“Mihail… Hey, Mihail!”
From behind, Ilya hurried after him, calling out repeatedly. But Mihail strode forward with long steps, heading straight for his destination. The moment he arrived, Mihail opened the box on the desk and took out a single strand of thin, pitifully coarse brown hair. He brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply.
“Mihail, what are you… doing right now?”
Ilya, who had arrived a moment later, asked in disbelief at the sight—but his voice never quite reached Mihail’s ears.
After savoring the faint scent lingering on the hair to the fullest, Mihail suddenly bared one side of his teeth and let out a long laugh. His eyes were narrowed as he smiled, looking thoroughly pleased.
“Of all places inside this castle, you chose the one place I would never go to build your nest. Very clever.”
Mihail muttered as he pictured his prey—pathetically small and weak, yet sly and cunning beyond measure. By now, he had grasped all the usual routes the creature frequented and the places where it lingered, even if only briefly. And yet, it never once revealed itself. Though he hadn’t entered a full-fledged pursuit purely for amusement, evading Mihail’s eyes to that degree within the inner castle alone was an impressive feat.
Earlier, when a sudden reverse wind had slammed Nile’s pheromones straight into him, there had been that instant flare of irritation—and mixed faintly within those pheromones, brushing against his nose, the creature’s bitter scent….
For someone who erased their traces with near-obsessive meticulousness, their scent had seeped quite thoroughly into Nile’s hair and even the edges of his clothes. Which meant one thing: the creature had either built its nest inside Nile’s quarters, hiding there, or was using that place as a primary base of operations.
And frankly, Mihail was growing tired of merely herding it from a distance. It was time to close in and pursue it in earnest. How desperately that small, fragile thing would struggle to shake him off. How ragged its breathing would become. And finally, how it would feel to watch it collapse in exhaustion, surrendering, staring up at Mihail as he calmly approached….
Just imagining it made every nerve in his body bristle; his heart pounded so violently with pleasurable anticipation and excitement it felt as though it might shatter his ribs.
Mihail carefully placed the single strand of hair back onto the velvet lining inside the box and closed the lid. Then he turned toward Ilya, who was wearing a thoroughly unsettled expression, and drove the point home once more.
“Tell them I’ll be having tea at Nile’s quarters tomorrow. Tell them to be prepared.”
“…All right.”
Ilya answered a half-beat late, his face full of questions.
With his heat cycle drawing near, Nile’s quarters would be filled with thick, intense pheromones. Any ordinary alpha would lose their reason the moment they stepped inside. Of course, to Mihail, an omega’s pheromones—setting aside any physical response—were nothing more than a stench worse than a sewer.
Ordinarily, voluntarily walking into a place where a repulsive existence spewed such a reek would be sheer madness—something he would never do. But this time was different. This was a hunt. And not just any hunt, but an important one. When pursuing prey, leaping into a mud swamp that soaks the body, stepping on and handling animal filth—those things mean nothing. The only thing that matters is chasing the prey.
“Still, Mihail.”
Ilya crossed his arms and approached with a deliberately serious expression. Before he could voice his doubts and become a nuisance, Mihail sharply turned away and headed for the study reserved for his use alone. Today, too, he intended to search for whatever traces the creature might have left behind.
“Ngk….”
As they carefully laid him down on the bed, a suppressed groan slipped out. The maids, well aware of what an omega nearing their heat cycle could be like, swiftly removed Nile’s outer garments and loosened every constricting tie, trying to make him even a little more comfortable. Nile curled his body tightly, as if every touch and brush against his skin was an unbearable stimulus, breathing in short, heated gasps.
“Shall we call a physician?”
Even without touching his forehead, the heat radiating from his flushed face and breath was obvious. One maid asked with a worried look. But the head maid quietly shook her head. There was no way to ease the pain of enduring a heat cycle alone. And surely they couldn’t administer suppressants to an expensive omega brought across territories to bear an heir.
“…Ugh… nn….”
The aftermath of his close contact with Mihail, a Dominant Alpha, seemed far more severe than expected. When Nile’s condition showed no sign of improving even after some time, the head maid finally summoned a physician and had him given a sleeping draught. If he could fall into a deep sleep, at least his suffering would lessen for that moment.
Only after swallowing a far larger dose than an ordinary human would require did Nile finally drift into sleep. His flushed face and feverish breathing gradually began to subside, very slowly, in step with his deepening slumber. Relieved at last, the maids changed his clothes soaked through with cold sweat and carefully wiped his hands, face, and body clean while he slept.
The maids were utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, feeling as though a single tea time had turned into a major ordeal. As they leaned against the wall at the corner of the room, resting briefly, Nile slowly opened his eyes despite the amount of sleeping medicine he had taken.
“Lord Nile. How are you feeling?”
When the head maid approached and asked, Nile faintly furrowed his brow. He still looked worn and strained—but he was in far better shape than before.
“I want to rest quietly. Please, everyone, leave.”
Nile murmured in a small, whispering voice. The head maid nodded and, with a gesture, gathered the maids and led them out of the room.
