Chapter 29: The Secret of the morning without Coffee.

“Good morning.”

At my greeting, Philip rubbed his brow instead of replying. It was a gesture that vividly conveyed the fatigue of an office worker who couldn’t rest even after pulling an all-nighter.

“Did all the goods arrive?”

“Yes, I confirmed that the list and quantity match, but verification of quality by the butler is needed.”

“Let’s go.”

The atmosphere felt exactly like bringing suspicious goods from a back alley, but it wasn’t. Butler Philip and I went out to the backyard of the annex. Inspecting the quality of various medicinal herbs was our job.

“I brought only the best quality without fail. Please verify.”

The herbalist bowed obsequiously upon seeing Philip. Even though he had been extremely irritable with me when I told him to wait for the quality check.

“Oops.”

When Philip removed a pile of herbs, a groan escaped the herbalist’s mouth.

“Butler, that much is sufficiently high-grade…”

“It must be of the highest grade.”

“Supplies are short these days due to the season.”

The herbalist pleaded, puffing out white breath. Although it hadn’t snowed yet, it was unmistakably winter weather.

“So, are you telling me to dare offer inferior medicinal herbs to His Highness the King’s Brother?”

“No, I don’t mean that… Are you offering all of this to His Highness the King’s Brother?”

At the herbalist’s question full of doubt, Philip twitched his eyebrows as if embarrassed. I admired inwardly. It was acting that was neither excessive nor lacking, just appropriate.

“Watch your mouth.”

Even the warning, which was better left unsaid, was perfect as a confirm kill.

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

The herbalist bowed flatly, but his eyes were rolling here and there. He looked like a very curious person. And it didn’t seem like his mumbling lips would stay closed for long.

“Um… perhaps something happened to his pheromones…”

When Philip frowned sharply, the herbalist slapped his own mouth saying, “Mouth, mouth!” He was a person just distractible enough.

“Exclude these and make sure to bring only the highest grade next month. I will pay generously.”

“Next month too, the same quantity as today?”

“Highest grade.”

“With this amount, even if it’s a pheromone enhancer, it could become poison. Actually, a recessive Alpha once decocted about half this amount and took it at once, falling into a coma.”

Surprisingly, he was a herbalist with minimal conscience. And light-lipped as hoped. If it’s a recessive Alpha who fell into a coma recently, it must be Viscount Ethan. A fellow who made the accident section of the newspaper shortly after remarrying an Omega 25 years younger. His personal affairs are none of my business, but the news that a VIP of our watches was unconscious was quite heartbreaking.

Viscount Ethan was a customer who purchased all items, including the Westell limited edition watches. Though my heart was eased when the Omega who became Viscountess Ethan sent a letter politely inquiring if other items would be released as Westell limited editions.

The herbalist, who informed us about the cause of Viscount Ethan’s unconsciousness, looked at the piled-up herbs with a very worried expression.

“Recessive, you say.”

Philip scoffed. Then he spoke again with a voice full of pride in the trait grade of the master he serves, the King’s Brother.

“Even if His Highness the King’s Brother’s pheromones have been slightly lost, this amount of herbs dares not harm him.”

“Yessss, that would be soooo.”

The herbalist dragged out the end of his sentence as if uncomfortable. Philip and I pretended not to hear. Because we were in the middle of a scam.

The stabilization of the King’s Brother’s Rut was very good news, but it couldn’t be good news for the King as well. However, the King’s Brother couldn’t forcibly extend his seclusion to hide the fact. With war just around the corner, his judgment and instructions were needed.

So, we decided to create a rumor that the King’s Brother’s pheromones suddenly weakened, rather than the fact that his Rut stabilized. That light-lipped herbalist would spread a rumor that seemed to have grounds.

“I am ignorant about medicinal herbs, so I ask, if these are all pheromone enhancers, is there perhaps the opposite?”

While Philip seemed absorbed in inspecting the herbs, I approached the herbalist and asked in a small voice. The herbalist opened his eyes wide, then frowned deeply and clicked his tongue.

“I don’t know where you heard such talk, but in my entire life, I have never heard of such herbs being effective properly. Even if they existed, who would deliberately eat such things to verify the efficacy? It’s all useless rumors circulating.”

“I see.”

Indeed, when Alphas and Omegas are all busy spreading their pheromones, drugs to suppress them deliberately couldn’t be public. Even on Earth, while things good for stamina were widely known, foods that decrease stamina were just unsubstantial rumors. Even bracken, a representative food said to decrease stamina, was actually high in protein among greens, helping recovery of energy. Though preprocessing was essential due to toxins.

