TPWTM 5
by soapaYurik thought he was crazy. If he were not crazy, he would not have tried to willingly open up his pheromones to a guy who was rubbing his lower body in heat.
He would have kicked the guy right in the crotch! Of course, that is setting aside the fact that the guy’s physique was superior to his own, and also setting aside the fact that the guy was an elite combat officer from the military academy!
Yurik huffed and moved to leave Madame Devery’s Club. Seeing him leave with a suddenly flushed face and a disheveled appearance, the guys in the hall whistled and mocked him, but that was not what was important right now.
Yurik glared sharply at the men in the hall. His appearance alone, no longer that of the noble lord who had been so miserably treated just a moment ago, but that of a perfect alpha, made everyone flinch and fall silent for a moment. Yurik scanned the room and quickly threw open the worn-out door at the entrance.
He wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible, write a letter of refusal to Karon’s (of the goddamn Chevinelle family) marriage proposal, and throw it in his face.
Yurik stormed back through the dark alley, his anger surging. The dirty and squalid street no longer registered in his eyes. His mind was completely consumed by the prodigal son of the empire who was holding an omega and engaging in lewd acts! That goddamn Karon Chevinelle, that rake of a son of a bitch.
“Damn it!”
Unable to control his anger, Yurik stomped his foot as he walked, swallowing the curses that rose to his throat. Then he began to take slow, deep breaths.
Excessive anger does not suit the dignity of a noble. Be cold and rational. Calm the anger. Yurik thought of the Windsor family. A family as fierce as the blizzards that blow in the north, yet one that storms more coolly and quietly than anything else. Yes. He was the heir to such a family. Yurik squeezed his eyes shut and let out a deep breath.
Only then did his senses begin to return. Once he had calmed down to some extent, Yurik began to tidy his clothes, heading quickly towards the mansion with an elegant gait.
However, just as a swan is graceful on the surface of the water while paddling frantically underneath, contrary to his neat and cool-headed appearance, Yurik’s mind was endlessly complicated.
Just how was he supposed to resolve this situation?
The family was on the verge of ruin, and if they could not repay the debt, they were in a position where the mansion in the capital would be taken first. If things went wrong, they might not be able to pay it all off even if they sold their territory. The prestigious and lofty Windsor family would fall to the bottom, unable to protect its honor as a family of meritorious retainers.
What should he do? Yurik unknowingly bit his lip.
Yurik could never tolerate it. He would rather die than see his reputation and dignity, and the lofty name of his family, disappear so wretchedly during his time.
Yurik clenched his teeth hard.
As he walked slowly down the street, the cold night wind awakened his reason. Then, the lingering attachments in a corner of his heart began to surface and whisper.
What are you going to do if you just go back like this, Yuri.
The whispering voice is as devilishly seductive as a fox. It endlessly unraveled the things he was subconsciously worried about.
It was truly time for him to worry about the current situation. It was not the time to be angry about being insulted. It was a time to bow his head, however miserable it was. In front of the person who might marry him, whether the other party was playing around with an omega, or bent over and screwing passionately, whatever he was doing, he had to persuade him to marry him and not the omega. For the benefit of both their families.
But…….
Another voice whispers from one side.
He is the one who sent a carriage full of Pleonia flowers for the proposal. Even while he was playing around like a rake, he was sending a proposal to the family with a noble attitude. And of all things, his pheromones……. Yurik stopped in his tracks.
Pleonia.
When he got to the mansion, the flowers that man had sent were decorating every corner. The scent would fill the air, and he, he……. Now that he had confirmed that the man’s pheromone scent was that of Pleonia flowers, he would not be able to simply smell it.
Yes, that was the problem. A very big problem. The fact that the man was, goddammit, his first love, and a one-sided one at that, was a very big and dirty problem!
Yurik wiped his face with a dry hand.
Arriving at the mansion, Yurik, as expected, was reminded of Karon’s close face and breath in the house filled with the scent of Pleonia. His face contorted as if he had remembered something foul.
“Damn it…….”
Finally unable to hold it in, he muttered a small curse, and the butler and servant attending him flinched and made eye contact. Their glances held a certain meaning.
‘The young master seems angry right now, doesn’t he?’
‘He is angry, don’t provoke him. Be careful.’
