The Sweet Alpha Crown Prince Loves Me So Much

“Carl!” 

Adrian burst through the door.

Elizabeth, dripping wet, whimpered and whined, pawing at his legs. 

“Where’s your master?”

“

!”

Elizabeth barked frantically and bolted towards the bathroom. Adrian followed with a heavy heart.

“Oh gods… What happened here?” The bathtub was filled with blood.

Adrian’s vision blurred as his heart seemed to stop. Floating in the middle of the crimson water was Carl.

“Carl Lindbergh!” Adrian yelled and jumped into the tub.

“Carl!”

“

!”

Fortunately, Carl’s face was above the surface, but his body lay limp below it. Adrian checked the temperature of the water.

The water hadn’t cooled down completely yet.

.

They had been separated for only about an hour, but what could have happened during that time? Adrian felt utterly devastated despite having experienced happiness just moments ago, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

“

?” As Adrian prepared to do whatever it took, Carl’s eyelids fluttered open.

“Oh my, isn’t this His Highness the Crown Prince? What brings you here?”

“You!” Carl Lindbergh enunciated slowly, causing something inside Adrian to snap as he yelled loudly enough to make the bathroom echo.

Hearing the commotion, guards rushed in from outside.

“Your Highness? Is everything alright?”

Adrian hastily covered the prince with a large towel before shouting back at them.

“It’s fine. You can leave now. But just in case, have a physician on standby.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Huh? A physician? Who’s hurt?  If they’re hurt, I should be the one…””

Adrian, holding Carl tightly as he tried to wriggle free, noticed a wine bottle floating in the bathtub. It finally dawned on him that the sweet aroma emanating from between Carl’s lips was alcohol.

“Oh, Carl…” Adrian sighed, a mixture of exasperation and relief washing over him. He hugged Carl tightly.

“

.”

“You need to get dried off too.” Adrian pulled the drain plug.

Eirene, the lady-in-waiting assigned to Carl’s chambers, hurried in with an armful of towels. She’d assumed, based on Adrian’s late-night visit and hushed tone, that he was finally going to spend a deep night with Carl. However, upon entering the bathroom, she gasped at the sight of chaos.

“Oh dear!”

The red liquid was shocking enough, but the droplets splattered everywhere made it look like a murder scene.

“It’s spilled wine.”

“Oh, it’s wine? That’s a relief.” Eirene pressed her hand to her chest before swiftly tidying up and leaving the bathroom.

Adrian tossed a towel at Elizabeth, who was vigorously shaking herself off, then began carefully drying Carl’s body.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Carl mumbled, eyes struggling to focus. The effort only served to make his eyelids flutter, the double lids pronounced.

“What are you saying?” Adrian pursed his lips.

This was utterly ridiculous. He’d have to ban all alcohol from Carl’s presence if this was how he behaved. 

“It is an honor that His Highness would personally,

wipe me clean.”

Struggling to articulate his thoughts, Carl sighed heavily and smacked his parched lips together.

“Why did you suddenly start drinking? You could have at least waited for me.”

“But… there it was. Right there when I walked in. And I… I don’t usually get drunk this easily, you know?”

He lurched to his feet, pushing Adrian aside over in the process. The towel slipped from his grasp, pooling on the floor.

“And?” Adrian swallowed hard as he admired Carl’s naked body glistening under the moonlight. He swallowed hard, mentally applauding the two-ply thickness of the discarded towels. 

Carl stumbled towards the table, pointing at it with both hands.

“There’s, uh, there’s some wine here, isn’t there?”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh, but there was, wasn’t it? Now it’s gone.”

Carl’s drunken speech patterns were oddly peculiar.

“Well, there was wine here, and it looks expensive at first glance. So, I decided to unwind by drinking while taking a half bath.”

It wasn’t a half bath but rather a full-body soak, with Carl drinking directly from the bottle. The tips of his golden hair were tinged with a pink hue.

Adrian tutted. “Since you’re aware now, come here so I can finish drying your hair.”

To Adrian’s surprise, Carl immediately obeyed, plopping down onto his lap.

