With just a single night spent together, Chaika began to receive treatment nearly equivalent to that of the lady of Castiya Castle. Wasn’t Mihail the very man who had driven omegas away for decades, claiming they reeked with a disgusting stench? The fact that such a Mihail had kept Chaika by his side day after day and gone through his heat cycle together with him was not merely an extraordinary incident—it was nothing short of a miracle.
All the retainers and servants residing in the castle treated Chaika with respect. Chaika, clearly unaccustomed to it, would either bow his head awkwardly along with them, or else hide completely behind Mihail.
Despite having gone through his heat cycle together with Mihail, Chaika still couldn’t adapt at all to the fact that he was an omega. If he spotted even the tiniest speck of dust on the furniture, he grew restless until he wiped it away, and rather than sitting quietly by Mihail’s side, he wanted to clean or run errands. If Chaika truly wanted to, Mihail could have allowed it—but he didn’t. From now on, Chaika had to grow accustomed to living as an omega, and especially as Mihail’s omega.
After completely stopping the medication that was no different from poison, Chaika’s presence grew stronger by the day. Whenever Chaika passed by, the servants and knights of the castle found it hard to tear their eyes away from him. It was because of Chaika’s own beauty.
By nature, the stronger the abilities of an alpha or an omega, the more beautiful their appearance at birth. That was precisely why the imperial family, the royal family, and high-ranking noble houses favored omegas from particular lineages. Children of Dominant Alphas were highly likely to be born as Dominant Alphas themselves—but what further increased that probability was a Dominant Omega.
Just as Dominant Alphas were far stronger and more beautiful than ordinary alphas, Dominant Omegas were born with beauty and pheromones incomparable to those of ordinary omegas. Because of that, alphas tried, whenever possible, to claim the most beautiful omega they could. It was an instinct—to bear offspring from a genetically superior omega.
Thanks to having completely stopped the poison and to the physician remaining at his side all day to care for him meticulously, Chaika was recovering at a rapid pace. His face, already pale to begin with, now had good color—white and fair, with a radiant glow—and his overly thin body had gained a bit of healthy flesh, making him a pleasing sight. In a few months, once his blond hair grew out a little more and the dry, damaged ends from dyeing were cut and neatly styled, he would look every bit the part of a beautiful omega.
Under normal circumstances, seeing one’s own person grow healthier and more beautiful should have been a purely joyous thing—but Mihail couldn’t quite bring himself to feel that way. Before, only Mihail had looked at Chaika and found him lovely. Now, that had changed. Anyone who saw Chaika in person—regardless of age or gender—had their gaze stolen by his appearance.
An omega’s pheromones affected not only alphas but betas as well, to some extent. Having to watch the castle’s servants blush—once at Chaika’s looks, and again at his sweet pheromones—did nothing to improve Mihail’s mood. If he had his way, he would have had a massive cloak made and made Chaika walk around with only his eyes exposed.
With the atmosphere and gazes around him like that, Chaika himself, ironically, seemed a little depressed. Most of the time he behaved as he always had, but occasionally a shadow of melancholy would pass over his face. It had started after he completely stopped taking Bellagie juice. To comfort him, Mihail summoned dwarf clowns, fed him honey-soaked dates he loved, placed him atop a pony perfectly sized for him and taught him how to ride, and had expensive clothes tailored just for him. But nothing managed to fully erase the gloom that lingered on Chaika’s face.
There was an even bigger problem.
Ever since going through the heat cycle together, just looking at Chaika made Mihail want to push him down and hold him until he went mad. Yet when night came and the two lay side by side in bed, Chaika would move as far away from Mihail as possible, teetering precariously at the edge of the mattress as he tried to sleep. And the moment Mihail attempted to pull him into his arms, Chaika would sense it instantly, slip off the bed, and dash all the way to the corner of the room.
It was to the point where no amount of holding him during the day was ever enough, yet at night he couldn’t even lay a hand on him—driving Mihail nearly insane. Still, he couldn’t very well force himself on him. In the end, only after promising that he would just hold him and sleep did Mihail manage to pull Chaika into his arms at night.
“It’s no different from being tortured every single night.”
Mihail complained as he drained his glass in one go. Ilya, apparently finding the story hilarious, clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
“Why don’t you slow things down a bit? Instead of trying to jump straight into holding him, start with something light—kissing, for example—and take your time.”
Ilya advised him, a man who had dated many lovers and still kept several even now.
“I’ve already tried that. He allows kissing, but the moment I try to go any further, he notices like a ghost and bolts to the far end of the room.”
He was astonishingly good at slipping away even in the middle of a kiss—just as expected from someone who had once evaded Mihail’s pursuit so skillfully when Mihail first tried to capture him.
“Hm—.”
Ilya let out a soft breath, as though recalling one of his many experiences. Then, as if an idea had struck him, he spoke.
“Then try giving him a gift. No one dislikes receiving a present.”
“Expensive clothes, his favorite food, a well-bred pony, all kinds of precious jewelry—I’ve given him everything. None of it worked.”
After saying that much, Mihail clicked his tongue irritably. Ilya laughed quietly and replied.
“It only works if you give him something Chaika wants, not something you want to give. Giving clothes, horses, and gold to someone who has no interest in those things is pointless no matter how many times you do it.”
“He doesn’t really want anything. If I told him to clean my room instead, he’d probably be happier.”
“There really isn’t a single thing about that kid that’s ordinary, is there.”