After exchanging glances, the two men attended to Yurik in silence. After changing his clothes in his room, Yurik called a maid and ordered her to remove the Pleonia flowers that were also placed in his room.
“Why is the young master so angry……?”
One maid asked the butler as she came out carrying the entire vase.
The butler clicked his tongue and gestured for the whispering maids to leave.
‘Things didn’t go well.’
The butler fully understood his master’s distress.
It feels like that man’s pheromones are still on my body. Yurik sniffed his own body, but couldn’t distinguish anything because of the Pleonia scent filling the house, so he frowned and collapsed onto the bed.
And he thought.
What on earth should I do.
His head was a mess.
He had intended to marry him, and he had intended to tell Karon the truth to some extent and ask for his help. He thought that a rake like him would find it a rather interesting proposal and accept it.
“Ugh…….”
But was that just a simple thought? Damn it. The way vulgar words keep popping out without thinking, something is wrong with him. Yurik placed a hand on his forehead, feeling a fever coming on. Did that goddamn alpha stimulate his own pheromone glands……? He even had such a strange thought. His cheeks felt strangely hot. Damn it.
For the Windsor family, there are many potential marriage partners other than the ducal house of Chevinelle. But to take on and pay off that much debt…….
He’s a guy who openly parades an omega around for all to see, so it was obvious what married life would be like with such a guy. It would be very, very painful. Especially for him. Yurik buried his face in a pillow and swallowed a groan. The heat kept building up.
“Huuuh…….”
But the amount of money the Chevinelle family promised to send as a dowry is also not easy to give up. It was an enormous sum. An amount enough to pay off all the debts and have some left over! With that, he wouldn’t have to sell the mansion! The outrageous rumor that the Windsor family had gone completely bankrupt wouldn’t circulate in high society!
But it was ruined. Everything was ruined. This is all because of that goddamn Karon Chevinelle.
“Haah…….”
Yurik let out a hot breath with a flushed face. He roughly tore off the pajamas he had put on and buried himself deep in the bed. His thoughts began to drift away.
Yurik blinked. He reached out and fumbled around on the bedside table. There should be a calendar marking the date, but he couldn’t get his hands on it. Come to think of it, his rut period was coming up soon.
Damn it, because of that Karon guy…….
His own rut had started.
Karon left the house after staying secluded for a week. If he took the medicine, it would usually calm down within four days, but he deliberately killed more time at the Devery Club before coming out. It was to avoid bothersome invitations to banquets and the advances of omegas.
Furthermore, with the victory banquet not far off, young ladies and omegas vying for the position of his partner were piled up like a mountain, loitering in front of his mansion. Karon, knowing this well, chose to hole up at the Devery Club.
When Karon returned to the Chevinelle family townhouse through the back door after a week, the butler, Ash, greeted him warmly.
“It’s been a while, young master.”
Seeing him smile warmly, Karon casually took off his coat and raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s skip such greetings after just a week. It’s only been a week since I returned from the southern front, and it feels like I’m just returning from there again.”
Ash smiled with his usual deadpan face. Karon walked with long strides, giving a cursory wave to the maids he saw, then stopped as if he had forgotten something and looked back. Ash, who was following him, looked at him as if asking what was wrong.
“Ash, I need to send a message to the Windsor family.”
“To the Windsor family, you say?”
“Yes. To the young lord there.”
“Ah, yes. But that person….”
“Hmm?”
Karon, who had turned his back, turned to look at Ash again when Ash trailed off. Looking at Ash stroking his chin in embarrassment as if something was wrong, Karon asked Ash with a look of suspicion.
“Did something happen to him? Is he sick in bed, or hurting somewhere.”
“Ah, yes. How did you know? I heard that he has been on leave from the imperial palace for the past week and is resting. As you know, Lord Windsor is someone about whom rumors abound, so there’s talk from here and there…….”
“…….”
Karon touched his forehead and let out a small sigh. Something must have happened after that day. He had intended to apologize, but it seemed he would have to do it sooner. Karon sighed and said to Ash.
“Ash, send a message to the Windsor family. Tell them I will visit in the afternoon.”
“Today, you mean?”
“Yes. The younger brother’s prospective fiancé is visiting, so well, with the young lord not being in good condition right now, it might be rude, but, um…….”
