CH 28

“I heard from the chef here that Lindbergh did many terrible things to preserve those with traits. So why is Lindbergh lacking those with traits now?”

Realizing he was referring to Omega hunting, Leia smirked and chuckled.

“That’s a curse they received due to their greed and selfishness.”

“A real curse?”

“Yes. How can you be so sure that all the Omegas brought by those Alphas are all Omegas? Recessive Alphas are powerless and tremble in front of dominant Omegas.”

Her eyes clearly displayed anger.

The scent, like lemon candy that I always associated with her, burst with pheromones filled with fury.

“It’s like trying to fill a burst bag with flour and ending up spilling their crimes. With all those with dominant traits gone, the useless Alphas that remained realized they couldn’t handle Omegas. Omegas and Alphas are similar in magic power.”

She said that even if you put a leash on them, they wouldn’t be able to handle Omegas recklessly.

“So, what they brought with them…”

“Instead, they caught Betas.”

It was even worse.

Preserving the number of those with traits were nothing but an excuse to satisfy their own greed.

“Even now, the majority of commoners are Betas. How easy it must have been.”

“But wasn’t there a reward for giving birth to those with traits? And if they couldn’t have any, wouldn’t the country say something?”

Leia laughed.

As if that would ever happen.

“When a recessive trait combines with a Beta, those with a trait are born, maybe one in dozens. Using that as an excuse, they keep giving birth to offspring one after another.”

It’s truly a disturbing story to hear.

How far did Lindbergh intend to go?

“Children who have no trait become disposable burdens.”

She glanced over at her maid, Janis.

When their eyes met, Janis quickly averted her gaze.

“And what remains is nothing but garbage.”

Leia chuckled with a sneer.

Her eyes did not show any laughter, but she laughed.

As if she expected the end of those powerful figures in Lindbergh.

Come to think of it.

“Is it because I didn’t know that I was an omega that I couldn’t smell any scent from the nobles?”

I could smell Adrian’s pheromones directly. I can not only smell them, but my body also reacts to them.

Sometimes, I could also sense Leia’s pheromones.

“As Recessives become desensitized to pheromones, there is no longer anyone left in the Lindbergh royal family who can identify who is an omega and who is an alpha.”

If that’s not a curse, then what is? Leia genuinely had a joyful expression on her face.

Another doubt arose within me.

It was a question about myself.

“Then what about me? I haven’t even experienced that heat, so could it be possible that I’m not an Omega? With no one to properly discern, who declared me as an Omega?”

Suddenly, a chilling feeling ran through my limbs.

Could it be that the Lindbergh royal family is deceiving me by calling me an Omega?

Adrian expressed that I was the only person who was unaffected by his pheromones, but in reality, even an ordinary Beta who had no special abilities can do that.

Could it be that my constant attraction to Adrian is simply because I believe myself to be an Omega?

Adrian’s fondness for me is merely because I can satisfy his thirst and bear him an heir as a dominant Omega. But if everything is just a fat lie from the Lindbergh Kingdom.

Leia, whom I thought was the protagonist, turned out to be my misunderstanding.

I played the role of a fake Omega, unable to save Lindbergh and Leia from the chaos I caused with Heineken and I didn’t even know if I could return to where I started.

Even if by some stroke of luck I managed to save Lindbergh, Adrian’s face would undoubtedly be contorted with disappointment.

At that moment, I realized something.

The greater calamity was not failing to bear Adrian’s child.

But rather the fact that there was nothing for me to offer to the person who had stepped forward with kindness, even if there were personal motives involved.

While stroking my cold fingertips, I waited for Leia’s response, but instead of words, she slapped my shoulder with the palm of her hand.

It was a harsh gesture.

Leia Lindberg had the thought for the first time that she might be so dumbstruck that she could possibly die.

“Janis, that overflowing imagination of Carl is like poison. Don’t you think so?”

Her hand played idly with the ashes on the table.

[I agree.]

“Who goes around emitting the unmistakable scent of ‘I’m an omega’ and questions if they are a real Omega? It’s ridiculous, seriously.”

Leia, who was fanning herself, said, her frustration flaring up again as she remembered the way he’d looked earlier when he stumbled and staggered.

〈Releasing pheromones for everyone to sense, if you’re not an Omega, then what are you!〉

… She shouted out loud.

Raising her hand was a purely impulsive act, but that guy obediently took the hit and blinked his eyes like a rabbit.

