Chapter 11: The King’s Rat.

“I heard you went through something big recently. Must have been tough. I heard all the glass windows shattered and had to be replaced, is that true?”

“…….”

“How would the high and mighty know the circumstances of people like us? Clearing up broken glass is a chore, and replacing it is also a chore. Honestly, the fact that a single sheet of that damn glass is much more expensive than the lives of guys like us is really something that drives people crazy, isn’t it?”

“…….”

“Wow, was there really no one who broke any? Lucky. If even one person had broken some, they would have been tied here as a s*ave for the rest of their life paying off that debt.”

Count Umbra’s servant continued to chatter excitedly even though I made no response.

Anyone watching would have misunderstood us as friends who could see through each other’s hearts.

Although standing on a pillar of questionable strength, I thought he would just be putting on airs as the servant of Count Umbra, who was evaluated as a powerhouse of the nation, but he was unexpectedly a fellow who knew how to be sociable.

He whistled while looking at the glass windows that took up one entire side of the long hallway.

However, what he didn’t know was that the number of plate glass windows broken by servants’ mistakes during the restoration work exceeded what could be counted on one hand.

The servants who broke the glass windows received tremendous nagging and additional work assignments from the butler and the housekeeper who managed the household, but no measures were taken to make them pay for it out of their own pockets.

If they made the same mistake again, they would be fired immediately, but even then, there would likely be no need to compensate for the glass window cost.

That’s why the servants, even while fearing the King’s Brother and perceiving him as a monster, cannot leave this place on their own feet.

Because there is nothing more terrifying than having one’s livelihood cut off.

It was almost impossible to find a place that paid as generously as here.

“Let’s hurry.”

“Ay, I just looked for a moment because it’s such a magnificent view. You must have a very meticulous personality despite being young. Alright, alright.”

As I roughly let his banter pass and turned my back to start walking again, the guy who complained his legs were numb instantly approached me and stuck close.

Then he placed his arm on my shoulder.

It must have been a very uncomfortable posture.

Unfortunately, my height did not reach his.

The reason this body is still this small is probably because of malnutrition during childhood.

At least since coming here, I’ve been eating well and sleeping deeply, growing to the point where my knees ache.

That’s a relief.

“By the way, how old are you? You seem still quite young, but to already be a proper servant, that’s commendable.”

“…….”

“Ay, you’re too tight-lipped. I just said it because it reminded me of when I was young.”

When I showed no reaction even to his typical condescending remark, he sighed openly.

“The people here must live with locks on their mouths. Everyone is silent.”

Count Umbra’s servant lowered his head towards me, who was much shorter than him.

Even though it was a very unnatural posture, he insisted on pressing his lips to my ear and whispering softly.

“The King’s Brother must have treated you well during his Rut, huh?”

I stopped in my tracks right there.

Through my peripheral vision, I saw him smirking, seemingly thinking I finally showed the reaction he wanted.

I raised my hand.

Count Umbra’s servant blinked with a surprised face. What on earth was he thinking? Did he think I would throw a punch or something?

“Please straighten your posture. We are in front of His Highness the King’s Brother’s study.”

“Uh…?”

When his face crumpled into a ridiculous expression, I knocked on the study door.

The servant kept going “Uh, uh?” not knowing what to do.

Count Umbra seemed to have made his office at the top of his mansion.

Indeed, few nobles would use a room next to the stairs, presumably meant for a lounge right next to an empty banquet hall, as a study and office just because it’s convenient for visitors to come and go.

Our employer does have quite a practical personality.

Thanks to that, Count Umbra’s servant became a bold figure who pulled a fast one on the master’s servant right in front of the master’s room.

Moreover, it seemed this so-called servant wasn’t a Beta like me.

It’s not that I suddenly became able to smell pheromones, but I could smell it from his excessively startled appearance.

I don’t know exactly if he’s an Alpha or an Omega, but just as I thought it was definitely one of the two, the door opened.

“Come in.”

Beyond the butler who opened the door, the King’s Brother’s voice was heard.

It was a voice that sounded extremely angry.

I glanced at Count Umbra’s servant standing behind me.

“I have brought Count Umbra’s servant.”

When we stood before the King’s Brother, he looked at me for a moment.

As if searching for something.

Seemingly finding nothing, he let out a short breath and glared at Count Umbra’s servant standing half a step behind me.

“Did Count Umbra say it was acceptable to release pheromones as you please in my house?”

A tone like an old chairman.

It had been a while since I heard it.

By the way, it was pheromones after all. He seemed to have something he was relying on.

From when was it? Was it when he asked if the King’s Brother was scary? When he came close to my side? From the beginning?

He must have released weak pheromones that could only affect me by coming close enough to treat personal space like general waste in a non-recyclable bag.

Believing that he wouldn’t be caught by the King’s Brother, whose ability is supposedly unstable because it’s too weak, Count Umbra’s servant bowed his waist with a flustered expression.

“Pheromones? As you can see, I am an ordinary Beta.”

Wouldn’t becoming an actor have been the path for him?

The servant looked like someone genuinely falsely accused.

“Please ask the servant who brought me as well. If I had released pheromones, traces would have remained on that child who was in close proximity to me, wouldn’t they?”

It was a remark that gave me quite a bit of information. That pheromones aren’t all-powerful after all.

Indeed, if one could manipulate anyone’s mind without leaving a trace, this world would be much messier than it is now.

“He said the servants of the mansion are extremely reticent.”

I don’t know if the reason the servant was so startled was because I said something beyond his expectations, or because I rudely opened my mouth before the King’s Brother asked.

Maybe it’s both.