“It would indeed be rude…….”
“Since when did I care about such things.”
“What if the Windsor family refuses?”
“I’ll just say I didn’t hear them.”
“So you’re determined to visit, come what may.”
“To see the face of my prospective fiancé as well.”
And to apologize, too. Killing two birds with one stone. Karon grinned and turned his back. Watching Karon stride back towards his room, Ash let out a sigh.
Yurik was dying, groaning in bed. Funnily enough, perhaps because he had faced a tremendously shocking situation along with his rut, he had also come down with a body ache.
“Young Count, are, are you alright?”
Through his blurry vision, he felt a white hand, much smaller than his own, about to touch his face. Yurik, out of revulsion, grimaced and reflexively slapped the hand away. As he sat up, a pretty male omega with a deathly pale face was bowing his head by his bedside, clutching the hand Yurik had struck.
“Arianen, when did I say you could come in?”
“Th-that is…….”
“Arianen.”
He was an omega his parents had assigned to him ever since he presented as an alpha. He was a child who had presented as a dominant omega despite being a commoner, so when they found him, Yurik’s mother, in a rather nasty manner befitting a noble, thought of using the child.
‘From now on, Yuri’s rut will not be a problem. We can use this child. Don’t worry even if he gets pregnant. Since he’s a dominant, the child will be useful if born.’
His mother’s “ho ho ho” laughter echoed so much in his ears that, although Yurik loved his mother, at that time he hated the words of his mother, who was armed to the teeth with a noble’s mindset.
My god, to encourage having an illegitimate child. And to throw a person at him like a toy, telling him to do as he pleased with this small commoner child during every rut!
That remained a great trauma for the young Yurik.
“The butler…… gave me permission to enter.”
Arianen raised his head and gave a faint smile with his pale cheeks.
Since then, Yurik had endured his ruts alone, never giving Arianen a second glance. He kept Arianen by his side, unable to resist the encouragement and gazes of his parents, and the words that every noble supposedly says, but Yurik had no intention of carelessly embracing Arianen just to relieve his own rut.
However, Arianen’s thoughts were different. As a commoner child, he was very well aware of his situation and had ambitions. Yurik had read that in the child’s eyes, and for that reason, he loathed and disliked Arianen.
“Without me, you will be in pain, Young Count……. I will help you.”
The hand reaching out, trembling, is slender and white. The scent that the omega bursts out with is a familiar rose scent. Yurik pinched his nose and grabbed Arianen by the scruff of his neck, pulling him closer.
“You, what did I say I would do if you pulled this kind of stunt again?”
Arianen bit his lip, his face turning ashen. His wavering eyes looked as if they would burst into tears at any moment as he looked at Yurik, but Yurik did not fall for it. He knew best, through the past years, that Arianen’s greatest weapon was his tears.
“Don’t pretend to cry again. It makes me want to break that slender neck of yours.”
“Young Count, how could you… to me…….”
Arianen clenched his lips. Tears welled up in his large eyes. Just as they were about to fall, a knock sounded on Yurik’s door. Yurik glared at Arianen, let go of him as if throwing him, and then said.
“Come in.”
The person who entered was the butler. He paused upon seeing Arianen, his brow furrowing for a moment, but then, as if he had something more urgent, he spoke to Yurik first.
“Young master, there is something you need to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“A message has arrived, but, that is….”
“From whom?”
“It is a message of a visit. Lord Karon Chevinelle says he has already arrived in front of the mansion……!”
“What…!”
“Young master!”
“Young Count!”
Startled, Yurik shot up from the bed and stumbled. Both the butler and Arianen rushed to support him, afraid he would fall. Yurik raised a hand as if to say he was fine and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Who, who is coming?”
“Lord Karon…… Chevinelle.”
“I’m sure I said I wasn’t receiving guests…….”
“He forced his way in without restraint….”
“Hah…….”
Yurik clutched his forehead. Goddamn Karon Chevinelle! Does that man leave his manners and formalities in a drawer at home!
Thanks to him, Yurik was about to greet a guest in his pajamas. Yurik gritted his teeth and commanded the butler.
“For now…… show him in. And help me get ready.”
“Yes, I understand. And Arianen. This way.”
