“Oh?”
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Winston looked around in confusion. The servants moving back and forth between the main building seemed unusually restless and uneasy. Tilting his head, he suddenly felt a pang of fear. Could this all be because of Yu-jin? The ominous timing unsettled him.
Just then, Winston spotted the butler passing by. He quickly grabbed him and asked for an explanation.
“Is something going on?”
The butler hesitated, looking down at Winston before answering with his usual impassive expression.
“No, sir. Nothing at all.”
Of course, Winston wasn’t the type to be fooled so easily. But before he could press further, the butler unexpectedly furrowed his brows and asked,
“Are you feeling unwell? Your face is extremely flushed. Your breathing is also heavy.”
“A-Ah, no! I’m fine!”
Winston instinctively took a large step back, dodging the butler’s outstretched hand as he tried to check his forehead. He surrendered immediately.
“I’m perfectly fine. You seem busy, so you should go. Sorry for holding you up.”
Forcing himself to act nonchalant, he even flashed a smile, but the butler still stood there, frowning.
If this really was some kind of contagious illness, it would put Yu-jin in trouble. Winston hurriedly turned away before the butler could find more reason to suspect him and made his way to his room.
As he climbed the stairs without looking back, he glanced over his shoulder once he reached the landing. The butler was already far away, his retreating figure disappearing in the distance.
Winston let out a sigh of relief and eased his steps as he continued upward.
He spotted his eldest brother, Gordon, when he was nearly at the top of the staircase. Leaning against the railing, Gordon was watching the scene below with an intrigued expression.
Winston hesitated. Normally, he would have ignored him and walked past, but today was different.
Maybe Gordon knew something.
“The house feels unusually chaotic today.”
Feigning indifference, he spoke in a casual tone. Gordon glanced at him, then smirked.
“Why? Curious?”
Winston, well aware of his brother’s nasty temperament, found himself hesitating. Of all people, it had to be Gordon.
Then, a forgotten memory resurfaced. That moment when everyone had collectively sealed their lips. A secret that everyone except Winston had known.
I forgot to ask Yu-jin about it.
It was too late to dwell on that now. What mattered was figuring out how to navigate this situation.
Winston kept his face blank as he looked down and spoke again.
“It’s the first time there’s been such a fuss over the annex.”
At the offhanded remark, Gordon froze and looked at him.
If Gordon had asked what he was talking about, Winston planned to brush it off, pretending he was just making a guess. There was no need to pry further unless it involved Yu-jin.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
So it really is about Yu-jin.
Suppressing the unease hammering in his chest, Winston leaned against the railing a few steps away from Gordon. His brother eyed him for a moment before mimicking his posture, once again observing the servants below.
“I’m having dinner in my room tonight. Nothing good will come from running into Mother.”
“Oh, maybe I should do the same.”
Winston threw out the comment casually, and just as expected, Gordon took the bait immediately.
“You too? Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way Mother would have anything to say to you.”
“You never know. It’s about the annex, after all. I’m not necessarily an exception.”
Just a little more, and he’d spill it. Winston kept up the act, furrowing his brows as if he were truly concerned. Sure enough, Gordon’s expression relaxed, as if he felt some sense of camaraderie. Then, with an eager look, he leaned in.
“It’s a huge deal, don’t you think? The fact that he actually manifested?”
Manifested? Yu-jin?
The only one in the annex was Yu-jin. Winston’s heart, already pounding with unease, now felt like it was about to burst through his ribs. How had he not realized it sooner? The scent—it was the pheromone scent released during manifestation. The heat-flushed look on Yu-jin’s face, the strange atmosphere surrounding him—there was no other explanation.
“Are you sure? The doctor confirmed it?”
Keeping his voice as steady as possible, Winston asked in a low tone. Gordon, on the other hand, sounded absolutely thrilled.
“Of course! That’s why everyone’s freaking out right now.”
To him, this was nothing more than an exciting spectacle.