“So, I was going to drink, but damn, this body is so, so weak with alcohol.”

That much was obvious since this was his first time. There were no reports of Carl Lindbergh ever consuming alcohol even when he was in the kingdom either. 

Adrian tried not to dwell on what that might mean.

“Don’t drink again, or at least only do it when I’m around. And absolutely no drinking in the bathroom.”

As Adrian rubbed a towel over Carl’s head, fine strands of hair immediately fluffed up.

“Hey! Don’t interrupt your hyung! In my younger days, I could handle two or three bottles of soju without any problem!”

Carl pressed his index finger against Adrian’s lips. Suppressing the urge to bite down on it, Adrian asked, “What is ‘soju’?”

Was that the name for Lindbergh’s traditional liquor?

“You know…  it comes in those green bottles, just like those!” 

Green bottles? Adrian’s mouth dropped open at this absurd comparison, but Carl suddenly kissed him. It wasn’t a tender kiss; rather, it felt more like a playful nip.

“

, our handsome Crown Prince.”

As he spoke, Carl also kissed Adrian’s nose.

“

…” Adrian tried to calm his racing heart despite feeling flustered, enjoying the soft touch of Carl’s skin.

“My perfect, precious bias.” This time, Carl gently kissed Adrian’s forehead.

“What does ‘bias’ mean?” Confused by the unfamiliar word, Adrian furrowed his brow, prompting Carl to press his forehead firmly to smooth out the wrinkles.

“You don’t know what bias means? It refers to your most favorite person.”

“I’m your ‘bias’ now?” Adrian smiled contentedly and hugged Carl tightly but then cocked his head at Carl’s hesitant response.

“Well, Jae-young used to be my bias, but now it’s you.”

“Who is this ‘Jae-young’? And why was he your ‘bias’?”

Carl wrapped his arm around Adrian’s neck as sleepiness set in. No one other than Carl Lindbergh could handle Adrian like this. A sweet mix of alcohol and pheromones wafted from Carl’s breath onto Adrian’s neck.

Who exactly is ‘Jae-young’?

Adrian wanted to ask Carl something but decided against it as he saw Carl’s eyes slowly closing. He gently cradled him instead.

After a moment, Adrian cautiously laid Carl down, assuming he had fallen asleep due to his quiet snoring. However, Carl’s lips parted unexpectedly.

“Jae-young… my little sister… Poor thing, never even got to meet Mom and Dad…  stuck with a clueless older brother who didn’t even know how to take her to the hospital when she was sick… she suffered miserably and died… my only family…”

Adrian held his breath.

Carl clutched at Adrian’s shirt tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“

… Jae-young-

…”

Silence filled the room instantly. Tears welled up in Carl’s eyes, falling onto the pillow.

“Jae-young-

, I’m so sorry…”

Despite repeatedly apologizing to someone who wasn’t there, Carl wouldn’t let go of Adrian’s shirt. It was heartbreaking to watch.

After remaining still for quite some time, Adrian moved as Carl’s sobs began subsiding. He gently slid his arm under Carl’s neck and pulled up the blanket over them.

Adrian whispered while tucking him in, “Is that the truth you’ve been hiding?”

As if responding to Adrian’s words, Carl’s lips twitched into a frown. Adrian brushed a thumb across them as he organized his thoughts.

Until now, Adrian had deliberately avoided asking ‘why’. Either Carl would reveal it when the time was right, or it didn’t matter if he never did. Adrian prioritized getting closer to him over understanding everything.

Like Belfry suspected, Carl Lindbergh had his own agenda for meeting Adrian, but Adrian was confident he could thwart any of Carl’s schemes.

“Did you already know this, Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth wagged her tail slightly and put her front paws on the bed as if wanting to join them.

“Still, keep it to yourself. No one else must find out.”

Elizabeth let out a small bark and curled up on the floor instead of climbing onto the bed.

“I won’t ask what happened, but now that you’ve shared your secret with me, I hope you’ll come closer,” Adrian murmured while embracing Carl tightly.

Despite the biting winter wind outside their window, the two embraced tightly, leaving no room for the cold to seep in.