…Was this what grandfather meant by the trickery of pheromones? If so, I had already succumbed to that trickery.
My pride was hurt. Perhaps I hesitated to spend the heat cycle with my bride because I feared having such foolish thoughts.
But this so-called trickery didn’t seem as terrible as I had expected.
I needed to gather the strange thoughts and desires filling my mind and put them far away where I wouldn’t encounter them again. Yet, I didn’t want to. It was strange. Normally, this should have been an irritating situation.
I wanted to set aside useless thoughts and focus entirely on the man in my arms. I wanted to feel him more leisurely and persistently than before. I wanted to avoid hurting him like now.
Assad embraced Cayden tighter. He kissed the scar spread below Cayden’s right cheek and the darker burn mark on his neck, playfully biting without causing pain.
And Assad sensed Cayden’s body scent. He heavily marked the man who still couldn’t emit any scent with his own pheromones.
By the end of the heat cycle… Cayden would be completely immersed in his scent.
He should have done this sooner. He should have soaked the Crown Prince’s consort in his pheromones. Drenched him enough for anyone inside or outside the palace to recognize this man as his. If he had, no one would have looked down on this person. He felt regret about this.
Assad kissed his bride’s cheek again. He licked Cayden’s tears with the tip of his tongue. Strangely, those tears tasted quite sweet.
It was nearly midnight, still without light. Assad Mekerius smiled in the darkness. Among the gentle and sweet body scent, a sticky and dark fragrance mixed in.
It was the beginning of the proper heat cycle.
* * *
The Crown Prince’s first heat cycle lasted a full two days.
Throughout those two days, Cayden couldn’t leave Assad’s bedroom that he had entered for the first time.
He couldn’t escape from Assad’s embrace, let alone his bedroom. The man consumed by the heat’s fervor constrained Cayden like the strongest restraint in the world, while also caring for him like the most loyal servant.
Now Assad’s heat cycle had completely ended. The intense pheromones that had raged with burning heat became soft and relaxed like a satiated lion.
And Assad fell asleep. It was the short but deep sleep that naturally came to an alpha who had safely passed their first heat cycle. Cayden had been informed beforehand by the chamberlain that this was one of the processes of an alpha’s traits becoming complete. That was before going to the east wing of the separate palace.
This was fortunate for Cayden, who wanted to avoid showing his face to Assad once he regained his senses.
If he woke up feeling good after overcoming the heat cycle, only to find Cayden beside him… it would be chilling.
At the very least, it wouldn’t be pleasant. The reality of having unavoidably slept with an unwanted partner, and a shabby omega at that, would sink in.
“I’ve never kissed anyone. If you know what a proper kiss is… how to do it… tell me.”
Assad had told him he’d never kissed anyone. The same applied to mixing bodies with others.
First time. I was the one who tarnished the meaning of that special word.
What would Assad think about that fact once the heat subsided and he regained his senses? Cayden didn’t want to hear resentment from Assad. No, he would eventually hear it, but he didn’t want to hear it right now.
Assad hadn’t seemed angry. He even appeared to be in a good mood. However, the heat cycle was like magic created by pheromones. What remained after the magic disappeared could be different emotions. Like the young master, he might become angry and raise his fist, feeling ashamed and disgusted about mixing bodies with someone like me.
It was unavoidable. But I wished that unavoidable thing hadn’t happened.
In the pre-dawn when not even birds were chirping, Cayden barely managed to slip out of Assad’s embracing arms. He hastily put on a robe and carefully left the bedroom.
Cayden moved his legs that had no strength. He walked silently down the quiet corridor. Thanks to Assad sending the servants away, he didn’t have to show his shameful state to others until he reached the west wing where his quarters were.
Servants did come looking for him as soon as he entered his bedroom. They were unfamiliar faces.
They gave Cayden medicine. It came with a kind explanation that it was a morning-after pill and an omega heat cycle suppressant.
The beta servants only returned after confirming Cayden had taken all the medicine. They said they would send other servants right away, but Cayden declined their offer, saying he wanted to be alone. He wore an awkward smile as he did so.
