บท 11: FIGHT THE FEELING

YVO clutched his chest tight as soon as he left Gypsy's room.

Since he asked the guards and the maids to leave the floor while he was in his fake sister's room, the hallway was empty.

[Ah, dammit.]

He leaned against the door while panting hard.

Ever since he saw the twin crescent moons on his noonim's back, his heart didn't stop beating hard and fast against his chest. It was a miracle he was able to play it cool and acted like everything was normal.

[What's wrong with me?]

The more he spent time with Gypsy, the more he felt possessive of her.

"Noonim is just a pawn I need to use to protect the duchy from my greedy relatives," Yvo whispered, reminding himself that he shouldn't be having ridiculous feelings for his fake sister. "Noonim is just a means to an end."

***

"YOUNG MASTER, I've sent the pack to the locations you told me to check."

"Good," Yvo said, then he put three pills in his mouth and wolfed them down with a glass of water. "Tell the pack to report to me as soon as they find the thing I'm looking for."

Of course, the 'thing' he was looking for was Gypsy's younger brother.

He sent the Wolves in his little army to the secret private islands that his father, the late Grand Duke Evan Woolsey, owned. Those were islands that not even his uncle, Count Eugenio Woolsey, was aware of.

[I have a feeling father hid Noonim's brother in one of his private islands.]

"Young Master, why are you taking suppressants?" Killian asked worriedly. "Are you having troubles controlling your wolf side?"

His knight was free to talk about it because only the two of them were in the office at the moment, and his office had a sound-canceling barrier. His room had one, too. It was a necessary measure to keep his secret as a Wolf safe.

"I'm fine," he said vaguely.

He wasn't fine, though.

Every time he was near Gypsy, he felt like he would lose control and turn into a wolf. That was why he needed to take suppressants. Those pills would help him stay sane.

"But you only take suppressants when a full moon is about to occur," Killian said worriedly. "And you hate taking them."

His knight wasn't wrong.

Since he lived in a dormitory, it was necessary for him to take suppressants whenever the full moon was about to occur. He needed to do that to avoid accidentally turning into his wolf form and exposing himself to the public.

But he hated suppressants, since it was like denying half of his existence.

[I have no choice this time, though.]

"I said I'm fine," he said coldly to make Killian stop interrogating him. "Proceed with your next report. I heard the Crown Prince's aide came to us in secret."

Pierce Willard, Cyrus Helion's personal knight, was also the youngest Sword Master in the empire. If Pierce Willard wasn't such a loyal dog to the Crown Prince, he would have recruited that man to work for him a long time ago.

[That's how high I think of Pierce Willard skills.]

"Sir Willard delivered a letter addressed to you from His Royal Highness, Young Master," Killian said, then he put a pink envelope on the table. The said envelope was also decorated with little colorful flowers. "It doesn't have the Crown Prince's seal, but since Sir Willard delivered it personally…"

"I'm certain this letter is from the Crown Prince," he said as he picked up the colorful envelope. "He's someone who'd mess with me this way."

But he was also certain the Crown Prince didn't choose that envelope just for laughs.

The fact Cyrus Helion didn't use his seal only meant the content of the letter was confidential. Moreover, it was personally delivered by Pierce Willard. He could tell the Crown Prince didn't want other people to find out he reached out to him.

Cyrus Helion must have something important to say to him if he had to be this meticulous–

<"Hyung, it's me, your cute dongsaeng. Let's play at your duchy~">

What the fuck, Cyrus Helion?

"And I'm not your hyung," he whispered to himself after reading the first line of the letter.

<"PS: Please introduce me to Lady Gypsy Woolsey. I'm interested in her.">

He tore the letter in half.

"Young Master, why did you rip the letter?" Killian asked, confused and curious. "What did His Royal Highness say?"

"Nothing," he said while frowning, then he crumpled the pieces of paper in his hands. "Just focus on finding Noonim's younger brother."

"Young Master," the knight said stubbornly. It was obvious he wasn't ready to drop the subject yet. "The Crown Prince is acting strange. My gut feel is telling me that His Royal Highness knows your secret."

He leaned against his chair and stared at the chandelier in the ceiling.

To be honest, he agreed with Killian's suspicion.

[Cyrus Helion acts dumb, but I'm pretty sure it's just a façade.]

"Young Master, I believe we should kill the Crown Prince before he turns into a bigger problem," Killian said seriously. "We must get rid of His Royal Highness before he gets more powerful."

Killing the Crown Prince had crossed his mind several times. But each time it did, he would easily lose the motivation to go through it. Sure, Cyrus Helion was annoying as hell. Not enough for him to kill him for real, though.

[I know the Crown Prince is suspicious, but…]

But that punk reminded him of someone close to him in his first life.

[Caleb Helion, the Crown Prince during the time the dungeons with the man-eating wolves terrorized the empire for the first time.]

And that bastard was his friend back then.

[A friend who turned his back on me in the end.]

At first, Caleb Helion defended the Wolf Tribe from the accusations thrown at them. But it didn't last long. That bastard left him and his tribe to fend for themselves against the knights and the people of the empire that hunted them down.

Worse, Caleb Helion wasn't the only friend who betrayed him in his first life.

[Thea Hemera, the Crown Princess of that time and Caleb Helion's wife.]

Actually, he didn't get that close to Thea Hemera since the Crown Princess rarely stepped out of the palace back then. But he thought Thea Hemera cared about the Wolves. In the end, just like Caleb Helion, the Crown Princess turned her back on his pack.

[I'm sure Cyrus Helion would betray me the same way Caleb Helion did in the past, so why can't I bring myself to kill that punk before he becomes a threat to me and my pack?]

Dammit.

"Young Master Yvo," Killian said, distracting him from his thoughts. "We shouldn't let the Crown Prince get in our way."

He knew Killian was right, but…

"The Crown Prince isn't my priority at the moment," Yvo said sternly. "As I said earlier, I want you to find Noonim's younger brother immediately."

All so he could also own his Noonim as soon as possible.

***

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