Even thinking with my shallow medical knowledge, pheromone-related drugs would be most similar to hormone drugs, but making refined extracted drugs or artificial synthetic drugs didn’t seem possible with the technology or awareness level of this era. It was an era without even antibiotics like penicillin yet. Let alone pheromone drugs without side effects, no way.

The method using magic circles as the King’s Brother did seemed the safest. To my eyes, even these so-called enhancers seemed useless.

“If someone says they can really get such things for you, they are all scammers. Understand? You could kill someone if you’re not careful.”

The gaze glaring at me was profound. I quickly shook my head.

“Where would I get such things? It’s useless to me, a Beta. I just asked remembering a rumor that someone got sick after eating something thinking it was an enhancer. Because it would be a big problem if something happened to His Highness the King’s Brother.”

The herbalist’s eyes widened.

“Don’t, don’t say such things!”

“And wouldn’t it also be a big problem if all these herbs are said to have no efficacy?”

“Ah, well, I said that won’t happen.”

The herbalist, who scolded me with a suppressed voice, soon put on a smiling face and approached Philip.

“Butler, you wrote the order list yourself, right?”

“Correct. Didn’t you tell me the things good as enhancers?”

“Yes, yes. I did. I told you myself. Based on my experience as a herbalist, I told you only those with carefully selected effects.”

While making big talk with his mouth, his eyes rolling continuously made it clear he mixed in herbs with no side effects but no particular efficacy either.

“You intend to order this much herbs next month too?”

“I don’t know the reason for asking back the same thing.”

“Um, if so, since taking this and this together doesn’t have much greater effect, I think we can exclude them…”

“Were you trying to scam me?”

“No, not at all. How could that be!”

The herbalist jumped up and denied it, but it seemed plausible enough. I was once a merchant too; wouldn’t I know that intention?

“I intended to tell you all the herbs with efficacy. Without leaving any out. But I want to say you don’t need to take all these kinds, yes.”

He removed herbs amounting to easily 1/5 with quick hand movements. 20%, that was a bit much. I retract saying he is a merchant with minimal conscience. Even if it’s to create rumors covering the King’s Brother’s condition, there was no reason to throw away money.

Even after excluding herbs with overlapping effects, perhaps still feeling uneasy, the herbalist kept loitering next to Philip.

“If pheromones decreased suddenly… uh, perhaps, imprinting…”

Contrary to his big talk, he didn’t seem very confident in his herbs. He already knew that ‘enhancer’ was just a fancy name. The herbalist struggled to think of a case where herbs would be completely useless, and it seemed to be that symptom called imprinting.

“Imprinting?”

When Philip raised his eyebrows sharply, the herbalist mumbled again.

“I heard somewhere that imprinting stabilizes pheromones, so that, um, wouldn’t it be the same as weakening? Perhaps…”

“That imprinting where you can spend the Rut with only one person for a lifetime?”

“Yes, well.”

“That imprinting where the partner’s condition feels like one’s own?”

“Th-there is such talk too, yes. I don’t know if it’s accurate, but…”

“That imprinting where it’s said both parties go crazy even with mutual imprinting, and to make matters worse, mutual imprinting almost never happens?”

“Uh, I don’t know well either. As you can see, I am a Beta…”

Looking down at the pale herbalist, Philip opened his mouth again with a firm expression.

“There is no way His Highness the King’s Brother caught such a terrible mental illness. In this mansion, everyone except His Highness is Beta, and there are no Omegas among the visitors.”

“Absolutely, absolutely impossible, yes. I understood well.”

The herbalist nodded repeatedly.

“Don’t say useless things. If baseless rumors about His Highness the King’s Brother circulate, I will definitely remember that your mouth was the source of trouble.”

“Oh my, even if I look like this, I absolutely don’t talk nonsense. Of course.”

The herbalist bowed his waist almost touching the ground. Philip, who always answers only “Yes” to the King’s Brother and says “Please, manners” to me, had a cool momentum. I realized he was someone connected to the backstreets of Noberten.

Why did the King’s Brother make Philip a butler? No matter how much I used my imagination, I couldn’t create a story that was just heartwarming. If I asked directly, he would tell me, but it’s a question crossing the line.

“Don’t make things cumbersome next time I see you.”

“Yes, yes, Butler. I will keep it in mind.”

Without useless gossip, only rumors that the King’s Brother’s pheromones weakened will spread. And added to that would be stories that the King’s Brother himself regrets it very much.

When we entered the annex with Philip, instead of moving his steps to the main building, he told me.

“No need to serve morning coffee today. Since the Duke said he would rest a bit more in the morning.”

It wasn’t ‘today’ but ‘today as well’. For the third day, the King’s Brother was skipping his morning routine.