By Zephyria 
“Let me ask you something. What do you think of me?”
“Your face is decent but for some reason you’re kind of unpleas—hup…! Why, why is this happening? Your Highness, well, that is…!”
“Hoo… So that’s how you’ve been seeing me? Okay. I understand.”
This probably wasn’t the main point. The Crown Prince raised one eyebrow disapprovingly but nodded as if accepting it for now.
“By the way, I heard an interesting story about you recently…”
What’s so interesting? It’s only interesting to you. I covered my mouth firmly with both hands, afraid that such words might pour out uncontrollably if I opened it. This was know-how I’d personally acquired after experiencing the truth potion enough times.
When under the effect of the potion and asked a question, you can only speak the “truth” about that question… But the potion has one flaw. While you can’t utter falsehoods, you can at least avoid mentioning the truth.
No matter what questions the Crown Prince asked, I just needed to skillfully evade them using this loophole. You think this is my first time in this situation? I calmly sipped my juice while firmly establishing mental defenses.
“About that merchant guild you frequented. I heard that recently you went there to play but suddenly returned home alone. Why was that?”
Returning home alone… That happened exactly twice. One was the day the Crown Prince found my carriage, and the other was…
“Ah.”
“Ah?”
I had wondered why he was going to such lengths, but it was because of that. My meeting with the Young Duke Graham. He wanted to know if I knew the identity of the person I’d met by chance was ‘Carlisle Graham,’ or if I’d contacted him already knowing. The Graham Grand Duchy and Duke Grachio were strong allies connected by marriage.
“I can’t tell you how surprised I was. Returning ‘alone.’ Wasn’t that too dangerous?”
I felt both relieved and strangely deflated. The Crown Prince’s affection was already above 50 percent. Although there had been no official announcement naming me as the Crown Prince’s consort, nor any obvious confessions of love or affection, I thought we had progressed our relationship quite rapidly…
Regardless of the affection I had painstakingly accumulated, he still didn’t completely trust me. Seeing how he immediately resorted to using a truth potion for something that happened outside his expectations made that clear.
“Ah, about that, Your Highness…”
What must it feel like? Having to endlessly doubt and test everyone without a single person to trust.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed, but I felt more pity than anything. If he hadn’t lived so fiercely, Adrian Pearson would probably have been reduced to a puppet of the Empress and Duke Grachio long ago.
“First, please promise you won’t get angry after hearing this.”
“Very well, I promise. Tell me anything.”
Despite my complicated feelings, my mouth moved mechanically.
“Actually, I didn’t return alone that day. I saw a child beyond the wall.”
“…A child?”
“Yes. And anyone could tell he was from a noble family, but he had snuck out, practically announcing it to the world.”
It was the truth without the slightest falsehood, except for the part about the child being Carlisle Graham, the young lord, and that I knew his identity from the beginning. My tongue, soaked in the truth potion, moved eloquently, and the strange wariness in the Crown Prince’s eyes gradually softened.
“If I left him alone, he looked like he might get kidnapped, and he seemed like he would disappear from sight immediately if I went to call someone. So I went out alone and immediately took a carriage with him. I also made him promise never to venture outside without a guardian again. Whew, even thinking about it now, he was such a reckless child.”
I shook my head exaggeratedly while deliberately chattering innocently.
“He didn’t tell me which family he was from, so I dropped him off near the townhouse center area…”
It was true that the young lord didn’t reveal his identity. It was also true that Marquis Howard’s residence was located in the center of the townhouses.
“Should I have watched him until he went inside? Do you think he returned safely?”
I skillfully deceived the Crown Prince without uttering a single lie. The Crown Prince only hummed without much of a response, placing a piece of carved chocolate on my lips. Was this all resolved? Or not? It was hard to read him. It seemed too early to completely relax.
“But, Your Highness… Why don’t you usually send me any messages? You don’t visit much either unless it’s my cycle time…”
Ah, sad thoughts. Sad thoughts. You can do this, Noah Hamilton! You’re now an immature potential fiancée who’s dying of loneliness because of the busy Crown Prince!
