The Omega Knight's Secret Baby Daddy is A PRINCE?!

Chapter 220: To Be Calm, and To Pretend.

"Prince Kaelis."

As soon as Aamon stepped into the drawing room and saw Kaelis sitting there, it was visible that he was momentarily stunned.

It wasn’t obvious.

Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed it.

Aamon was one of the kingdom’s greatest knights.

A veteran.

Someone who spent decades learning how to conceal his emotions and remain composed under pressure.

But Kaelis had spent most of his life investigating people.

Watching them.

Studying every hesitation, every flicker of emotion, every crack that appeared for a fraction of a second before disappearing.

While Kaelis himself had mastered the opposite approach.

He hid behind reactions.

Behind laughter.

Behind reckless behavior and teasing smiles.

He showed people emotions that weren’t always real so they never noticed the ones that were.

So yes.

Kaelis saw it.

That brief flash of surprise.

Gone almost immediately.

"What a surprise," Aamon says as he smiles, looking every bit delighted to see Kaelis.

The smile was convincing.

Almost convincing enough.

"Is it?" Kaelis asks lightly, tilting his head. "Aurien is my brother after all."

His smile widens slightly.

"If anyone is surprising anyone, it would be you, Captain."

The room immediately grows quieter after that.

Not tense.

Not openly hostile.

Just careful.

Kaelis could see Aurien’s nervousness immediately.

The younger prince kept glancing between them.

Between Kaelis and Aamon.

As if trying to determine when he should speak.

Or whether he should speak at all.

’It’s good that despite how much he has changed...he’s still an open book.’

Aurien had become more confident.

Stronger.

Far less timid than before.

But he still wore his emotions too openly.

And right now, he looked nervous.

Meanwhile, Aamon looked completely calm.

"I didn’t know you were unaware, but I have been giving Prince Aurien extra lessons in swordsmanship," Aamon says smoothly. "Under his request, of course."

Kaelis almost laughed.

Not because it was unbelievable.

Because it was actually believable.

A very good excuse.

The kind of excuse that worked because there was enough truth inside it.

’You prepared that one well.’

"Yeah." Aurien immediately nods. "I still have a lot to learn. Though I think I’ve become a better leader recently, I feel like I can improve my swordsmanship a bit more."

His delivery wasn’t nearly as smooth as Aamon’s.

But it was a decent follow-up.

Natural enough.

If Kaelis hadn’t already overheard them before, he might have accepted it.

"Right." Kaelis smiles pleasantly. "That’s quite noble of you."

He pauses briefly.

Then casually adds,

"But I do wonder why you two are meeting here instead of training."

Aurien immediately stiffens.

"Hmm?" Kaelis continues, still smiling. "Aurien didn’t mention it either. I would’ve left if he had said it from the beginning."

There it was again.

That nervousness.

Aurien’s shoulders tightened almost instantly.

And this time, Aamon’s reaction was different.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Just a little.

Not enough for most people to notice.

Enough for Kaelis.

"Prince Kaelis..." Aamon says slowly.

"Yes?" Kaelis asks innocently.

Aamon studies him for a moment.

Long enough that Aurien visibly begins looking uncomfortable again.

Then finally, Aamon speaks.

"I can’t help but feel like your questions have substance."

His voice remains calm.

Measured.

"As if you’re trying to imply something."

Straight to the point.

As always.

And unexpectedly, Kaelis genuinely smiles.

Not the teasing smile.

Not the prince’s smile.

A real one.

’I should’ve known he wasn’t going to back down.’

That was one thing Kaelis respected about Aamon.

For all the suspicions swirling around him lately, Aamon never hid behind vague words.

If he saw a blade pointed at him, he pointed one right back.

"Captain." Kaelis leans back comfortably against the couch. "You make it sound like I’m interrogating you."

"You are investigating the Cultists, or whoever they are." Aamon replies immediately.

"And everyone is a suspect?" Kaelis asks.

Aamon doesn’t answer.

Which, in itself, felt like an answer.

The smile remains on Kaelis’ face.

But internally, something sharpens.

Because Aamon wasn’t defending himself.

He wasn’t denying anything.

He was simply measuring Kaelis the same way Kaelis was measuring him.

And suddenly, Kaelis realizes something.

Aamon wasn’t nervous.

Not even a little.

Aurien was.

But Aamon?

Aamon looked like a man who already expected to be questioned.

And somehow, that made Kaelis even more suspicious.

’Now that’s interesting.’

"Wait..." Aurien blinks. "Did you come here to investigate me, brother?"

’Busted.’ Kaelis thought calmly, he was well-prepared for any scenario at this point.

"What do you think, Aurien?" Kaslis simply asks. "Do you think there are reasons for me to investigate you?"

Meanwhile...

"...since when do you refer to Kaelis without formalities?" Helios asks Ezra.

