HTTRPIAO Ch 4

‘What?’

Only then did Duke Herace’s face harden as he realized the gravity of the situation.

‘Even if I could, what if there isn’t another chance? Don’t you know how thoroughly the Emperor avoids and ignores me?’

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‘That’s…’

Duke Herace closed his mouth with an embarrassed expression. After spending an unwanted night due to Leona’s scheme, Edwin was avoiding her way more than before.

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‘If only it had been a Beta…’

Leona, who had been sobbing in a pitiful voice, suddenly let out an exclamation as if she had realized something. She asked urgently.

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‘Father, where are the doctor and the midwife? And the head maid? Other than them and you, no one else knows that I gave birth to an Omega, right?’

‘They’re in the next room. So far, only we know.’

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At the duke’s answer, Leona’s eyes lit up. It seemed there was always a way out.

Leona’s birthing chamber was set up in a separate building of the House of Herace. They had judged that her family home would be safer than the imperial palace.

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‘Please call the doctor and midwife right now. We don’t have much time. We need to silence them before a messenger arrives from the palace.’

Having quickly organized her thoughts, Leona spoke. If she had given birth in the palace, it would have been immediately known that the child was an Omega, but thanks to giving birth at the duke’s residence, there was a small window of opportunity. There was enough time to get everyone’s stories straight.

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‘Silence them?’

‘This child will not be an Omega, but a Beta.’

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‘What?’

Duke Herace’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.

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‘The previous emperor was a Beta. The previous empress was also a dominant Omega like me, but gave birth to only two Betas. So there’s no problem with me giving birth to a Beta.’

‘You mean to lie that the child is a Beta?’

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‘Yes. Because Betas can become the emperor.’

Either way, the child was of direct imperial lineage. Unless an exceptional dominant Alpha was born from a branch of the imperial family later, it was a game with enough chance of success. Leona continued speaking calmly.

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‘We don’t know if I can have another child now. We need to prepare for the future.’

‘Can we really hide it…? It’s not just any Omega, but a dominant one.’

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Duke Herace was skeptical of Leona’s opinion. His gaze turned to the sleeping child.

‘Moreover, that child was born with jewel eyes.’

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Duke Herace spoke, remembering the aquamarine eyes he had seen before the child fell asleep.

Those mysterious eyes that seemed to contain nature itself, like clear lake water or the clear sky.

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There was no doubt they were the jewel eyes that only dominant Alphas and dominant Omegas of the Frederick imperial bloodline possessed.

‘Even if we can hide other things, those eyes and pheromones will be difficult to conceal. Maybe when young, but once his first heat cycle comes…’

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‘Even if it’s impossible, we have to make it possible.’

Leona cut off the duke’s words with a firm voice. She seemed to have already made up her mind.

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‘For now, Father, please search for skilled magicians and alchemists. It would be better to find someone with financial difficulties. Ah, we also need an apothecary with excellent brewing skills. Please say it’s because my body was severely damaged from the difficult birth.’

‘…’

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‘The Emperor won’t say anything if I tell him I want to recover at your residence. After all, he… has no interest in me.’

Leona, who gave a bitter smile, looked at Duke Herace with desperate eyes.

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‘Please help me, Father.’

‘Leona.’

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‘This is the only way for me to maintain my position as empress and for our family to continue prospering.’

‘…Alright.’

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After hesitating briefly, the duke nodded. The moment he decided to help Leona, the child’s fate changed.

That day, what should have been a birth blessed by the whole world became the beginning of all tragedies.

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“…Ahem.”

The Empress, who had been lost in old memories, was pulled from her reverie by a light coughing sound.

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She looked with indifferent eyes at Etienne, who was standing like a criminal with his eyes looking down. For a moment, her feelings became strange as she saw the aquamarine eyes glinting beneath his long eyelashes.

More than twenty years had passed since the day she decided to raise the child not as an Omega but as a Beta.

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A game where everything would end if the fact that he was an Omega were to be discovered.

Though every moment of the past 20 years had been like walking a tightrope, they had managed to get by so far.

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During that time, Leona had grown her influence with Duke Herace’s help and gained control of more than half the palace. Her power grew stronger by the day.

Having gained confidence, Leona had been working with the duke for the past two years to pressure the Emperor by creating public opinion that the crown prince position could not remain vacant any longer. However, he was against it more than what she had expected.

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To make matters worse, the situation changed drastically. As if dealing with the opposition from the Emperor’s faction wasn’t troublesome enough, about half of the military and neutral factions came out against Etienne.

They claimed that Etienne was unsuitable to become emperor in many ways and supported Grand Duke Eckhart as the next emperor.

