CH 41

The desolation caused by the disappearance of the prince was not only in Adrian’s heart.

Belfry was at a loss for words in the presence of the red-headed little boy and one dog who had completely lost their appetite.

“Did the prince abandon you?”

Marco swallowed his tears while staring at the empty air.

Was it his last act of kindness to treat him kindly and apply medicine to his wounded back?

As the little one, who was already small for his age, sobbed and staggered, Belfry finally began to console him.

“The prince said he would go on a journey. He will return soon, so prepare to welcome him in good health.”

Marco shook his head.

He felt like he just wanted to die.

Sitting in the empty prince’s room with Elizabeth, he reminisced about the conversations he had shared with him.

“The prince said he wanted to become a baker. He found the castle suffocating. I used to tell him not to say such absurd things.”

Belfry had heard it once too.

Despite being a prince who was adorned with only the finest things and grew up like a flower, he always said that Lindbergh’s lifestyle felt suffocating.

At the time he heard that story, he didn’t think much of it, thinking that this prince was simply tired of a luxurious life.

But it turned out he really meant to leave.

When Carl said those words, Marco regretted not asking him to take him along, no matter what.

Marco started crying again, pounding his chest.

Elizabeth added an ooh.

Belfry stood there, dumbfounded, as if his mind had gone blank.

The prince was not old enough to be called an old man, and he was far from being an ordinary man who could set up a bakery anywhere.

He was a beautiful Omega and the prince of Lindbergh.

Though he was incredulous and let out a sigh, Belfry didn’t show it.

“Besides becoming a baker, did he mention anything else he wanted to be?”

Belfry found his own question ridiculous, but he asked it in the hope that it might provide a small clue in finding him.

Marco nodded his head.

“He said he wanted to marry a good-tempered lady, but he realized that dream was out of reach once he learned he was an Omega.”

Belfry made a strange sound, “Heu.”

It was getting worse and worse.

For a male Omega to marry a woman was almost an impossible feat.

“Wait, what do you mean he realized he was an Omega?”

When he realized?

In the midst of his confusion, Belfry suddenly recalled the time when Adrian had proposed marriage to him.

His behavior, where he didn’t consider Adrian as a potential suitor and acted more like a Beta without any awareness of being an Omega, came to mind.

It had been strange, but after that, Adrian and him spent the night together so naturally, like flowing water, and he had forgotten about it.

“After the fall, the prince forgot most things except for the name of His Highness the Crown Prince and even forgot that he himself is an Omega.”

He had mentioned that he was also shocked after coming to Heineken and receiving a proposal-like thing from Adrian.

Belfry finally understood the Prince’s attitude of being ignorant about the relationship between magic and traits.

The prince didn’t go insane and regain his sanity; he completely reverted back to a blank state.

Belfry hurriedly made his way to Adrian’s study room.

Without realizing it, he ran until he was out of breath and arrived at the place where Adrian, for some reason, was dressed in formal attire, sitting and talking with someone.

“Your Highness! The thing that happened to the Prince… Oh? Father?”

The person was none other than Belfry’s father, Duke Hendrick.

“Do not run recklessly, and when entering the place where His Highness is, do not swing the door wide open.”

Even though they were foster brothers, Hendrick scolded his youngest son, saying that he lacked respect for his king.

“That is not the important matter right now.”

Belfry, who turned into a mere child in front of his father, pursed his lips.

Adrian, wearing a face that seemed indifferent, asked the same question to everyone he met, as if he didn’t care.

“Have you found any trace of the prince’s whereabouts?”

In his hand, he held a magic stone that resembled the one he had given to the prince.

Although it shouldn’t have happened, it seemed like he was waiting for any contact from him in case something happened.

Feeling sorry for him, Belfry clenched his jaw.

“Prince Carl has completely lost his memory.”

It was Duke Hendrick who was surprised by this revelation.

“Lost his memory?”

Adrian simply sighed.

“Your Highness, this is a significant issue. The prince didn’t even know that he himself was an Omega, and he didn’t even know such a thing existed in the world.”

Hendrick, showing signs of astonishment, looked back and forth between his son and the Crown Prince. But the Crown Prince, dismissing it as inconsequential, questioned how it mattered and what relevance it had to the fact that the prince had left his side.

Belfry felt frustrated and pounded his chest.

These people with traits, really!

“You should look at the prince’s perspective on romance as being similar to that of a Beta. After forgetting that he is an Omega, he believed he could marry a good-tempered lady and live an ordinary life.”

