Translator: Hasr11
Editor: Misaki Yata
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Note! This is a story set in Omegaverse. If this is the first time you"re reading omegaverse, please check out the for a basic explanation.
Why Me?
"Starting tomorrow, you can live a life of luxury in the inner palace!"
Seeing the neverending joy in my father"s smiling face, I, Ollie Sadon replied with a mere "Hmm" and continued on with harvesting the greens in the vegetable garden.
Our house had a vegetable garden about 20 tatami(1) in size, and it was possible to harvest vegetables year-round if you planted suitable ones for each season. In addition to the vegetable patch, we had fruit trees too.
Today"s dinner was going to be greens. It would be sautéed in sesame oil, and seasoned with garlic and cayenne pepper.
"Hey~ cheer up a little, Ollie! It"s two months of luxury with three meals and a complementary naptime!"
Father was thrilled to the extent that he seemed to almost dance in joy, moving his head side to side whilst saying "It"s the inner palace! Isn"t it amazing? Isn"t it amazing?".
Won"t your blood pressure rise if you get so excited?
Because you"re already at such an advanced age~
Besides… What? What was all about the inner palace? Was it not where the emperor kept his countless wives and… other women? From wife number one to… however far that number went. But surely there would be many beautiful, well-endowed women with full hips, right?
"Aren"t you happy?"
My father hugged me tightly. He was heavy.
Yet I, with my father clinging on, continued on with my harvest of potatoes, pulling them out one by one.
With this, let"s us make a potato manjuu(3) with pork filling, I decided as my father clung on to my back like an annoying insect.
"If you suddenly talk about the inner palace, I wouldn"t understand what you mean. I"m a n.o.ble of low-rank, and moreover, an omega. Usually even alphas from low ranking n.o.ble families aren"t called, so why me?"
“Well you see, the Emperor"s aides were quite anxious of his unmarried status and suddenly sent out a letter, stating 16-year-olds of n.o.ble rank are to live in the inner palace for a time. Oh, your Father[2] is just as surprised as you are. I still can"t believe it. And there, if you could catch his eye and become Empress… But that said, we are of low rank and certainly wouldn"t draw much attention, so seeing as my dear Ollie often spends time thinking about how hungry you are, I felt you could use the time to feast to your heart"s content and relax.”
Come to think of it, it was true to say that the emperor of this country has had such sparingly few love affairs, that a tragic number of none have reached the ears of an ostensible n.o.ble such as myself.
More importantly, if he doesn"t intend to get married, isn"t it better to just leave him be?
"To agree to this… isn"t the other party His Highness the Emperor? Moreover, he"s the crème de la crème amongst the alphas, an Alpha of Alphas! It"s absolutely impossible. I have no interest, and he"s too out of my league. Given the choice, I will decline."
"Well…” Hearing my words, father answered apologetically, “we cannot do that.”
Oh?
After hearing the particulars, it turned out that there were only three people, including myself, at the age of sixteen!
Huh, how come there aren"t any more?
The other two were Alphas, and more so a part of the upper ranks of n.o.bility.
Furthermore, they"re status held enormous weight. And besides, the third being me, a n.o.ble of a lower rank, why couldn"t they simply settle this between the two of them?
As to why it was merely limited to only those aged at sixteen, it appears that such was the divination from the temple.
In this country, a person who could hear the Voice of G.o.d was born once every several decades. So around a decade before the death of the former priest, a new successor would be brought forth.
That said, although it was called a temple, it currently only held a single priest and several caretakers, with only the Imperial Family being allowed to meet them.
Quite the mysterious shrine maiden.
And as to when these revelations appeared, no one really knew. Moreover, the ones that did appear after several months of silence were always regarding matters such as marriage.
Still, though, why couldn"t they just make it seventeen or something else instead.
Sigh, something smells fishy.
Isn"t it a pretext to force His Highness because he doesn"t wish to get married?
Due to it being the priest"s revelation, there was a 100% guarantee of it affecting the country. But really, those people were just acting as they pleased.
Just look for a bride in a neighbouring country! He can certainly select someone then.
It might be sacrilegious, but I refused to believe in divinations pertaining to marriage and such.
Such things were merely unrealistic.
Marriage and the like was something you grab hold of with your own two hands.
Well, the topic veered a bit off track, but essentially, due to the age limit of sixteen, these few people are invaluable. It did not matter whether they"re Alpha, Beta or Omega, they could not refuse.
No, but it really was a matter of concern though.
Wouldn"t it be embarra.s.sing if an Omega was chosen? Weren"t everyone in the Royal family an Alpha?
I ended up thinking along the lines of "there are two Alphas from high ranking n.o.ble families too, so isn"t that enough?"
Am I not a freeloader?
Moreover, His Highness the emperor is rumoured to be brutal, cold-blooded, and an inhumanly merciless tyrant, so if possible I… No, I most definitely do not want to meet him.
Rumours say that just meeting his eyes would result with an arrow lodged in your head.
I have to shield myself the moment I meet him then.
And telling me to get my a.s.s there tomorrow, are they kidding me!?
It"s way too sudden!
What about a grace period!? No!??
But complaining at this late hour wasn"t going to do anything now. It was already a done deal in this country.
Because I"d hate for my father to have his neck wrung.
But, while I"m at the inner palace, I wonder if our house will be fine.
Incidentally, working with our house was the butler, Ledeux, who had served us for forty years, and was nearly family himself, and the maid, Avana, who had served us for half as many Ledeux has.
But, will the house be fine with just the two of them?
My mother died of an illness when I was an infant. And my father, who was utterly devoted to my mother, did not marry a second time.
I will indulge in the extravagance I have no interest in for my father"s sake, and when the time comes, I"ll return home.
I"ll ensure that I don"t meet His Highness.
Ah, this really is a pain in the neck.
I prepared for the next day to come as I went bustling about the house doing ch.o.r.es.
How hectic!
Should I sneak in the shield hung on the hallway wall too?
Just to be safe.
T/N:
Tatami are the straw mats that you usually see in traditional j.a.panese homes, but it is also used as a measurement for the floor area. A standard tatami is 6×3 feet (1.8×0.9m)
He"s referring to himself in third person. It"s usually used when you talk to little kids lol. Apparently, it sounds cute.
Manjuu is usually sweet and filled with red bean paste, but there are savoury variants too, like this recipe.
Here"s an Okinawan sweet potato manjuu (apparently you can get them in Hawaii)