# 6
“…This is absurd.”
The hand adjusting the cravat around his shirt collar trembled. Ash, busily dressing in formal attire, froze for a long moment, needing to straighten his half-decomposed reason.
“I can’t do that.”
But his blanched mind utterly refused to form coherent thoughts. Eventually, he shook his head, laughing mirthlessly as if he’d lost his mind, temporarily denying reality.
“You need to say something sensible. You and I… How could that make any sense?”
“What’s so nonsensical about it?”
Unlike him, the response from behind was utterly indifferent and calm.
“I’m an alpha, and you’re an omega who manifested with me. Divorcing without having a child would be strange, don’t you think?”
Ash gritted his teeth silently, controlling his anger. The situation, which he already thought was at its worst, was plummeting endlessly downward.
“…Reconsider. I’ll do anything else but that.”
“That’s the only thing I need from you.”
Damn it. Ash mentally cursed, something he rarely did since boyhood. Then again, becoming an omega overnight made swearing seem trivial by comparison. With the world turned upside down, it would be laughable if his personality remained unchanged.
“Having an heir… isn’t such a simple matter, Sion.”
Yet habits are terrifying things—despite the torrent of curses raging inside, the words leaving his mouth were utterly calm and moderate.
“It’s not like a stork brings it. It’s unacceptable for me, but for you too, it would be truly devastating… Right? Until recently, I was clearly a beta, and you have your own… preferences formed from living as an alpha.”
Every moment of speaking brought another hurdle. Just voicing it was revolting, chilling—that he and Sion were in such a situation.
“You manifested with me. How could we divorce without having a child?”
“…”
“Ah.”
A brief sound of realization came from behind.
“…The doctor didn’t explain things properly, it seems.”
Turning around with a sudden sense of impending crisis, Ash faced the humorless Sion. That statuesque, perfectly beautiful face, with no intention of mocking, was telling the most terrifying story yet.
“You’ll be in extreme pain if you distance yourself from me.”
Ash’s back hit the window. Only then did he realize he had been retreating from Sion. Through the thin fabric, he felt the cool glass behind him.
Those piercing blue eyes traveled down Ash’s chest and lower.
“You might be able to endure it normally. But when your heat cycle comes…”
The gaze that had paused near his solar plexus dropped abruptly to his lower abdomen.
“You won’t be able to resist craving my pheromones.”
The gaze, seemingly penetrating between the neatly fastened buttons of his vest coat, lingered there for a long time.
“You might have to spend your life masturbating with my clothes wrapped around you.”
That’s what manifestation is, Ash. Those blue eyes, declaring it like a death sentence, were unflinching.
“Do you still want to break off the engagement?”
Ash came to his senses as if doused with cold water. Having heard rumors, he wasn’t completely ignorant about manifestation between alphas and omegas.
An omega who has manifested with an alpha can never leave their side. In situations where separation is unavoidable, they must carry something containing the alpha’s pheromones.
Since pheromones, similar to scent particles, remain longest in fibrous materials, omegas separated from their alphas naturally become fixated on their clothes.
Due to this natural principle, manifestation between alphas and omegas is a highly sensitive social issue. Forcing manifestation without the other’s consent is a serious crime comparable to rape.
Of course, there are exceptional situations—when alphas or omegas suddenly manifest and urgently need the other’s pheromones, unable to receive immediate medical treatment.
If an alpha or omega provides emergency treatment in such circumstances, such “accidents” can happen, which are considered mitigating circumstances.
Perhaps because he never thought it would happen to him? Or because he didn’t yet understand how intense and persistent manifestation could be?
Ash had foolishly disregarded those warnings. He vaguely thought there would be some solution if only he could avoid this marriage.
“Once formed, manifestation can never be undone just like that, Ash.”
But that solution…
“You need to at least bear a child to have any chance of breaking the manifestation.”
Was a direction Ash had never considered.
[Bearing fruit with the manifested partner.]
Since manifestation ultimately stems from a strong reproductive instinct, carrying the child of the manifested alpha weakens that bond.
