#3
“Go. Go……. Me go too…….”
Noah made full use of the privileges of a young child. Grabbing and shaking the hem of Loren’s ample skirt with one hand, he pouted his lips. Lucas, who had business in the capital, was hard to see, so if Noah needed anything, he had to tell Loren.
“Little Master, shall we go get some sweets?”
At Elisa’s words, Noah, who thought of sweets, almost reached for her outstretched hand but quickly shook his head. He wasn’t originally this simple-minded, but lately, just hearing the word ‘sweets’ made him inexplicably happy and compliant, and he had to consciously steel himself.
“Noah, shall we go see the town then?”
Loren bent down to meet his eye level and wiped the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. The moment Noah met Loren’s gaze, he couldn’t help but break into a wide smile.
“Elisa, please make the arrangements. Our Noah seems especially bored today; we should all go see the town.”
Distracted for a moment by the mention of a town visit and Loren’s pretty face, Noah tightened his grip on Loren’s skirt again.
“Not… No. Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. Go with Daddy.”
Pulling his mind back from thoughts of sweets and town visits, Noah quickly looked around for Lucas. During his few days here, Noah had organized what he needed to do. He couldn’t miss this opportunity.
He was going to the Imperial Palace to see the Emperor. Of course, he had to go along. He needed to get familiar with the Emperor and, while he was at it, make his presence known everywhere.
Living for a few days as three-year-old Noah, with his cute and adorable appearance, made him realize what a powerful weapon it was. Lucas, who had initially been awkward even patting his head, now sometimes initiated hugging him first.
“Noah, Daddy isn’t going to play. He’s going to see His Majesty and work. How about you go next time there’s an Imperial party?”
Even with Loren’s explanation, Noah didn’t back down. If it couldn’t be helped even like this, he had no choice but to pull out the ultimate move of a three-year-old.
He had tried to avoid it out of social decorum and consideration for others, but first, Noah let go of Loren’s skirt. He quickly turned around to confirm there were no dangerous objects behind him.
Then he sat straight down on the floor, clenched his fists tightly, and strained his lower abdomen.
“Go. With. Me!!”
Ah, life is tough. After shouting with all his might, he felt blood rushing to his head. If this didn’t work, the next step was the strategy of lying down, crying, and holding his ground.
“Noah, I believe I told you not to trouble your mother.”
The sound of the door opening and Lucas’s deep voice made Noah quickly get up. He ran and ran desperately before latching onto the hem of Lucas’s trousers.
Clutching Lucas’s calf with the firm belief that he would go along, Lucas simply grabbed the back of Noah’s clothes with one hand and lifted him straight up.
“Waaaah…….”
Is this what levitation feels like? The moment Lucas loosened his grip, Noah was destined for a vertical fall. Tears immediately welled up in his eyes.
He didn’t used to have a fear of heights, but if things kept going like this, it seemed only a matter of time before he developed one. Lucas, nearly 190cm tall, had raised his arm to eye level with Noah; falling from there was no different from falling from at least 2 meters.
“Daddyyyy…….”
Now, to survive, there was only one way: he had to beg and cling to Lucas. He thought they had gotten closer, but maybe they weren’t at that stage yet? Please, you must not let go of that hand.
Knowing Lucas’s temperament, it wouldn’t be strange at all if he just let go. Didn’t you see that time? I fell forward, bumped my nose a bit, and got a nosebleed.
Stretching his short arms towards him, Noah called out pitifully.
“You’ll scare Noah.”
At Loren’s reproachful voice, Lucas adjusted his hold on Noah. Noah hurriedly wrapped his arms around Lucas’s neck. As Lucas securely supported his back and bottom with one arm, a sigh of relief escaped Noah’s lips.
Loren, who had come closer, smoothed his hair and wiped his wet face, but Noah couldn’t loosen his grip on Lucas’s clothes.
“What’s going on?”
“Noah says he wants to go with the Duke. I told him before there are many shiny things in the Imperial Palace, and he says he really wants to see them. Noah, come here.”
After briefly explaining the situation, Loren reached out for him, but Noah chose to bury his face in the arms of Lucas, who had nearly killed him moments before, rather than go to her.
He hadn’t perfectly charmed Daddy yet, so he needed stronger, more solid connections.
“Noah Schwein.”
At the sound of Lucas calling his name, Noah slightly raised his head to look up at him. Looking up made Noah’s already large eyes seem even bigger, and his lips naturally parted slightly.
