“Were you sad?”
Carlos was startled. Ashton Mills looked at him with a face full of disdain despite his pretty features.
Carlos waved a hand at his friend, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Whoa, no. That’s not what I meant. I heard rumors you caused a disturbance during the funeral.”
“You should have been quiet. I could hear about you even from afar.”
“I didn’t cause a disturbance! That damn funeral, I don’t know… it’s a long story.”
Ash stopped his irritation and slumped.
Seeing his expression, Carlos felt a pang of concern.
He was born with a natural inclination to be kind to beautiful people.
If he hadn’t been that way, he wouldn’t have even spoken to Ashton Mills when he first saw him.
Twenty-year-old Ash was that obnoxious.
He was the kind of guy who would lean against a wall at a masquerade, acting like, “I don’t socialize with lesser beings like you.”
Carlos had the discerning eye to judge if someone was beautiful just from their lower face and facial contours revealed beneath a mask, so he didn’t give up on Ash’s wary attitude and approached him warmly.
And he let Ash experience the true joy of a social event.
“I’m truly sorry about your father. I wish I could have attended the funeral. If I had heard the news, I would have rushed there immediately. I’m sorry.”
Carlos took Ash’s hand.
His friend’s hand, which he hadn’t held in two years, was surprisingly small.
The nails on his long, slender fingers were smooth and shiny.
As Carlos unconsciously fiddled with his hand, Ash made a strange expression.
‘Did he fall for me?’
Carlos instinctively smiled.
His refreshing smile and cheerful demeanor easily won people over.
It was inevitable that an omega, emotionally vulnerable after losing a relying family member, would feel a flutter in his heart for the reliable prince.
“Why don’t you look behind you?”
“Behind?”
“Stop touching my hand. It seems there’s someone else you should be saying sweet things to.”
“Who could be more important than you? Don’t worry about it…”
Speaking whatever came to mind, Carlos turned around. The omega he had spent the night with was sitting on the bed.
‘Damn it.’
Carlos swallowed a groan.
Looking at his face properly, he remembered.
That omega was someone Carlos had recently been trying to win over.
Elsie Yanzel.
He was an omega who had just arrived in the capital from the countryside and debuted in society with the help of wealthy relatives.
Young nobles flocked to the imperial capital to find marriage partners, and the rustic and poor Elsie received no attention.
Only Carlos recognized his true worth.
‘If I just take off those provincial glasses and tidy his hair, he’ll look amazing.’
If he took off the baggy brown suit that looked like it was in fashion 20 years ago and dressed him in an evening gown that flattered his figure, he would look like a different person.
Carlos asked him for the first dance at the ball and then spent a full week diligently pursuing him.
Elsie, who seemed to have completely fallen for Carlos on the first day, didn’t appear at the ball the next day.
On the third day, he attended with a gloomy face and ignored Carlos, and on the fourth day, he barely spoke to Carlos.
The reason he avoided Carlos was exactly as Carlos had suspected.
Elsie’s guardian had told him about Carlos’s reputation.
He was an omega seeking a marriage partner and couldn’t stay in the imperial capital for long. He had no money.
“I don’t have the luxury for games, Your Highness. I must marry.”
Elsie said coldly. But behind his rustic glasses, his eyes were trembling.
Carlos persuaded Elsie, saying, “The games are over. My love is only for you,” and… it seemed the grand deed had finally been done. He didn’t remember it very well, though.
It wasn’t a night fantastic enough to remember clearly.
Given Elsie’s personality, it was clear this was probably his first experience.
He was, in fact, as stiff as a board.
Utterly demure.
However, Elsie on the bed had shed all his damn glasses and provincial clothes, so Carlos could feel infinite love for him.
As for the intimacy, it would surely get better with more experience.
However, judging by Elsie’s expression, it seemed he had lost the desire to have another experience with Carlos.
His large, clear eyes trembled with disbelief.
“I, I… I’m sorry.”
“Elsie. My angel. Just listen to my excuse for a moment. It’s not what you think.”
Carlos rushed to the bedside and knelt on one knee.
His movements were swift, like a single flowing motion.
“Please get up.”
Elsie whispered in a barely audible voice.
Carlos pretended to lean in closer to him.
“If you promise not to misunderstand.”
“Please get up, Your Highness. For a noble person like you to me…”
“This knee is nothing. I’ve never knelt before my father even when scolded, but I’ve already crumbled before you many times. Is there any pride left to maintain now?”
Carlos whispered sweetly.
He was annoyed to hear a snort from behind, but now was the time to focus on the person in front of him.
Elsie bowed his head deeply.
“Do you know what I was thinking, Your Highness?”
“No. If I could just enter your small mind for a single day, I would have no other wish. I swear to God. Ash and I are nothing.”
“Ash… that’s his name.”
“He’s Ashton Mills. Just a friend.”
