A grinding sound escaped from his mouth. When he smelled Doha’s scent, his own scent began to unravel uncontrollably. It felt like the thread of reason he had been barely holding onto was snapping.
Doha’s face, lying beneath him, came into view. The blood-covered hunting clothes or sword couldn’t capture his attention.
That clear face. The man he had gazed at longer than anyone else since birth. Only Doha’s face, the face he wanted to remember until his death, filled Hyunseo’s vision.
“I told you… not to stay!”
Hyunseo shouted with an angry voice. A thirst rose in him. A thirst that would be quenched if he could taste Doha, who was pinned beneath his body. If he could bury his face in those slender shoulders, sink his teeth in, and inhale the scent like fruit juice oozing from the flesh.
Then this thirst would be satisfied.
Hyunseo’s eyes gleamed black. Noticing the instantly changed gaze, Doha hurriedly placed both hands on Hyunseo’s body.
“With your body in this state, how could I leave Your Majesty behind!”
“Did I not give a royal command!”
“Royal command my ass, is this the time to be saying that?”
Hyunseo’s face, stubbornly holding out, was deathly pale. His forehead had been drenched in sweat for a long time. Though he looked like he might collapse at any moment, he persisted to the end, pushing Doha away.
That’s what made Doha furious and angry. What was wrong with telling him? What was so difficult about relying on someone a little?
Huffing with anger, Doha supported Hyunseo and asked:
“Isn’t it time you spoke now?”
“…”
“How long are you going to endure alone? Until when!”
Since the possession, Hyunseo had never once explained his plans for the future. He never explained why when he silently took Seowoo’s side, when he broke his promise and sought out Seowoo again, or when he suddenly embraced Doha in the banquet hall.
It was Seowoo who tried to frame and kill Doha, but Hyunseo was the same. Psychologically isolating him more and more. That was how Hyunseo had been tormenting Doha.
That’s why Doha became the flower of Siyeong Palace.
“I never asked Your Majesty why you went to Gyopung Palace. I never asked why you took the Noble Consort’s side.”
“…That’s.”
“I was waiting for Your Majesty to tell me! Stuck in Siyeong Palace!”
Unable to contain his anger, Doha pushed away Hyunseo’s body and fumed. Doha’s movements were so violent that even Hyunseo, who couldn’t see him clearly, could sense his anger.
“If you ate poison, just say so! Tell me where the poison was, what you plan to do—is that so difficult?!”
“That… even if you knew…”
“If I knew, the plan would have changed! Not just for me, but to protect Your Majesty as well!”
You think you’re the only smart one? The only special one?
If he had told him, Doha would have made a better plan. A plan where no one got hurt. He would have revised and executed a plan that minimized bloodshed.
He ruins my plans as he pleases but won’t tell me his own plans. That made him so angry he could go crazy. He thought he had this scenario perfectly figured out, but it was full of things Doha didn’t know. Even about his own mate.
“I just… wanted to protect you.”
Hyunseo covered his face with his bleeding hand. It was an attempt to block Doha’s scent. And if possible, his own distorted face as well.
“I knew… from the moment the Noble Consort drank the wine so easily…”
“…”
“That there was poison on the cup that would touch your lips.”
Leaning his back against a tree trunk, Hyunseo breathed heavily. He looked up at Doha with eyes that seemed ready to pounce at any moment. Was the Flower Bin’s hunting outfit originally red? Blinking his cloudy eyes, he spoke.
“…With me holding you, I thought they would use a slow-acting poison. Besides, since it was the Noble Consort who handed over the cup, even if symptoms appeared, it shouldn’t have been noticeable.”
“It needed to avoid suspicion even if symptoms showed.”
“Yes. The only poison with symptoms that aren’t unusual is an aphrodisiac.”
Breathlessly continuing his words, Hyunseo covered his eyes with his arm. This was his limit. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control his scent. He needed to let Doha go while he could still regulate his scent, while he was still human.
“That’s why I told you to leave.”
From the intensifying scent, Doha could roughly guess Hyunseo’s condition. As the Pleasure Period approached, there was no way he could leave him here. Looking at him with seeming hatred, Doha glared at Hyunseo.
“Would you shut that mouth?”
“I can’t let you get caught up in my Pleasure Period too.”
“Who would I be leaving Your Majesty for? If I leave you here, you’ll just end up rolling around with the Noble Consort.”
“…Even if I die, I won’t roll around with the Noble Consort.”
“Yes, die rather than roll around with him.”
Answering apathetically, Doha rose from his place once more. Having concluded that he couldn’t leave him here, he grabbed Hyunseo’s arm and pulled.
“I’m not strong enough to carry Your Majesty. So we’ll have to walk.”
