AFLBRR Chapter 2 (Part 2)

Right now the castle was little more than an empty nest. No soldiers, no knights, no one. No matter how strong Dmitry was, he couldn’t fight alone against a crowd. And Alexei… had he even fought before? That boy?

A few suspicious shadows followed behind me as I hurried toward the castle. But my mind was so fixed on getting back quickly that I failed to sense the pursuit.

---

Under a crescent moon hanging at the center of the sky, Alexei Slavatov was plagued by a vague, unsettling feeling. An odd excitement made it impossible for him to stay still, driving him to pace through the castle halls.

“What is this feeling? It’s so damn irritating…”

It felt as though he were about to lose something precious, even though the person most important to him was safe.

He had just left Illyas, who had collapsed from exhaustion after repeated climaxes. By now he would be lying quietly in bed. His deranged father was in the room that used to belong to his mother… now occupied by some strange omega. His family was perfectly safe. The only one not in the castle was that omega. So there was no reason for anything to be wrong.

“If I go outside and walk a bit, I’ll feel better.”

But Alexei strapped on his sword before heading out. It was far too extravagant a weapon for a simple stroll, yet for some reason, it felt necessary.

He wandered aimlessly once he stepped outside the castle. Only when he realized his feet had carried him toward the red-light district did he stop.

“Do I still have regrets…?”

His teeth ground together. He had intentionally avoided even glancing this way for seven years, yet the past still had its claws in him.

“No. Stop…”

He tried desperately to bury it, but the suppressed memories pushed through at the slightest trigger. Once they surfaced, nothing could hold them back.

It felt like his life had chosen torment, choosing to be chained to the past instead of moving toward the future. He floundered in the dirt of old memories.

His mother’s death. The figures in black robes who entered at night. The day he kidnapped Illyas and brought him to the castle.

He did not regret taking Illyas away from that place. But from that moment on, their relationship tangled into something beyond repair.

“You’re just like those alphas. No different at all!”

Ilyas’s scream, as if vomiting blood, still rang painfully clear in his ears. Whether he closed his eyes or opened them, a red glow flickered before him. When he closed his eyes, he saw that street from that day. When he opened them, the red remained.

In the past, flames writhed through the streets, and in the present, enormous lanterns swayed like fire. A massive building seemed to swallow all surrounding light, its exterior covered thickly with lanterns.

“That was… a long time ago. Nothing’s happening now. It’s fine… I… I’m fine…”

His head throbbed so fiercely it felt as if a giant wolf were gnawing on his skull. He let out a slow breath and pressed his temples to ease the pain.

“Are you seriously clinging to something that trivial, Alexei Slavatov.”

He mimicked the dry voice his father always used to chastise him. Speaking the words aloud pierced him sharply. Yet the pain was bearable, almost grounding.

Alexei hated his father, yet in moments of desperation he always thought of him first. He couldn’t understand why he kept seeking that unreliable alpha.

The headache subsided a little but didn’t vanish. He bit down on his lower lip hard enough for blood to gather. Just as he lifted his heavy foot to return to the castle, a familiar scent brushed past his nose.

It was light and intimate. The scent he had come to know too well after passing by his mother’s room, now taken over by that strange omega, every day for the past month.

‘Just smelling this… makes me feel better.’

The ache in his head vanished instantly. As if enchanted, he followed the trail of the scent. The stronger the pheromones became, the more the presence of others faded, plunging the path into eerie darkness.

“Out at night alone in a place like this? If Father finds out, he’ll have a fit.”

The omega’s scent thickened, and with it the musk of alpha pheromones. Not one alpha, several. Three, four… five.

There was only one reason five alphas and one omega would be releasing pheromones this intensely.

“This filthy, degenerate mess… how dare they!”

He drew his sword. Alexei widened his stride into something close to a run. His breath rasped too quickly, and the back of his neck tightened.

The corpse shattered beneath his blade. His blood-soaked hands trembled uncontrollably. The trembling began at his fingers, climbed to his shoulders, and spread through his body.

“Haa… haa… hhic… ugk… uugh…”

His sword hit the ground with a dull thud. Alexei staggered backward until he tripped and fell onto his rear. Vomit spilled between his thighs.

