“Sounds like you went through a big mess not long ago? Rough, seriously. I heard all the windowpanes shattered and you had to replace them all. Is that true?”
“……”
“Like, how would people that high up know what it’s like for folks like us? Cleaning up broken glass is work, and swapping in new panes is work too. Honestly, the fact that a single one of those panes is way more expensive than the price of our lives is what’ll really kill a person, you know. Right?”
“……”
“Man, and the guy who broke them didn’t crack even one more? Lucky. If you’d broken even one, you’d have had to pay it back and spend the rest of your life chained here, living like a slave.”
Count Umbra’s attendant kept chattering away in high spirits even though I didn’t respond at all. If someone saw us, they might misunderstand and think we were close enough to read each other’s minds.
I thought he was just the type to puff himself up because he was “Count Umbra’s attendant,” despite standing on a pillar whose strength was questionable, but he was unexpectedly the sort who knew how to socialize.
He whistled while staring at the wall of windows that took up one entire side of the long corridor.
The only thing he didn’t know was that during the restoration work, the number of flat panes broken by servants’ mistakes was more than you could count on one hand. The servants who broke a window got a massive scolding from the butler and the housekeeper who oversaw the household accounts, and they were assigned extra work, but they weren’t told to pay for it out of pocket. If they made the same mistake again, they’d be fired on the spot, but even then, they still wouldn’t be made to compensate the cost of the glass.
That was why the servants feared His Highness and even saw him as a monster, yet couldn’t leave this place on their own. Nothing was more frightening than having your way to survive cut off. It was practically impossible to find anywhere that paid as well as this place.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Come on, it’s just that it’s such a sight I took a quick look. You’re young, but you must be super meticulous. Ahh, fine. Fine.”
When I brushed off his bluster and turned away to start walking again, the man who’d said his legs were numb closed the distance in an instant and pressed up close beside me. Then he draped an arm over my shoulder. It had to be an incredibly uncomfortable posture. Unfortunately, I didn’t reach his height.
This body being this small was probably because I couldn’t eat properly when I was a kid. Still, ever since coming here, eating well and sleeping deeply, I’d been growing to the point my knees ached with the sensation. Thank goodness.
“By the way, how old are you? You look really young, but you’re already a proper attendant—good for you.”
“……”
“Hey, you’re way too stingy with words. I just said it because it reminded me of when I was young.”
When I still didn’t react even to that classic old-timer line, he let out a long, obvious sigh.
“Everyone here lives with a lock on their mouths or something. Nobody talks.”
Count Umbra’s attendant bent his head down toward me, who was much shorter than him. It was an extremely unnatural posture, but he still forced his lips right up to my ear and whispered softly.
“Looks like His Highness treated you pretty well during rut, huh?”
I stopped in place. As if he thought I’d finally given the reaction he wanted, I saw him grin out of the corner of my eye.
I raised my hand.
Count Umbra’s attendant blinked with a startled face. What on earth did he think I was going to do? Did he think I was about to throw a punch?
“Fix your posture. We’re in front of His Highness’s study.”
“Huh…?”
When his face crumpled into a ridiculous expression, I knocked on the door to the study. The attendant kept going, “Uh, uh?” over and over, not knowing what to do.
It seemed Count Umbra had practically made an office on the very top floor of the manor. Then again, there probably weren’t many nobles who used a room beside the stairs—right next to an empty banquet hall, a room you’d normally use as a lounge—as a study and office just because it was convenient for visitors to come and go.
Our employer really did have a very practical personality.
Thanks to that, Count Umbra’s attendant had become a gutsy man who’d tried to pull something on the homeowner’s attendant right in front of the homeowner’s own room.
And somehow, it didn’t seem like this “attendant” was the same kind of Beta as me. It wasn’t like I’d suddenly become able to smell pheromones now, but the way he overreacted gave off a scent.
I didn’t know whether he was an Alpha or an Omega, but I was thinking one of the two had to be true when the door opened.
“Come in.”
Beyond the butler who opened the door, I heard His Highness’s voice. It sounded like he was extremely angry. I glanced at Count Umbra’s attendant standing behind me.
“I brought Count Umbra’s attendant.”
When I stood before His Highness, he stared at me for a moment. Like he was searching for something. Not finding anything, he let out a short breath and then glared at Count Umbra’s attendant half a step behind me.
“Did Count Umbra say you’re allowed to spread your pheromones as you please in my house?”
The way he spoke—like an old, seasoned chairman. It had been a while since I’d heard that tone. So it really was pheromones. I figured he had something to rely on. But from when, exactly? When His Highness asked if I was scared? When he pressed in close beside me? From the start?
I think the answer is the second one. It seemed he’d been wafting pheromones at me so weakly that he could only affect me if he came in close, like he’d thrown the concept of personal space into a general trash bag where it couldn’t even be recycled.
Maybe he believed that because it was so weak, His Highness—whose ability was said to be unstable—wouldn’t notice. Count Umbra’s attendant bent at the waist with a flustered expression.
“Pheromones? As you can see, I’m an ordinary Beta.”
Wouldn’t becoming an actor be the path that benefitted him? He looked so convincingly wronged it was absurd.
“Ask the attendant who brought me as well. If I’d released pheromones, there would be traces left on that kid too, since he was right next to me.”
That line gave me quite a lot of information. It meant pheromones weren’t some all-purpose tool. Well, if you could manipulate anyone’s mind and leave no trace, this world would be far more of a wreck than it already was.
“The servants of this manor said they’re extremely taciturn.”
I didn’t know if the reason the attendant was so startled was because I’d said something outside his expectations, or because I’d rudely opened my mouth first before His Highness even asked me—maybe it was both. Seriously, when you go to someone else’s house, you should wait quietly until the owner guides you, instead of snooping around everywhere.