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“…”

Leona frowned as she thought about the problem, which showed no signs of being resolved.

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“He’s returning.”

Etienne involuntarily stiffened his shoulders at the Empress’s words. The one the Empress referred to as ‘he’ was undoubtedly Grand Duke Eckhart.

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“What? Are you happy to hear that he’s returning?”

The Empress narrowed her eyes, keenly noticing Etienne’s agitation.

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“No.”

Etienne answered in a calm tone, being careful not to let his expression waver. Fortunately, his voice didn’t tremble. He quickly added words to ensure the Empress wouldn’t be suspicious.

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“How could I be happy about that?”

“Right. You shouldn’t be.”

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Only then did the Empress smile with satisfaction. Her lips, red as rose petals, formed a gentle curve.

“When he returns, there will be full-scale conflict over the crown prince position.”

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The Empress’s voice lowered. She gritted her teeth as if getting angrier the more she thought about it.

“The Emperor intends to make him crown prince.”

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So that’s how it is.

Etienne nodded without showing any surprise. It was common knowledge that the Emperor had special regard for his distant nephew Rishar.

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In the past, the Emperor had volunteered to be the guardian of Grand Duke Eckhart, who had lost his parents at a young age, and protected him in the palace until he entered the Imperial Military Academy. And he took care of everything personally.

While the Emperor was cold as winter wind to his own child Etienne, he was warm as spring breeze to Grand Duke Eckhart, naturally causing various rumors.

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The noisy nobles liked to joke that perhaps the children had been switched at birth. Some nobles claimed it was because Etienne was a Beta while Grand Duke Eckhart was a dominant Alpha.

Since the Emperor himself had been born an Alpha and ascended to the throne by trampling his siblings, that rumor was accepted as somewhat credible.

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The Emperor didn’t deny the rumors surrounding Etienne and Grand Duke Eckhart. The nobles of the Emperor’s faction also supported Grand Duke Eckhart as the next emperor.

Since Grand Duke Eckhart had succession rights and was one of the few dominant Alphas, there was sufficient justification.

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When the situation became like this, the noble faction supporting Etienne strongly objected. The Emperor’s faction and noble faction were in conflict over the next imperial authority. And Etienne became even more tired than before.

‘Hyung-nim.’

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Was it three years ago when they last met? Etienne recalled Grand Duke Eckhart coming to bid farewell before departing for the expedition.

The last time he met Rishar, that is Grand Duke Eckhart, was on an especially hot summer night.

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‘…Who’s there?’

Unable to fall asleep easily due to the tropical night that had continued for days, Etienne, who had been trying to force himself to sleep, stiffened and took a defensive stance when he felt a presence from the direction of the balcony. Then a small voice came through the curtains fluttering in the hot wind.

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‘Hyung-nim.’

‘…Rishar?’

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Etienne immediately recognized the owner of the voice calling him. He couldn’t not know. There was only one person in this world who called him, a prince, hyung-nim.

‘Why are you…’

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Etienne, who had tensed his body, got up with a surprised expression. As he hurriedly approached the balcony, a familiar face could be seen beyond the curtain.

‘What are you doing at this hour?’

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Etienne asked in as calm a voice as possible. It was fortunate that he knew Rishar was staying one night at the palace for tomorrow’s departure ceremony, or he might have screamed embarrassingly.

‘I wanted to see you before leaving, hyung-nim.’

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Rishar winked with gentle eye corners. For a moment, Etienne’s heart beat irregularly.

‘See me?’

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‘…Yes. But I didn’t mean to disturb your sleep. I just, moved a bit impulsively…’

Rishar trailed off and smiled awkwardly. Etienne felt a sigh rising as he crossed his arms.

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‘Really, you…’

‘Are you angry, hyung-nim?’

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‘…I told you not to call me hyung-nim.’

Etienne shot back deliberately harshly. Since Rishar became Grand Duke, Etienne had consistently demanded that he change how he addressed him, drawing a line between them.

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But Rishar still called Etienne “Hyung-nim” and acted friendly.

‘Why do you…’

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The words that came out like a sigh remained unfinished. Etienne closed his mouth as he felt something hot welling up in his chest.

Now eighteen years old, Rishar, who had officially inherited the title of Grand Duke, was right at the boundary between boy and young man.

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After watching Rishar for a moment, Etienne let out a long sigh. He turned around as he said with cold words,

‘If you’ve seen my face, go back.’

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‘Wait a moment.’

Rishar called out to Etienne in an urgent voice and reached out his hand. His large, strong hand grabbed Etienne’s arm.

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