As the situation unfolded rapidly, Arianen, who had been listening quietly while holding his breath, was startled by the butler’s call and huddled his body.
Karon, accompanied by only one escort knight, waited in front of the beautiful mansion for someone to come out and greet him.
The mansion, in full bloom with roses, was beautiful enough to be counted among the top townhouses in the capital. Of course, that was the extent of Karon’s impression. What’s so great about a beautiful house? First and foremost, it has to be comfortable to live in. This winding and seemingly spacious mansion looked difficult even to enter the main building after crossing the garden.
As Karon was observing the white fountain beyond the pointed iron fence with an indifferent gaze, his escort knight spoke to him.
“By the way, Your Grace.”
“Speak.”
“Is it really alright to…… force our way in like this? I heard the heir of the Windsor family is currently ill.”
“What, has that rumor reached your ears as well?”
“When it comes to the great northern noble, Lord Yurik Windsor, even what he had for dinner last night becomes a rumor.”
“What did he have yesterday?”
“No, I mean, that’s just an expression…….”
Karon crossed his arms behind his back and snorted with a laugh.
“It’s a common excuse when you don’t want to see people. I use it often myself. It’s a way of saying, ‘don’t come looking for me.’”
“To whom are you referring?”
“Usually to people like me, right? To those with whom one has a tangled, complicated history?”
“……Someone might misunderstand if they heard you.”
“What’s there to misunderstand.”
Karon smiled and looked ahead. In the distance, he could see the butler, accompanied by a servant, walking, almost running, in a fluster.
“Huff, huff……! W-welcome, Your Grace, Karon Chevinelle. I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting. However, as the Windsor family is not receiving guests at the moment…….”
The butler, sweating profusely, tried to fend him off once more. Karon looked at the butler askance.
“I heard the Young Count is ill, and I also heard the Count and Countess are away on a trip, which means my prospective fiancé should at least come out to greet his prospective fiancé, but the butler came out instead.”
“Y-Your Grace.”
“In that case, what choice do I have. I have no choice but to visit him in person. I have something to apologize to the Young Count for anyway.”
Karon pushed aside the butler blocking his way with one hand and pushed his way into the mansion.
There was no one who could stop the bulldozer that he was. In the end, the butler, the escort knight, and the servant followed Karon as he strode into the mansion.
The well-decorated mansion was filled with the rich scent of roses. Karon furrowed his brow as he passed through the garden.
Wouldn’t a subtle floral scent like Pleonia be better than the scent of roses.
With that thought, he entered the beautifully decorated lobby of the mansion to find the Pleonias he had sent decorating every corner. Karon saw it and smirked.
However, a guest has arrived at the mansion, but the master of the house is nowhere to be seen. Karon narrowed his eyes and looked around the mansion.
It feels strangely quiet……. Why could that be?
“Is my prospective fiancé not at the mansion?”
As he was asking the butler that, he heard a presence on the stairs. Karon turned his head.
Just then, Yurik was coming down from the second floor. Yurik, who had hurriedly changed into a comfortable blouse, met Karon’s eyes and stopped in his tracks.
His platinum blond hair, white skin, and blue eyes seemed even colder under the lighting. His complexion was pale.
Anyone could see he looked sick enough to collapse at any moment, but that also made him look subtly strong, and made one want to provoke him, so Karon licked his lips as he looked at him.
“You certainly make an entrance befitting your reputation, Lord Chevinelle.”
“And what would that be, Lord Windsor?”
“I doubt you are unaware. Do I really need to waste my breath explaining it to you?”
“I’ve never heard any rumors that the hospitality of the Windsor family is so poor, but experiencing it is quite different, isn’t it?”
“We don’t consider sudden visitors as guests. Well, since you’re here, you might as well have a cup of tea. Butler, guide him to the drawing-room.”
Yurik commanded briefly and turned his body. Karon shrugged at Yurik. The mansion really resembled Yurik. Unusually quiet, elegant, and subtly sexy.
And one question remained. Where is the prospective fiancé, Sehil Windsor?
As he headed to the drawing-room, Karon covered his nose at the strong scent of an omega that hit him. A vulgar rose scent. It seemed that everyone else, being betas, couldn’t smell it, but his escort knight who followed him also wrinkled his nose.