Winston wanted nothing more than to run to Yu-jin immediately, but he knew he couldn’t. Instead, he gripped the railing tightly, willing himself to stay put as he continued.
“Mother must be losing her mind right now.”
The moment Winston dangled the bait, Gordon took it without hesitation.
“Obviously. I heard she collapsed onto the sofa the moment Kane reported it.”
There was no need to coax him further—Gordon eagerly kept talking on his own.
“She was already annoyed that Father took in the child of his first love and put him in the annex, but now he’s actually manifested? She might’ve tolerated him as a kid, but once he grows up, he could become Father’s pheromone partner. How could she possibly be okay with that? She might turn a blind eye to Father fooling around at pheromone parties since those are temporary flings, but a permanent partner? Right in front of her?”
Then, with a sneer, he added,
“She’ll never forgive him.”
Winston listened, his face an expressionless mask. He was so stunned that he couldn’t even react.
At last, everything made sense. His mother’s cold, cutting attitude. The reason Yu-jin had always been confined to the annex.
And what would happen next.
A grim future unfolded before his eyes as if it were already reality. Winston could no longer keep his composure.
Father, with Yu-jin? No, that can’t happen. Father has plenty of other people he can use for his pheromones. He wouldn’t do that to Yu-jin.
But then… would Yu-jin end up with someone else instead…?
A foreign scent suddenly drifted in the air. Winston frowned and turned his head, scanning his surroundings.
“…Don’t you smell that?”
At his question, Gordon sniffed the air a few times before answering offhandedly.
“It’s Father’s pheromone scent.”
Like most Extreme Alphas, Harold constantly released his pheromones. The sweet, distinctive scent always lingered faintly in his presence.
The same scent lingered throughout the mansion, as if an animal had marked its territory.
But the scent in the air now was different.
“No… this is something else…”
It was just as sweet, but distinctly unlike his father’s. As Winston instinctively took a deeper breath, a sudden wave of dizziness hit him.
“Winston?”
Gordon called out in alarm. But Winston couldn’t respond. His breathing became erratic, his body refusing to obey him.
Haah, haah—his ragged breaths filled the space as he collapsed on the spot. His vision blurred with a deep red haze, his thoughts scattering.
What’s happening? Why am I suddenly like this?
“Hey! Get a grip! Winston! Someone—ah, over here! Come here, quick! Something’s wrong with Winston!”
Gordon’s frantic shouting rang painfully in his ears. Shut up. Just shut up for a second! Winston clenched his teeth, wanting to yell, but the words never made it past his lips.
“Winston!”
Gordon shouted again. But Winston couldn’t hold out any longer—his body gave in, and he slumped against the cold floor. Heat spread through his limbs, his skin burning. That foreign, intoxicatingly sweet scent thickened in the air, making his head spin even more.
Distantly, he heard voices shouting, but they felt so far away.
“Gordon, move! Get out of the way, now!”
Through the buzzing chaos, his mother’s sharp voice cut through.
“Call the physician! Kane, what are you doing? Move Winston to his room, now!”
His chest heaved as he lay sprawled, his consciousness slipping in and out. The world around him flickered. Amid the disjointed fragments of awareness, he heard his mother’s voice once more.
“As expected, Winston. I knew you would do it. I always believed you would become an Extreme Alpha, just like Harold…!”
There was even a tremor of emotion in her voice—almost as if she was moved.
That was the last thing Winston heard before he blacked out completely.
And when he finally opened his eyes days later, the first thing he learned was that he had manifested.
Even when he looked in the mirror and saw his own eyes—the same violet hue as his father’s—he still couldn’t believe it.
But that was only the beginning. His entire life changed from that moment on.
“I found the perfect school for you.”
His mother had beamed at him as she spoke. It was the same elite boarding school his father had attended—unfortunately, it was in England. Winston had protested vehemently, but it was useless. While he had been deep in slumber, recovering from his manifestation, his mother had already taken matters into her own hands. By the time he was awake, she had put him on a private jet and brought him to England.
And just like that, four years passed.