Unable to hide his unease, he bit his lip and mumbled, ‘If you say so, then it must be true,’ wearing an even more confused expression before turning away.

“I thought he was just growing late, but I feel like he became absurdly naive now that he lost his memory. Maybe it’s just what I feel? Well, it’s better than aimlessly wandering around and picking fights with anyone, I suppose.”

The maid, who was much older than Leia, glanced at her outburst and picked up her pen again.

[It seems that the prince has not only forgotten everything about being an Omega but also, physically, he doesn’t seem to notice any significant differences from being a Beta.]

“No matter how you look at it, who do you think has been supervising his pheromones? Just because I didn’t handle my younger brother correctly, I’ve ended up dealing with all sorts of nonsense.”

Leia, who had been huffing, sat back on the sofa as she felt lightheaded.

Her younger brother was in a state where he could bloom into a flower any day now.

The Crown Prince kept stimulating him, but he was unaware of it himself, and he didn’t even pretend to be careful.

Even in Lindbergh, his scent didn’t vibrate to this extent.

But when did it start?

Was it after the fall? Anyway, little by little, he started releasing pheromones, and after coming to Heineken, it became more serious. Leia visited him every day to supervise his pheromones.

Adrian Heineken was so grateful to Leia that even bowing down was not enough.

He vowed that when they truly became family someday, he would repay this debt fully.

“Sometimes, I just want to hold him upside down and shake him vigorously to make him spill everything in his heart.”

Leia, who was pounding her chest, was looked at with a smile by her maid.

Janis quite liked the current Leia, who had endured many things quietly on her own even when she was very young.

Having witnessed Leia’s trials up close more than anyone else, Janis, who had harbored hatred towards the entire Lindbergh royal family, including Carl Lindbergh, suddenly found that her resentment towards Carl Lindbergh disappeared like melting snow.

“I’m really worried. He keeps forgetting his own position. What if something happens in Lindbergh and he experiences his heat?”

That was Leia’s biggest concern.

News from the Lindbergh Kingdom reached Leia and Carl through Heineken’s information network.

As the riot in twelve different places showed no signs of subsiding and threatened to spread to the royal capital, she thought that the royal family was suspiciously quiet.

After Kitchener’s soldiers entered the castle, they closed and locked the doors, waiting only for Heineken to arrive.

Would they even care about public opinion now?

It was as unreliable as the story of putting a bean in a dragon’s nostril and coming back.

In this anxious situation, she didn’t feel like sending Carl, who might have his heat soon, to Lindbergh.

Janis collected her thoughts and pondered for a moment.

She wanted to alleviate her master’s suffering.

Ironically, as she contemplated, she realized that the current state of Prince Carl Lindbergh and her own position as a sudden mutant Omega were not so different.

Carl, the prince who is a dominant but hasn’t experienced his heat, and herself, who has pheromones that don’t arouse Alphas.

There was no way to compare them.

Scritch, scritch. The tip of the pin scraped across the paper, and Leia had an odd mix of emotions written on her face.

[Even if there is a reluctance to postpone the engagement, it seems that his heat cycle should be addressed first here. At the right time, in the right place.]

Janis put down her pen with a thud and smiled brightly.

Leia laughed, feeling a bit relieved.

It seems like she is destined to have her younger brother settled snugly in the embrace of a bastard dragon.

It was a strange morning.

There were many tasks to be done immediately.

But my body felt sluggish, and I didn’t want to take a single step outside of bed, so I spent the entire morning lounging in my room, unwilling to leave.

“Prince, are you feeling okay?”

Marco looked at me with a worried expression as I lay there, neither eating the omelet brought for breakfast nor getting up.

“Hmm, I’m fine. It’s not that I’m sick, I’m just lacking energy.”

Maybe I caught a cold.

“You seem exhausted from the recent activities. Just in case, I brought some snacks for you. I’ll leave them here.”

“Nngh.”

Marco coaxed Elizabeth, who was sticking close to me, to get up and took her out with him.

There were simple sandwiches and small scones that would whet the appetite, but I didn’t reach out for them.

I had the appetite, but I couldn’t move.

For some reason, my groin felt itchy, so I wrapped my legs around a pillow and focused on the blue sky visible through the window.

I guess I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.

I even caught a cold.

No, it felt more like laziness than being sick.

I could even smell the scent of grass mixed with the slightly dry breeze coming in.

The sunlight pouring in through the window makes me feel a sense of holiness, and it feels like tears might flow uncontrollably.

It was such a strange feeling.