Veo gestured to the armchairs in the room and took a seat. But when the imposter sat down, he stood back up. It was classic intimidation technique, he thought, standing over the person being interrogated. 

He pretended not to notice when the imposter startled at his sudden movement. 

“You know what I like to do for fun?” he asked suddenly.

The non sequitur confused the fake Prince greatly, he could tell. “N-no,” Tenshi answered.

“I like to spar,” said Veo. 

“That’s nice,” replied Tenshi faintly. “Are you any good?”

“I don’t know,” Veo shrugged with a grin. “No one has stuck around long enough to tell me.” That was a half-lie. Other than his boyhood instructor, he’d never really had the chance to spar with anyone. And yesterday’s ridiculousness was under extenuating circumstances.

The imposter fidgeted uncomfortably. 

“Do you know,” he began, “that I was sliced by a katana recently?” Veo faced the imposter who appeared to be a kaleidoscope of colours at the moment. How interesting. 

“Um. Are you okay?” asked Fake Hisahiko timidly. 

Veo didn’t answer for a moment. He gritted his teeth in frustration. The omega was clearly guilty! Why wasn’t he admitting to his crimes? “No, I almost lost my arm,” he answered.

At once, the omega’s colours turned dark blue with guilt. “Oh,” he said, voice small.

Veo blinked behind the shades. Why did he feel guilty when he was clearly the injured party here? “I’m fine,” he added belatedly. “Don’t worry about it.”

The omega was hardly reassured. Veo couldn’t bring himself to try harder after that. He simply gave up and would have left first if the imposter hadn’t excused himself.

Veo frowned as he watched the omega’s silhouette disappear out the door. Perhaps he had gone overboard and was projecting his biased impressions onto another person who strikingly resembled the katana-wielding highwayman from yesterday. After all, he was blind. 

~

Tenshi sighed gustily in relief when he finally made it back to his room alone. He didn’t care what the tabloids said. Prince Veo of Angkova was not charming at all and just highkey weird. High. Key.

He mulled over the strange encounter in his mind. Despite being apparently blind, why did feel like Prince Veo had recognised him? Could he be pretending to be blind? No, Tenshi shook his head. Impossible. Well, not impossible. Just, highly improbably. The Prince of Angkova would have had to pretend to be blind his whole life. That seemed like overkill. 

And yet, Prince Veo did recognise him. Tenshi was sure of that.

~

When dinner rolled around again, Veo skipped it as he usually did. The official month of “celebration” would not begin until next week. His mother could not make him appear until then. Instead, he crept to the kitchens, taking pains to stick to the passages and corridors that servants used so as not to be seen. 

The kitchens were bustling with activity as the chef and his crew prepped dinner for the Queen and her resident thirteen omegas. Prince Veo snickered immaturely at the thought—it sounded like his mother had a harem—then scrunched his nose at the very same thought. Mother and Harem did not go together.

No one tried to chase him out, though Chef Jacques warned him to stay out of the way—preferably in a corner—and he would feed him. Veo grinned at the old man who had fed him to adulthood and sat at the wooden table he always sat at.

True to his word, Chef Jacques set a few dishes before him and he happily ate his fill. The old man nodded with a pleased colour every time he vocalised his appreciation for the food.

“You always know what I like,” Veo groaned appreciatively as he shovelled a spoonful of paella into his mouth.

Chef Jacques snorted indignantly. “I’ve been feeding you before you were even born and only a bean in her Majesty’s belly,” he harrumphed. “I know exactly what you like. And when you meet a nice omega to marry, you will send them to me. And I will teach them all your favourites,” instructed the chef.

Veo laughed delightedly. “Yes, chef.”

The old man nodded satisfied and placed a bowl of pudding before the hungry Prince. “There, your favourite.”

The Prince beams.

It’s where Tenshi finds him later. Veo is sitting at the table munching on a breadstick when Tenshi hesitantly steps into the kitchens. 

“Another one?” Chef Jacques says gruffly. “Go sit in that corner there,” and points at Veo.

Tenshi looked over and his eyes widened at the Prince nibbling on his breadstick. “Um,” he said hesitantly, but Chef Jacques pushed him forward and he stumbled over.

Prince Veo sat up as soon as he sat down. “Hello?”

“Hi,” said Tenshi.

“Oh, it’s you.” Veo frowned. “Why aren’t you at dinner?”

