I. The Most Unfortunate Prince in the World.
Etienne de Frederick.
The Empire of Frederick’s only direct heir and the first in line to the throne.
Though he lived a life others envied, he himself believed he was the most miserable person alive.
Had people known he thought that way, they would have called him crazy on the spot or accused him of whining with a full belly.
Who would consider unfortunate a member of the imperial family and the leading candidate to be the next emperor? Objectively speaking, Etienne lived in circumstances more blessed than anyone’s.
Indeed, in people’s minds, the fact that Etienne was a “Beta,” not an Alpha, posed no problem at all.
Unlike an Omega, a Beta could, under imperial law, become emperor.
If Etienne had Alpha siblings, the story might be different, but he was the emperor’s only child.
More than anything, behind Etienne stood the Empress—the treasured daughter of House Herace, the dukes. As the head of the noble faction—sometimes said to wield more power than the emperor himself—Duke Herace and his house supported Etienne. His ascent to the throne was a foregone conclusion.
Blood no one could dispute, and overwhelming power.
Before that, whether Etienne was a Beta, or a hopeless good-for-nothing, didn’t matter in the least.
And so many believed a path of flowers would stretch before Etienne forever just as it did now. They never doubted his happiness.
But that was their mistake. Etienne had not been happy in the past, nor was he now. To him, the word happiness was awkward and unfamiliar. That was how dim and dingy his life had been.
Perhaps for that reason, Etienne truly felt himself to be unfortunate. If one were to name the most unfortunate prince in the world, he was sure it would be himself.
Because Etienne was an “Omega” pretending to be a Beta.
***
‘…Ti—Eti.’
Yeah.
‘I like you. I really like you.’
Me too.
‘So… give it to me. You must…’
What? I can’t hear you.
‘Goodbye.’
No, don’t. Sha—don’t go. Don’t leave me alone in this hell. Please.
“—hah…!”
A harsh breath broke from between lips that had been tightly sealed. Clutching the quilt, Etienne drew in ragged breaths.
What was that dream?
He blinked, opening and closing his eyes to catch the remnants of it. He felt like he’d dreamed something dear to him, but he couldn’t recall it. Instead, a sorrowful, gloomy sensation clung to his body.
“Hoo…”
Failing to recall the dream, Etienne exhaled slowly, trying to calm his pounding heart. Even after sleeping, his body felt heavy.
After a few blinks while lying down, the dregs of sleep faded and his vision sharpened by degrees. Etienne forced his body—sodden and limp like water-logged cotton—upright.
“Your Highness! You’re awake!”
No sooner had he risen than a delighted voice sounded.
“Thank goodness!”
“Ben…”
Etienne frowned at the face of Ben, the valet, who had hurried to him. His voice was so loud it made Etienne’s head throb.
“Keep your voice down.”
A wretched sound slipped from between his lips. Etienne startled at his own voice—dry and cracked like a tree withered in long drought.
“My apologies.”
Ben ducked his head at the rebuke. Lips pressed tight, he studied Etienne’s complexion. Perhaps because it had been days since he’d come to, Etienne’s face was pale, but all in all not bad.
“Shall I bring you water?”
Relieved that Etienne seemed better than expected, Ben took the pitcher from the bedside table. Having slept so long, he figured Etienne would be thirsty.
“Drink slowly.”
Half hearing Ben, Etienne took the cup. As Ben had guessed, his thirst was severe. He brought the cup to his lips in a hasty motion. Cool water wetted his white-cracked lips and flowed into his parched mouth.
“—koff!”
He broke into a cough the instant he drank. The cup slipped from his hand. Thankfully, Ben moved quickly and kept it from shattering.
“Are you all right?”
“Kuhk—huff—ha— koff koff!”
Hunched over, Etienne coughed again and again. Flustered, Ben patted his back.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Ben apologized, eyes wet. After a few more coughs, Etienne gestured that he was fine. He had simply swallowed wrong in his haste; there was nothing for Ben to apologize for.
“Hoo…”
At last stopping his coughs, Etienne sagged against the headboard, worn out.
“…How long was I out?”
“Three days.”
