After confirming that Chaika was sleeping deeply, Mihail motioned to the physician. The physician gathered a few instruments and approached the bedside. When he carefully removed the cloak wrapped around Chaika’s body, the naked form beneath was revealed. Upon seeing his condition, the physician drew in a faint, startled breath.
Both cheeks were so red and swollen that it was obvious he’d been struck several times; his entire face was flushed, and his lips were split open. The condition of his abdomen—likely beaten while he struggled—was severe as well. The physician gently palpated the area, pressing lightly to check whether the internal organs had been damaged. If an alpha lost control and pummeled Chaika’s fragile body with his fists, there was more than enough possibility that his organs could rupture.
After finishing the abdominal examination, the physician let out a relieved sigh.
“Fortunately, his internal organs appear to be unharmed. Aside from cracked ribs and bruising, there don’t seem to be any major injuries. And…”
Trailing off, the physician cautiously glanced at Mihail before continuing.
“May I examine below as well?”
By “below,” he meant between the legs. Mihail gave a stiff, cold nod. The physician carefully lifted Chaika’s thighs and checked his groin. Then, once again, he released a breath full of relief.
“Thankfully, it didn’t go as far as rape. The bruises on his face and abdomen will fade with time, and while the split lips and the inside of his mouth will be uncomfortable, they should mostly heal within a few days. It seems there’s a small fracture in the ribs, so he should be careful with movement for the time being. I’ll make sure sedatives and pain-relieving medicine are administered on schedule, and until his mouth heals, I’ll instruct them to serve only lukewarm, soft soup.”
While the physician applied medicine to the split lips and carried out his treatment, the maids brought warm water, gently cleaned Chaika’s body, and dressed him in soft sleepwear. Mihail stared for a moment at Chaika’s face, still bearing the merciless traces of violence, then stepped out of the bedroom. Outside the door, the captain of the knights and his deputy were waiting.
“We are ashamed, Your Grace.”
Both men bowed their heads. Mihail barely restrained the urge to draw his sword and sever their heads on the spot.
“How is it that your management of the underlings is so lax that someone dared to lay hands on the Duke’s omega?”
Every syllable Mihail spat out was soaked in seething fury.
“In order to strengthen the inner castle’s security, we increased the number of knights, and as a result even young, inexperienced ones were assigned. We arranged patrol routes to avoid Chaika’s usual paths—never did we imagine something like this would happen… We apologize.”
“From now on, anyone who has received their knighthood less than ten years ago is forbidden from entering the inner castle.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Put that bastard’s head on a pike and display it in front of the outer castle barracks where the greenhorns stay. Make sure they understand exactly what happens when they covet something that belongs to another.”
“Yes.”
After issuing those orders, Mihail immediately turned back toward the bedroom. In case Chaika woke up—even for a moment—he needed to be there.
The physician finished packing his bag. The maids also withdrew from the room.
“Um… Your Grace. May I ask for a moment of your time?”
Instead of leaving immediately, the physician addressed Mihail.
“What is it?”
“There is something urgent I need to discuss regarding Chaika.”
At the sound of Chaika’s name alone, Mihail’s expression hardened.
“Say it now. Chaika is deeply asleep anyway—he won’t hear.”
The physician nodded and, as if to confirm, glanced at Chaika’s face. Having taken sedatives, he was sleeping so deeply it was as if he were unconscious and wouldn’t wake for quite some time. The physician then turned back to Mihail and cautiously opened his mouth.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while… but Chaika’s pheromones seem excessively dense. As a beta, I’m not particularly affected, but recently, whenever Chaika passes by, the expressions of the nearby knights noticeably stiffen. It doesn’t seem normal. I suspect today’s incident may have occurred for that very reason.”
What the physician said was something Mihail himself had already sensed. Chaika’s pheromones were growing stronger by the day; any alpha within the inner castle would be acutely aware of his presence.
“Is it a rebound effect from forcibly suppressing them with poison all this time?”
When Mihail voiced his speculation, the physician tilted his head slightly, as though unable to be certain.
“As Your Grace says, it could be the result of long-suppressed pheromones being released all at once. However, if that’s not the case…”
The physician hesitated, trailing off.
“It’s fine. Speak.”
“This is merely a thought that occurred to me a few days ago, but… is it possible that Chaika is a Dominant Omega?”
“Dominant?”
Mihail frowned as if he’d heard something utterly absurd.
Just as there are Dominant Alphas, there are also Dominant Omegas. Dominant Omegas are just as rare as Dominant Alphas—no, several times rarer. At present, there were only two Dominant Omegas on the continent. Both had formally married into imperial or royal families. One of them was the very person the Emperor—Mihail’s older brother—had married.
