FMY 6

“There is only one question left in this place. Sir Gabriel Routel?”

The queen turned her body to face the person she had called.

“…Yes, Your Majesty the Queen.”

“I will not ask why you lied about Sir Arthur. However, it would be best for Sir Routel to rest when the next salon is held. I like ambitious people, but I do not like people with ulterior motives in their hearts.”

Her gaze strangely flickered between Gabriel and her second son, Raphael. It was too cold of an expression to be looking at her own son.

While Gabriel’s face turned pale, only the corners of his eyes reddened. Seeing him fail to control his expression, which was unlike him, Serge sighed inwardly.

‘This is going to be tiresome.’

“You…! Serge, you bad!”

As soon as the music concert was over, Gabriel dragged Serge without a word to a secluded corner behind the greenhouse. And after cornering him, that was what he said. While grabbing him by the collar with a face that was red and blue.

Serge once again recalled the situation from a moment ago.

All the young people who attended the salon played with all their heart and soul, and the queen and her confidants praised their efforts, saying it was a beautiful concert. It seemed the crown prince and Duke de Bernadotte had also appeared to attend as audience members, as they too remained until the end and offered their praise to each and every person.

It was such an important occasion, yet Gabriel was ostracized from the very beginning.

When the salon was completely over as the queen’s group left, Gabriel was sitting alone with a very pitiful expression, tears welling up in his eyes.

It was a purpose that seemed to openly display a figure like a tragic angel in the spotlight. It was a pathetic sight in itself that everyone could not help but comfort him, despite having watched Gabriel’s situation from beginning to end.

Thanks to that, he had said, “I made a mistake because I didn’t know Serge properly…,” and after hearing a lot of comforting words like, “That can happen,” and, “Don’t be too heartbroken. Her Majesty the Queen also…,” he had left the greenhouse.

But to change his attitude like flipping his palm as soon as they were alone like this.

Serge felt like applauding Gabriel’s acting skills. If he had been an actor in the modern era, wouldn’t he have been a great actor who could properly make a foxy character his own?

Not even knowing that the Serge in front of him was thinking such things out of sheer absurdity, Gabriel shook the collar he was holding with his eyes wide open.

“How…! How could you embarrass me like this in front of Her Majesty the Queen and everyone?!”

Serge looked down at Gabriel’s face with an impassive expression. As if he didn’t care at all about the collar he was holding. And in reality, it had no effect on him whatsoever.

‘Playing the victim…’

It was a moment that made him naturally think of a term used in the modern era.

Does he really not remember what he did at all? Or is it that slandering and deceiving Serge is so natural and a matter of course for him that he feels no guilt or weight in his heart, and only accepts the humiliation and shame he suffered as heavy?

He really couldn’t understand.

‘What on earth goes on inside his head…?’

What kind of attitude is this in a situation where he has essentially fallen into a trap he dug himself? Is this that long-standing, traditional situation where the one who farted gets angry? Serge opened his mouth without hiding his dumbfounded expression.

“You… just how selfish are you?”

“What?”

“In the first place, if you hadn’t tried to make yourself stand out by embarrassing me in front of everyone… then this wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

Looking at a person who only focuses on himself, without considering the context before and after, gave him a headache. Does he have a problem with empathy or understanding…?

As Serge spoke confidently while looking Gabriel straight in the eyes, his pupils trembled slightly. But it was closer to him being flustered at his usual pushover fighting back rather than his conscience being pricked because he understood the current situation.

At that moment, Serge faintly saw a group of people approaching from a distance.

It was a group of young ladies who had come out of the greenhouse a step behind them. If his memory served him right, they were the ones who hung out with Gabriel. And Gabriel, in his anger, did not seem to be aware that people were approaching nearby.

Wait, isn’t this situation perfect…? A situation behind Gabriel, where he couldn’t see, as he cornered Serge in a secluded place. At that moment, a small realization flashed through Serge’s mind.

‘Trying to make him understand his mistake in the first place was a mistake in itself.’

What more could he say to someone who had no intention of reflecting on his own actions? The best thing for him was to use the same method to screw him over.

‘Fight fire with fire, and to someone playing the victim, act like a victim as well.’

Having made his decision, Serge dramatically slumped down.

“I’m…I’m sorry, Gabriel!”

And he cried out words of apology in a loud, pleading voice.

Gabriel’s hand, which was gripping his collar, was held on very tightly, so that it wouldn’t let go in surprise at the weight of Serge who had suddenly slumped down. The sight looked as if a victim whose collar was being held was trying to remove the perpetrator’s hand out of fear, but it was not going as planned.

“Oh my, what is that…?”

“It looks like those two are fighting…!”

Whispers were heard.

‘Good. Their attention is completely focused this way.’

Serge disoriented Gabriel by screaming even louder before Gabriel could properly grasp the situation.

“You…you know it too. That I can’t lie at all…. I just…! I just couldn’t lie to Her Majesty the Queen that I couldn’t play anything…!”

“Huh…?”

“I’m really sorry I couldn’t make you stand out as you asked…. So please calm down and let me go, Gabriel! It hurts… cough! I’m choking…”

It was truly the appearance of a proper tragic hero.

