OPDPS 153

“What…? Then…”

The Emperor trailed off, stunned.

Until now, he had used Aeryl as bait to lure in suitors—promising hope, inciting rivalry, and reaping the benefits of their desperation.

What mattered most to those suitors was that Aeryl was a noble, untouched omega.

Once they laid eyes on Aeryl’s beauty, they fell head over heels and became easy prey for the Emperor—but that didn’t mean they’d accept a child that wasn’t theirs.

“If they find out Aeryl isn’t pure, those suitors won’t sit still. They’ll dare to criticize me—me! What of my dignity then?”

“That would be the least of your worries. What will you do if they demand everything they gave back?”

“That’s impossible!”

The Emperor had long since indulged in extravagant luxuries funded by extorting the suitors.

His bloated body, out of place for his age, was no accident.

And on top of that, Grand Duke Asirion was demanding an enormous sum as compensation.

Send Aeryl off in secret, perhaps?

But he’d have to hide him for more than half a year—those suitors wouldn’t stay quiet that long.

Abort the child?

No one would want an omega who might lose his fertility.

“That wretch Aeryl… If the Grand Duke won’t take him, I won’t let him off easy!”

The Emperor’s eyes flared red as he roared.

Still kneeling on the ground, the physician—who was actually Derbas—shifted his eyes nervously.

‘I’m doing exactly what the Grand Duke ordered…’

It had been his task to deliver the false diagnosis that Aeryl was pregnant.

With a bit of help, posing as a physician hadn’t been difficult—but facing the Emperor’s fury was making him uneasy.

‘Aeryl looks to be in real danger…’

He’d been shocked when he first saw Aeryl bound.

The fact that Aeryl had looked unbothered by it had been even more unsettling.

He’d expected the Emperor of an empire to be dignified, but instead the man acted like a street thug.

It was clear Aeryl’s life here would be full of hardship.

Derbas glanced cautiously toward the Empress, but her unreadable expression gave nothing away, so he quickly looked down again.

***

How much time has passed?

Aeryl tried to guess how long it had taken for the blood and urine tests to be done and for the results to reach the Emperor, but it was no use.

In this room, he couldn’t tell time at all.

Judging from the pain all over his body, it must have been quite a while.

He twisted his limbs in hopes of easing the pain, but it did nothing.

His arms felt like they were going to be ripped off.

He should’ve asked Derbas for painkillers.

Why hadn’t he thought of that?

At least he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything before arriving at the palace, so he hadn’t had to relieve himself and lose even more dignity.

But now his throat burned with thirst, and he felt utterly drained.

He wished he could just pass out and sleep.

But his nerves were on edge, and sleep wouldn’t come.

Keeping his eyes open only made him dizzy from staring at the ceiling’s ornate patterns.

Time dragged on in excruciating slowness.

Is Derbas doing okay?

For all his antics, Derbas was good at faking things.

So by now, the news that Aeryl was pregnant must have reached the Emperor and Empress.

He could already imagine the reaction—the Emperor would be beside himself, raging that Aeryl had defied his will and could no longer be used.

He’d probably smashed quite a few things by now. But he couldn’t predict how the Empress would react.

Unlike the Emperor, his memories and emotions regarding her were vague.

She had always played favorites based on birth order, and her beloved was the eldest—her firstborn and the Crown Prince.

He’d heard that she had rushed back to the palace after Aeryl’s birth because the Crown Prince had fallen ill.

Even now, her favoritism toward him was extreme, and she often sacrificed her other children for his sake.

The sixth princess married early to build the Crown Prince’s faction.

She had used the sixth for the Crown Prince—so what of the eleventh?

‘As long as I don’t cause trouble for the Crown Prince, she might be indifferent. But if I do, she might prove more ruthless than even the Emperor.’

Aeryl wrinkled his nose.

Unfortunately, a child has only one mother, and no matter how distant she felt, he couldn’t think of her as a stranger.

As he sank into such thoughts, a vibration ran through the floor.

The Emperor?

Click.

The lock disengaged, and the Emperor appeared first—just as he’d expected.

He rushed forward and grabbed Aeryl by the hair without hesitation.

With his arms bound, Aeryl’s body twisted, but he didn’t even spare the man a glance.