Hunched over, he dug at the dirt with his heel. Tears mixed with the filth on the ground.

“Alexei…”

Ivan Sidorov wrapped his arms around him from behind, embracing him like a child. He stroked Alexei’s sweat-soaked hair and pressed a light kiss to his cheek, just as his past-life self had once done for a small boy.

---

“Mom… Mom. Mooom…”

I didn’t say anything. I simply patted Alexei’s back as he hiccuped and sobbed. There was no need to use my own voice for someone drowning in panic like a lost child. The mother he was desperately calling for wasn’t me. It was obvious it should have been me, but at the same time, it wasn’t.

My soul ached with the rawness of his tears, yet my body was that of a stranger who shared not even a speck of blood with him. What was I supposed to do with this body? Aside from fulfilling Dmitry’s desires, what role did it have?

I swallowed the sigh rising to my throat. Philosophical questions could wait.

‘What happened to you? What kind of wound could leave you like this…?’

When our eyes met earlier, the emotion in Alexei’s gaze had not been disgust or scorn. Not what a rigid northern alpha would show to an omega surrounded by multiple alphas in a debauched mess.

‘Alexei… what were you afraid of?’

He had frozen like prey before a predator, unable even to breathe, overwhelmed by terror. And then he had snapped. The wild swinging of his sword hadn’t been technique, it had been a seizure. The blade that cut down the alphas who lunged at me carried not only fear but a violent excess of strength.

It wasn’t stress built up in a short time. It was old resentment, layered over many years.

I nudged the lump of meat at my foot and rolled it roughly toward the wall. Mourning these things was a luxury. Rather than worrying about the corpses, it was far more urgent to wipe away even one more tear from my crying child.

‘What in the world happened after I died?’

Alexei yanked at the arm with which he was hugging me from behind, then outright slammed me onto the ground. The thin shirt I couldn’t fix in time rode up, and my bare back touched the cold earth.

But before I could even complain about the pain, Alexei collapsed on top of me. He buried his face against my chest and sobbed outright. I stroked the trembling back of his head. The night sky filled my vision.

‘Oh, a shooting star.’

A shooting star streaked across the sky, leaving a long white tail. No matter how desperately the people below scrambled to survive in the mud of their own lives, the sky remained tranquil. The gap between the two was unbearably cruel.

“Huu… huu. Hup. Nngh. Nnnh…”

Alexei’s irregular breathing slowly steadied. The grip with which he clutched my clothes loosened. His hand slid down toward the ground, trying to pretend nothing had happened. That was enough to show he’d come back to his senses.

“Young master Alexei.”

“Hup, hghk! Khuk! Kugh, ack! Kek!”

I lightly called to him. The effect was immediate. Alexei sucked in a sharp breath and choked on it. While he straightened his back and coughed violently, I slipped out from under him.

Then I smoothed out my disheveled clothes. The torn scratches had dried and stiffened; moving my cheek made pain ripple across my whole face.

‘Tomorrow morning is going to be fun.’

I touched my swelling cheek and licked the dried blood at the corner of my lips. Neither of us looked remotely presentable. Our clothes, soaked in blood, had stiffened in the cold and crackled when touched. At least Alexei’s face was smooth.

“Young master.”

Alexei said nothing.

“Let’s go back to the castle.”

He moved his lips, then turned his head. Even when I stood, dusted off my clothes, and tried to coax him, he stubbornly remained on the ground.

Who did he get this stubbornness from? Certainly not me.

“Let’s go back together.”

I bent down and pleaded, but he didn’t even glance my way and only bowed his head lower. So low his chin almost touched his chest.

Even when I brought him his sword or held out my hand, he gave no reply. He wasn’t a twenty-five-year-old man right now; he was more like a five-year-old sulking because someone stole his snack. His severe lack of social aptitude clearly showed whose blood he inherited.

‘Where did my half of the genes go? Did Mishka reproduce by cell division? But still, I gave birth to him. Was it my prenatal care?’

But Mishka’s face would’ve made excellent prenatal care. It couldn’t be helped. A northern man was eighty percent stubbornness.

