The Omega Knight's Secret Baby Daddy is A PRINCE?! Chapter 176: THE BREAD?!

’Oh.’

When Kaelis decided to crash Ezra and Alyce’s tea party, he expected a fun and light-hearted arrival.

Maybe a little bit of an annoyed Ezra, because Kaelis does enjoy the way Ezra scrunches his nose like a little rabbit whenever he is angry.

But what he didn’t expect—

Was Ezra Belloren looking at him like that?

The usually expressionless, cold knight, who only ever seed to know how to frown or look mildly irritated, was staring at him as he had just seen sothing he couldn’t process.

Like sothing had been pulled out from under him.

Ezra’s eyes—

Those usually narrowed, guarded eyes—

Were wide.

Fully open in a way Kaelis had never seen before, the sunlight caught the soft pink of them, making the color look lighter, almost fragile.

Exposed.

And when Ezra spoke—

When he addressed him—

There was sothing in it.

Sothing desperate.

Kaelis felt it imdiately.

And just like that—

The teasing died in his chest before it could even surface.

’...that’s not normal,’ Kaelis thought, his expression softening without him aning to as he studied Ezra more carefully.

His gaze flickers briefly to Lior.

Still bright.

Still smiling.

Then to Alyce. Calm. Composed.

Nothing seed wrong.

Except Ezra.

’He looks like he learned sothing he wasn’t supposed to,’ Kaelis thought, his lips pressing together slightly as his mind moved quickly, trying to piece together what could have happened in the short ti he wasn’t there.

"Brother-in-law, please join us. It’s not every day you show yourself to my palace." Alyce says, drawing his attention back to her.

Kaelis turns his head toward her, and like flipping a switch, he smiles.

Charming.

But it was fake.

"Actually, Alyce, can I pull Ezra for a minute? I need to speak to him about so knight duties," Kaelis says, his tone gentle, controlled, giving nothing away.

Ezra’s eyes widen again, like even that caught him off guard.

"Lior can stay with you; you two can bond."

"Hurray!" Lior exclaims imdiately, his excitent bubbling up again as if nothing in the air had shifted at all.

Alyce glances down at him, her smile softening. "Of course. Take all the ti you need. I know being a knight is an all the ti duty."

"Thank you," Kaelis replies smoothly, already stepping back slightly as he gestures for Ezra to follow.

Ezra doesn’t move right away.

There’s hesitation.

A small pause as he looks at Lior, then at Alyce, like he was grounding himself in sothing familiar before he lets himself move.

Then he bows.

"Excuse ," he says quietly, pushing himself up from his seat.

Kaelis turns before Ezra can say anything else, walking ahead without waiting, his pace steady, asured.

’He’s not okay,’ Kaelis thought, his jaw tightening slightly as he led the way out of the garden.

For a second, his mind drifts.

’I wonder if he got jealous over Alyce and Helios.’

It would make sense.

Ezra had always been obvious.

Painfully obvious.

Even if he didn’t realize it himself.

The way his eyes would light up whenever Helios was around.

The way his entire deanor shifted without him noticing.

It was sothing Kaelis had seen too many tis to ignore.

’...but this doesn’t feel like jealousy,’ Kaelis thought, the idea settling quickly, dismissing the earlier assumption.

This felt different.

It felt heavier.

Sothing had happened.

Sothing that had nothing to do with petty emotions.

And so part of Kaelis—

The part he didn’t like acknowledging—

Didn’t like the idea of Ezra going through that alone.

So he ca.

Despite the hesitation.

Despite knowing he might be intruding.

He still ca.

As soon as they were far enough, the sounds of the garden fading just enough, the laughter, the quiet clink of teacups becoming distant—

Kaelis stops.

He turns.

Ezra was still standing there.

Still not fully there.

His gaze lowers briefly, scanning the area out of habit, and that’s when he notices them.

Alyce’s guards.

Blended into the surroundings.

Positioned like they weren’t ant to be seen.

Watching.

Watching them.

’What? Do they think we’re going to attack Alyce in her own palace? Are they stupid?’ Kaelis thought, his irritation flickering for a second before he pushed it aside, his focus returning to Ezra.

Ezra hadn’t said anything.

Hadn’t even looked up properly.

His head was slightly lowered, his shoulders just a little too stiff.

And that—

That bothered Kaelis more than anything.

So his tone shifts.

Softer.

More careful than he intended.

"Ezra, did sothing happen?" Kaelis asks.

Ezra doesn’t answer.

Not right away.

And that silence—

It stretches.

A little too long.

’Say sothing,’ Kaelis thought, his brows pulling together slightly as he watched him. ’Anything.’

Because Ezra—

Ezra looked too human right now.

"Did Alyce say sothing?" Kaelis asks again, quieter this ti.

Finally, Ezra looks up at him, his eyes looked cold, but not the kind of cold Kaelis was used to.

Not controlled.

Not distant.

This felt...different.

Like sothing had snapped into place where sothing else used to be.

"How many more?"

The question cos out quiet.

Flat.

"What?" Kaelis asks, visibly shocked and confused, his brows pulling together as he tries to catch up with whatever Ezra has just said.

"How many more lies did Helios tell , how many more secrets don’t I know?" Ezra asks, his tone almost dead, like he had already run through the emotions and landed sowhere empty.

Kaelis stills.

’He completely dropped any formalities,’ Kaelis notes, but the observation barely registers compared to everything else.

Because this—

This wasn’t just irritation.

If Ezra ever had glasses, figuratively, he had rose-colored glasses for Helios.

Everyone knew that.

And now—

If Kaelis could see those glasses—

He would see the cracks.

Not small ones.

Not sothing that could be ignored.

Big cracks.

The kind that couldn’t be fixed.

"What brought this on?" Kaelis asks, his voice slower now, more careful, resisting the instinct to reach out, to grab Ezra’s shoulder and steady him.

Ezra answers imdiately.

"Bread."

The word cos out almost absentmindedly, as it slipped past him without permission.

But Kaelis—

Kaelis reacts.

His eyes widen.

His entire expression shifts in a way he couldn’t hide even if he tried.

’...no,’ Kaelis thought, sothing tightening in his chest. ’No way.’

"Do you..." Kaelis whispers, his voice lowering without him realizing it, the last hint of ease disappearing from his face. "...know now?"

Ezra stares at him.

"About the bread?"

Kaelis slowly nods.

There was no point in pretending.

Not now.

Not with the way Ezra was looking at him.

Kaelis takes a step back, the movent small but noticeable.

’Finally...after all these years,’ Kaelis thought, his mind racing faster now, thoughts colliding as he tried to process it. ’I thought he would never know.’

But Ezra didn’t look relieved.

Didn’t look like soone who had just found an answer.

He just kept staring at him.

Waiting.

"Wait," Ezra says, his voice sharper now, sothing cutting through that earlier emptiness.

"What do you know about the bread?"