“So you’re the rat bastard from Count Umbra.”
Almost at the same time the butler flinched, the attendant lowered his head to His Highness without any resistance. He looked like a marionette with its strings cut, and I unconsciously looked at His Highness. Catching my gaze, he smiled brightly and spoke to me. It was the kind of smile you’d see on someone painted with all of an artist’s soul.
“Jay, you should leave now.”
When he suddenly told me to get out, I ended up asking back.
“Is this a place I’m not allowed to be?”
“I can’t erase your memory.”
I reflexively turned to the person standing beside me. He had a blank, spineless expression, like a doll without will. He looked like he’d open his mouth obediently no matter what His Highness asked.
“Is it because you can’t trust me?”
When His Highness said he’d make me his direct attendant, I’d asked whether he could trust me. His Highness had narrowed one eye and answered.
“If you leave now, you’ll remain the servant who brews me coffee every morning.”
He clearly remembered what happened back then. Right now, a fork in the road spread out in front of me—a choice I had to make.
I instantly calculated the wage gap between an ordinary servant and a direct attendant. Was what was about to come out of this guy’s mouth dangerous enough that I should give up that money?
Dangerous to whom? To His Highness? Or to me?
A few hypotheses filled my head, and I picked out only the ones that seemed most likely.
Did His Highness really want me to go out? I didn’t think so. His Highness’s eyes looked the same as they had when he’d asked me if I wanted to get pregnant. Just like then—when he’d wanted me to answer no.
I looked again at Count Umbra’s attendant standing there like a post beside me. If His Highness ordered him to dance naked, he’d do it with the same blank face.
The danger wasn’t for His Highness. It was for me—the one who would learn a sliver of His Highness’s secret.
If that was the case, if I left this room and stopped being His Highness’s attendant, would I truly be safe?
In Jongno, I met a lot of people. The most common were ordinary customers coming to buy engagement rings or plain band rings, but every so often a con artist would show up with fake jewels. Sometimes—very rarely—someone would bring stolen goods, and there were even people who came with the intention of reporting me if I allowed the deal. When I first started working at the jewelry shop, there were moments I almost fell for it, but after I built up experience, I never missed that type again.
This so-called “Count Umbra’s attendant” didn’t even have the caliber to be a fence.
He swaggered around trusting in the backing behind him, and he tried to sniff around the servants about His Highness’s rut, but he looked like nothing more than an ordinary man without any great ability. The term “rat bastard” fit him perfectly. In my eyes.
But this man’s true identity wasn’t just some rat bastard. I’d missed something.
What did His Highness see in him?
What had hidden him?
“When will I be able to learn magic?”
I had no choice but to come to one conclusion. It was magic.
In a world where magic could blind your eyes, could I go out on my own and live well and eat well? Yeah, right. I’d be lucky if I didn’t die screaming.
The “tomorrow” when His Highness said he’d teach me magic still hadn’t come. It couldn’t be helped. Tomorrow turned into the day his rut period hit, and the day he had to chew through a piled-up schedule.
“That’s tomorrow—”
His Highness, about to say “tomorrow” again, closed his mouth. He looked at me with furrowed eyes, then let out a bitter smile. It was far more honest than that portrait-model smile.
“Tonight at ten.”
If His Highness had told me to get out of the study right now, or suddenly asked what kind of magic I meant, or told me to wait, I would’ve agonized again. And probably, in the end, I would’ve left this room. There was nothing more dangerous than learning the secret of an employer you can’t trust.
“My lord Duke is really kind.”
Was that too much like flattery? His Highness’s expression turned extremely awkward. It was the first time I’d ever seen his face change that dramatically. Even during rut, his expressions hadn’t shifted that dramatically.
Then again, if the butler were in a state where he could understand what I just said, he might’ve insisted I wasn’t in my right mind and needed to be thrown out.
But I’d said it sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.
“Did something come up where you need money urgently?”
I guess it sounded unbelievable. My employer had far too little confidence.
“Money is always necessary, but nothing urgent has come up.”
“You don’t seem like the type to not understand the situation. I’m going to interrogate that bastard.”
“I know. Is it because I still haven’t become your direct attendant yet that I have to leave?”
Instead of answering, His Highness looked at me with narrowed, distorted eyes. I didn’t know what he was even wrestling with when it came to how to handle me. Not knowing the background of an employer who pays me a hefty weekly wage and keeps promises to servants made me more uneasy. It might be dangerous. It’s much safer to recognize danger ahead of time and prepare than to just not hear anything and not see anything because it might be dangerous.
Even thinking about my constitution, the same was true. If I left this place and got a job somewhere like a merchant guild, would I be able to completely avoid Alphas or Omegas? Even if it was a back alley with a low chance of running into nobles, it would never be truly safe.
I thought I’d survive somehow, but that was back when I didn’t know about my constitution that didn’t react to pheromones at all. If I’d never met His Highness and still clawed my way out of the back alleys, sooner or later I would’ve bumped into an Alpha or an Omega. As long as I didn’t give up the desire to live like a human being. In the worst possible state—knowing nothing at all about my constitution.
What would an Alpha or an Omega do when they saw a Beta who had no power at all, yet pheromones didn’t work on?
Aside from His Highness here, who can’t properly control his own powerful pheromones, I couldn’t see any outcome turning out well no matter what.
If something happened that even the hefty weekly wage my employer gives me couldn’t possibly cover, then I could run away then and it wouldn’t be too late. To do that, I needed more information first.
At last, I arrived at one conclusion.
“Is this man—this so-called Count Umbra’s attendant—actually a spy for the king or something?”