Helios’ eyes narrow slightly, suspicion flickering across his face before he quickly smooths it over.

But Ezra remains calm.

Because honestly?

There was no reason to worry.

It was a simple question with a simple answer.

"We’re friends," Ezra answers nonchalantly. "I feel as though I owe it to him, you see—"

"I don’t like it."

Helios cuts him off immediately.

The words come out so fast that even Helios seems surprised by them.

And for the first time in a while, Ezra genuinely reacts.

His eyebrows lift slightly.

Not because he was caught.

Because Helios said it so openly.

So honestly.

Helios seems to realize it too.

He clears his throat and looks away briefly before regaining his composure.

"I understand you might feel grateful toward him," Helios says more carefully this time. "But you don’t know Kaelis as well as I do. You used to hate him for a reason."

’Yes. The reason was that I was blinded by you.’

The thought comes immediately.

Though Ezra knew it wasn’t entirely fair to place all the blame on Helios.

He had his own responsibility in it.

His own stubbornness.

His own refusal to question things.

He could admit that now.

But Helios manipulated him too.

That part couldn’t be ignored anymore.

"I know," Ezra says quietly. "And I regret that."

Helios looks at him.

Really looks at him.

As if trying to figure out where exactly Ezra stood now.

"You regret it?" Helios asks.

"I do." Ezra nods. "I spent years judging someone without actually listening to him."

That much was true.

Painfully true.

"And now?" Helios asks.

Ezra notices it immediately.

The tension.

The way Helios asks the question too casually.

As if the answer doesn’t matter.

As if he isn’t hanging on every word.

’You care far more than you’re pretending to.’

"Now I think I was unfair." Ezra says simply.

Helios’ jaw tightens.

Just briefly.

"So because he helped you once, you’re willing to overlook everything else?"

Ezra blinks.

Everything else?

What exactly was Helios referring to?

Because that was the problem now.

The more Helios talked about Kaelis, the more it sounded personal.

Not objective.

Not reasonable.

Personal.

"I don’t think that’s what I’m doing." Ezra answers carefully.

Helios exhales through his nose.

"Kaelis has always been good at making people like him."

Ezra nearly laughed.

Because if there was one person in this kingdom who was terrible at making good first impressions, it was Kaelis.

The man practically weaponized being annoying.

’That might be the most ridiculous thing you’ve said all day.’

But he keeps that thought to himself.

"I just think people can change," Ezra says instead.

Helios goes quiet again.

The silence stretches.

And then, unexpectedly, Helios smiles.

But this time the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

"People don’t change that easily, Ezra."

Something about the way he says it makes a chill run down Ezra’s spine.

Not because it sounds threatening.

Because it sounds genuine.

Like Helios truly believes it.

Like he’s speaking from experience.

And suddenly Ezra finds himself wondering something he never really asked before.

’Then what happened to you?’

Because according to Kaelis, Helios wasn’t always like this.

There was a time when he was a good brother.

A time when he protected Kaelis.

A time when he wasn’t obsessed with control.

So when exactly did that disappear?

And more importantly—

Was Helios even aware of what he had become?

Or did he genuinely think everything he was doing was normal?

"I’ll take that into consideration, Helios," Ezra says as he forces a grateful smile.

As off-putting as Helios was becoming, the goal here was simple.

Get Helios comfortable.

Get Helios to believe Ezra still trusted him.

Still believed in him.

And eventually, hopefully, Helios would slip up again.

Because people always slipped up when they were comfortable.

"You should," Helios says with a caring smile. "Don’t get too close to him, Ezra. You might end up disappointed."

’I already am.’

But not at Kaelis.

At Helios.

At the person Ezra thought he knew.

At the version of Helios he spent years admiring.

The version that now felt more and more like a carefully crafted shell.

A mask.

And the more Ezra looked at him, the harder it became to separate what was real from what wasn’t.

"I really appreciate that, Helios. You are always looking out for me," Ezra says.

The words leave his mouth smoothly.

Almost effortlessly.

And that alone makes him feel a little sick.

Because years ago, he would’ve meant every single word.

Now he was simply weaponizing them.

Using Helios’ own expectations against him.

Still, it worked.

It worked far better than Ezra would’ve liked.

Because Helios immediately seemed delighted.

Genuinely delighted.

Like hearing those words eased something inside him.

"I would do anything for you, Ezra."

Helios reaches across the table and takes Ezra’s hand.

Ezra immediately tenses.

Not visibly.

Years of discipline saved him from that.

But internally, his entire body locked up.

The touch felt wrong now.

Not because Helios had never held his hand before.

Because he had.

Many times.

Back then, Ezra used to find comfort in it.

Safety.

Now all he could think about were Kaelis’ words.

He thought he owned you.

Ezra almost pulled away instinctively.

Almost.

But he stopped himself.

He forced himself to stay still.

"I hope you know that too," Helios says quietly.