Like a poor child who had been beaten and kicked out in the dead of winter, Serge trembled his lips and shed tears. The detail of his acting, complete with a cough as if he were really choking, was amazing. His shoulders were also bent as much as possible to look slender, and he created a pitiful atmosphere like a victim of violence who was truly trembling in fear.

“Goodness…! Shouldn’t we stop them…?”

“I can’t believe Sir Gabriel is like that…!”

As the people who had discovered them while passing by began to murmur more loudly, Gabriel finally seemed to grasp the situation and hastily let go of Serge’s collar. Then he looked around in a panic and shook his head towards the young ladies who were watching them.

“No…! It’s not like that! I, I didn’t do that…!”

At that moment, a snort escaped.

‘What do you mean it’s not, you blackmailer.’

Though it’s pathetic, you were the blackmailer who was directing your resentment this way, weren’t you? Serge, finding it absurd, deliberately sobbed even more, bringing his acting to a climax.

“It was my fault, Gabriel…”

With Serge’s crying, the people’s murmuring grew louder, and Gabriel, who was shaking his head like crazy, finally shouted.

“No…! It’s not like this! Miss D’Auvergne! Ms. Benoit! Please listen to me!”

Then he left Serge as he was and ran after them as they moved away.

Serge snorted as he watched Gabriel’s back disappear as he chased after the young ladies in their fancy dresses to make excuses.

“…Serves you right, you sneaky bastard.”

To see that guy, who has always been praised while smiling prettily like an angel in front of others, sometimes like a perfectly made doll, flustered like that. The way he scurried away was such a sight that a smile couldn’t help but creep out.

“Go ahead and explain yourself to death. Let’s see if the people who saw this with their own eyes will believe you.”

As he was laughing heartily and talking to himself.

A completely unexpected sound was heard.

“Sir Serge d’Arthur…”

What? Who? Serge turned his head like lightning to find the person who had called him.

“You act very… very well…?”

The moment he found the person who had spoken to him, Serge froze like ice.

It was the unfortunate second prince. Raphael, Duke de Bernadotte.

‘I’m doomed…’

That was his first thought.

Since when had he been watching? He had been caught by someone he shouldn’t have been caught by. No matter how much of a prince he was, who had received the sole title of Duke de Bernadotte from birth and was thoroughly separated from the throne, he was still a member of the royal family… Serge felt a headache coming on.

To make such a mistake…. If Serge’s true nature was revealed to the queen, the future would be difficult. Hadn’t she declared just today, with her own mouth, that she disliked people who were two-faced, that is, people with ulterior motives?

‘Will my true nature be revealed like this?’

In this life, he wanted to put an end to the rumor of being an eccentric, get rid of Gabriel, and then end his life quietly and comfortably, but was it all ruined now? To have his acting completely exposed…. In that brief moment, all sorts of thoughts flashed through Serge’s mind. But he soon changed his mind.

‘An actor never stops acting as long as there is even one audience member left.’

Since he had already started, he decided to be even more brazen.

“I don’t know what you mean…. I’m not in my right mind right now.”

Serge wiped his face, wet with fake tears, with the back of his hand like a child, and then staggered unsteadily from the ground in his sitting position.

“There’s no need to pretend you don’t know. I saw you secretly trip his leg in the greenhouse earlier.”

“……!”

Damn it…. He was caught for that too?

“My kinetic vision is quite something.”

He, who had been leaning diagonally against the glass wall behind the greenhouse with his arms crossed, tapped his temple with his finger and straightened his body. Then, he tilted his head sideways.

“Or has the person changed?”

Raphael muttered to himself in suspicion and walked straight towards Serge.

Strangely, as Serge watched him move slowly, he was reminded of the king of beasts walking slowly and gracefully across a desolate plain. A male lion boasting a beautiful mane like his blond hair. The way he moved his massive body so lightly, as if it were not heavy at all. And that his slow and leisurely movements were all just a pretense, and in reality, his speed was incredibly fast. Everything about Raphael reminded him of a huge golden lion.

“Here, take my hand.”

A firm arm, befitting his large build, came out and offered a hand to Serge. It was a warm gesture to help a fallen person, in contrast to his earlier attempt to uncover his true nature by asking if he was acting. Such a demeanor gave off the dignity of a royal who cared for the weak.

The Omega, without realizing it, admired the Alpha in front of him and, as if bewitched, took his hand and stood up.

At that moment, the large hand pulled Serge’s body with strong force.

“Ah…!”

Serge found himself buried in that broad chest without realizing it. It was entirely as Raphael had intended.

He naturally wrapped his thick arm around Serge’s waist. And he pulled the body closer, and in an instant, buried his face in the side of Serge’s neck. He was so surprised by the situation that happened so suddenly, at the same time as his body was being lifted from the ground, that he couldn’t even think of getting out of his embrace. The high nose that Serge had admired just a moment ago tilted sideways and he took a deep breath near the carotid artery in his neck, that is, near the pheromone gland, and because of that, the fine hairs on his neck stood on end. He could clearly feel him smelling his pheromone scent.

“What on earth is this?! What are you doing?!”