I slid one arm under each of Alexei’s armpits and heaved. I couldn’t lift a larger alpha, but I could drag him. His shoes scraped long lines into the dirt as I dragged him backward.

“Heave, heave, heave…”

“What are you doing! You’re an omega, let go!”

Alexei shot to his feet and grabbed my wrist.

Well, he should’ve stood up earlier when I asked nicely. Holding his wrist back, I said:

“Now that you’re up, let’s return to the castle, young master.”

“I haven’t lived long, but I’ve never met a strange omega like you. You almost… had something done to you just now, and you’re completely unfazed?”

“My situation is better than theirs, so it’s fine. And the normal reaction to being in a place like this is wanting to leave and go home as fast as possible.”

I glanced at the alpha carcasses strewn around. Alexei continued, exasperated:

“Strange person.”

“I’m grateful you rescued me, but let’s stop with the strange remarks. A young man sounding as old-fashioned as your father isn’t a good look.”

Alexei’s face twisted up completely. It was such a familiar expression that laughter escaped me. But I quickly covered my mouth; who knew how he’d react.

Returning to the castle took twice as long as leaving it. Alexei kept stumbling and collapsing from the aftermath of his outburst. Each time, I had to help him stand again, but I was also exhausted from being hit while resisting him. So we ended up falling side by side several times.

“…I should’ve known the moment an omega pretended to show strength.”

“You’re currently on top of said omega. Doesn’t it embarrass you to insult yourself like this?”

“Shut up and move aside.”

“I lack the strength.”

Alexei used one arm to roll me away like luggage.

“Ugh!”

Rolling across the ground, I realized I’d lost my cloak. That explained it. No wonder it was freezing. Lacking even the energy to complain, I lay flat and just breathed while Alexei suddenly hoisted me onto his shoulder. My vision shot upward.

“You, don’t misunderstand.”

And here we go again. What nonsense would our dear young master spout this time with such a solemn face?

“Misunderstand what?”

He needed actual material before accusing me of delusion. His lack of verbal skills was definitely inherited from his father.

“I didn’t save you because I like you. I’m not acknowledging you as a stepmother.”

Ah. So calling me “Mom” earlier wounded his pride that much. I’d grant his request, but the feeling was still strange.

Honestly, my biggest concern after reincarnating was whether Dmitry would recognize me. I hadn’t seriously considered being accepted by the son.

So this was how that turned out.

“I didn’t misunderstand. But thank you for saving me.”

Alexei didn’t answer. He simply walked while holding me, adjusting his grip each time I slipped. My abdomen pressed against his shoulder, making me groan. I must’ve bruised badly earlier.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“A little… not enough to worry.”

“Omegas are fragile. They require delicate care. Let me see.”

‘Who is the one who kept that fragile omega imprisoned so absurdly, only to lecture me with normal-sounding words like this.’

The truth sat on the tip of my tongue, but I held it back. No need to stir up trouble.

Alexei lifted me off his shoulder and set me down on the ground. Then, before I could give permission, he yanked my shirt up.

‘How rude!’

As if the pheromone shower at our first meeting wasn’t enough, now he was stripping me without a word. And I was the omega his father had taken as a spouse. He could at least look at the mark on the back of my hand. Even if he said moments ago that he wouldn’t acknowledge me as a mother, this wasn’t about that. This was basic decency between people.

“Wait, this is extremely inappropriate…!”

“I’m just checking the injury. Don’t make a fuss.”

Alexei snorted at my shock. It felt like I was the only person here with any sense of shame. I felt his gaze fixed on my lower stomach. I couldn’t bear to look and quickly covered my eyes with both hands.

“Playing the innocent omega now? The emperor must have trained his spy well.”

“I’m not… I’m not the emperor’s mage. If I were a mage, I wouldn’t have been overpowered like that earlier.”

“So you weren’t trying to lure me outside the castle?”

His large hand slowly stroked my lower belly. His little finger brushed close to my crotch. Everywhere his palm pressed or fingers grazed, heat bloomed sharply beneath my skin. It made it impossible to move my hands away from my eyes for an entirely different reason.

Moments ago, multiple alphas had nearly forced themselves on me. My disturbed pheromones reacted all over again to Alexei’s scent. Cold and heavy pheromones coiled up my body like a snake.

