“Ungh….”
A strained moan barely slipped from Chaika’s lips. Mihail, who had been dazed, suddenly realized that Chaika was completely pinned beneath him and shifted his body to the side. As if his airway had been crushed by the overwhelming weight, Chaika sucked in a huge breath with a sharp huff.
The two lay side by side, savoring the aftermath of a cycle that had been as intense and tempestuous as a storm. Mihail gently brushed aside Chaika’s sweat-soaked hair that hung limply over his face, then traced a finger along the corner of his eye, wiping away the tears pooled there. Focus slowly returned to the vacant purple eyes. Chaika lay still, gazing quietly at Mihail’s face, then formed a faint smile.
“…Is it over?”
Chaika asked in a hoarse, shredded voice. Mihail let out a small, subtle smile—an ambiguous one.
Mihail softly sucked on Chaika’s lips. Chaika, languidly savoring the lazy, sweet kiss, suddenly widened his eyes.
“What…?!”
His erection was swelling again.
“Ah, no—.”
Chaika hurriedly tried to push Mihail away, but it was useless.
Mihail wrapped Chaika up like a clinging vine, pulling their bodies flush together as he began rocking his hips.
“Ah—ah!”
The bedroom once again filled with obscene sounds and moans.
There was no way to tell how long it went on. Just when it felt like it had finally ended, Mihail’s cock swelled again, and when that ended, it flowed straight into another round of fierce sex without knotting. The strength had long since drained from Chaika’s legs, so they shook wildly, jerking however Mihail slammed into him.
The pleasure was overwhelming, and Chaika’s cock dribbled semen endlessly. Eventually, only a watery fluid came out, squeezed as if wrung dry. He didn’t even have the strength to scratch or cling to Mihail’s back anymore, so he was shaken like a doll, tossed around however Mihail moved him. His body lay limp, yet inside was another story. A pleasure so intense it bordered on death repeatedly carved through every nerve in his body. More than once, Chaika thought he might actually die like this.
At last, everything truly stopped. Chaika weakly fluttered his eyelids. He had no sense of how much time had passed. He couldn’t even tell if he was alive, if he was breathing. He was simply… blank.
Suddenly, a muscular arm came around from behind and pulled Chaika into an embrace. Mihail’s body burned as hot as fire. Chaika was turned, and their gazes met. Unlike Chaika, who was half-dazed and vacant, Mihail wore a languid, satisfied expression—like a predator that had just finished a fulfilling feast.
“…Is it really over now?”
The voice that escaped his throat was completely wrecked. Mihail nodded.
Chaika could tell the cycle was over from the strange sense of physical freshness settling into his body.
“…Did two days pass?”
Chaika asked after thinking for a moment.
“Who knows….”
Mihail replied vaguely. With rut striking so suddenly and wiping out his reason, he had no idea how much time had passed. All he knew was that his body felt refreshed and that the effects of the cycle were completely gone, which made it highly likely that two days had passed. Which meant that the two of them had spent two full days doing nothing but having sex—without water or food.
“How do you feel?”
Mihail could easily go two days without food or water. Chaika, however, was different. If such a delicate creature went two days without eating while having sex nonstop, he’d collapse from exhaustion. Mihail propped himself up and stroked Chaika’s cheek as he asked. Chaika curved his eyes into a smile.
“I’m fine.”
His answering voice was completely hoarse. Sitting up, Mihail looked over the bruises and marks covering Chaika’s body and clicked his tongue inwardly.
“Huh?”
Chaika suddenly looked startled. He tried to spring up, but couldn’t even lift his head before collapsing back down. Mihail lifted Chaika’s upper body and propped several pillows behind his back. Once Chaika was barely upright, he pointed at Mihail’s back, nape, knuckles, and forearms with wide eyes and an agape mouth.
Mihail examined the places Chaika indicated. The backs of his hands, forearms, and shoulders were covered in scratches where nails had dug in wildly, and when he roughly felt the nape of his neck and back—places he couldn’t see—they were just as torn up with claw marks.
