TOPWL 197

“Damn it.”

Edmond threw his sweat-soaked shirt onto the floor. Garen glanced at him nervously and quickly picked it up. The shirt had been the innocent victim, yet Edmond’s anger didn’t cool. In the end, Garen became the target. Edmond grabbed Garen’s shirt and shook him hard.

“If you’d just told me properly, there’s no way the wig would’ve been exposed!”

Garen felt wronged. It was Edmond himself who had ordered him to catch up with Yudit, because Garen’s stamina was slightly better than Edmond’s. Fulfilling that order alone had been difficult enough. How was he supposed to keep looking back at the same time?

“Lord Edmond, I’m getting dizzy.”

“I told you to drop the ‘lord’ for now!”

“Edmond, I’m dizzy.”

“Who said you could talk down to me?”

Edmond smacked Garen on the head. Garen covered his head with a resentful look. Edmond paced the room, biting his nails nervously.

“You think he noticed?”

“He probably did.”

“He didn’t seem that sharp. Then again… who knows. They say every royal keeps a snake hidden under that pretty face.”

“He didn’t seem like a bad person to me.”

“You just like anyone who’s good-looking, don’t you?”

Edmond’s was laced with sarcasm. All Garen had said was that he didn’t seem bad, so how did it turn into this? He had served Edmond for seventeen years since being born to the nanny, but sometimes it was impossible to follow his master’s way of thinking.

“Why not just tell him the truth?”

“Are you crazy? You don’t even know what kind of person he is, and you’d give away information that easily?”

Edmond was fuming. Garen decided to keep his mouth shut.

“What is he really? He’s an omega, right? And a prince. I thought he’d been pampered in a greenhouse, but why’s his stamina that good? Why’s he that fast?”

“Isn’t good stamina… a good thing?”

“It’s suspicious! What kind of omega has stamina like that? What if the real prince got swapped out somewhere?”

“He is an omega. You felt it too.”

Both Garen and Edmond were alphas, so they could sense the omega presence from Yudit.

“Then he could be a fake omega.”

Garen found the theory too absurd to even bother arguing. He just kept quiet. Edmond, too, seemed to realize he’d gone too far and didn’t push it further.

Edmond Baren Devlin. The heir of the Devlin family, who had turned seventeen a few months ago, was currently serving as Yudit’s attendant undercover. Garen Liard, born into service as Edmond’s lackey, naturally became Yudit’s attendant alongside him.

“My guess is his swordsmanship’s terrible. That’s why he puts so much effort into building stamina.”

After ranting for a while, Edmond came to this conclusion. Garen pictured Yudit’s bearing. Slender and delicate-looking, yet without any visible openings. His swordsmanship probably wasn’t bad.

“But… is it bad if his swordsmanship isn’t great?”

“Of course it is! How can you trust someone who can’t even handle a sword to lead the soldiers of the Devlin family?”

“Don’t commanders usually avoid direct combat? And with stamina and speed like that, isn’t he impressive enough? He doesn’t seem like a bad person either.”

“Ugh. How long are you going to stay this naïve?”

Edmond clicked his tongue.

“My father’s the kind to give supplies and soldiers to the crown without a second thought, but I’m not. The person I serve will be my choice. Same for my subordinates.”

“The Devlin Knights aren’t even under you yet.”

“It’s just a figure of speech! A figure of speech!”

Edmond tugged at Garen’s pale cheek. Garen yelped dramatically in pain.

“Either way, while we’re serving that prince, it’s our job to find out if he can be trusted.”

“Yes.”

It already seemed like they’d been caught. Garen thought back to what had happened with Yudit earlier that day.

Getting the butler, who would normally jump at Edmond’s orders, to go along with them so they could both become Yudit’s attendants had gone smoothly enough. But, naturally, since they hadn’t gotten his father’s permission, there was no way they could serve as attendants at the banquet. So the two of them waited for the right moment, slipped away, and feasted on the banquet food in their room.

‘But… will it really be fine? There was a seat for you next to the lord’s seat, Lord Edmond.’

‘Of course it’s not fine. If we get noticed, we’re screwed.’

‘Then why…?’

‘We just have to make sure we’re not noticed. And even if we are, it’s better to get scolded there than in front of thousands of people at the banquet.’

Edmond’s father, Marcello, was exactly the sort of man who would do that. If they got caught, how bad would the punishment be? Garen hoped it would end with less than four weeks in bed.

‘You two weren’t at the banquet yesterday.’

‘The kitchen was short-staffed, so we helped out.’

Edmond was certain that excuse would work, but Garen wasn’t so sure. Yudit hadn’t called them out, even though he had clearly known Edmond was lying about being too sick to attend to him in the morning. But his eyes had been those of someone who had realized something.

Did he notice?

When the castle run had ended and Garen turned around, it had felt like his heart dropped. Under the brown wig Edmond had stolen from his father’s aide, a tuft of gray hair was sticking out. Yudit had seen it and simply smiled without saying a word. Garen was sure they’d been caught. But Yudit didn’t seem likely to tell anyone else, and he was even kind to other subordinates, not just Edmond and Garen.

Now that was the making of a truly good superior.

He was nothing like Edmond, who acted like a brat to everyone. Garen gave Edmond a slightly pitying look as he schemed about how to trick Yudit better, only to get smacked on the head.

“…Why did you hit me?”

“Don’t know. I just didn’t like the look in your eyes. Felt like you were thinking something impure.”

Edmond had a foul temper and sharp instincts. Garen was wondering what it would be like if Yudit were his superior when Edmond smacked him across the back again.

“What was that one for…?”

“Go wash up. We’re going back to keep watch.”

“But you said this morning we didn’t have to stick to him because he’d be training.”

“And if we’re not there, how are we supposed to watch him? Just say we’re making up for not attending him at the banquet yesterday.”

Edmond yanked off his wig and headed for the bathroom. Garen sighed and picked it up, hung it on a hook, then he followed Edmond.

By the time Edmond and Garen had bathed and arrived at the training grounds, they found them completely empty.

“What? Why’s no one here?”

Training was supposed to start at nine, and it was already half past. While Edmond was frowning in confusion, Garen went over to a gardener trimming a tree.

“Where is everyone?”

“I don’t know. They said they were going to do a mock battle.”

“Where to?”

“No idea. Somewhere with lots of hills. The same hills they let the sheep graze on last year, maybe.”

As he spoke, the gardener pointed in the direction they’d gone. Why say “I don’t know” when he clearly did? But Garen bowed politely.

“It’s a long way to the hills. What should we do?”

“What else? We go.”

“Should I bring the horses?”

“What kind of attendant rides a horse? We walk.”

It seemed Edmond was still intent on perfectly playing the role of an attendant. Garen wasn’t happy about it. The grazing hills were a good thirty minutes away on foot, and after running two laps around the castle earlier, he thought he’d had enough exercise for the day. But Edmond dragged the sulking Garen along toward the hills.

About thirty minutes later, they arrived.

“No one’s here.”

“Shh. Something’s there.”

Edmond clapped a hand over Garen’s mouth and scanned the area. He’d escaped from his father countless times, so he knew what killing intent felt like. But… was it really killing intent? It felt different, not quite the will to kill.

As he crept forward, keeping his presence hidden, someone shoved him from behind and knocked him down.

“…!”

Before he could shout, a large hand clamped over his mouth.

“What are you? A spy?”