“I’m surprised. I never thought you’d have such complaints.”
“I didn’t say it was a complaint. Oh, this is strange. Why am I like this… Am I drunk? No, I couldn’t possibly be drunk from just that one sip…”
I slurred my words like someone obviously drunk and buried my face in the Crown Prince’s chest. His Adam’s apple moved silently. Now his low laughter seemed genuine.
“Were you lonely? Tell me. Did you miss me?”
“…”
I should say yes here! Unfortunately, it seemed the potion’s effects hadn’t completely worn off yet. I couldn’t say yes when it wasn’t true.
“Tsk, I don’t know. Who said that?”
“How can you not know? Answer me quickly. It’s a royal command.”
“I don’t know. I said I don’t know. Ugh, Your Highness is so mean when you’re like this. I find it so annoying.”
Surely he wouldn’t charge me with insulting royalty or something based on a drunk person’s ramblings? Since it was absolutely true that I found Adrian Pearson annoying whenever he was being mischievous, my inner thoughts just came pouring out.
But what was strange was that the more disrespectful things he heard, the more the corners of the Crown Prince’s mouth curved upward.
“I was wrong. I didn’t realize that the future Crown Princess was suffering so much.”
“That’s right. You were wrong.”
“In exchange, I promise. It won’t take too long.”
“What won’t?”
“The day when… you will stand proudly by my side without any danger.”
“…”
I felt strange. Just hearing his words, wouldn’t it seem like he was genuinely concerned about me? Even now, he couldn’t completely trust me, secretly giving me a truth potion. Yet he spoke as if he truly cherished me.
Feeling somehow uncomfortable, I quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, I haven’t even told Nicole about this, so I’ve only told Your Highness. So don’t think about scolding me. Understood? I’ve already been lectured enough by Nicole about that day.”
“What an impertinent servant. How dare they speak unkindly to you? Just say the word. I’ll punish them on your behalf.”
“Gasp… No, that’s not what I meant by punishment…! I don’t know, anyway, you can’t punish Nicole!”
“I can’t? Well, it can’t be helped. It’s the way of things that superiors take responsibility for their subordinates’ shortcomings. Poor you, you’ll have to be punished instead.”
“Your Highness!”
Why was he so excited when he was supposed to be giving punishment? The Crown Prince smiled slyly and suddenly slipped his hand inside my robe. I hugged the Crown Prince’s neck, secretly letting out a sigh of relief. It seemed like I’d managed to handle it somehow.
“What if I do this here? Is it good?”
“Hic, ugh, I told you not to ask such things… Ah!”
“I didn’t ask if it felt good.”
“It’s good, so, hic, Adrian…!””
It was somewhat problematic that I showed more embarrassing behavior than usual to the Crown Prince due to the lingering effects of the potion.
Almost two months had passed since I successfully found Lennox and began sponsoring him. Now my eighteenth birthday celebration was just around the corner. It had been exactly one year since the morning of my seventeenth birthday, the point of reset.
As I had become a certified “dominant Omega” recognized by the temple, beyond just being a candidate for Crown Princess, the scale of the birthday celebration grew considerably. Outwardly, Lady Beatrice Grachio was still the most likely Crown Princess candidate. People bowed their heads to the Grachio Ducal Family, which was expected to produce the future Empress, and at the same time, they desperately tried to win Hamilton’s favor in order to bring the one remaining Dominant Omega into their family.
In short, I had become the most popular marriage alliance commodity of our generation.
At any rate, everyone in the mansion, including Nicole, was too busy preparing for my celebration to even catch their breath. This was especially true since my mother had returned to the mansion, while I, the actual subject of the celebration, had become quite leisurely.
These days, all I did was check the congratulatory gifts that poured in almost every day and order replies. Occasionally, when I couldn’t resist Beatrice’s prodding and participated in cozy tea parties with other Omegas, everyone seemed to envy me immensely… I don’t know. Even the lavish and extravagant banquet preparations that made people exclaim at Hamilton’s wealth, and the lecherous and expensive gifts from Alphas obsessed with Dominant Omega—they all just felt mediocre to me.