This knowledge would be easily understood by anyone experiencing alpha-omega physiology, but for Ash, who had been an ordinary beta male until recently, it was difficult to comprehend.
“Well? Does that make you more sincere about this marriage now?”
Perhaps it was his imagination, but Sion’s voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement. Yet his face remained as expressionless as a statue.
At that moment, there was a knock at the door, followed by a voice:
“Your Highness, a message has arrived from the Lilac Palace. There isn’t much time left—shall we proceed with the ceremony as planned?”
Sion turned and looked at Ash questioningly. Ash’s hand, gripping the windowsill, turned white.
The Crown Prince who wanted an alliance with the Rihart Duchy; himself, who in his desperation to quell the sudden fever, borrowed Sion’s hand and enjoyed blind relief.
The worst timing and foolish, greedy choices had ultimately dragged his life into an abyss.
“…Proceed as planned.”
Despite the raging tempest in his heart, Ash’s voice emerged cold and utterly calm.
* * *
“So… beautiful…”
Upon first seeing Sion, Ash had burst into tears.
“You’re so beautiful…”
He’d hugged Sion tightly and cried, overwhelmed with joy and emotion, just like when his father had first brought home his puppy Milo.
“Are you really my bride?”
I’m so happy, hic, to meet you, sob… He had cried so much that Sion’s white dress collar became soaked with tears.
Five years old. That’s when they first met.
Sion, with dazzling golden hair braided into two pigtails, was truly white and beautiful, like seeing a cute, winged baby angel blowing a trumpet in a masterpiece painting.
For the next few years, the two were inseparable. They slept embracing each other, always sat side by side at meals, and held hands continuously while playing, as if a momentary separation would be disastrous.
Ash adored Sion, and the shy Sion didn’t seem to mind. Ash was always by Sion’s side, who was particularly frail and often fell ill, unable to withstand the northern cold.
The Rihart family members would fondly watch the two adorable children, almost always embracing, and predict they would become a lovely couple when they grew up.
Young Ash was truly happy. His future bride Sion was not only beautiful but also incredibly kind and delicate, making him want to grow into a strong adult who could protect Sion forever.
This feeling would never change when he grew up. Ash was confident. For someone who easily tired of things and quickly lost interest, Sion was the only object of unwavering attachment.
If only that child hadn’t been a “boy.”
“…Ash.”
A golden carriage bearing the imperial crest was waiting in the spacious courtyard of the Duke’s mansion. Sion, dressed like any other boy in a shirt and pants, ready to depart, stopped upon seeing Ash at the doorway.
Ash stared at Sion’s hair, no longer long enough to be braided into pigtails. Hair he had personally combed and tied every day without fail. Sion wasn’t wearing the white dress that Ash had thought suited him so well.
It was the day Sion was returning to the imperial palace after spending four years at the Rihart mansion. It was also the day Ash first learned that Sion was a boy.
Sion wasn’t a girl. Therefore, naturally, he couldn’t be Ash’s strategic marriage partner.
The adults had lied. Not knowing this, he had foolishly cherished Sion for the past four years, treating him like a princess.
“Did you know too?”
Ash asked this question, though it irritated him. Of course Sion would have known. How could he not know his own gender with what was plainly between his legs?
“Why did you deceive me?”
So he didn’t need to hear the answer. What Ash really wanted to know was why Sion had deceived him. The adults might have, but Sion shouldn’t have.
“You… you never asked, so…”
Those jewel-like blue eyes instantly filled with moisture. The rims of his eyes quickly reddened. Normally, when Sion made such a face, Ash would have been at a loss, wiping away his tears with his sleeve.
Just because I didn’t ask, you didn’t tell me?
“Cowardly bastard.”
Nine-year-old Ash had been learning many bad words at that time. From the stable boy’s son, or from poor children of similar age who came to the Duke’s mansion for odd jobs.
Yet he had never used them in front of Sion. No, in fact, he had never used them in front of anyone. This was the first time.
“Disgusting guy! Goddamn homo!”
In a way, Sion was the first person to give Ash a flutter of excitement, the first to make him taste immense betrayal, and the first to make him utter foul words.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