“Why aren’t you?” asked Tenshi.

“I asked you first,” he replied childishly.

The omega rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Your mass dinners are weird. No offence.” 

Veo huffed amusedly. “Socialising isn’t your thing? I get that.”

Chef Jacques sets a bowl of soup in front of Tenshi. “Thank you, sir,” Tenshi murmurs and digs in. “I went to dinner for a while, but it felt like an underground dogfight,” he said to Prince Veo.

The Prince laughed at that. “Yeah?”

“So, I excused myself early. Jetlag and all that. I didn’t eat much, so I’m hungry now,” said the omega.

“Truth be told, I haven’t gone to one of these dinners yet,” Veo admitted.

“Aren’t they for you though?” asked Tenshi.

Veo chuckled awkwardly. “They don’t feel like it’s for me,” he muttered. “Look, okay, my mother wants grandchildren and all that.”

“And you don’t,” finished Tenshi.

“I don’t know. Maybe someday. But definitely today and not like this.” Veo picked up another breadstick to chew on. “And don’t you think this is kind of demeaning?”

“What is? The dinners?” Tenshi reached for a breadstick to dunk in his soup.

“Yes. And the rest of it. Everything in general,” said Veo. “She invites a bunch of omegas and parades them in front of me in the hopes that I pick one? It’s just rude.”

Tenshi made a noise of amusement.

Encouraged, Veo kept up his semi-impassioned rant. “I mean, I’m sure everyone she invited are great people and all that, but I don’t want to marry someone my mum chose, you know? And why would anyone agree to come anyway?”

“Many reasons, I’m sure,” mused Tenshi. “You wouldn’t know unless you talked to them.”

Veo grimaced. “Right. That’s a great idea, but I also don’t particularly want to hang out with anyone.”

Tenshi didn’t speak.

“I didn’t mean you,” Veo added in a hurry when his words caught up to him. “I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he replied. “I understood what you were trying to say.”

Veo drank from his glass. “Good to know. Though if you did get offended, I’m glad you didn’t bring your katana.”

The omega froze. “What?”

“What?” Veo looked over quizzically.

Tenshi studied the Prince with wide eyes. “I knew it!” he yelled. “I knew you fucking recognised me!” he whispered furiously across the table.

Veo set his glass down with a loud clink. “I knew you recognised me!” The Prince leaned forward. “I thought I was crazy! You were pretending not to know me—which is impossible—I didn’t cover my face!”

“I was doing not good things!” Tenshi hissed at him. “Why on earth would I bring that up?”

“Well, then why are you in my house?” Veo hissed back.

“Apparently to seduce you into marrying me!” Tenshi whisper-yelled back.

Veo blinked at that. “Are you actually Prince Hisahiko?”

“Look, just—” Tenshi sighed gustily. “You don’t want to play bachelor and I don’t want to be here either. So, how about we help each other out?”

Prince Veo was intrigued. “How?”

“As far as your mum is concerned, you just need to pick someone out, right?” Tenshi said thoughtfully. “You’ll just have to pick someone out and break up with them later. And if you pick someone now, Her Majesty doesn’t have to push you into picking another.”

“Who would agree to fake-date me?” Veo asked incredulously. “Contrary to popular belief, no one wants the disabled royal.”

The omega blinked. “You’re actually blind?”

Veo groaned. Somehow, the imposter’s surprise felt disappointing. “Yes. I am actually blind. I cannot read a damn book unless it’s in braille.”

“Okay, that seems like a lot to unpack and I’m not going to do that for you. But the offer to fake-date if you don’t tell on me is still on the table.”

Veo cocked his head. “That’s it? That’s all you want. For me to not snitch.”

“Yes,” he replied simply.

The Prince thought about it for a moment. What did he have to lose? Between his mother and a criminal, he was genuinely contemplating the criminal. Personally, he was a little impressed that his own mother had driven him into the arms of a common thief. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

~

Later, in the privacy of his room, Tenshi stitched Prince Veo’s arm back together. 

“This is shoddy first-aid,” he admonished the Prince. 

“If I told anyone, I’d have to explain where I got it from,” replied Veo. “And then where would we be?”

“Fine,” said the omega. “You’re lucky I know how to patch people up.”

It was an interesting statement that raised Veo’s eyebrows. He decided he didn’t want to know.