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“Right Before You Get Caught”
(3rd Person POV)
The place Eileen went to was not a conference room, but the annex where employees stayed. It is quiet now that everyone has moved to the mansion to work, but there are still quite a few employees left. In order not to be noticed by them, she had to hide in a suitable place.
Eileen knew such a place well.
‘The laundry room.’
If you hide yourself between the beddings that needs to be washed, most people won’t notice it. In particular, the laundry room had a good scent, so it was a good way to hide pheromones.
Of course, she doesn’t have to worry about her pheromones, in addition, her old memories will lead her. While inserting herself in and taking a moment to breathe, Eileen recalled the promise between the two families.
Only a few people knew the political marriage between the previous Count Claudia and the previous Archduke Rihast. They had never publicly announced it, and they only knew each other because of their families. Since they did not visit each other, Eileen also lived without knowing anything about it until her brother was taken.
After her brother manifested as a Dominant Omega, their parents, who belatedly thought of the promised marriage, did not let Ethan go outside. The reason was because they were careful not to let him be targeted by any alpha before the Archduke came of age.
It was not simple to divide the world into Alphas, Omegas, and Betas. Even an emotionless alpha could rush in with excitement when smelling the scent of an Omega. Of course, Ethan was a nobleman and had little chances of suffering from r*pe, however, there was nothing wrong about being careful. There are many alphas among nobles after all.
Ethan did not go out of the house well because he manifested as an omega quite early. Eileen, who was worried about Ethan being alone, also stayed at home. So the two of them spent most of their time at home, and rarely went out.
“How would Oppa be right now?”
( Tl/N: I am getting annoyed with the sudden shift between brother and Oppa, so imma stick to “Oppa” because it’s shorter to type huehuehue. )
Would he be shocked to find out that she rode the Archduke’s carriage?
While Eileen inferred her brother’s thoughts, the door to the laundry room opened. Eileen curled up, her hands covering her mouth.
“Are they still in a meeting?”
“Yes.”
“They’re taking too long.”
“It’s all because of that outsider.””
“Outsider? Ahh, the one who was supposed to be in Young Master Ethan’s position.”
“Yes, it was because of Young Master Ethan’s replacement.”
( TL/N: Since they called Ethan ‘Confucius’ in the original mktl, I’ll use ‘Young Master’ as the translated title, he is the first born son of a Count’s family after all. ‘His Highness’ and ‘Your Grace’ mostly for Marquis, Ducal, and Royal Family. I’ll see what the closest is to the tl as I continue. )
Eileen’s eyes narrowed. They were naturally calling Ethan’s name amidst the noise. It was clear that they were the Archduke’s employees. As such, Eileen realized that Ethan’s existence in the Archduke’s residence had been planned and expected. In addition, she lacked presence compared to her older brother.
“I don’t understand why the Archduke chose young master Ethan’s younger sibling.”
“How do we know what a high-ranking person thinks?”
“But she’s a beta. She will still end up giving birth to a Beta child.”
“That’s true.”
“That’s why everyone is trying to persuade the Archduke.”
“Then, shouldn’t we go back and bring Young Master Ethan instead? They’re probably at home right now. Can’t the knights bring him over?”
“Young Master Ethan? How do you know that?”
“I saw it.”
Eileen listened to them while holding her breath.
“This is a secret.”
“Okay, so tell me quickly.”
“He pretended to be a passerby and asked me if someone was recently brought in.”
“And then?”
“Of course I checked his identity, it was absurd to suddenly ask about that.”
Through their conversation, Eileen took a shallow breath and closed her eyes.
As expected, Ethan came to look for her.
“Young Master Ethan was really pretty.”
The woman uttered her appreciation in a dreamy voice.
“Was he that pretty? Well, he is a dominant omega after all.”
“It’s not like that, He was so pretty. He looked like an Angel, I tell you.”
“Why are you making such a fuss? What’s the point? The younger sibling was the one that came here. She does look pretty, but she looks more ordinary.”
“Compared to Young Master Ethan, her looks fall short.”
Eileen hid her face between her knees.
Compared to her older brother, she has been criticized countless times for her ordinary looks. She often regretted that she herself did not resemble her brother. But when she manifested as an Omega, her physical appearance changed too.
Brown hair and eyes sparkled as if it was sprinkled with golden powder, and her skin shone. Eileen’s facial features have not changed significantly, but the atmosphere around her has changed. As her appearance changed noticeably, she received numerous proposals and married one of them only to end in despair.
If asked If she liked being pretty, She was not sure. Eileen didn’t really like her changed appearance. Rather, she liked herself better before she manifested as an omega. She knew she wasn’t on par with Ethan in the looks department, but she was at least happy back then. Now, she was worried that the Archduke was disappointed with her appearance and decided to take Ethan instead.
Eileen wondered if there was any way to keep him. Otherwise, she continued to be nervous and anxious, she couldn’t stand it.
“She’s not in her room?”
“That’s right.”
Lloyd’s expression turned strange at the butler’s report in the middle of the meeting. It was pleasant until the moment Lloyd was thinking about how to overturn the boring meeting. Of course, it was not expected by the elders as well.