“Th-that… I….”
Chaika stammered, his face burning red. Mihail snorted softly, pinched Chaika’s cheek, then raised a finger in front of his eyes and slowly dragged it downward. Chaika’s gaze followed the finger all the way down. Even excluding the nape he couldn’t see, from his chest to his limbs—torso, wrists, ankles, thighs—his entire body was covered in bruises and bite marks.
“…Uh….”
Chaika let out an ambiguous sound, then abruptly grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to cover himself. After being tangled together so obscenely for so long, he was suddenly shy about being naked. Mihail chuckled softly, finding it cute, pulled Chaika by the back of the head, and gave him a short, deep kiss. Then he rang the bell beside the bed.
The tightly closed door opened, and the butler, physician, and servants quietly entered. The servants drew back the thick curtains covering the windows, carried in a bath, and began pouring hot water to prepare it, while the butler gave instructions to bring simple food and drinks. The physician came straight to the bedside and examined Chaika’s condition.
As the thick, dark curtains that had been newly hung for the heat cycle were pulled aside, late-afternoon sunlight poured into the bedroom.
“How long has it been?”
Chaika whispered softly to the physician.
“More than a full day and a half has passed.”
The physician answered quietly. Chaika looked startled at the response, his face clearly showing that he’d never imagined so much time had passed from what felt like just one bout of sex.
“But this time, too, his body is….”
Muttering softly as he checked Chaika’s body beneath the sheet, the physician glanced at Mihail as if looking at a beast. Mihail scoffed, then scooped Chaika up and sat down with him in the warm bath the servants had prepared. Embarrassed to be naked in a room full of attendants, Chaika buried his face in Mihail’s chest. Mihail unfolded the white cloth handed to him by the butler and draped it over Chaika’s head.
Once again, Chaika ended up bedridden, groaning with a severe illness. High fever, intense muscle pain, and the ache from bruises left him suffering so badly that he had to be kept asleep with sedatives for most of the time.
Unlike last time, Mihail also needed the physician’s help this time. The backs of his hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, back, nape—every inch of skin within Chaika’s reach was covered in nail marks and gouges, as though someone had drawn pictures with their fingers. After a few days, scabs formed everywhere, making it look unsightly. The wounds had to be stinging and itching like madness, yet Mihail not only didn’t mind—he seemed rather pleased with them. Every time he took off his shirt to change clothes, he’d glance at the nail marks and smile faintly, as if that were proof enough.
The problem was Chaika.
During the previous heat cycle, Chaika had recovered after a few days in bed. This time, however, he’d been sick for nearly ten days. Mihail pressed the physician relentlessly, only to be scolded with a dry, You should’ve taken it easier. Whenever Chaika woke briefly and struggled even to swallow thin soup and medicine, Mihail seemed to feel about a chickpea-sized amount of guilt.
With Chaika’s heat cycle overlapping with Mihail’s rut and wiping out all reason, Chaika didn’t even remember being knotted. Worried that the knotting might have put excessive strain on Chaika’s body, Mihail grew deeply anxious.
“What if this causes a miscarriage or something?”
Mihail said, sitting at the bedside and pressing a hand to Chaika’s burning forehead.
“It’s still very early, so it’s difficult to even confirm a pregnancy yet. However, since your cycles aligned perfectly and there was knotting, it’s reasonable to assume he’s pregnant. We’ll care for him with the utmost attention to ensure there’s no miscarriage.”
“Why is this dragging on so long?”
Mihail asked irritably.
“It could be because of pregnancy. Early on, the body often suffers quite a bit when carrying a child.”
At the physician’s words, Mihail’s face brightened slightly—only to harden again.
“Both Chaika and the child must survive. No matter what.”
Mihail said, his tone threatening.
“Of course. I’ll do everything I can.”
The physician bowed respectfully.