At last, Nile was left alone in the empty room. He let out a long, heavy sigh. Even that breath still carried a sense of heat. The presence of a Dominant Alpha was truly overwhelming—if the Duke had been even a moment slower to push him away earlier, he might have lost all reason and rubbed his body against him.
How long had he lain there alone? The air in the room seemed to ripple slightly, and soon Chaika approached the bedside.
“You look really bad.”
At Chaika’s words, Nile barely managed a weak smile, as though he didn’t even have the strength to move a finger. Chaika took a cloth from the bedside table and carefully wiped away the cold sweat beading on Nile’s forehead as he asked,
“How was it?”
“Now I know exactly why a Dominant Alpha is called a Dominant Alpha.”
Murmuring as though even speaking was difficult, Nile let out a breath that sounded as if the experience had been horrific.
“And?”
“…He said he’d come to my quarters for tea tomorrow. Told me to prepare.”
At Nile’s answer, one corner of Chaika’s mouth tilted upward. Between the coarse, shaggy brown hair, his violet eyes glinted with satisfaction.
“He’s… different, Chaika. He’s not just a little better than ordinary alphas. He’s….”
Nile trailed off, as though recalling the tea time from earlier and its aftermath, then continued.
“When he comes here tomorrow, I can’t be sure I’ll be able to keep my reason.”
As he said that, Nile slowly swept his gaze around his quarters. The room, elegantly and lavishly decorated, was fairly spacious—but even if they stood at opposite ends of it, it wasn’t large enough to escape the Duke’s presence.
“It would be hard even under normal circumstances. With your heat cycle so close, that’s only natural.”
Speaking with understanding, Chaika reached into his clothes and took out a bundle of papers. As he peeled away the layers of thin oil paper, a small lump of black medicine appeared.
“Take this as soon as you wake up tomorrow morning.”
“…If I take suppressants, won’t he notice?”
“Don’t worry. I got it from Andre. He said it was specially prepared, so there’s no way he’ll notice. Besides, it barely suppresses the heat cycle at all. You’ll still suffer, and it’ll still be hard—but it’ll let you keep your reason to the very end.”
Nile’s expression visibly brightened.
An omega at the peak of their heat cycle would tangle with any alpha that lunged at them, no matter who it was. They became nothing more than a creature driven solely by the instinct to mate. Even though that was how omegas were born, it didn’t mean they were without shame. The shame that came crashing down after losing one’s reason and coming to afterward was beyond words.
With a relieved look, Nile accepted the medicine and hid it beneath his pillow. Even the friction caused by sliding his hand deep under the pillow and pulling it back out seemed agonizing—Nile clenched his teeth tightly. At this point, even a breeze brushing his skin or the touch of thin fabric was enough to overstimulate his senses unbearably.
Chaika glanced around the room, then brought over the bottle of sleeping medicine the physician had left behind. Perhaps because Nile might soon conceive an heir, it was medicine meant for ordinary humans, not alphas or omegas. Spending the night like this would be nothing short of torture, so Chaika poured a generous amount into a cup and offered it to Nile.
“Drink it and get some proper rest. Tomorrow’s going to be another hard day.”
Supported by Chaika, Nile swallowed every last drop without leaving a single bead behind. Chaika carefully laid him back onto the pillow, taking great care not to stimulate him, and pulled the blanket over him.
Because it was medicine meant for betas, its effects didn’t come immediately. Nile lifted his locket necklace and opened it. With a soft click, a small bundle of red hair fell out. He pressed it to his nose and inhaled deeply again and again. Chaika watched the desperate sight with emotionless eyes.
“I miss the child, Chaika. I miss him so, so much.”
Nile said this while clutching the red bundle of hair tightly, as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.
“The child is doing well. You know that, don’t you? Andre is feeding him, clothing him, raising him like a noble’s child. That’s exceptional treatment, considering his birth.”
“I know. But I miss him so much. If I could just hold that tiny body in my arms right now, I feel like I could do anything.”
Nile murmured with unfocused eyes, as though imagining himself holding the child.
“How foolish…. He’s a child born of a beta. Even if he lives a long life, it’ll be fifty or sixty years at most. You’ll have to watch that precious child of yours grow old and die right in front of you.”
“…Even so, I still have over fifty years with him. No matter who we are, that isn’t a short time.”
Chaika’s once-calm expression twisted into something cold.
“Even after suffering something like that, you still can’t escape the foolishness and limits of an omega, Nile.”
“That’s exactly why I let myself be used by you.”
Nile shot back, his tone just as accusatory in response to Chaika’s icy rebuke.
“That’s true.”
Chaika affirmed shortly, curling his lips into a crooked smile as he turned away.
The big fish that had only circled the bait had finally begun to bite. Now was the time to play with it properly, making sure it didn’t lose interest and swim away. Simply dangling the bait was no longer enough. It had to be caught, bitten, nibbled at—until it was swallowed whole….
The fish believes it is the one tracking, cornering, and capturing its prey—but in truth, the moment it swallows the bait, it is the fish that gets reeled up and becomes prey. Of course, it won’t realize that until the very instant the bait disappears into its belly.