Right, when you go to someone else’s house, you should wait quietly until the owner guides you, not snoop around anywhere.

“So you were Count Umbra’s rat.”

Almost simultaneously with the butler flinching, the servant bowed his head to the King’s Brother without resistance.

At the sight of him like a puppet with cut strings, I inadvertently looked at the King’s Brother.

Receiving my gaze, he smiled brightly and spoke to me.

It was a smile like a figure in a painting drawn with a painter’s soul.

“Jay, you should leave now.”

When the dismissal order fell out of nowhere, I ended up asking back.

“Is this a place where I shouldn’t be?”

“Your memories cannot be erased.”

I reflexively looked back at the person standing next to me.

He had a blank expression like a doll without will.

He looked like he would obediently open his mouth to whatever the King’s Brother asked.

“Is it because you cannot trust me?”

When he said he would make me his direct servant, I had asked if he could trust me.

The King’s Brother answered with a wink.

“If you leave now, you will remain as a servant who brews coffee for me every morning.”

The King’s Brother clearly remembered that incident.

Now, a crossroad where I must make a choice unfolded before me. I momentarily calculated the wage gap between a mere servant and a direct servant.

Are the words about to come out of this guy’s mouth dangerous enough to give up that money? Dangerous for whom? For the King’s Brother? Or for me?

Several hypotheses filled my head, and I picked out only the ones with the highest probability.

Does the King’s Brother really want me to go outside? I thought not.

The King’s Brother’s eyes looked the same as when he asked me if I wanted to conceive.

Exactly like that time when he wanted the answer ‘no.’

I looked again at Count Umbra’s servant standing blankly next to me.

He would follow with a blank face even if the King’s Brother ordered him to dance naked.

The dangerous one wasn’t the King’s Brother, but me. Me, who would come to know a shred of his secret. Then, if I leave this spot and cease to be the King’s Brother’s servant, will I truly be safe?

In Jongno, I met quite a lot of people.

Ordinary customers coming to buy wedding gifts or first-birthday rings were the most common, but scammers bringing fake gems appeared often enough not to be forgotten.

Sometimes, very rarely, there were people bringing stolen goods, and even people who came with the intention of reporting me if I allowed the transaction.

When I first started the jewelry business, there was a crisis where I was almost fooled, but after gaining experience, I never missed that sort.

The guy called Count Umbra’s servant didn’t even have the caliber to be a fence.

Relieving on his backer to act haughty, questioning servants about the King’s Brother’s Rut, he was just an ordinary man who didn’t seem to possess any great ability.

He was a person for whom the expression ‘rat’ fit perfectly. In my view. But this guy’s true identity wasn’t just a rat or something. There was something I missed.

What did the King’s Brother see in this guy? What hid this guy?

“When will I be able to learn magic?”

I had no choice but to reach one conclusion. It was magic.

Can I leave here alone and live well in a world where magic blinds eyes?

Well, wouldn’t it be fortunate just to avoid a sudden death?

The ‘tomorrow’ when the King’s Brother said he would teach me magic has not yet come. It was unavoidable.

That ‘tomorrow’ became his Rut period, and a day to digest the delayed schedule.

“That is tomorrow…”

The King’s Brother, who was about to say tomorrow again, soon closed his mouth. He looked at me with frowning eyes and gave a bitter smile. It was a much more honest expression than the smile like a portrait model.

“Tonight at 10.”

If the King’s Brother had told me to leave the study right away, or suddenly asked what magic I was talking about, or told me to wait, I would have hesitated once more.

And probably, eventually, I would have left this room.

Because there would be nothing more dangerous than knowing the secret of an untrustworthy employer.

“The Duke is truly kind.”

Was it too much like flattery? The King’s Brother’s expression became very awkward. It was the first time I saw his expression change so dramatically.

Even during his Rut, I hadn’t seen such a dramatic change in expression.

Indeed, if the butler were in a state to understand my words, he might have argued that I should be kicked out because I was out of my mind.

Still, I spoke sincerely from my heart.

“Did something happen where you need money urgently?”

It seems my words were unbelievable. He lacked confidence so much, my employer.

“Money is always needed, but there is no urgent matter.”

“It doesn’t seem like you, who are quick-witted, failed to understand the current situation. I am going to interrogate that guy.”

“I know. Do I have to leave this place because I haven’t become a direct servant yet?”

Instead of answering, the King’s Brother looked at me with distorted eyes.

I don’t know well why he is agonizing over my treatment.

I was more anxious not knowing the background of the employer who gives me a thick weekly wage and knows how to keep promises made to servants.

Since it might be dangerous, it is much safer to detect the danger in advance and prepare for it than to not listen or see at all.

Thinking about my constitution, it’s the same.

If I leave here and get a job at a trading company or something, can I completely avoid Alphas or Omegas?

Even back alleys with a low probability of encountering nobles were absolutely not safe places.

I thought I could survive somehow, but that was when I didn’t know about my constitution that doesn’t react to pheromones at all.

If I had struggled out of the back alleys without meeting the King’s Brother, I would have bumped into an Alpha or Omega even by chance.

As long as I didn’t give up my desire to live like a human.

In the worst state of knowing nothing about my constitution.

How would an Alpha or Omega react upon seeing a Beta who has absolutely no power but is immune to pheromones?

Except for this King’s Brother who says he can’t properly control his own powerful pheromones, I don’t think a good result would have come out no matter what.

If something truly unmanageable happens even with the thick weekly wage my employer gives, it wouldn’t be too late to run away then.

For that purpose, I need more information.

Finally, I reached one conclusion.

“Is this guy, Count Umbra’s servant, actually a spy for the King?”