FMY 29

Smack!

A cute sound, like a deliberate kiss planted on a lovely child, echoed between them.

“See, Serge. You always quiet down when I kiss you first.”

His face was as mischievous as a boy’s.

“…”

Serge, like a goldfish out of water, stammered and could not form words.

It was understandable. Even for him, who had faced all sorts of situations and played various roles in his past as an actor, what Raphael was showing him was somewhat unfamiliar.

‘No, it’s almost nonexistent.’

In his past life, he had played numerous roles as an actor in South Korea.

He had played roles such as the handsome boy next door who would make you turn around as you walked by, and the handsome junior who made everyone’s heart flutter, whether they were a returning sunbae or a newly admitted freshman. He was described with modifiers like “a man with a beautiful, strangely seductive smile when he crinkled his eyes.” Furthermore, after becoming an adult, he had showcased a strange masculinity that appealed to both men and women, flaunting the firm and beautiful lines of his body. To Serge, this was truly a part he could not get used to.

To be treated by Raphael in a way that someone like the delicate and small omega Gabriel might receive. It was so unfamiliar that he felt a surge of not knowing where to put himself. Of course, whenever that happened, he would stutter like a broken robot.

Serge looked up at Raphael, his face flushed with a mixture of bewilderment and embarrassment.

And what came into his view was the dominant alpha with a massive physique, boasting muscles firm enough to lift him and spin him around lightly, and this embarrassing new design ceremonial robe from Monsieur Gautier, which he was also wearing to match. And the smile, tinged with a bit of playfulness, spreading around his blue eyes.

Serge wanted to shake this annoyingly handsome man’s neck.

“You damn rascal… Were you trying to make me die of shame, or did you want to die of suffocation?”

There were too many eyes watching to choke him openly. As if caressing a lovely lover’s nape, Serge secretly pressed his thumb firmly against Raphael’s Adam’s apple. You’re doing this because you want to die, aren’t you, really…? An undeniable killing intent simmered in his smiling eyes.

Raphael ignored Serge’s fierce gaze, giggled, and gently removed the hand that was about to choke him, as if even Serge’s killing intent was a cute prank.

“If you keep calling me that, I’ll want to live up to your expectations even more.”

His lips curled up more deeply as he took the hand he was holding and buried his lips in its palm. The kiss that had been placed on his forehead was now trapped in his palm.

The way he pressed his moist lips against his palm and shot a sticky gaze was truly like a promiscuous, rascally alpha. What is this, “When you called my name, I came to you and became a rascal,” or something!

“Don’t you know that words have power?”

Raphael did not leave the dance floor, but naturally led Serge into the next song.

“You mean ‘words become seeds’?”

Without realizing it, Serge naturally took Raphael’s left hand with his white silk-gloved hand and began another dance, walking in a circle with an elegant motion just like the others.

“That’s right.”

“You were plenty of a rascal even before I started calling you that…! Do you think this is the first or second time I’ve seen it, from the academy until now?”

You Pied Piper bastard!

“I never knew you were so interested in me.”

“Anyone with eyeballs can see…!”

Their bickering did not cease during the movements where they brought their palms together and moved closer and farther apart.

“To lift a big and heavy omega like me and spin me around and around. It must have been an unsightly spectacle. I’m so embarrassed I could die, really!”

At Serge’s words, who was frowning and complaining, Raphael suddenly stopped all movement.

They were left standing alone amidst the people dancing the same movements.

“Who said that?”

“What?”

Why is he suddenly getting all serious again? As Serge tried to continue with the next move, Raphael grabbed his elbow firmly. Then, with a hardened face, he asked again.

“Who said it was an unsightly spectacle?”

“…Are you asking because you’re genuinely curious?”

“Yes.”

Then he had to tell him the truth.

“Everyone. Everyone in this world except for my father. Just as I have eyes, you have ears, so you know what kind of evaluations I’ve lived with in front of others until now, don’t you?”

The group of alpha boys surrounding the second prince had laughed at Serge, the large omega, throughout their school days. There was no way he could not have heard it.

Raphael, still frowning while listening to Serge’s explanation, opened his mouth again with a serious expression.

“All that talk is bullshit.”

“…”

Serge, not knowing why he was acting like this, just opened and closed his mouth again.

But Raphael was serious.

“I told you from the beginning. It wasn’t bad even before you changed your appearance like you have now, and it’s good now too. Did that sound like a lie to your ears?”

Thinking back to the past, it was really true. He was much better than the omegas who came clinging to him, exuding sweet pheromones.

The only cool and calm pheromone that he did not find uncomfortable. The image of the quiet Mr. Arthur who did not even exude that properly and just worked hard on his own things.

The image of the boy Serge, who was always focused, turning the pages of a book under the shade of a tree, flashed through Raphael’s mind. Looking back, nothing about him was bad. Enough to make him pause his steps once in a while on his way back to the dormitory after fencing practice or horseback riding.

“It wasn’t a lie, but it’s true I thought it was just a lip-service compliment.”

“I am a person who does not need to flatter anyone with words, Mr. Serge d’Arthur. Although I bear the name Duke de Bernadotte, my roots are undoubtedly de Blanche.”