Fighting off overwhelming drowsiness, Cayden barely managed to wash himself before collapsing onto the bed. Though he knew the water dripping from his hair was soaking the blanket, and that he was lying in a strange position, he couldn’t bring himself to get up.
Left alone, Cayden recalled the words spoken by Chamberlain Saban of the separate palace.
“Now that His Highness the heir has experienced his heat cycle, Your Highness the Crown Prince’s consort must take heat suppressants and contraceptives daily until he turns twenty-two. When you’re ready to have a child, you can stop taking the medication.”
He had explained that anyone who became the Crown Prince’s or Princess’s consort had to follow the protocols regardless of their traits.
There would never be a time when Assad and I would prepare to have a child. To begin with, I might not even face Assad when he turned 22. So… I thought I would continue taking the medicine until I was expelled.
‘I’m sleepy.’
My whole body ached. I couldn’t feel proper sensation below my waist. My arms and legs all felt like they didn’t belong to me. It made sense, having used my body continuously for two days.
But it wasn’t just painful. It was bearable. That’s why I could blink my eyes so peacefully like this. It was quite a luxurious time accompanied by meaningless thoughts.
Cayden absentmindedly recalled his past. He started counting the times he had been summoned during Alex’s heat cycles but stopped.
If I showed tears or made loud noises, if I displayed behavior that went against Alex’s mood, if I failed to please him… there would be trouble. During the times when I lacked experience and knowledge, I angered Alex more often than I pleased him. Truly, there wasn’t a time when it wasn’t painful and difficult.
Unable to endure, I had tried to escape. I had attempted to cross the mountains with nothing but my body. I was caught quickly though. Strangely, I couldn’t remember what happened after being caught. It seemed my mind had erased unnecessary memories on its own.
Alex had said that alphas in rut and omegas in heat all become beasts. But Assad was different from the young master. Assad never acted like a beast toward me.
Cayden reflected on the past two nights, when everything had been unfamiliar.
Even with his eyes clouded by burning heat, Assad had been gentle. The awkward kisses, touches, whispers, and pheromones were all just sweet. The knotting… was too painful, but when Assad embraced me, it wasn’t difficult at all.
Assad treasured me, a nobody, as if I were someone great, as if I were a real Crown Prince’s consort. He did so even though I acted very inadequately.
It was the same even after the dark night passed, dawn broke, and bright sunlight poured in, illuminating the bedroom. As if it were nothing, Assad kissed my hideous scars many times.
Is this what it feels like to be loved? I got to experience that “feeling” indirectly to some extent. Though I know the thought would invite ridicule from others.
That didn’t mean I had any strange misunderstandings or illusions.
“…”
Cayden blinked slowly. Over Assad’s face floating in his mind, the young master’s, Alex’s face naturally overlapped. His voice echoed in Cayden’s complicated mind.
“As long as they can satisfy their desires, alphas can spend the night even with someone like you.”
The memory, faded like an old cloth, swirled around. The words Alex had said to him now felt like some kind of advice.
Still… Cayden thought the past two days with Assad were dreamlike and wonderful. They became memories that wouldn’t lose their luster even after a very long time. For Assad, the past two days might remain only as a mistake made when his vision was blurred, then disappear. That would be fine too.
‘Two years, two and a half years.’
Cayden repeated the time he had left.
The chamberlain, who had been pacing between the east and west wings, welcomed me when I suddenly appeared and said it should never happen that Assad spends his heat cycle alone when he has a partner. He said taking medication that even healing mages would find difficult to counter the side effects of was even more unacceptable.
So, for the remaining time, I would be responsible for Assad’s heat cycles. Seven times, maybe eight times… would I spend nights with Assad?
But when he grabbed my wrist as I sat on the bed, Assad seemed reluctant to spend his heat cycle with me. Although he couldn’t overcome the heat’s fervor and ended up mixing bodies with me.
‘Will there be a next time?’
I felt somewhat strange. Cayden could only fidget with the blanket.
My thoughts had become too numerous. It wasn’t a good thing.
Cayden decided not to think about tomorrow or the future. If I kept having unnecessary thoughts, I would develop false hopes. I would end up harboring strange wishes.
Dreaming was a good thing. But someone like me shouldn’t do that.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