Adrian’s eyes finally widened in realization.

“The prince, marrying a woman?”

But he was supposed to become my omega.

The image of some nonexistent woman being by his side was unsettling and flipped his emotions upside down, even if it was just in imagination.

To think that someone else would be kissing his lips, lips that Adrian could vividly imagine at any time and place.

Adrian clenched his teeth tightly in response to his vivid imagination.

If Belfry hadn’t intervened, he might have even imagined killing that woman in his imagination.

“That’s not the important part. The prince was afraid! As an Alpha, Your Highness may not understand the sensation of being an Omega, but for an ordinary Beta man, having a child with another man is like pulling out a radish out of one’s nostril!”

“Belfry!”

Duke Hendrick shouted at Belfry’s metaphor.

“What are you talking about pulling something from where?”

Adrian’s stoic expression crumbled.

“To betray his own gender and constantly desire Your Highness, and the fact that there was no love between you.”

“No affection? I…”

At that moment, Adrian felt as if the air around him had stopped.

He began to retrace their first meeting.

What their first meeting had been like. Excluding the early childhood years that were not in Carl’s memory.

Belfry asked his father, Hendrick, about it.

“How was it, Father?”

“Ah.”

Hendrick, as if realizing something, let out a gasp. He understood what his son was trying to say.

Duke Hendrick, as a rare dominant Omega, had always been mentioned as a partner to Emperor Glenn.

There was a time when it was so natural for him to become the Empress that he didn’t think much about it, but the one Hendrick had in his heart was Balvenie, who was Glenn’s half little brother.

After the late Emperor’s first Empress passed away, he had spent a long time alone before marrying his second Empress.

Although there was some initial gossip in Heineken about the second Empress being a widowed mother, she proved to be an excellent Empress, and her relationship with the late Emperor was more akin to that of companions rather than lovers, so the rumors quickly died down.

Balvenie was a child brought in by theEmpress at that time, and because he felt suffocated in the palace, the Emperor granted him his own territory early on and allowed him to visit regularly.

Glenn was a suitable partner as a husband, but strangely, whenever he thought about marrying him, he felt empty in some way.

Thanks to Balvenie’s rich experiences from traveling here and there since childhood, the time Hendrick spent by his side listening to his stories was the happiest for him.

Even as Glenn became the Crown Prince after reaching adulthood, Hendrick eagerly awaited the days when Balvenie would visit the palace, while also assisting Glenn.

To be honest, if Glenn were single, Hendrick might have married Glenn for the great cause.

Before he was a man, he was the eldest son of a duke who had to uphold the principles of noblesse oblige, and as much as he loved Balvenie, he also loved his own country, Heineken.

However, even if he resigned himself to it, he might have had to endure a lifetime of heartache while watching Balvenie.

Even during his heat cycles, he would cry, thinking of Balvenie…

So, the fact that Glenn had Theresa was also lucky for Duke Hendrick.

Seeing Hendrick lost in his thoughts and Adrian standing there in shock, Belfry spoke up.

“Don’t those with traits easily forget that relationships are maintained by building trust and affection between people? Prince Carl might have been concerned about that.”

Trust and affection.

Adrian pondered those words.

How would he have appeared in Carl’s eyes?

One thing was certain: it wasn’t an extravagant feeling of love at first sight.

When Carl looked at him with those clear eyes.

When he remained unaffected by Adrian’s pheromones.

Adrian felt joy and exhilaration.

He was overwhelmed with the hope that he could share love with someone without scaring him.

As he came to realize that this person was more intelligent and compassionate than he had initially thought, Adrian wanted to be certain that this person was his, and conveniently, his heat cycle arrived.

He willingly wrapped his arms around Adrian’s neck and kissed him with a smile.

Was there truly no affection in it?

While it might not have been the case for the other person, Adrian had felt it.

“So.”

The Crown Prince spoke with a subdued voice.

“Do I have to wait? Until the prince acknowledges and comes back to me. Or until he rejects his life as an Omega and meets someone else?”

Although he gritted his teeth and asked with the intention of strangling Belfry if he said so, Belfry averted his gaze.

“What are you talking about? You should start over by bringing him here first.”

Hold hands, go on dates, confess in a fancy place.

“If you don’t say it, emotions remain unknown. Start with a confession.”

These people with traits, really.

Belfry muttered that he should start by fixing his habit of using his pheromones as a universal key.

Duke Hendrick worried that his arrogant son, who resembled himself, would face a difficult path.

Adrian remained silent, still lost in his own thoughts.