‘Could Cayden… actually be a dark mage? Is he using magic to control me and make me his puppet?’
While entertaining such absurd delusions, Assad pressed his lips against Cayden’s once more.
He pushed his tongue between the willingly parting lips and shared breath. He slowly explored the warm interior of Cayden’s mouth. The meeting of tongues and mixing of saliva didn’t feel dirty at all.
‘Truly, I’ve lost my mind.’
Feeling bewildered by his own impulsive action, Assad withdrew. But he couldn’t move far away. Still, the two remained close enough that their foreheads could touch at any moment.
Cayden didn’t look at the partner who had suddenly withdrawn from the kiss. He looked down at the glass on the table, pretending as if nothing had happened.
Assad also wanted to pretend this impulsive kiss hadn’t happened. But he didn’t want to be the kind of person who would give a dirty kiss and then pretend it never occurred.
“We need to practice… otherwise, how will skills improve?”
Assad spoke to Cayden. He had uttered words whose meaning even he didn’t understand. It was a pathetic excuse born from urgency.
“You taught me how to kiss. You said you’d be my teacher. If that’s the case, you should take responsibility until the end. You should provide instruction, make me practice, and give me assignments.”
Assad wanted to bite his own mouth off. When Cayden raised his head to look at him, it felt like everything went dark before his eyes.
He wondered if he should just turn around and leave the bedroom now. And not appear before Cayden for a while.
“I…”
“…”
“I don’t think I have anything more to teach you. Who am I to instruct Your Highness?”
“That’s not true.”
“Already… you’re incomparable to me. Now I have no skill left to teach… yes, that’s right.”
Cayden, who was no less flustered than Assad, opened his mouth but eventually cut off his words at an awkward point. It was with a truly uncomfortable expression.
Looking at such a Cayden, Assad inwardly sneered. Saying there was nothing to teach meant that the current kiss was excellent, didn’t it? If his skill had been poor, he would have said there was still a long way to go.
Hiding the laughter that threatened to escape inappropriately, Assad pressed himself against Cayden again. He kissed Cayden’s lips once more. He gently bit Cayden’s lower lip and released it repeatedly before withdrawing again.
“Whether this is acceptable to do, or not… I don’t know. You’re the only one who can tell me such things.”
“T-there’s no answer to such kisses. Everyone will give different answers according to their preferences…”
Cayden muttered while avoiding Assad’s eyes.
“Then, what about you?”
“…”
“…”
“I… don’t dislike it.”
Unable to withstand Assad’s obvious stare, and feeling somewhat pushed, Cayden gave an answer. Then Cayden closed his eyes. His face looked like he would die of embarrassment.
“I only need to know what you like and dislike. Since you are my only spouse and teacher, it’s only natural.”
Assad, whose mood had improved, continued speaking while changing his tone.
“Teacher, you are too modest. Since I still have a long way to go, you shouldn’t reject your inadequate disciple. You should embrace me until I can properly function as a complete person.”
“…”
“Isn’t that right?”
“…I understand.”
Cayden, who had slightly opened his eyes, answered compliantly. In fact, it was closer to nodding in bewilderment than giving a willing answer. He also appeared not to have fully understood Assad’s words, as they weren’t in the imperial style of language he was accustomed to.
Assad kissed Cayden’s lips, then his cheek, then his ear, in order. He thought he could kiss him all night without getting tired. It was an absurd and even cloying idea.
The anxiety and unease that had been burning his throat were no longer felt. He was so refreshed that he couldn’t help but smile.
The impulse to do more than kissing also shook his body, but that wasn’t possible. After all, he wasn’t a beast in heat.
Assad’s fingertips traced Cayden’s nape. The man who had spent the past day alternating between sleeping and waking was wearing a tunic without a collar instead of clothes that stifled his neck. He probably didn’t have time to change clothes because of Assad’s sudden intrusion.
The chaotic bruises imprinted on Cayden’s neck caught his eye. The marks remained so dark that it seemed they would take quite a long time to fade.
It would be fine if they never disappeared.
Bending over to bury his nose in Cayden’s neck, Assad thought. It was a crazy thought.
Like someone trying to find flowers in a sandy desert, Assad wandered in search of his bride’s pheromone scent that had vanished in just one day. He wanted to embrace that fragrance he had felt just once again.
Like setting a trap with bait tied to it, Assad slowly released his pheromones. He called out to the timid pheromones that refused to show themselves. It was a seduction he hadn’t learned in the trait education he had received while opening thick books.
Cayden’s body, which had been stiffly frozen, softened gently under the pheromones that were pressing against him. It felt like facing a dog that ran up while frantically wagging its tail.
