By Zephyria 
My father’s face was so red that it looked almost black. To drive the man who valued appearances more than his own life to this point… As expected… Even when I was sentenced to death, he sat calmly and pretended to be refined.
Allen’s naive attitude, which failed to win the Crown Prince’s favor, was the kind that aroused the fiery misunderstanding and hatred of many nobles. There was a limit to how much I could follow him around and smooth things over, and I, too, often ended things ambiguously so that it wouldn’t be obvious, so Allen’s reputation had been plummeting uncontrollably lately.
The incident with the Daughter of Marquis Brienne that made my father angry today was also like that. In fact, in aristocratic society, as long as it didn’t create noise in the succession structure, that is, unless one insisted on formally registering a child born out of wedlock from an affair or tried to break off a marriage that had already been arranged between families, it wasn’t that strange for Alphas or Omegas to secretly have someone they met behind the scenes.
Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s fiancé was also like that. However, in the case of Daughter of Marquis Brienne, she was truly in love with her fiancé, so she must have been burning inside, but she couldn’t openly argue about it. Everyone in society knew that Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s fiancé had a commoner lover whom he had been in a relationship with since his academy days, but they kept it quiet.
It was only a problem if you made it a problem… Allen, who had met Daughter of Marquis Brienne at a banquet a few times and had a short conversation with her, already thought of her as his friend, and after accidentally learning about the affair, he was furious, saying, “How could you do this?” Up until then, it was fine. The unpleasant incident between Daughter of Marquis Brienne and Allen happened after Allen happened to directly encounter the sight of the Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s fiancé in a very affectionate and intimate pose with the person he was having an affair with.
Because of the status of the affair partner, they usually couldn’t attend official events properly, but that day, it was a casual salon where some of their peers had invited some up-and-coming performers. The Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s fiancé happily came with his arm around his lover. Daughter of Marquis Brienne pretended not to see it and mingled with others…
‘That’s too… too much! How could you do this?’
Allen’s voice, full of indignation, fell like a thunderbolt right in front of the immoral lovers, who were sipping wine and listening to the stringed instruments while holding each other in their arms.
Daughter of Marquis Brienne seemed to be secretly relieved until then. As it was already an open secret, the others around them were all watching the situation unfold with great interest.
That’s when it happened.
‘Even if Juliet’s appearance isn’t to your liking, how can you be so brazen as to show off another lover like this?’
Unbelievable words popped out of Allen’s mouth. Even I was stunned, so what about the others?
‘Young Master Hamilton! What on earth are you saying…!’
‘Don’t stop me, Juliet. As your friend, I have to say what I have to say!’
Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s pale face was still vivid in my mind. I don’t know what his intentions were, but from that day on, Daughter of Marquis Brienne was officially branded as an Omega whose appearance was not good enough to win her fiancé’s heart. The whispers behind her back were quite impressive, saying, “How bad must she look for an Alpha to leave an Omega and meet a commoner with no pheromones?”
There was nothing I could do to undo what had already been done, and I just covered Allen’s mouth that day and kept apologizing to Daughter of Marquis Brienne. Everyone said things behind her back, but they couldn’t openly mention what happened that day. It wasn’t for Allen’s honor, but for Daughter of Marquis Brienne’s honor.
“His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince called me in person today and apologized! He said he wanted to take care of me even more, but since the Marquis Brienne family had made it public, he had no choice but to side with them!”
The Hamilton Family had a lot of money. That was a huge advantage that no one could ignore Hamilton, even if they had little say in politics, but at the same time, it was Hamilton’s sharpest weakness. They only had a lot of money. Compared to the prominent central aristocratic families, their history was relatively short, and the honor of their ancestors didn’t carry much weight. That’s why my father, the Count, and Andrew, the Little Count, were so obsessed with appearances and aristocratic attitudes.
That’s why my father had been working on the Capital Waterworks Project for several years. If he could win this project, he would be delegated the rights by the Imperial Family and have exclusive control over the water sources and rainwater basins installed throughout the Capital for at least thirty years. The most important thing was that the name ‘Hamilton’ could be put on all water sources during the period of guaranteed exclusive control. In fact, it was more of a way to further enhance the family’s status than to make money.