Karon turned his head and looked towards where the pheromones were coming from. There was a man at the corner where the drawing room turned. The pretty man looked at Karon and smiled with a peculiar expression.
‘An omega?’
Ha, he acted so pure and dignified, but I guess an alpha is an alpha after all. It was his rut period.
So he caught the alpha’s rut period and was sick for a whole week. And during that time, did he embrace that omega? Karon suddenly felt his mood turn foul at the thought of Yurik tumbling around with an omega.
Even though he himself spent his rut with an omega, he looked at me like I was some kind of rake…….
‘Well, that part is true.’
He had to admit what he had to admit. Karon clicked his tongue and headed for the drawing room. Until then, the omega man was still emitting pheromones and staring at him. As if…… he wanted Karon to look at him.
Karon’s mind was working quickly. That man must have smelled Yurik’s pheromones, right? The scent he smelled now did not have the scent of an alpha. That made him even more curious.
When Karon’s gaze turned to the omega, the butler who was guiding him felt the gaze and spotted the omega. The butler was startled and called out to him.
“Arianen, what are you doing here?”
‘Arianen?’
He was a male omega with a name like a noble young lady. Karon observed him quietly.
‘Let’s see. Is he a noble?’
If he were a noble omega, there is no way Karon would not know him. And there is no way he would be glaring at him like that. Because Karon was, by his own and others’ admission, the living romance of the empire and the alpha of alphas, called the incarnation of the sun god Robertst.
When the butler called him, Arianen, who had been staring blankly at Karon, flinched and finally looked back at the butler.
The way he blinked his eyelashes slowly made Karon think of a fluttering butterfly. To think he had such a graceful noble omega with him.
Karon wanted to laugh at Yurik’s pretense of being noble right away.
Everyone plays dirty, so who are you to say someone’s dick is small, or that they come in dribs and drabs? (He didn’t say it out loud, but it was subtly weighing on his mind.)
But on the other hand, he also had such thoughts. That the man with those blue, blue eyes like morning dew, would pin down that omega and let out moans. He could not imagine it at all. On the contrary, on the contrary…….
“Ahem.”
Karon brought his thoughts back to order. He had been rolling around on the battlefield for so long that his unconscious mind was now undressing and playing with an alpha at will. In his head, of course.
When Karon cleared his throat, Arianen flinched in surprise, looked at him, and hunched his shoulders. His appearance was the very picture of a frightened omega.
His trembling green eyes were filled with melancholy, and his platinum blond hair flowed down lightly. White skin and platinum blond hair. And green eyes. It reminded him of Yurik, but he was completely different from Yurik.
The butler clicked his tongue and said to Arianen.
“Arianen, we have a guest right now, so go back immediately. Your duty is over.”
The butler spoke more firmly than expected. Arianen couldn’t even answer and just nodded his head with a pale face. The sight seemed quite overbearing, so Karon stopped the butler.
“I am fine. This is not my house, after all. I cannot tell someone else’s omega to come and go.”
“……I think you have misunderstood something.”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? There is no such thing.”
Karon patted the butler’s shoulder and grinned at Arianen. Arianen’s large eyes widened as he looked at Karon, his eyes trembling as if moved to tears.
Seeing the butler speak down to him, it seemed he was not a noble omega. Karon winked at him in greeting and strode into the drawing room.
Behind him, the butler looked at Arianen with a displeased face before following Karon in. Arianen stood like a dried-up old tree on the floor, staring at Karon’s back.
Arianen’s heart was pounding. He cautiously placed a hand on his chest. Feeling the pounding of his heart, his face flushed red.
“Arianen?”
Just then, a low voice echoed in Arianen’s ear. Arianen flinched in surprise and raised his head.
Yurik was looking at him with an indifferent face, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Arianen hurriedly bowed his waist in greeting.
“Young Count……!”
“Why are you still in the mansion?”
“Ah, I, that, that is……!”
“Go back. We have a guest. You know your way out, right?”
“The, the back door!”
Arianen shouted with a nervous face. Then he covered his mouth with a gasp and glanced around cautiously.
It was in case someone in the drawing room had heard him. Yurik did not seem to care about that and just gestured for Arianen to leave with a slightly annoyed face before entering the drawing room.