“Do you know where that place is, that you insist on going along?”
Lucas’s face, which had been showing a faint smile towards Loren moments before, now showed no emotion. He couldn’t lose this battle of wills here. Noah put all his strength into his gaze, nodded with a determined expression, and spoke carefully.
“Emp’ror is there.”
“Lucas.”
In the midst of a man-to-man exchange of glances, conveying his firm resolve, Noah was startled when Loren, who always called Lucas ‘Duke’, used his name. He quickly looked at Loren.
“Loren…….”
Noah watched as she subtly shook her head while stroking Lucas’s other arm (the one not holding him), signaling ‘no’. He tightly gripped Lucas’s clothes.
Father, don’t fall for Mother’s tricks.
We just had a man-to-man agreement, exchanged through glances! Why are you wavering?
Pulling Lucas’s gaze from Loren back to himself, Noah reached out and grabbed Lucas’s cheek.
“Daddy, ‘ove you.”
This is the best I can do. Should I give you a kiss like Loren? Give you my body and soul? But I confessed! Isn’t this enough to make you yield to your son?
As Noah spat out words he didn’t truly mean, he saw Lucas’s lips tremble slightly.
“It’s not a formal palace visit, so it should be fine to bring him along. Everyone is curious about Noah too.”
Smooch—
There, a lip service. Noah drove the point home by planting a kiss on Lucas’s cheek as he agreed to take him along to Loren.
And shortly after, Noah, held in Lucas’s arms, turned his gaze to the world outside the carriage. Satisfied, exclamations of “Wow” continuously escaped Noah’s lips, and each time, Lucas stroked his head.
Seeing a new world was quite enjoyable.
Moreover, right now, he wasn’t listening to a tutor explain Imperial etiquette or descriptions of people he would meet at a ball.
Omegas, who faced more social restrictions than Betas or Alphas, were expected by law to stay quietly at home until their nineteenth birthday. But young children were exceptions to everything.
The excitement of the rhythmically rattling and swaying carriage was short-lived. Following his usual habit of taking frequent naps, Noah soon fell fast asleep in Lucas’s arms.
“……”
The thing least under his control in this child’s body was sleep. No matter how hard he tried to fight it, the moment his eyelids felt heavy, he invariably succumbed to sleep.
And where is this now?
Covered with a small blanket instead of a large duvet, Noah woke up and stretched his arms high above his head. He diligently followed the superstition that stretching properly upon waking would make him tall.
From what he remembered, the adult Noah was truly pretty. So small, slender, and pretty that he could be mistaken for a woman.
While it was an inherent characteristic of being an Omega, that part really didn’t sit well with Noah. Had he really stayed indoors as told? His pale skin, lack of muscle strength, and bottom-level stamina placed many limitations on what he could do.
For Ji-hoon, who had enjoyed outdoor sports before possessing this body, nothing was more frustrating. Now he was three. If he ate well, slept well, and exercised hard, growing as tall as Lucas might be difficult, but he could at least avoid that delicate, frail body.
Stretching his body out, Noah looked around. The absence of a bed suggested this wasn’t someone’s bedroom, but likely one of the many reception rooms in the Imperial Palace.
Still drowsy, Noah yawned languidly, rubbed his eyes with his fisted hands, and carefully climbed down from the large sofa he had been lying on.
If he’d known this would happen, maybe he should have insisted Elisa come too? Although Elisa was supposed to accompany them, Lucas had said they would only see the Emperor briefly and return, so father and son had gone out cozily alone.
The Emperor, Alex, and Lucas were the same age and had been academy classmates. At the academy, all students were taught on equal footing. If hierarchies were enforced even within the academy, where royalty, nobility, and commoners studied together, it would cause many problems from the teaching level onwards.
It seemed Lucas had left him, asleep, here while he went to meet Emperor Alex. A normal child might cry, panic, or look for their father in an unfamiliar environment, but the corners of Noah’s mouth curled up nicely.
What Noah had to do now was find Crown Prince Matthew, who was somewhere in this Imperial Palace. Where else could you find a prospect as good as the Crown Prince for a husband? He was an Alpha and, from what he remembered, quite good-looking, though not quite on Lucas’s level.
In his previous life, when he met Matthew at an Imperial ball, Matthew already had a fiancée, so he was just like an unattainable dream. But the current Matthew was just a seven-year-old kid, four years older than him. If he diligently made his presence known from now on, brainwashing him with ‘you’re mine’, maybe the future could change.
