Chapter 41

The Second Prince, unaware of what would happen in the future, lamented with a clear face.

"What I dislike isn't the princess, but this situation."

"Situation..."

"The role His Majesty wants from me is nothing more than an excellent stud horse."

Helio looked like he didn't understand. As it was always the master's role to fill in the knight's ignorance, Kinaine explained in detail.

"The Kingdom of Hairak has been ruled by dominant alphas for generations. But this time, an anomaly occurred."

All the kings of Hairak in history had been dominant alphas. However, for the first time this generation, the First Prince Hasan had manifested as a recessive omega, making it unlikely to continue the dominant trait lineage.

"Because of the principle of primogeniture, my brother will become king this generation. But everyone is worried about what comes after."

It was problematic for a recessive omega to become king, but the bigger issue was the high probability that a child born to that recessive omega wouldn't be dominant. The royal family didn't want the line of dominant traits to be broken.

After much deliberation, the king came up with a scheme.

"A child between me, a dominant, and the princess will likely be born dominant too. His Majesty intends to make that child my brother's and have them succeed the throne."

"...You mean they'll take away Your Highness's child?"

"In conclusion, yes."

It wasn't speculation but fact. The worship of dominant traits in the Hairak royal family was beyond imagination. This was true not just in the Kingdom of Hairak but in any kingdom on the continent.

If not for the principle of primogeniture, Hasan couldn't have become the heir.

In fact, since Hasan had manifested as a recessive omega, there had already been much talk regarding his qualification as heir.

If he hadn't had a younger brother, he might have been less criticized, but Hasan had a younger brother, Kinaine, who was the very embodiment of an excellent dominant alpha by anyone's standards.

Hasan hadn't liked Kinaine from the start, but after Kinaine manifested as a dominant alpha, his dislike turned to hatred. Ironically, Kinaine himself had little interest in the throne.

Kinaine had been born with many things and could have anything he reached for, but he rarely wanted anything.

"Well, the princess must have her own circumstances for accepting such a proposal. I too should bear my duty as royalty. But the child..."

The prince's voice trailed off.

"Will my brother raise the child I bear with love? If it resembles me even a little, he'll be disgusted. I don't want to see my child grow up being treated like that."

"If Your Highness dislikes it, I dislike it too."

At those words, the prince seemed to momentarily forget his troubled mind, smiling and scratching Helio's chin as if petting a puppy.

"Is that so, Sir Knight? Do you now understand your lord's deep intentions? That I didn't break the lunch appointment with the princess out of some adolescent boy's whim?"

No sooner had the prince finished speaking than Helio knelt and bowed his head. At the same time, the prince cried out as if jumping in surprise.

"No, why are you kneeling? Get up!"

"I was ignorant of Your Highness's deep intentions. Please forgive me."

"No, don't do that. I told you not to use what you learned from Lord Dorian!"

The prince shook his head in distaste.

"Please, can't you act cute like before?"

"...Cute?"

Helio gave a look as if to say you're the only one who calls me cute.

The Second Prince's knight was a giant nearly 2 meters tall, with half his body covered in shiny black scales. Looking only at the right side of his face without scales, he was undoubtedly a great beauty, but no one except the Second Prince knew he was handsome. That's how shocking the other half's appearance was.

Helio's black scales covered from the left side of his face down to his torso and legs, and were so hard that even blades couldn't penetrate them, making them more useful than armor in battle. Moreover, enemies were intimidated just by Helio's appearance, making him excellent at gaining the upper hand.

However, it certainly wasn't an appearance that could be called cute.

After much consideration, Helio opened his mouth.

"...What should I do to be cute?"

Helio couldn't even dream of it, but it was precisely this that made him cute.

Both the Second Prince and Kinaine smiled softly at the same time.

"No, it's fine. You're cute in a different way right now."

Yes, yes. So very cute.

"...?"

Helio seemed perplexed, but nodded as if to say if the prince liked it, he liked it too.

"However... I don't understand why the First Prince hates Your Highness so much."

"You should add 'His Highness.' Where did the manners you learned from Lord Dorian go?"

"..."

Helio didn't answer. He didn't correct his words either.

'Oh ho.'

Kinaine was a bit surprised inwardly.

What's this, he was quite stubborn after all?

In his memories, Helio had always been devoted to him, so seeing him being stubborn like this felt unfamiliar yet interesting.

'Surely when we first met, he didn't have any stubbornness, let alone his own opinions.'

Recalling the young man who had seemed like a simpleton, he could see how much had changed now.

"Haha!"

The prince, who had been staring at his guard knight, burst into laughter. He usually laughed a lot, but he tended to laugh even more in front of Helio.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Just be careful in front of my brother. He doesn't look kindly on you either."

'So that's why.'

Kinaine realized why Helio had developed a habit of being stubborn. With such indulgence, how could he not develop new habits?

But he didn't regret it. If he had any regrets, it would be that he wished he had done even more for him.

Kinaine saw Helio gazing blankly at his smiling face. As if not wanting to break that moment, the knight only opened his lips after the prince's laughter had subsided.

"I don't care what he does to me. But I can't understand him treating Your Highness carelessly."

"Well, not everyone in the world can like me... Hey, why are you so surprised?"

To others, it would have looked like the same expressionless face, but Kinaine could tell Helio was surprised.

"How is it possible for anyone not to like Your Highness..."

My, this one's quite the flatterer too. How cute, how cute.

Kinaine, now feeling quite at ease, watched the two flirting before they became lovers.

"Haha, certainly, as you say, I'm not someone who would be disliked anywhere."

The prince showed no sign of embarrassment at hearing such words. He was probably feeling embarrassed inside but pretending not to be.

Kinaine had been good at acting since childhood. If he had been a commoner, wouldn't he have lived well as an actor? But not showing true emotions on one's face was also a noble's accomplishment.

Kinaine could pretend even in uncomfortable situations and smile as if friendly even in front of people he disliked. In other words, he could also pretend in front of people he liked.

'Though at this time, I wasn't aware of it at all.'

The prince at this time didn't think of his feelings for Helio as love. Because he didn't know that wanting to be together, always wanting to look at him, wanting to be the only one who knew him - that these feelings were love.

The Second Prince, popular with everyone, had never once in his life loved a person.

'So I fumbled around for quite a while.'

Whether Kinaine was lost in memories or not, the conversation between the prince and Helio continued.

"My brother thinks Mother died because of me. It wasn't a good start from the beginning."

The queen, who had been sickly to begin with, returned to God's embrace not long after giving birth to Kinaine. Unlike Kinaine who couldn't even remember his mother's face, Hasan had loved and followed his mother, so her death must have deeply wounded him.

If that had been all, things wouldn't have deteriorated this much, but the problem was that as they grew up, Kinaine's talents not only stood out but overwhelmed Hasan's.

To top it off, he manifested as a dominant alpha, so it was natural for Hasan's eyes to be overturned with jealousy.

"Your Highness, I apologize for saying this, but... I have a bad feeling about the First Prince. Somehow, I feel he might cause great harm to Your Highness."

Kinaine was impressed by Helio's intuition. This must have been before Hasan had revealed his schemes, yet Helio seemed to have sensed something.

Come to think of it, Helio sometimes had strangely good intuition.