Arianen bowed to Yurik and scurried out of the hallway. Behind him, the gazes of the whispering maids and servants followed him.
“What a nerve…….”
“Kids like that are always…….”
Whispering voices. Arianen hunched his shoulders as he walked, then gradually straightened his back.
His face, which had been full of shyness and embarrassment, had turned cold. Arianen stopped walking and looked back.
The mansion wrapped in a large rose bush. The young duke, Karon Chevinelle, whom he had just met. And Yurik Windsor.
Yurik Windsor had never slept with him, a commoner.
The only pride Arianen had was the superficial title of being Yurik Windsor’s rut partner and knowing his pheromones. That was all.
‘Karon Chevinelle.’
Arianen wanted to change his fate. Through Yurik Windsor.
The servants, who were also commoners, seemed to have roughly guessed his dark intentions, but the high-born nobles did not even pay attention. Yurik Windsor, that man, too.
‘A ducal family is better than a count’s family, if I have a choice.’
The face of Karon Chevinelle he had seen earlier came to mind. Golden eyes and slightly tanned skin, and muscles that were sensually prominent even through his clothes.
He had a perfect body at a glance. He was the ultimate alpha. He could feel it instinctively.
Arianen knew about the Windsor family’s situation and Yurik’s intentions. He knew how to make deals and calculations.
As his mind raced, Arianen hummed a tune. He thought that if things went well, he might not become the main wife of the Chevinelle family, but he could at least become a mistress.
Yurik hurriedly changed his clothes, came out, and gritted his teeth as he walked. That bastard Karon Chevinelle just doesn’t listen.
He knew he was self-centered, but he had never known he was such an ill-mannered, impolite, and un-aristocratic fellow who would come to visit so willfully even after being told he was not receiving guests. Of course! He knew! He knew! But still! He could not help being angry.
Yurik strode towards the drawing room. He was not a childish and immature young noble who would openly show his anger, so he intended to let out all his anger while heading to the drawing room and enter the drawing room gracefully.
On his way in, he ran into Arianen, whom he thought had already left, but that was not his main concern. The important thing now was Karon Chevinelle, him.
Yurik took a deep breath in front of the door. He would not get excited and angry when he went in.
After making that promise to himself, he gestured to the waiting servant. The servant gave a light nod and opened the drawing room door.
Inside the lavishly decorated drawing room, Karon was sitting on the sofa as if he were the master of the place, savoring the aroma of the tea a maid was pouring.
When Yurik entered, Karon lifted his chin and smiled arrogantly (a smile that definitely looked arrogant from Yurik’s perspective. Karon was just smiling welcomingly), and waved his hand in a very un-aristocratic manner.
“Hey, Yuri. I missed you.”
“Calling me by an unpermitted nickname seems to be the latest trend in conversation.”
It was a roundabout way of saying, where did you throw away all your noble etiquette to be acting like this?
When Yurik sat down opposite him with a straight posture, his back stiff, Karon leaned back deeply, stretching his arm on the backrest, and smiled.
“It’s just the modern generation’s way of expressing friendliness. I’m quite good at keeping up with such things.”
Yurik’s eyebrow twitched at Karon’s words, who winked while cutely crooking his finger. That remark meant, you’re so old you can’t even keep up with the latest trends.
Yurik clenched his teeth, then slowly closed and opened his eyes. There was no need to argue with this man right now.
“What business brings you here.”
“I came to see my precious prospective fiancé.”
At Karon’s words, all the servants and maids in the drawing room, the butler, and even Yurik stared at Karon with wide eyes as if he had uttered a taboo word. At the collected stares, Karon narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
“What is it? Right now?”
Yurik cleared his throat and looked away.
“……Sehil is out for a while.”
“Then I’ll wait until he returns.”
“He has gone up to the territory for a while and I don’t know when he will be back, so please leave for today.”
“When is he coming back? I would like to see my prospective fiancé’s face before the victory banquet, you see?”
“…….”
Yurik swallowed dryly and lowered his gaze. Ha, this is why he had tried to tell him in advance that day, but everything had gone wrong.
He could feel the butler and the servants glancing at Yurik with anxious eyes. Yurik massaged his throbbing forehead.