“How could I do something like t-that… hng!”

His thumb suddenly pressed hard on one spot just above my belly. A jolt shot up my spine. My knees weakened badly. I collapsed forward into Alexei’s chest, and he whispered into my ear in an ominous voice.

“You’ve been glued to Father’s side this whole month. Why leave the castle today of all days? Did you really think being still for thirty days would settle my doubts?”

“N-no… I wasn’t… ah, I wasn’t doing anything…! Hh, aah…!”

Even the light pressure of his hand over my flat stomach was enough to make my body burn. I clung to his neck as though he were my savior. His interrogation didn’t stop. His sharply bent fingers jabbed my belly again.

“Speak. What’s your intention?”

My eyes burned as overwhelming pheromones poured out of me. The tight, trembling pull deep inside me was so intense I couldn’t tell if it was pain or pleasure. A cry tore out of my throat on its own.

But he wasn’t going to stop until I said what he wanted. Gasping for air, I barely managed to force out fragments of words.

“Aahk! Haa…! M-mother… h-home…”

I needed to say I went out to see my parents. But only broken pieces of words came out.

Luckily, he understood.

“Home?”

“When I said mom and dad’s house… we live together outside the castle… hngh! The letter came back, so I thought something happened… ahng!”

“You lived in our territory?”

When I said mom, Alexei’s pheromones weakened a little. Worried he might change his mind, I hurried to spill the rest in bits and pieces. When I explained I had lived outside the castle all my life, his eyebrows twitched slightly.

“I’ve lived here my whole life. I only entered the castle because my parents’ shop was doing so poorly that I needed to help with the income…”

“…Did something happen at the house?”

Seeing me hesitate, Alexei grabbed my side in warning. His hand was hot enough to sting. His fingertips pressing into my ribs felt like a wild dog’s teeth, and I blurted the words out in a rush.

“They crossed the border! Their business was failing, and everyone else was either escaping to the capital or leaving the country, so there were no customers and taxes kept rising, so! Lord Dmitry gave me my salary and I sent it home, but it came back, so I went to check!”

“Then why were you caught by alphas there?”

His pheromones vanished completely. I finally caught a breath. I answered his questions one by one.

“When I went home, my parents were gone and the shop was already in ruins. I was devastated, so I went to a tavern for a drink, and that’s where the alphas chased me.”

It wasn’t a lie.

On my way back to the castle, I’d noticed footsteps following mine. At first, I thought I imagined it.

But whenever I walked faster, they ran. When I slowed down, they slowed too. They were persistent. I hesitated, then suddenly bolted. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn’t shake them. I tripped, fell, and they dragged me into a dark alley. The line about resistance being useless sounded cliché, but hearing it while being hit made my knees go weak.

“That’s when you, my lord… appeared and saved me. I… I don’t have the ability to lure you out of the castle.”

“Why did you go to a tavern alone? You should have come straight back after your errand. Don’t assume I’ll believe everything you say.”

Though he complained, his eyebrows drooped pitifully.

‘He’s not stupid, just… slow.’

A successor should be wary of suspicious outsiders, yes. But to investigate nothing and only doubt endlessly, inefficient. And showing emotion this openly in front of the person in question? Hard to figure him out.

‘Mishka never properly trained him, but surely he taught the basics. He’s royalty, weren’t there tutors or knights from the capital? Why is a twenty-five-year-old this unrefined?’

I couldn’t help comparing him to Mishka, though I felt guilty.

‘Mishka said that at twenty-five he was hunting beasts alone in the northern chainwood forest. So what does this one even do all day in the castle?’

While I was thinking, Alexei cleared his throat softly.

“How long do you plan to stay like this?”

“Huh? …Aaagh!”

“Ugh!”

I’d forgotten I was clinging around Alexei’s neck. Startled, I pushed at his chest, too hard. He toppled backward and grabbed my wrist, and my legs couldn’t support the combined weight of the two of us plus a sword. I ended up falling on top of him again, just like earlier.

“Ah… a familiar position. That makes twice today… and neither time was my fault.”

“Shut up!”

“Yes. I’ll get off now.”