Ben answered cautiously, as if worried the length might shock him.
“Three days… Longer than I thought.”
Etienne murmured like a sigh. With a blank face, he slowly clenched and opened his fist. A deep blue bruise marked his wrist.
Damn it.
For a moment, his expression twisted. He glared at the tips of his trembling fingers. Keeping as calm as he could, Etienne recalled what had happened before he’d blacked out.
This heat cycle had come with no warning. It had been nearly half a year since the last, so the intensity was strong. The moment he realized it was heat, Etienne locked his door. He tried to suppress his fevered body with a sedative the palace physician had brought.
It did no good. Etienne raged half-out of his mind. He couldn’t think past the desire rising up to the crown of his head.
Hh—nnh. Ah—hn…
No—someone, huff—anyone, please—huu…
When his Omega instincts found no outlet, his reason vanished. Having lost his wits, he howled almost like a beast. Even after taking a sleeping draught, he could not fall asleep.
If he hadn’t anticipated losing reason and bound his own wrists and ankles, who knows what horrible thing might have happened.
He didn’t know how long he’d lasted in that state. Ben could tell him, but he had no desire to know.
At some point, there had just been a blackout. Either his reason had flown completely, or he’d lost consciousness; it had to be one of the two.
Tracing the dim memories, Etienne gave up thinking further. He asked what had been on his mind since a moment ago.
“What did the palace physician say?”
“He believes it was a side effect of the suppressants. He says he will call upon you shortly, conduct tests, and then prepare a new medicine according to the results.”
“Have him change the sedative while he’s at it.”
“Pardon?”
“I must have built a tolerance. It barely worked this time.”
Ben’s brow crumpled hard at that. If the sedative had failed, it meant Etienne had suffered continually from unrelieved desire until he fainted.
“…I’ll inform the physician.”
Etienne only nodded. Perhaps because it had been days since he opened his eyes, he was hungry and his head ached. He was just thinking he needed to eat something when a small voice came from beyond the door.
“Your Highness the Prince.”
“Who is it?”
Ben scowled at the voice outside. During Etienne’s heat cycle, he had dismissed all palace attendants. For someone to speak like that without the chief valet’s leave meant they were not of the prince’s household.
“Her Majesty the Empress summons you.”
Of course. The voice belonged to a lady-in-waiting to the Empress. The uninvited caller delivered the Empress’s words before Ben could say a thing.
“Her Majesty the Empress?”
“Yes. You are to come to the palace at once.”
“Ha!”
At the claim that the Empress sought Etienne, Ben looked incredulous. She had not shown her face once while he lay insensate, yet now that he’d woken, how had she learned so quickly and sent for him?
“It’s fine.”
Etienne held Ben back before he could say anything. If Ben clashed with the lady-in-waiting here, the one who would suffer for it was Etienne.
“I need to wash first.”
She had said at once, but if he went unwashed, there would be nothing but sneers and scolding. With a flat face, Etienne gave the order.
“Prepare bath water.”
“…As you wish.”
Ben, lips parting as if to voice some dissatisfaction, swallowed a sigh and answered. While he went to the bath, Etienne used a bedpost to brace himself and stood. Even that small movement taxed his strength.
“If she calls, I must go…”
He murmured in a low voice. Fear he could not hide shadowed his face.
***
“Paying respects to the Star of the Empire.”
The knight guarding the Empress’s palace greeted Etienne with crisp, disciplined movements.
“Where is Her Majesty the Empress?”
“In the receiving room.”
At that answer, Etienne’s expression hardened. If she was in the receiving room, she was seeing someone. He couldn’t suppress the surge of irritation; his tongue clicked.
“Tsk.”
Mastering the urge to turn on his heel, Etienne went inside. As he entered the corridor, a dozen attendants bent at the waist in unison. He passed them as if he hadn’t seen the greeting.
The faint scent hanging in the Empress’s lobby thickened as Etienne neared the receiving room. It was a fragrance so alluring it made his head swim.
“Hoo…”
He deliberately drew a breath in and out. If he didn’t, he felt he might choke on the Empress’s pheromones.
“You have come, Your Highness.”