“Please leave for today. You won’t be able to meet him anyway, and the engagement isn’t confirmed, is it?”
He didn’t know why this Karon bastard, who was a mess when he himself was all ready, was now making such a fuss.
Yurik let out a sigh. Karon looked at the pale, hardened Yurik, then crossed his legs and propped up his chin.
“Why do you say it’s not confirmed?”
“Ha, after showing such a disgraceful sight, you intend to proceed with the engagement.”
“It’s the same for both of us. Right now….”
Karon stopped himself. Come to think of it, seeing Arianen just now was not something he could hold against Yurik.
His marriage partner was not Yurik, but his younger brother, the omega Sehil Windsor. Karon reminded himself of that fact and shrugged his shoulders. He thought to himself. Why was I about to argue?
Yurik’s wounded pride had not yet recovered. While he was sick with his rut and body aches, his mind was focused on reviving his ruined family, but his nose had not been broken yet, so to speak.
Yurik lifted his chin and looked down at Karon with the arrogant gaze of a noble.
“Let’s think about the engagement a little more. It concerns my beloved younger brother, so I cannot easily decide after seeing such a sight.”
Actually, no. Your partner is me. So you have to decide. Whether to do it or not.
He wanted to say it out loud. But there was too much at stake. His dignity, the dignity of his family, gossip, gossip, gossip……. Yurik screamed inwardly.
Karon looked at Yurik’s face and tilted his head.
He looks to be in very bad shape. While Yurik was lost in thought, Karon approached him and placed a hand on Yurik’s pale face.
It was an unconscious action to check for a fever on his forehead. Yurik could do nothing but stare at Karon with wide eyes.
Karon nonchalantly placed his hand on his own forehead and then on Yurik’s, alternating between them to check his temperature, and frowned.
“It’s too hot. You, it wasn’t just your rut, you were really not feeling well.”
“…….”
Yurik’s mouth just hung open, unable to say a word. All the attendants watching were about to be shocked out of their wits, but no one could even make a sound.
My god, to think there was someone who would touch the body of that Yurik Windsor first.
In terms of appearance alone, it was as beautiful as a painting. So much so that the maids blushed.
The handsome man Karon with his tanned skin and sexy red hair, and the ascetic handsome man with platinum blond hair and blue eyes, were close together. Just looking at them was enough to make one’s mouth water and feast one’s eyes.
The maids screamed inwardly, and so did Yurik.
Yurik felt his earlobes flush in an instant. And he pushed away Karon, who was calmly checking his temperature in front of him and tilting his head innocently. Karon, who was momentarily pushed back onto the sofa, opened his eyes wide, then raised his eyebrows when he saw Yurik’s expression.
“Oh dear, I was rude. To touch the Young Count’s body so carelessly, I’ve been rolling on the battlefield for so long that my etiquette…… Young Count?”
“Th…… th…… please leave!”
Yurik shot up. His face was flushed red as if he had a fever, and Yurik hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand and turned his head away.
Karon blinked in confusion, but Yurik fled the drawing room as if running away.
In the end, Karon was kicked out of the elegant mansion where roses were in full bloom.
No, let’s be precise. He was ‘sent out’ as if he had been kicked out. Who wouldn’t leave when given the boot in such a roundabout way, but he felt uneasy that he couldn’t even have a proper cup of tea and couldn’t even properly apologize for what happened back then.
The knight next to him chided him.
“That is your fault, master.”
“What did I do.”
“……A statement befitting the rake of the empire, indeed.”
“What did I do!”
Karon shouted in frustration, but the knight did not listen and took the reins, moving forward with a clatter. Karon huffed in frustration.
Why is it his fault that Yurik is angry? He came to apologize, and was it so wrong to want to see his prospective fiancé before the engagement, since they were going to get engaged anyway?
Karon had seriously misunderstood, and had not even considered that he had approached Yurik without proper etiquette.
Because to him, an alpha was not an object of such emotions at all. He was just worried because his unusually pale face looked tired and his red lips were chapped.
To think he was worried about an alpha, of all things, not even an omega. Karon snorted, thinking he had done something unnecessary.
And so, like a spurned wife, he was returning home late at night, alone and lonely, without even seeing his prospective fiancé.