It was only after exactly ten days of the physician’s meticulous care that Chaika’s fever finally began to subside. In the meantime, the bruises on his body had faded considerably, and the scabs on the bite marks had fallen away.
“Still no morning sickness?”
“We won’t know for sure until at least two weeks have passed.”
As the two spoke quietly beside Chaika, who lay asleep under the influence of medicine, they suddenly fell silent at the movement on the bed.
Chaika’s golden eyelashes, which had spent nearly ten days fluttering only in drugged sleep while he swallowed nothing but soup and medicine, trembled and slowly lifted. Dull purple eyes emerged, hazy with lingering fog. They stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment before drifting slowly toward Mihail and the physician.
“Chaika.”
Mihail smiled with relief and stroked Chaika’s hair.
“…Lord Mihail….”
The voice that spoke his name was heavily muffled. Even though he himself was the one who had reduced him to this state, Mihail felt anger toward the one who had so mercilessly held this fragile being.
“You’ll be fine now.”
Mihail said gently, tossing aside the faint guilt creeping up his spine. Chaika, who had been quietly watching him, parted his dry lips and asked,
“…Did you… knot me?”
The gentle smile on Mihail’s face froze solid. Believing Chaika had been deeply asleep under the medicine, they must’ve talked too freely nearby. There was no point in lying now. Since it was something that would happen to Chaika’s body, he’d have to tell him eventually anyway. That time had just come a little sooner.
“Yes. Your heat cycle triggered my rut as well. I don’t remember clearly, but I think I knotted you.”
Golden lashes lowered, then slowly lifted again, repeating several times. As the purple eyes disappeared and reappeared, Mihail tightly grasped Chaika’s hand. After blinking a few more times, Chaika’s brows drew together slightly, his lips pressing shut in anger.
“You’re lying.”
Betrayal surfaced in Chaika’s eyes. Mihail was startled, but didn’t show it.
“You’re lying. I heard everything you and the physician said. You did it on purpose. You did it on purpose—knotted me and got me pregnant, didn’t you?”
Damn it.
Mihail clicked his tongue inwardly.
Relying on the medicine and talking right beside him had been a fatal mistake. He had no idea how much, or how far, Chaika had heard. Trying to deny it halfheartedly now would only backfire.
“…I’m sorry, Chaika.”
Instead of making excuses, Mihail apologized quietly.
The sense of betrayal on Chaika’s face deepened even further.
“You promised you wouldn’t do it until I said it was okay.”
“I’m truly sorry.”
That was all Mihail could say.
Chaika bit down hard on his lower lip, glaring at Mihail with unmistakable fury. Tears soon welled up in those glaring purple eyes.
“…You’re awful.”
After glaring for a long moment with tear-filled eyes, Chaika suddenly spoke and punched Mihail’s shoulder with his fist. Unlike the weak scuffles of before, this time he put his strength into it. After the first hit, Chaika somehow found more energy, braced himself on the bed, pushed his upper body up, clenched both fists, and began striking Mihail wildly.
“You’re awful! Awful! You liar! Bastard! Terrible bastard! Liar!”
His fists thudded solidly against Mihail’s chest, shoulders, arms. Mihail didn’t try to explain, make excuses, or even apologize further—he simply endured the blows in silence. For forcing a pregnancy without consent, bastard, terrible, and liar all fit.
The butler and servants waiting across the room quietly turned their bodies away and shifted their gazes toward the window.
“You promised! I trusted that promise! You liar! Bastard! Lord Nile was right—alphas are all bad!”
Throwing punches while hurling curses and resentment with all his might, Chaika suddenly stopped. His strength seemed to give out; he collapsed forward, then finally burst into loud sobs.
Mihail seized the moment to pull Chaika into his arms and began patting his back gently.
“I’m sorry, Chaika. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
Chaika didn’t respond—he just sobbed uncontrollably. Even as he cried, he clutched tightly at Mihail’s clothes. Mihail kept repeating that he was wrong, yet a sly smile crept onto his face. Seeing that, the physician shook his head slowly from side to side.
