FMY 32

‘Camille survived…’

As Serge walked briskly towards the dining room where his father and siblings were waiting, his mind wandered between his past life and the present.

His mind was in utter chaos.

‘Is it possible to prevent a death that was fated…?’

To be sure, when he first returned to this life, he had conducted several experiments.

At that time, Serge could not die, and every attempt he made to die was thwarted by some great, unknown force.

‘Does this mean that although I’ve returned to the past, the future is not set in stone?’

He had already confirmed that the world could change arbitrarily, unlike the past, depending on how and when he acted. Otherwise, so many situations could not have changed differently from his past life. Especially his meeting with Raphael and Raphael’s proposal of a contract engagement were things Serge had never even imagined in his entire life. So, he knew that, indeed, like the butterfly effect, the future changes depending on one’s actions, and the present and future are not fixed.

‘But I thought that death alone was an exception to all of that…’

As a result of experimenting on his own body, he had considered ‘death’ to be an irreversible flow. The reason he had helped the injured Camille was partly because he genuinely wanted him to live a healthy life, but also to accurately verify the hypothesis he had formed.

‘If I can truly defy death…?’

Then, is my life not on a timer as I initially thought…? Serge’s eyes wavered in confusion.

“Where are Gabriel and Leana?”

Serge asked as soon as he entered the room, looking at the two empty seats. In the dining room, mainly used for intimate family meals, only Duke Arthur and the twins were present.

“Let’s just us dine together today.”

From the Duke’s words, Serge read the implication that they needed time to talk alone after the meal. So he simply nodded and listened to his younger siblings, who chattered throughout the meal. Duke Arthur also did his best to spend time with his young children amidst his busy daily life.

After the twins, who had finished their meal, left for their afternoon lessons, the Duke’s smiling face finally turned serious.

The Duke, who had dismissed the servants from the room so that father and son could have a private conversation, finally opened his mouth.

“…Who besides you knows about His Highness the Crown Prince?”

The first thing to cautiously come from the mouth of the ever-so-serious Minister of Finance was, as expected, the matter of the Crown Prince. For Serge, who already knew about it from his past life, the terrorist attack was a much bigger incident, but for the Duke, the matter of the Crown Prince seemed to be the most shocking event from the royal ball last night.

“As far as I know, no one besides me…”

“Hmm…”

“But as you saw yesterday, Father, if he is so consumed by passion as to be that careless in such a place…”

It was right above the hall where the nobles were gathered in a clamor. It wasn’t a place that just anyone could enter and exit easily, but what if someone, like Serge, had taken a wrong turn and happened to discover a side path that wasn’t guarded? Or what about the people who work and move freely through those places? Wouldn’t they be able to witness it more easily? So how could one say that he was the only one who had witnessed the Crown Prince’s patricidal affair?

“Yes. I suppose someone else might know as well.”

“On top of that, it’s possible that the attendants or servants might have noticed it discreetly.”

It is their daily routine to pretend not to see what they have seen and not to hear what they have heard regarding their master’s private life. That is why most nobles act freely, thinking of their servants as if they were walls. But that did not mean that they were truly walls or objects without emotions and thoughts.

‘The rumors that circulate among the public don’t spread for no reason.’

That was why Serge always paid attention to the rumors and perspectives of the servants. He had experienced a world in the modern era where all humans lived as equals. He knew all too well the fact that people, regardless of their status and position, all make judgments based on what they see and hear. And even more so, that the thoughts they exchanged among themselves contained rather clear and objective information about their masters.

“I trust that the royal attendants would not dare to speak carelessly about the royal family, especially about the next leader of the kingdom…”

“Still, it’s a different story when the person they serve is different.”

Could there not be people with connections to the King, the Queen, or Raphael anywhere? Serge suspected as much.

“The end of days… The end of days.”

Duke Arthur rubbed his brow as if he had a headache.

“Sleeping with one’s own father’s consort is not something just anyone can do.”

“Serge!”

Duke Arthur was horrified, as if he had never expected his good son to utter such dirty words, even if they were true.

“That’s why I told you. If you saw the Crown Prince’s true nature, you would never be able to bring yourself to place me by his side.”

“…Yes, you were right.”

The Duke immediately admitted it. It was that shocking and promiscuous of an incident, one that could never be hushed up even in the liberal-minded society of Blanche.

The Duke tapped his fingers on the table with a serious face.

“The matter of His Highness the Crown Prince must be kept secret from anyone for now. It is too sensitive an issue to bring to the surface without proper evidence or witnesses.”

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

“Furthermore, the timing is too coincidental…”

He was right. Serge realized what his father was saying and bit his lip firmly.

A situation like now, with him and Raphael about to be engaged. It was a tricky matter that could easily be seen as a scheme by Duke Arthur to change the line of succession, or more dangerously, as treason.

“I need to slowly think about how to approach that problem…”

“…”

“First, we need to figure out who else knows besides us.”

The Duke decided to first gather information before taking any action.