“You insolent brat!”

The Emperor’s thick hand slapped Aeryl across the face.

Smack!

His head jerked to the side from the blow.

The pain from his cheek, along with the pull on his hair, made it feel like his scalp was being torn off.

“You dare disgrace me like this?”

Smack! Another slap.

“I am the Empire!”

The blows left Aeryl dazed, swaying like a puppet.

Then, the Empress’s voice cut through.

“You’ll bring disaster upon us, Your Majesty!”

“A disaster? Of course it is! Do you know what humiliation I’ve suffered because of this brat? And what about my fortune?!”

The Emperor raged, storming about like a madman.

“That vile wretch, Viscount Karoki! So what if he has the Grand Duke behind him? He dares treat me like some kind of swindler?!”

His body trembled with fury as he screamed.

Just before coming to Aeryl’s room, Viscount Karoki had returned with the Grand Duke’s reply.

The Grand Duke had said, “There was never an occasion where a child could have been conceived between us.”

When the Emperor accused him of lying, Viscount Karoki had responded, eyebrows raised in suspicion:

“That man asked—was it not Your Majesty’s scheme that placed Aeryl in the Grand Duke’s path and even brought him into the Grand Duke’s estate?”

‘That man! He dared ask if I orchestrated it all! Me! I am the Empire! Why would I ever stoop to such a thing! It’s all your fault, you wretch!’

The Emperor raised his hand once again and struck down hard.

“You should’ve just died out there! If you had, I wouldn’t have suffered such disgrace at the hands of the Grand Duke!”

“Your Majesty, please!”

The Empress grabbed his arm and barely managed to stop him, whispering something low into his ear.

The Emperor’s fury stilled at once. His rage-filled eyes suddenly calmed, and he looked over at Aeryl.

When those murky golden eyes stared directly at him, Aeryl had a terrible feeling.

“…Hmph.”

The Emperor straightened his robes and spoke with sudden dignity.

“Wait here.”

Then he left the room with the Empress.

“Haa…”

Exhausted, Aeryl collapsed onto the bed. The physician came over and began to undo his restraints.

It was hard to tell just by looking if it was really Derbas or a real doctor.

“Your face looks painful.”

“I don’t do healing, as you well know.”

The face beneath the hood was contorted, not at all like the usual Derbas.

“They never used to hit my face. I got the cane on my legs, sure, but they always left the face alone. Guess that means they really think I’ve outlived my usefulness.”

“….”

The atmosphere sank into silence. That hadn’t been what he meant to say.

Aeryl awkwardly rolled his shoulder. It barely moved. He’d be dealing with this for a while.

Healing magic didn’t work well on bones and joints.

While Aeryl and Derbas sat in silence, the voices of the Emperor and Empress drifted from outside the room.

“Can we hear them?”

Aeryl asked.

Derbas pulled out a wooden funnel-like device.

He pressed the wide end to the wall and the narrow end to his ear—soon, voices could be heard through the barrier.

“…What do you mean by that?”

It was the Emperor.

“I mean everything will be resolved once that child is gone.”

The Empress’s voice.

She was proposing something.

“We’ll say the prince never left the palace. That he fell ill, was sent to recover, but didn’t survive. With that story, we can ignore the Grand Duke’s demand for compensation, and the suitors won’t have any reason to protest.”

“Hm… that does make sense. You can’t bring a dead child back. Who would dare criticize parents who’ve lost their son? And the Grand Duke—if he tries to talk about the prince running away, people will think he’s mad. He’ll drop the whole thing. It’s a good plan.”

“We can’t let the Crown Prince’s inheritance be diminished because of that one. And now he’s even come back with a bastard child—how will that affect the others’ marriage prospects? The second one seems to want to marry the man she’s seeing now.”

“You always think ahead.”

“But the people will want to see a body, won’t they?”

“…That part can’t be helped.”

“Ohh… so, we’re killing him?”

“Even if he’s a prince, hasn’t he defied Your Majesty’s command? That makes him a traitor.”

“You’re right. When I think of the disgrace and the suffering he’s caused me, killing him twice wouldn’t be enough.

Now then, the only loose end… is Dervan. We’ll need to deal with him too.”