“Are you saying she left?”
“Did anyone see her?”
“No one has given her permission to leave, tsk.”
Lloyd raised his chin and covered his lips at the sound of the elders clicking their tongues. He found them twisting like idiots as they asked with disbelief.
They were already dissatisfied that she was a Beta. Seeing their displeased behavior at her disappearance made him want to burst out laughing. The woman who called him a bastard was also causing a fuss that made the elders look very displeased.
Lloyd got up from his seat.
“I’ll find her myself.”
“Archduke, the meeting is not over yet.”
“Then, wait here.”
Lloyd’s determined voice cut off their complaints. If you wanted to continue the meeting, you had to wait for him to come back yourself. When Lloyd left the conference room, Sir Jeremy, an escort and deputy, joined him.
“Your highness.”
“You don’t know where she went?”
“I looked inside the mansion, but I couldn’t see her.”
“What’s the possibility that she ran away?”
“It’s faint.”
Lloyd stopped walking and crossed his arms.
“Why did she come out of her room, then?”
“It’s hard to guess.”
Sir Jeremy shook his head. Having no talent for reading the other person’s thoughts, he answered honestly that he did not know instead of making a vague assumption.
Lloyd took the lead and Sir Jeremy followed him one step apart. He disappeared right away, so he wondered where the lord was going without hesitation. Actually, he was more curious about something else than that.
Sir Jeremy spoke softly.
“Then, why did you bring her?”
Lloyd looked as if he was asking why he was having such a question. Jeremy then hesitated if he could go further with what had been a presumptuous question, but managed to bring it up. Albeit, he wanted to cut it off soon as he was thinking he was rather disrespectful to ask about the Archduke’s intentions.
“I thought you were bringing Young Master Ethan because you said you were going to Claudia’s residence today. But honestly, I couldn’t hide my curiosity because I was surprised to hear that you brought over the younger sibling instead.”
“He was hidden away.”
“Who are you talking about? Who was hiding young master Ethan?”
Sir Jeremy’s breathing became rough. It was a promised marriage, who would dare hide the young master from the Archduke? It made him feel displeased because it seems that the Archduke was disliked.
“His younger sister hid him.”
“What?”
“She lied so persistently it was difficult to say no.”
“Pardon?”
“So I brought her.”
“…..Yes?”
“That’s why I brought her here. I thought it’d be fun. Look at her now, she just crawled out on her own and made a fuss.”
“Your highness.”
‘Are you crazy?’
(TL/N: Same thoughts?!! I was so speechless, this ML is crazy huhu, the FL seems wild too, I know most omega-alpha stories are like this but hngg.)
Jeremy, who forced the question to stop on his throat, followed him with a stiff face. He was determined to see who was capable of making the Archduke move as she pleased.
‘When can I go out?’
Eileen couldn’t find the timing to go out as the women who came in earlier settled down and worked inside. She just needed a moment. She had to go back to her room quickly, but could only wait and let time pass by so she wouldn’t alarm the maids and let herself be caught for eavesdropping.
‘Did no one notice I was gone?’
She came to be the wife of the great Archduke, but they aren’t even aware that she was gone because she was just an unimportant Beta. The time for the butler to follow up her disappearance was slow too.
‘Still, I have to be quiet.’
She knew she couldn’t trust him to look for her. The archduke that Eileen knew was self-centered like that.
It was then. The sound of the door opening was accompanied by the sound of a startled voice.
“Your Highness, the Archduke.”
Discovering that the person who came in was the Archduke, Eileen was surprised and felt her heart stop.
‘Why are you here…?’
Eileen hugged her legs more tightly because she was so surprised and bewildered. Her mind blanked out.
“Don’t mind and do what you have to do.”
The women seemed to be busy moving in response to the man’s voice, but their presence disappeared the moment he said “Go out.”
“Your highness, it doesn’t seem to be here. Do you want to take a look at other places, too?”
She knew that they were looking for her. Eileen couldn’t see for herself but she was sure she looked extremely pale right now. She didn’t know what to do with the Archduke’s sudden appearance.
Even to the man’s question, Archduke Rihast did not answer. On the contrary, Eileen was now nervous that her heart was beating so loudly at the thought of being caught.
“Go away, please…… Hurry up and go quickly.”
“Wait a minute.”
When his voice sounded closer than she thought, Eileen took a deep breath without realizing it. Covering her mouth a little late, she turned her eyes to the source of the voices. All she can see is a white bedding, but Eileen somehow saw the Archduke’s image making her paler than she already is.
(Cale Notes: Okay, again, I was amused by this chapter and decided to express my honest feelings at 3am in the morning. I thought calling him bastard was enough, the Fl is now on the run like some fugitive UwU, what are you doing ma’am?! For a fact, I made a conclusion that the Ml is perfectly crazy. He even made elder people waste their time and now laugh off the half-assessed reason for bringing a beta wife. After reading two chapters with his point of view haha, this novel is a bit hard to Tl but I’m actually enjoying it lots thanks to the succeeding chapters. Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you had fun dear reader-nim, feel free to express your opinions on discord too, I’m happy if you can relate.)