Assad carefully embraced Cayden. He had hugged him suddenly out of concern that Cayden might fall backward over the chair without a backrest.
A moment later, Assad encountered the faint pheromones he had already felt when he was in Amun’s form.
Assad couldn’t help but smile. Not disguised as a beta, but in his original form completely, Assad breathed in Cayden’s body scent to his heart’s content. He sensed the fragrance. Cayden’s pheromones, which had appeared utterly deflated, gradually raised their heads in his embrace.
It was good. It was so very good.
As expected, he couldn’t let Cayden use pheromone deodorants. He couldn’t understand why anyone would try to erase such a comfortable pheromone scent. Would Cayden’s anxiety be resolved if he caught Alex Cooper and showed him being buried alive? Such thoughts came to mind.
Assad briefly released the embrace to talk.
“I can sense your pheromones.”
“…”
“They have a pleasant scent.”
In case Cayden might not understand, Assad spoke clearly with emphasis in his voice. Worried that thoughts might fly in strange directions that even he couldn’t predict, he maintained eye contact and even smiled. It was a comment made with the hope that Cayden would believe his words, even if he didn’t believe what Amun and the servants said.
Cayden had a face that made it impossible to know what he was thinking. He just quietly looked up at Assad.
“And in case you’ve forgotten already… thank you.”
“…”
“I don’t take it for granted that you helped me through my heat cycle. It wasn’t your obligation. You embraced me with a generous heart, despite my failure to act as a proper spouse.”
“…It was nothing.”
Cayden answered a bit late, but as urgently as possible. His fidgeting appearance looked quite clumsy.
“When your heat cycle comes, I’ll help you then.”
“…”
“We’ll help each other.”
Assad smiled lightly. His heart was at ease.
Because Cayden had helped with his heat cycle, he would help with Cayden’s as well. It was quite a rational conclusion.
It wasn’t just the heat cycle. If Cayden wanted, he could offer his body anytime. He was confident he could spread quite noisy rumors. After the word spread, no one residing in this palace would be able to mock his bride as an omega who only came to assist with an alpha’s heat cycle. It would mean ridiculing the Crown Prince together.
Assad decided not to unnecessarily complicate his relationship with Cayden. He didn’t know when they would part ways. But until then, he just wanted to get along well like this. A temporary symbiotic relationship bound by prophecy. It was heading in a direction similar to that, but better.
It felt like he had completed a very difficult task. Even though more difficult tasks might be presented to him again, right now he felt good. His heart became as light as a feather.
He thought that the possessiveness that disturbed people’s minds was a problem time would solve. It was clearly a phenomenon that would subside someday.
“I’ll sleep in your bed tonight.”
And Assad made a somewhat abrupt statement to Cayden.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“You understand more difficult imperial language just fine. Why suddenly pretend not to understand?”
“…”
“Is it strange for me to sleep in the Crown Prince’s consort’s bedroom?”
He couldn’t leave the room now, not after drawing out those pheromones. Sleeping while embracing that man who was exuding such a pleasant fragrance would make for very good sleep.
“I’m not saying we’ll mix bodies, so don’t misunderstand.”
The added sentence turned Cayden’s face red. It was pleasing to see color spread instantly across his previously pale face.
“Why, it seems you had such thoughts?”
At Assad’s question, Cayden opened his mouth. But in the end, he couldn’t provide any answer.
Assad thought he really couldn’t tell a lie. Cayden should have been grateful for his handsome face. If he didn’t have such an appearance, he would have just looked like a dazed fool.
Yes. Even his seemingly chaste bride would have times when his inner thoughts turned lewd. If Cayden wanted, he could indulge those lewd thoughts anytime. But not today. What could he do with a man who looked so pale? What he needed was food and sleep, not a bed with his spouse.
Suppressing another smile that would surely look awkward, Assad found Cayden’s hand hiding under the table. He pulled it out abruptly.
“…”
Cayden hadn’t removed the ring he had given him from his ring finger. His promise to take it off only when washing hadn’t been empty words.
Two bracelets were also amicably fastened on his wrist. They were gifts from Assad and Amun. Assad carefully touched the bracelets with overlapping cords.
‘Wearing another man’s gift along with his husband’s gift. Is he excessively innocent, or is there some scheme…’
But regardless of his inner thoughts, it didn’t matter. What did his intentions matter? What mattered was the fact that Cayden was spending every day with his gift.
Assad firmly grasped Cayden’s hand. It was closer to binding him so he couldn’t escape.
“If I hold you like this, will you run away and leave me alone again?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