Karon felt his mood sink. Because he remembered Yurik’s eyes looking at him. No, Yurik’s face avoiding him.
He had wanted to touch that rustling platinum blond hair once, and it was as soft as he had expected. He had only brushed it once with the back of his hand, but what would it feel like to sweep it back and leave a kiss on that smooth forehead?
Karon rode his horse, having and then erasing useless thoughts.
Lately, he had been having all sorts of strange thoughts about an alpha. And about his prospective fiancé’s hyung, at that.
“I’m definitely sexually frustrated lately.”
“Pardon?”
The knight picked his ear as if he had misheard. At his insolent attitude, Karon clicked his tongue and slapped the back of the knight’s head with a sour expression.
“No, the young duke, the young duke is sexually frustrated? Grab any citizen of the empire on the street and ask them. Three out of three will give you the same answer, right? That man?”
“That man?”
“A slip of the tongue.”
“You make slips of the tongue very familiarly, don’t you?”
The knight clamped his mouth shut.
Karon glared at the knight and spurred his horse. Anyway, the meeting fell through, so his work for the day was also over.
It was still a long day to return to the townhouse, so he thought about going to Madame Devery’s Club.
But it was then. He saw a familiar platinum blond hair in a distant alley.
Karon, who was riding his horse, came to a stop. There was a figure standing under a streetlamp as if waiting.
Platinum blond hair, but not a brilliant light like Yurik’s, but with a more yellowish golden hue. And a rose scent that subtly tickled his nose. Karon frowned.
It was the person he had seen at the Windsor family mansion earlier. Arianen.
The man with a doll-like white face seemed to be waiting for someone, looking ahead, then flinched in surprise when he spotted Karon. Then he glanced around and began to approach with short steps. The knight asked.
“What should we do?”
“Leave him be. He is a servant of the Windsor family.”
“Yes.”
The knight took a step back. Karon looked down at the approaching Arianen. Arianen, who approached Karon on his huge black horse, trembled as if he was afraid of the horse, but he approached while watching Karon’s expression and bent his knees gracefully in greeting like a noble.
“Greetings to the young duke. I am Arianen.”
“Yes, what business do you have waiting for me?”
“Ah, that, that is, I was not waiting for the young duke….”
Karon smirked. It was obvious he was waiting for him. He saw his face light up as soon as he saw him.
Karon’s face hardened in an instant as he looked at Arianen. Arianen swallowed dryly and bowed his head.
“Y-yes, that’s right. I was waiting for the young duke. I, I…….”
Arianen, as if he had a truly important, a very grave secret, clasped his hands to his chest, looked around, and caught his breath.
And as if he absolutely had to convey this to Karon, as if he could not stand by and let this be hidden, he looked at Karon and said.
“I know…… your real engagement partner.”
One of Karon’s eyebrows twitched. Arianen, gaining confidence from Karon’s silence, took a step closer and said in a whisper.
“Make me, make me your partner. Just once is fine. If you do, I will tell you who your real fiancé is.”
Arianen smiled with a slight eye-smile. He was confident. Confident that with just one time, he could have the young duke in his arms.
Yurik went to work at the imperial palace for the first time in a long while. It was his first day back after taking a week and a full day off.
Blatant stares followed him wherever he went, but he expertly put up an invisible barrier in front of him and deflected them all.
Those who received his cool gaze could not dare to approach him or stop him. Yurik arrived at the chief aide’s office very quickly and swiftly.
“It’s been a while, Lord Yurik. Are you feeling alright?”
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Gwen. I am fine, thanks to you.”
Demil Gwen, one of his fellow chief aides, welcomed Yurik, whom he had not seen in a long time. Seeing his smiling face that exuded a sense of ease, Yurik felt a sense of relief in his heart.
It was a sense of relief that came from familiarity. Soon after, when he met another chief aide, Lord Delrode, who had arrived, he could breathe again.
“Lord Yurik, seeing you so haggard makes my heart ache even more.”
The plump Lord Delrode handed over a bundle of snacks and worried about Yurik’s well-being. Yurik was moved by his cozy appearance and warm heart. Just by that bundle of snacks. By that thing he doesn’t even eat!
“Thank you very much, Lord Delrode. You are indeed…… as warm-hearted as you look.”