Even his noble status, which meant he did not need to offer sugar-coated compliments to even the most noble of omegas, was brought up. Nevertheless, Serge did not believe him.

“…But it was clear that you were in a situation where you had to entice and drag me into this damn contract engagement.”

So isn’t it only natural that I would think that way? Serge mumbled, slightly intimidated by Raphael’s intensity.

Raphael, seeing Serge showing a hint of embarrassment, pressed a hand to his forehead and said in a clear voice.

“Don’t worry about things like that from now on. Regardless of how it looks to others, I lifted you because you were worth lifting. You weren’t heavy, and I would like to say that your turn was too beautiful for me to think it was unsightly.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but…”

“Of course, I can’t say there wasn’t an intention to play a prank on you, who so boldly jabbed my side. But that was because I wanted to see you flustered in an uncharacteristic way by a light prank, not to embarrass you.”

“…”

“And as I said just now that I like you as you are now, in my eyes, my fiancé is more beautiful and wonderful than anyone else.”

“What…? You mean that was actually a compliment about being pretty?”

“Yes. So never think that way again. Then and now, you are beautiful as you are, just as you are.”

With that admonition, Raphael elegantly took Serge’s hand again and naturally resumed the dance that had been interrupted. They once again became a beautiful part of the group dance, as if they had never stopped to argue.

For a moment, Serge thought it was a relief that he did not continue the conversation and resumed the dance.

<You are beautiful as you are, just as you are.>

Because it was the first time in this life, living under the name Serge d’Arthur, that he had heard that from someone else.

It was a fact he knew, and he had already filled himself with that confidence, but hearing such an evaluation from someone else felt different. Especially in a society where the standards of beauty for alphas and omegas were so narrow and biased. In this suffocating world, he had never expected someone to say such a thing about him, an omega.

Serge barely held back something unknown that was threatening to surge up.

He could not abandon his role as a happy man dancing at a ball with his beloved fiancé, with whom he would soon have an engagement ceremony.

His performance had to be perfect until the very end.

And so, they danced three songs in a row.

This was somewhat intentional on Raphael and Serge’s part. Dancing with one person multiple times in a row at a ball had a clear meaning in high society.

Undeniably public lovers.

When they finished dancing and returned to the crowd from the center, ladies and gentlemen flocked to the second prince and Mr. Arthur like a cloud. And every time they threw questions like reporters who had caught a scoop, Serge naturally showed them the ring on his finger.

Everyone offered their congratulations to them, who were said to be having their engagement ceremony soon.

Words of admiration and blessing were exchanged for a long time, saying that the two dancing were a truly picturesque and beautiful couple.

Everything was going according to plan. By tomorrow, news of the engagement of Raphael, Duke de Bernadotte, the second prince, and Mr. Serge d’Arthur would probably spread like wildfire throughout Anser.

⚭

“What on earth are you showing me that you’re doing this?”

“Father, shh!”

The sight of his son deliberately heading towards a deserted narrow staircase and then carefully tiptoeing so his footsteps wouldn’t be heard. Sensing something unusual from this, Duke Arthur asked with displeasure.

The Duke was currently being led somewhere by his son after being pulled away from a heated conversation with a few nobles he normally interacted with, while comfortably seated on a couch in a corner of the hall.

Without even telling him the destination, the son had piqued the middle-aged man’s curiosity with the single phrase, “Father, follow me.” That much was fine, but the signs were so suspicious and spy-like that Duke Arthur felt very uneasy. Just as he was about to regret it, thinking he should have just stayed put and finished off more of the Montbel Mountain wine.

The son, who had been shushing him with a “Shhhhh!” whenever he tried to speak, finally opened his mouth.

They were on the second floor of the Camellia Palace, away from the hall, in a quiet corridor where even the sound of the chamber orchestra’s music and the laughter and chatter of the people could no longer be heard.

“From now on, don’t even make a sound and stick close behind me.”

“What on earth is it?”

“I promised to show you the true nature of His Highness the Crown Prince, didn’t I?”

At the end of their last conversation, Serge had promised the Duke, who still held lingering feelings for the Crown Prince, that he would definitely show him his hidden secret and true self today.

The Mazurka was usually the seventh or eighth dance in a ball.

On this day in his past life, the Crown Prince, who was Serge’s partner, had disappeared from the hall just before the Mazurka began. And the very problematic scene that Serge discovered after searching desperately for his partner. The sight of him frantically engaged in a lewd affair with someone else.

‘Just like in my past life, this time too…?’

Although he had some doubts, all other events so far had occurred exactly as they had in his past life, unless it was an artificial case he had twisted with his own strong will.

‘Things I haven’t specifically touched flow as they should.’

Serge believed it would be the same this time.

And as he expected, the Crown Prince disappeared somewhere as the Mazurka was about to begin. Serge, while mingling with the great nobles with Raphael to solidify and boast about their relationship, did not miss the sign.

<I’m going to step away with Father for a bit. There’s somewhere I need to go.>

<Will you be back soon?>

<It won’t take long.>

A look of something displeased, whether it was dissatisfaction or concern, flickered across Raphael’s face upon hearing that answer, but Serge resolutely ignored it. If he missed this chance, he didn’t know when he would be able to show the Duke the Crown Prince’s promiscuous scene ‘in person’ again.