necessary for even things like this to match so well?’
To others, these details might have seemed trivial, but to me, they felt strangely significant.
My emotions clouded my mind before I could even make a rational judgment.
“I greet the Empire’s little sun.”
If not for Raizen’s voice, I probably would have remained lost in thought.
“I-I greet the Empire’s little sun.”
Hurriedly, I followed suit and paid my respects to Hamuel.
“Ahem. Yes, rise.”
His voice, deliberately lowered in a forced manner, sent a strange chill down my spine.
Did his attitude seem so childish because I had grown too accustomed to Raizen?
“I greet the Empire’s second sun.”
I then turned to the princess and bowed.
Not long after lowering my head, I heard a shy voice telling me to rise.
As I slowly lifted my gaze, the first thing that filled my sight was the princess’s face—looking straight at Raizen.
‘At the very least, the princess seems to be interested in him.’
Before I knew it, my fists clenched tightly.
My dull nails dug into my palm, sending a sharp sting through my skin.
“Though it’s a bit late… congratulations on your coming of age, young duke of Pantheon.”
Her clear, ringing voice echoed.
Raizen responded with a perfectly executed, formal bow of gratitude.
The princess smiled softly, exchanged a glance with the Crown Prince, and then left first.
That left only Hamuel standing before us.
“Congratulations on your coming of age, young duke.”
“I am only grateful that Your Highness came all this way to celebrate with me.”
His courteous demeanor was so flawless that it was hard to believe this was the same man who had just used such an insolent address earlier.
‘Yeah. I should be worrying about myself instead.’
As if he had read my thoughts, the Crown Prince suddenly turned to me.
“Young Master Shane, have you been well? It has been a while.”
With those words, Hamuel stepped closer to my side.
And in that moment—
“…Ugh.”
A tingling sensation spread through my entire body.
It wasn’t a pain intense enough to make me cry out, but it was too overwhelming to endure without reacting.
My body flinched involuntarily.
‘Ah, so this is… the pheromones of a dominant Alpha?’
It felt like sharp needles were pricking my skin.
The sheer force of it was too much for me to handle on my own.
“Shane.”
That’s when Raizen gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
His pheromones wrapped around me, shielding me completely.
And just like that, the lingering pain disappeared as if it had never been there.
“Are you alright?”
“…Yeah.”
“Ah, my apologies. Since I’m a dominant, even when I maintain control, there are still moments when I slip up.”
Once again, I was reminded that Hamuel should consider himself lucky to have been born as the Crown Prince of this empire.
If he had been of any lower status, his life would have been full of hardship, given how often he stirred up trouble with his words.
He wasn’t too different from how the novel had described him, though his rough edges seemed slightly smoothed over.
‘At least he’s not openly antagonizing Raizen anymore. That’s some progress.’
After gauging the situation for a moment, I finally spoke.
“…It’s alright, Your Highness. Thank you for your concern.”
“Oh, come now. There’s no need to be so distant.”
‘Well, maybe don’t talk like that if you don’t want distance.’
Did he seriously not realize how he sounded?
On top of that, the way he kept inching closer was making me extremely uncomfortable.
“Hm… But the two of you still seem very close. If anything, you look even more intimate than before.”
His words alone carried a clear implication, but his tone didn’t.
It was as if he was simply voicing an observation out of curiosity.
Maybe that made it worse—because there was no malice in his words, it was harder to ignore.
‘Or… is he mocking how naturally I accept Raizen’s pheromones?’
Pheromones were often used as a way to mark one’s territory.
But instead of covering me thickly like a sticky residue, Raizen’s scent wrapped around me like a thin veil—calculated, yet natural.
‘Normally… this is something only lovers do.’
In reality, it was rare for a recessive Omega and a dominant Alpha to interact like this.
There weren’t many of either to begin with.
And yet, somehow, this gathering had brought together two dominant Alphas and a single recessive Omega.
“Well… we’re brothers, after all.”
“Yes, brothers.”
I forced out the words, and Hamuel responded with a wide smile.
For some reason, he looked pleased.
That didn’t make me feel any better.
“Your Highness, I believe there are many others eagerly awaiting your attention.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
At Raizen’s seemingly intentional remark, Hamuel glanced around before letting out a hearty laugh.
And sure enough, a crowd had gathered around us.
Most seemed to be watching out of curiosity, but a few were visibly eager to strike up a conversation with the Crown Prince.
‘Yes. Please, just go already.’
I was silently chanting my hopes when Hamuel suddenly cleared his throat loudly, as if making an announcement.
“Well then, before I leave, I have one last thing to say.”
“…?”
“Young Master Shane, would you grant me the honor of sharing the first dance?”
‘What the—’
Had there ever been a moment in my life where I had to fight this hard to keep a neutral expression?
If I so much as frowned here, it wouldn’t just be my reputation on the line—it would also reflect poorly on the entire Pantheon household.
‘But.’
How was I supposed to refuse? Could I even refuse?
“Your Highness, I apologize, but Shane has already promised his first dance to me.”
“…?”
Since when…?
But I didn’t let my surprise show.
Right now, the only way to escape this situation was to dance with either Raizen or the Duke of Pantheon.
‘If one has already made a promise with a family member or lover, they can decline an invitation from the imperial family.’
“Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, but my first dance is reserved for my brother.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Hamuel murmured, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Well then, next time, I’ll be sure to make an official request.”
‘No, don’t.’
I had no idea what had gotten into him.
There was no way his first impression of me had been that good.
Hadn’t I embarrassed him by crying my lungs out when we first met?
‘And besides…’
How could he ask me to dance when so many eyes were watching?
I still carried the name Pantheon.
And not only that, but I was a widely known commoner-born adoptee.
Suddenly, I recalled the first time I had stepped into the imperial palace.
‘We have yet to conduct a pheromone assessment, Your Majesty.’
‘Oh? Well… there’s still plenty of time for that.’
The emperor had responded nonchalantly to the duke’s words.
‘Young Master Shane is likely an Omega, isn’t he? A dominant Omega, no less.’
Hamuel had blushed as he added more wood to the fire.
‘There has never been a male Omega crowned as imperial consort in the empire’s history.’
And Raizen, young as he was, had calmly countered with a composed elegance far beyond his years.
‘But in the end… I turned out to be recessive.’
But even so, was the crown prince doing this purely out of personal feelings, or… was it also the emperor’s will?
At our first meeting, the emperor’s gaze had been enigmatic.
Despite altering my appearance with a magic tool, it felt as if he could see right through me.
‘The current emperor has such immense magical talent that he could have become an archmage in another life.’
Even now, it seemed as though the emperor alone knew the true identity of Shane Pantheon.
But regardless of that, I was Shane Pantheon now.
It was troublesome that the crown prince was so openly showing interest in forging a connection with the duke’s adopted son.
No matter his personal intentions, this was an intensely political move.
“What did I just witness? Did His Highness the Crown Prince just ask Lord Pantheon for a dance?”
“My goodness… No wonder he’s still not engaged…”
The whispers of gossip swirled behind me in real-time, as if to confirm it.
* * *