“There’s no way a Dominant Omega would be in a place like this.”
Mihail murmured to himself while looking at Chaika.
Dominant Omegas—only two or three born in a generation—were all, without exception, from the Ruslan Principality.
The Ruslan Principality was a small country wedged between powerful nations. It possessed no special resources, nor did it boast overwhelming military strength. And yet, it maintained its borders and survived among great powers for one single reason: the fact that rare Dominant Omegas were born exclusively from the bloodline of the Ruslan royal family.
For generations, the Ruslan Principality had married off Dominant Omegas born into the royal family to emperors or kings of powerful nations, forming marital alliances that protected and revitalized the country. As far as Mihail knew, there had never been a single case of a Dominant Omega being born outside the Ruslan royal bloodline.
“Lord Nile’s carrier was an ordinary omega, and I was told that Chaika’s birth parent was a beta. Children born between an omega and a beta are usually ordinary betas, and in extremely rare cases, omegas. Even when they are born omegas, they are most often recessive, without pronounced traits.”
“Then the likelihood that Chaika—who has pheromones far stronger than a normal omega—was born from an ordinary omega and a beta would be close to none.”
“At least, that is my assumption.”
“So Nile lied to me.”
Mihail smiled coldly as Nile Lucius’s face came to mind.
Nile had said that Chaika was born between his carrier and a beta. At the time, Mihail believed him because he thought Chaika was an ordinary beta. When it later became clear that Chaika was an omega, he assumed he was either a recessive omega born from rare odds, or simply an ordinary omega.
But as the effects of the poison gradually faded and Chaika’s true pheromones emerged, the situation changed. Whether Chaika was dominant or not, an omega with pheromones this intense could not possibly have beta blood mixed in. Then whose bloodline did Chaika truly belong to? Nile—and Marquis Lucius—likely knew the answer.
Mihail could, at any moment, have Nile dragged in and interrogated for daring to speak falsehoods before a duke. But right now, Chaika’s true lineage or the secrets of his birth meant nothing to him. What mattered was that Chaika recovered smoothly, both physically and mentally.
“This is still only speculation. Tell no one, and focus solely on treating Chaika.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
At Mihail’s command, the physician bowed deeply.
Having been assaulted by a knight whose strength overwhelmingly surpassed his own—and nearly being violated—it was only natural that the shock would be immense. For that reason, the physician carefully mixed sedatives and sleeping medicine, ensuring Chaika slept soundly for a full day.
When a day passed and the effects of the medicine wore off, Chaika slowly opened his eyes, frowning. Having been struck on the cheeks, the swelling extended to his eyes as well; his eyelids were puffed up and bruised. The moment he managed to open his eyes, Chaika moved them restlessly, searching for Mihail. Upon seeing Mihail seated beside the bed, he gave a faint smile of relief.
Chaika’s face was a wreck. Being struck on the cheek by a knight’s large hand was no different from having half his face smashed. Both sides of his face were swollen, dark bruises blooming across them, and his split lips were barely holding together—so fragile that even a slight movement might tear them open again. When Chaika smiled faintly upon spotting Mihail, that alone seemed to trigger pain; he winced and let out small groans. Mihail sat at the head of the bed and gently stroked Chaika’s hair—the only part of him without injuries.
When Mihail helped him sit up and brought a cup of water to his lips, Chaika’s expression twisted in pain with every swallow. Each time his face contorted, another wave of pain followed, leaving him at a loss, unable even to drink a single mouthful easily. By the time he finally finished the cup and lay back down, cold sweat beaded across his forehead.
“You said you’d be in the study—why did you go somewhere so secluded by yourself?”
At Mihail’s question, a flicker of guilt surfaced in Chaika’s eyes. Guilt over deceiving Mihail.
“A snowman…”
“A snowman?”
“I wanted to make the snowman you made for me back then and surprise you, Lord Mihail.”
After saying that much, Chaika winced, his expression tightening as though even moving his mouth to speak caused pain, and he panted softly for a moment.
“Then a knight came by and helped me make the snowman… I thought he was a good person… but suddenly…”
As if recalling the scene, Chaika’s eyes filled with tears. The damage from being struck on the cheek had extended to his eyes; the tiny blood vessels were all ruptured. Holding tears in such eyes couldn’t possibly be painless. Even crying hurt, and in the end, Chaika let out broken, hitching sobs—hngh… h-hic.
Mihail bent forward and pulled Chaika into his arms. Clinging desperately to Mihail’s chest, Chaika poured out his tears.