As I braced my hand against his torso and pushed myself up, the body beneath my palm felt remarkably solid.

It reminded me of Dmitry’s arm, the one I had bitten on my first day in the castle.

Even if he lacked a bit in mental stability, social skills, survival instincts, common sense, personality, and several other minor areas, at least his body had grown up healthy. That much was a relief.

‘When I gave birth to you, all I prayed for was that you’d grow up healthy. Looks like you listened to your mother’s wish. Such a good child.’

I nodded to myself as I straightened my back.

At that moment, a firm pair of hands lifted me straight into the air. The way he spun me lightly and settled me onto his forearm, my thigh placed neatly on top as if I were a doll, felt all too familiar.

“Mishka!”

“I came out because you were so late I thought something had happened. If I hadn’t, you would’ve been in serious trouble.”

‘The serious trouble already happened, but let’s not say anything.’

With a voice thick with fury, Dmitry glared at Alexei, who was only halfway off the floor.

“I thought you’d been dragged off by someone until dawn……”

It was just before sunrise, the darkness already beginning to thin.

Even though the coming of dawn wasn’t Alexei’s fault, Dmitry looked at his own son as if he were some cursed monster.

“Have you still not rid yourself of that habit of coveting your own mother? I cannot live under the same sky as a beast like that.”

“Hah. Do you still see that omega as your dead wife? You’ve grown so old you can’t even tell colors apart anymore. This useless son is simply heartbroken. Do you not know the difference between red and white?”

Without thinking, I rubbed at the white hair that spilled down past my collarbone with my fingertips.

Dmitry glanced at my complexion, then roared.

“So because you can tell colors so well, you think it’s acceptable to violate two omegas? I never raised a son vile enough to threaten and force himself on an omega!”

“And when did you ever acknowledge me as your son, to dare say that? The one who gave birth to me was Mother. All you did was spread your seed, so don’t act proud!”

“You parasite clinging to the Slavatov name just to survive!”

“A walking corpse living off the remnants of Mother!”

‘This is really childish.’

Being stuck between a father and son who were desperate to tear each other apart gave me a splitting headache.

“My greatest regret is that I didn’t crush your skull back then! How dare you lay those filthy hands on…!”

It seemed Dmitry had mistaken Alexei interrogating me for threatening me in order to take me for himself.

Compared to Alexei, who looked relatively unscathed, my battered appearance must have poured oil on the fire.

The only fortunate thing was that Dmitry couldn’t draw his sword, since he was holding me so carefully with both arms.

“Today, I will finally fix that rotten mind of yours!”

“The day has finally come to make a grave for this senile bastard. I’ll bury you beside Mother. Out of final courtesy.”

Dmitry shifted me into one arm and drew his sword in a flash.

Alexei responded immediately, pulling his own blade.

Why did I have to be the young omega caught in a father-and-son sword fight?

‘This is not the time for internal collapse. The rebels could attack as early as tomorrow.’

I wanted to jump between them and shout for them to come to their senses, but Dmitry was holding me so tightly that I wondered if my ribs might crack.

It was a deadlock.

Either my husband would die by his son’s blade along with me, or I would have to watch my husband kill his own child.

Both were perfect options, in the sense that I wanted neither.

So I simply closed my eyes and surrendered my body to the oncoming darkness.

After being torn away from my parents, enduring assault and attempted rape, pheromone torture, and freezing cold through the night, witnessing direct relatives slaughtering each other was just too much.

“Noe?!”

“You there! Omega!”

‘No one calls me Ivan.’

Fainting turned out to be a surprisingly effective ceasefire.

Both alphas lowered their swords and rushed toward me as I collapsed.

That was my last memory.

---

“Are you awake?”

“Is Alexei alive?”

“You wake up and that’s the first thing you ask?”

“Is he alive.”

“He is.”

“Is he hurt anywhere?”

He stroked his beard and turned his head away, openly displeased.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“I told you not to kill our child in front of me! I did! What kind of father draws his sword first instead of trying to reason with his son?!”

I hurled the pillow I’d been resting on straight at his handsome face.

Dmitry calmly caught it midair, then, seeing how furious I was, pressed the pillow directly against his own face.