Speaking with a sarcastic tone, Doha hurriedly placed Hyunseo’s arm around his shoulder. Even just lifting his arm, the weight was considerable, perhaps due to his height and build. Feeling like he’d placed a piece of iron on his shoulder, Doha sighed and muttered:
“Since your royal body is unwell, you should take some medicinal tonic when we return to the palace.”
“The Bin… even knows how to talk… like that.”
“What is there that I cannot do?”
“I should get sick more often… ugh.”
As laughter burst out, the tension in Hyunseo’s body released. As his controlled scent unraveled, Hyunseo’s foot slipped out of step. Doha caught Hyunseo’s falling body and quickly hastened his steps.
“Is the exit this way?”
“Yes. If you follow this path straight, we’ll get out.”
Doha walked silently in the direction he pointed. Since it had taken just over two hours from where they met Seowoo to the hunting ground, it would probably take the same from here. Glancing sideways, he saw Hyunseo with his eyes closed.
Walking slowly while leaning on his shoulder didn’t seem normal. Could he hold out for two hours? Doha looked down at Hyunseo. Feeling the gaze, Hyunseo spoke.
“Don’t look at me like that… I won’t pounce on you, so don’t worry.”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
At the sudden remark, Doha tightened his grip on Hyunseo’s shoulder. Feeling the increased strength, Hyunseo chuckled and replied:
“Aren’t you looking at me like I’m a beast?”
The way I would look at the Yangin in the marketplace.
Thinking of Doha looking at him with contemptuous eyes, he couldn’t open his eyes. Picturing Doha’s face in the darkness, he muttered:
“Well, even a beast would be better than this.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Just wearing a human disguise, utterly base and lowly.”
At Hyunseo’s self-deprecating whisper, Doha stopped walking. There was a time when he too had thought the same.
The day he received his omega designation and was rejected by his parents, the day he was bullied at school, the day he went to the teacher about the bullying and was told he just needed to endure it, being forced to be considerate.
In all those moments, Doha thought it was because he was a beast, that it was his fault people acted this way.
When the same thought came from Hyunseo’s mouth, something stirred in Doha’s heart. A genuine feeling that this thought was wrong.
Before the thought could fully process, Doha’s lips moved.
“We are not beasts.”
“So consumed by lust, yet you say we’re not beasts.”
Opening his eyes, Hyunseo glared at Doha. Though his vision must be blurry, he stared directly at Doha. It was a fierce gaze. Meeting those pitch-black beast-like eyes, Doha grabbed Hyunseo’s waist.
“If we were beasts, would we try so hard to control our scent?”
“…”
“We would have already been rolling around by now.”
“Huh.”
“Of course, it would have been me pouncing on you, not the other way around.”
Pressing his body close, Doha moved his steps before Hyunseo could answer. Deliberately ignoring Hyunseo, who was looking at him with a surprised face, Doha kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.
Clearly, he was speaking to Hyunseo, but strangely, it felt like he was talking to himself. Saying they weren’t beasts, that they were human—pronouncing these words made his mind feel calmer.
It would have been nice if someone had said this to me.
If they had, he would have looked at them with round eyes, just like Hyunseo was now looking at him as if seeing some strange animal.
“You should be grateful that I’m human.”
Calmly adding this, Doha lifted Hyunseo’s body that he was holding. Even in that moment, Hyunseo’s persistent gaze didn’t falter.
Hyunseo’s dry lips opened and closed repeatedly before curving up into an arc.
“…I suppose so.”
Was his Eumin such a strong man? Closing his eyes again, Hyunseo continued walking as Doha led the way.
* * *
“…Your Majesty, is this the direction to the exit?”
“…”
After wandering in the forest for 30 minutes, Doha asked Hyunseo, but no answer came back. An ominous feeling brushed the back of his head. Surely not. Carefully, he continued speaking.
“Please say something.”
“…It’s the opposite direction.”
“Didn’t you say it was this way earlier?”
“…I couldn’t possibly have said that.”
What kind of lame top character was this? What kind of directionally-challenged top was this? If he could, he would want to tear his hair out.
Setting aside all talk about beasts and humans, the desire to just roll around once rose within him. His lower body had been wet for a long time from the intensifying scent.
Whether from blood or something else, his pants felt sticky and unpleasant with every step. Frowning, Doha pondered whether there had been a directionally-challenged top character in the scenario he had seen.
As a rule, the top character in a scenario typically took on the role of leading the protagonist to escape from places like this forest.
And always saving them from danger.
Danger always found them in places like this. A strange atmosphere flowing, surroundings quiet, sunlight not reaching, a secluded place.
A place where no one would know if a murder occurred.
“Found you.”
At that moment, hearing a familiar voice from behind, Doha slowly turned around. Seowoo was standing there, along with men wearing black masks.
“I apologize for the delay.”
Still wearing the blood-soaked hunting clothes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