Originally, this project would have been handed over to Allen personally, not the Hamilton Family, as a gift to raise his honor in order to confirm Allen, a Recessive Omega, as the Crown Princess in the future. But since I, whom the current Crown Prince has in mind, am a Dominant Omega, he must have thought that such work was not necessary and intended to hand it over to another family altogether.
“How… How can you be so angry with me…? Father, I… I…!”
Allen instantly squeezed out tears like chicken droppings and cried bitterly. My mother, who had stepped back for a moment, rushed over and blocked Allen and my father.
“What does this child know, huh? Calm down.”
Knowing how long the family had been working on the project, my mother couldn’t blindly take Allen’s side this time. All she wanted to do was calm my father down.
There had been similar incidents a few times in the past. However, there had never been such a big loss as this time, so they had just sighed and moved on.
My father had already hinted a few times that he wondered if Allen even needed to be active outside, and that it would be better to keep Allen at home since Noah was already doing well. Even though he couldn’t say it outright, he seemed to be slowly becoming ashamed of Allen. Of course, my mother became even more sensitive whenever my father showed such a reaction.
A strange conflict had begun to appear in this Iteration between the two people who I thought would always be united around Allen.
“I know very well that this child is lacking in your eyes. Even I think he’s done something quite big this time. But William… Look at this young one’s pitiful face. He’s terrified. Poor thing.”
“Marion.”
“Give him a little more time. It’s only been a few months since this child miraculously returned to our arms. If we had raised Allen like Noah… If we had held him in our arms and raised him ourselves…”
My mother’s voice eventually trembled slightly. Her damp, musty voice stuck to my father’s eardrums in a pathetic way. It seemed that this matter would be settled here as well.
“Mother, Father… I’m sorry… It’s all my fault…”
Before Allen could start crying shamelessly, calling out “Mom” and “Dad,” I made the first move. Even so, he was a precious biological son who had been missing for well over a decade before returning. No matter what Allen had done wrong, the moment he comfortably called out to his parents and burst into tears like commoner children, the scales would tilt and fall to the floor. Knowing that it was inevitable, I felt bitter at the same time.
“I should have taken better care of him… Hmph, I should have stopped Allen… I couldn’t, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…”
“No, Noah. What are you saying! What fault do you have!”
“… …”
Unlike my father, who immediately shook his head and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, my mother’s eyes held a strange resentment. Even unconsciously, she must have thought that I should have stopped Allen earlier, and that I was partly responsible for what had happened. However, the reason why she couldn’t directly mention it was probably because she knew that I was the one who repeatedly defended Allen and tried to clean up the mess.
“Even today… If I had taken better care of him… Lord Lauren wouldn’t have been upset either.”
“What? Lord Lauren? Why is that name coming up again? Did Allen cause another accident?”
“Ah…! I-I’m sorry, I said something unnecessary again…”
Since the enraged Lord Lauren even splashed tea on him, rumors would surely start to spread soon. There was no need to add more details here and make it seem like I was telling tales, so I decided to quietly back away at this point.
“Father. Can I have a word?”
As I looked around and lowered my voice, my father, even with an expression that showed his anger hadn’t subsided, followed my lead. I whispered to him that I had met the Crown Prince, who had come to see me briefly today. I exuded the nuance that I was monopolizing the Crown Prince’s unwavering affection. My father soon recalled the fact that the supreme glory of being a family that had produced an Empress, which was incomparable to the Capital Waterworks Project, would be bestowed upon the family.
“So don’t be so happy or sad about something like this. I’ll do well.”
“Yes… Yes, Noah! You’re the only one I can trust!”
The images of my mother, who had unconditionally cherished her own child in all the previous Iterations, and my father, who had cherished the child who would give him the luxurious golden crown of being the Emperor’s father-in-law in all the Iterations, flashed through my mind one after another. Neither of them felt like a wound to me now. It was just… something I could use to my advantage.