Ilya said with a grin. He swirled the liquor in his glass for a moment, then his face lit up as if he’d had a good idea.
“Then call for Nile.”
At the name that left Ilya’s mouth, a deep crease instantly formed between Mihail’s brows.
“He lived with Nile his entire life, didn’t he? Their fathers may be different, but they’re still half-siblings. If you call Nile and let them meet, I bet he’d be overjoyed.”
Ilya was right. If Mihail summoned Nile and let them meet, Chaika would surely beam with a bright smile and cling to him, thanking him profusely. The problem was simply that Mihail didn’t want to call Nile.
“He might’ve already been sold off somewhere else.”
Mihail said it, hoping it would be true.
“With an omega like Nile, there are plenty of people who’d want him even if it cost them half their territory. But from what I’ve found out, Nile is still with Marquis Lucius. It seems marriage proposals and various offers keep coming in, but for some reason the Marquis won’t budge on any of them. He might be trying to drive up the price…. Either way, even just a few days would be enough. Let Nile stay with him for a while. In this entire Castiya Castle, Chaika is the only omega—and yet he’s never actually lived as one. Having Nile around would at least make it easier for him to adapt.”
The longer Ilya spoke, the deeper the furrow in Mihail’s brow grew, irritation rising across his face. Completely separate from his feelings for Chaika, omegas were still objects of disgust to Mihail.
After sitting there with an irritated expression for a moment, Mihail clicked his tongue and picked up his pen. It was a letter to be sent to Marquis Lucius.
The reply to the letter requesting that Nile visit for a few days arrived quickly. The Marquis’s response stated Nile’s rental fee. The price increased by the day, and even the fee for a single day was an astronomical sum. It was exactly the sort of response one would expect from Marquis Lucius, known by the nickname the Empire’s slave trader.
If he told Chaika in advance that Nile was coming, it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off the main gate until Nile arrived. And since it would take no small amount of time for Nile to finish preparing, depart, and finally reach Castiya Castle, Mihail couldn’t tell him ahead of time.
Chaika’s melancholy deepened little by little each day. When he was with Mihail, he looked no different than usual, but whenever he failed to notice Mihail’s presence and drifted off into his own thoughts, the sadness he’d been hiding showed clearly on his face.
A child….
Watching Chaika stare blankly out the window again, Mihail murmured inwardly. A child of Mihail and Chaika. If an alpha were born, that child would immediately become the heir to the Castiya territory. Born of a Dominant Alpha’s seed, there was a high likelihood the child would also be a Dominant Alpha. But….
Mihail looked at Chaika’s profile as he gazed absentmindedly out the window—and remembered the time when that gentle, vacant face had been twisted in devastation.
“What if the child is born an omega? Then I’d have to watch them grow up and be sold off to bear another alpha’s child. Even if it’s not being sold for money like Lord Nile—whether it’s for politics, as a gift, or anything else… they’d still be sold to an alpha they don’t want, forced to have that alpha’s child. And once the alpha gets tired of them after they give birth, they’ll be sold off somewhere else again, or turned into a political gift. Then they’ll have to bear the child of another alpha they never wanted. Again and again, over and over! Being sold from place to place! Even if they want to run away, they won’t be able to abandon their child, so they’ll just endure it all in silence!”
That was the evil and poison buried deep within the heart of Chaika, who was always so gentle and cautious. Hatred, resentment, and loathing hidden inside a pale, delicate face…. It was the inner world of an omega—something Mihail had never once considered, nor ever had reason to consider.
Did other omegas live with the same thoughts, the same poison, the same malice as Chaika? Or was Chaika alone in this?
“I can’t let my child live such a miserable life. If they’re born an omega, I’ll make them drink Bellagie juice. So they can live as a beta. So they can live a normal life. So they won’t be sold around like livestock… I’d even make them drink poison if I had to!”
The boy who was normally gentle to a fault had said, without hesitation, that he would poison even his own child. That was how horrifying Chaika believed the life of an omega to be. Even though he himself had never lived as an omega, nor personally suffered such treatment—how had he come to harbor such resentment and fear? Perhaps it was because of what he had seen growing up in Marquis Lucius’s household.
Andre Lucius, the Marquis derided as the Empire’s slave trader.
He selected and purchased young omegas from fallen houses or families on the brink of financial ruin. He then educated them as carefully as the children of high-ranking noble houses, raising them into expensive, high-quality commodities. The omegas he raised were sold off in exchange for various benefits. Since omegas were typically obedient and passive by nature, they were sent off quietly, as if accepting their fate.
Chaika must have seen countless omegas raised as adoptive children in that household, only to be sold off as commodities in the end. That was likely why he could so readily say he’d poison his own child.
After staring out the window for a long while, Chaika suddenly turned his head. When their eyes met, the shadow over his face lifted, and a faint smile appeared. Mihail reached out his hand toward him. Chaika came over and took it. Mihail wrapped an arm around Chaika’s waist and seated him on his lap. A weight as light as a rabbit—an adorable weight.
“In a few days, I’ll give you a present. This one will suit your taste perfectly, so you can look forward to it.”
“I’ve already received too many gifts.”
Chaika said, sounding burdened. Mihail snorted softly, burying his face against the back of Chaika’s neck. Too many gifts—just for a few outfits, a handful of accessories, and a single pony. If only Chaika knew how many things Mihail still intended to give him.