At the end of the corridor by the receiving room, the chief lady-in-waiting received Etienne with formal poise. In that instant, Etienne felt gooseflesh sweep over him.
An overwhelming scent that stabbed the tip of his nose, and several others tangling around it as if craving it. The pheromones seeping from beyond the closed door were not from one or two people.
“Your Majesty the Empress, His Highness the Prince has arrived.”
“Let him in.”
When the chief lady announced Etienne’s arrival, a sultry voice flowed from within. As the door swung open in silence, a waft of pheromones rushed at him and he swallowed dryly.
“Please go in, Your Highness.”
Seeing Etienne standing there stiff-faced, the chief lady urged him in a stern tone. The quiet contempt in her manner sparked a flash of anger, but there was nothing he could do.
“Mother.”
So this is how a prisoner feels when dragged to his cell. After a small, steadying breath, Etienne called to the Empress and stepped into the receiving room.
“You’re here.”
The scene inside was a spectacle. Etienne narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Empress half-reclined on a sofa and at the people beneath her, moaning.
“Ahh…”
“Your Majesty—Your Majesty the Empress.”
Those pleading with the Empress were Alphas to a man. With a jaded gaze, Etienne looked down on the Empress’s paramours.
A core noble of the noble faction, a knight once praised as a hero, the scion of a famed old house—right now, each one was a slave bowed to desire.
“Your Majesty, please…”
Spellbound by the Empress’s pheromones, the paramours paid Etienne no mind for entering. Their eyes were fixed only on the Empress.
Half out of her senses, the Empress looked down at the lovers begging for her favor with a satisfied expression. They were faithful dogs who desired everything about her.
“Your Majesty the Empress.”
The one closest to her called in a desperate voice. For his sake, the Empress gladly scattered pheromones. Like a flower in full bloom, her scent spread in all directions.
“…Hup.”
Feeling his gorge rise, Etienne swallowed. He couldn’t keep his head in a receiving room saturated with the Empress’s pheromones.
“Does it torment you?”
The Empress asked in a languid voice. Her sunset-colored eyes glittered sharply as they fixed on Etienne, whose body trembled fine as a leaf.
“When your mother speaks, you answer.”
“N— urgh!”
He had barely parted his lips when he clapped a hand over his mouth again, swamped by the Alphas’ pheromones pouring off her aroused lovers. He tried to endure somehow, but it was no use.
It had been too little time since his heat ended, and after three days insensible, his body was weakened to the limit. He could not withstand the pheromones of several Alphas at once.
“Huff—hah.”
At last, Etienne’s body gave out. He collapsed to the floor, gagging again and again. His insides heaved; his head hurt as if it would split.
“Tsk.”
Seeing Etienne trembling like a wounded beast, the Empress clicked her tongue. The sight of him felled by Alpha pheromones stoked her anger.
“All of you, withdraw.”
“Y—Your Majesty.”
“B—but…”
At the sudden dismissal, the lovers looked up at her, dazed.
“My mood is ruined.”
Gathering back her pheromones, the Empress shut her eyes with a bored expression. Even with the mind-numbing scent gone, the lovers could not collect themselves.
“Chief lady, see our guests out.”
“As you command.”
With a face still hazy, the Empress called the chief lady and ordered her to escort them away, as if they no longer interested her.
Soon, only the Empress and Etienne remained in the receiving room. A heavy air settled between them.
“Pitiful thing.”
The silence broke with a sharp rebuke. Etienne bit his lower lip at the Empress’s voice, pointed as a thorn.
“What did you mean to do, showing a Beta reacting to pheromones? It’s all the better those men were out of their senses under mine, or you might have been found out with the slightest slip. Are you so eager to announce you’re an Omega?”
“…No, Your Majesty.”
If she worried so much he would be discovered as an Omega, she could have sent her lovers away beforehand—or not opened her pheromones in front of him. Etienne swallowed the words that rose to his throat.
“Of course, Betas do feel, to a degree, the force of pheromones released by dominant Alphas or dominant Omegas. They can’t smell the scent, but they can sense the power.”
The Empress, cutting a glance at her son as he staggered to his feet, added coldly.