Indeed, it was a matter too unsettling to ignore, yet too ambiguous to stir up. Serge agreed with the conclusion his father had reached.

But since the immediate important issue was not the Crown Prince’s problem, Serge threw out the words he most wanted to say to his father. It was also the purpose for which he had taken the Duke to that place.

“But that’s not the end of the problem, Father. Now, what are you going to do about Gabriel?”

Hearing his son’s question, the Duke furrowed his brow and gulped down his white wine. His expression was one of a man whose throat was so parched at those words that he could not bear it.

Serge waited calmly for his father to calm down and finish his thoughts.

In fact, the answer was already decided. The Duke was not a man who would stand by and watch his cherished ward enter a pit of evil, even if it meant bending his own beliefs. He was even less the type of person who would stand as a witness and agree to Gabriel’s sacrament of marriage before a cardinal, with such a shameless man as the groom, even if he was the Crown Prince.

“…I’ll have to make Gabriel give up as well.”

Duke Arthur concluded with a deep sigh.

“I thought you knew all about Gabriel’s desire for social advancement. Do you really think he will give up so easily?”

“This is a headache…”

Spreading the truth about the Crown Prince’s depravity to others, that is, making Gabriel give up by telling him this fact, was something he could not bring himself to do as a loyal subject of the royal family. As mentioned before, wasn’t it a top secret that should not be spread to anyone until the proper situation was created? It was understandable that the Duke, as he had said, would find it a headache.

“Unless you command him strongly, Father, Gabriel will never give up the position of Crown Princess.”

Because that’s what happened in the past. Serge swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say.

Gabriel, who had stubbornly squeezed his way into the position the Duke had arranged for his son and made it his own. He needed a stricter, more special measure.

“Yes, that’s right. Let’s think more about that matter, like the previous one, and proceed step by step. For now, I must stop him from meeting the Crown Prince.”

“Will just that be enough?”

“But I can’t just tell him no without giving a reason and order him to be confined to his room, can I? For now, I’ll have to start by strictly forbidding any meetings or letters with His Highness the Crown Prince. Of course, if he continues to be stubborn later, I’ll have to oppose it, even if it means taking other measures.”

“For example?”

“I could arrange a marriage with someone else, and if he refuses, I’m thinking of sending him to the countryside to stay away from the capital for a while.”

Duke Arthur’s eyes shone sharply as he looked at his son sitting across from him.

‘Just as I thought… My prediction was correct.’

Gabriel’s wings were now about to be clipped by Serge, who had taken over the authority for invitations coming to the family, and his legs were scheduled to be clipped by his guardian, Duke Arthur.

His wicked desires were steadily on the path to being sorted out.

‘Right. Even if it’s my father, one can’t make a person change their mind overnight as easily as folding a piece of paper.’

In his honest heart, he wanted to crush Gabriel more forcefully, but he had to admit that the Duke’s method was the best. Gabriel was the type of person who would turn darker and more violent the more he was pressed down. Hadn’t he experienced that enough in his past life?

If Gabriel acted out and ran wild as he did in his past life, even his family might be harmed.

He had succeeded in persuading his father in this life, but the matter of the twins was still pending. They were still too young and desperately needed a strong and steadfast guardian. A wrong move could inadvertently harm the children. Serge thought of his two young siblings and nodded quietly.

‘Now that I’ve joined hands with Father, I need to take the wisest path to make Gabriel give up slowly and surely.’

More important than speed was perfection.

In order to successfully brighten the future, which was still shrouded in mystery, not knowing whether he would live or die.

Duke Arthur poured wine into his empty glass himself in the space where all the servants had been dismissed.

“Now that things have come to this, it has become clear that the path you have chosen is the best path we can take.”

“Yes…? What do you mean by the best path?”

Serge tilted his head at the sudden change of topic.

“I mean that my smart son, of whom I can be proud anywhere, seems to have chosen the most outstanding alpha in this kingdom.”

It seemed he had reached that conclusion after talking about the Crown Prince. No, wait a minute. More than that, he thought he had heard something strange just now… Serge, who just a month ago had been the very definition of a person to be ashamed of anywhere, contrary to his father’s expression, thought of his past appearance and demeanor and shook his head. Just where does a doting father’s praise for his own child as the best of all end…

“Whether you look at his innate status, his appearance or character, or his abilities. I can’t think of anyone more excellent than him.”

The Duke’s eyes flashed and he rubbed his palms together, just as he did when he saw a merchant ship returning from the East loaded with chests of gold coins.

“I must hurry and proceed with this engagement at once.”

“…Suddenly…?”

“Yes! This is no time to be standing still. It is the law that when an alpha falls in love, the marriage contract must be written in a hurry. A wise omega’s parents would surely do so. I must send a message to the second prince’s palace as soon as possible. I will need to have a great many conversations with him.”

Serge’s jaw dropped as he watched his father, who had changed his tune so quickly, as if he had turned on a dime.

It seemed that thanks to Raphael somehow managing to capture Duke Arthur’s heart so well, he was about to get even busier.