“I overheard your conversation. And Your Highness laughing… I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”
“Yes. I’ve never misunderstood you. Rather, it’s my fault. I improperly trained my staff and woke you from your precious sleep, didn’t I?”
“Ah, Your Highness…”
***
‘Got him.’
He fell for it.
“But I’ve never seen Your Highness laugh like that.”
Elsie mumbled.
“I’m embarrassed to have shown such undignified behavior. He’s an old friend, so we don’t stand on ceremony. And he’s also a rather childish fellow.”
“Look who’s talking.”
The unhelpful Ashton Mills chimed in.
Elsie’s expression hardened, and Carlos couldn’t hide his annoyance as he turned to Ash.
“Won’t you explain yourself, Ashton? You seem to like being treated as my lover.”
“Who? Don’t associate me with him. I wouldn’t take him even if he were given to me.”
Ash recoiled in disgust. What was there to dislike so much?
“Your words are harsh, aren’t they?”
“What is he saying even after I tried to explain?”
“It was wrong for you to enter my bedroom in the first place! Butler, where’s the butler?”
“I told you not to call him. He’s busy organizing my luggage.”
“Your luggage?”
Carlos latched onto a word he couldn’t ignore. His brow furrowed deeply.
“What luggage?”
“Oh, just staying for a few days. Is that okay? Your house is spacious and nice. Wouldn’t it be a waste of resources to leave a guest room in a mansion like this unused?”
Ash said this while subtly gauging the reaction, trying to appear nonchalant.
Carlos nearly let out a sarcastic laugh, but doing so would risk getting entangled in whatever mysterious incident Ash had caused.
Actually, that wasn’t a huge problem, but…
This mansion was an important place for Carlos.
Why would he, who should be residing in the Imperial Palace, have a mansion outside the palace in the first place?
Naturally, it had a purpose.
Like meeting lovers away from his father’s eyes…
If someone as conspicuous as Ash stayed in such a place, it was clear as day that Carlos’s romantic endeavors would be completely ruined.
Carlos asked back, trying his best to convey utter disbelief.
“A few days?”
“…Or maybe half a month?”
“Hey! You’re supposed to shorten the duration!”
“I’ll stay for just one month. I’ll leave cleanly after a month.”
“Why is it getting longer?!”
“Oh, what are friends for? Last time you visited, you stayed for over two months, didn’t you? What if you thought of it as repaying a kindness? Wouldn’t that make you feel good too? I also think it’s not good for a member of the imperial family to owe someone.”
Ash just blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Did I stay at your house? I was the Duke’s guest! Is a guest invited to visit owing a debt?!”
It was then, as Carlos’s veins popped in his neck as if he had gone back two years, that he heard.
“Huh?”
At the strange sound from somewhere, Carlos turned around.
“I… I won’t disturb you two. I have no relationship with Your Highness. Please believe me.”
“…?!”
Elsie burst into tears and left.
Ash stared at the closed door, his eyes wide.
“I, I didn’t do anything. Right?”
He’d been scoffing while Carlos was trying to smooth things over, but now that his romantic endeavors were in jeopardy, he seemed worried about being kicked out.
‘Sigh…’
Carlos sighed.
It was the expected outcome from the moment Ash barged into his bedroom.
He ran a hand through his hair, shaking off any lingering regrets.
“It’s fine. We weren’t going to last long anyway.”
“Right? He seemed like a pure person. You’d go to hell for messing with someone like that. I saved you.”
Ash quickly made his excuses.
‘What’s there to be so happy about?’
Carlos thought, but he also found himself laughing.
Sometimes, when things are utterly absurd, you just have to laugh.
“So, what exactly happened? Why are you imposing on me when you have a perfectly good ducal mansion?”
“There are reasons for everything,” Ash sighed.
Carlos grew interested.
It seemed the darling of society had landed with the latest gossip.
And gossip was Carlos’s favorite pastime, even more than his morning coffee.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Let’s not do this. Let’s have a drink. I need to hear what Ashton Mills has been up to.”
“I told you I didn’t do anything!”
“Of course, you didn’t.”
“Ugh, this is annoying!”
Ash threw his hands up and left the room.
“Hmm.”
Carlos sat on the bed.
He was slowly waking up.
‘Was Ash always that pretty?’
He’d always had a cute face.
His easy-to-tease personality had made Carlos’s exile to the Duchy much more enjoyable; he was a major contributor to that.
***
“Ah. Shave.”
Carlos stroked his chin and frowned.
His hand met rough stubble.
He looked quite disheveled.
He didn’t like that Ash had seen him in this state.
In his mind, any thoughts about the omega who had stormed out were long gone.
‘What did Ash like?’
He needed to give the chef a heads-up.
He cracked his neck.
Well, if he didn’t know, he could just prepare everything possible.
The Empire’s most decadent wastrel thought to himself.