#67
“If I had known such a beautiful person would be here, I would have come out earlier.”
Right. You were always good at saying cheesy things.
And you were tall with a decent face. Literally from a good family too.
You readily said you’d live in the northern region, and back then, you were the best option… But what can I do? Having unintentionally been around Angel, Derik, Ray, and others, my standards have involuntarily been raised.
“Why did you come out? You should have just stayed inside.”
Don’t talk to me. Just go back inside.
Although in this life they were meeting for the first time and Noah should have been polite and respectful, kind and gentle words didn’t flow from his mouth.
“Hahaha. I heard the precious son of the Grand Duke of the North was free-spirited, and you truly are.”
With his legs crossed, leaning back on the bench, Noah tilted his head back to look at the man still standing in front of him.
I saw all I needed to know about your character when you ran away that one time. So the second time, I remembered the date and struggled desperately not to meet you here, and I succeeded… But now for the third time, I forgot because I’ve been so busy. How do I get rid of this guy?
“I’d like to be alone, so please leave.”
Although he had spoken harshly at first, Noah decided to try to coax the man—who was, after all, the son of a noble family—to leave this place by softening his attitude a bit.
“A person is better off with company than alone. The more people, the more fun things happen. Were you looking at the stars?”
Despite openly showing his dislike from the moment they met and even asking him to leave, the man smoothly continued the conversation and casually sat down beside Noah, causing Noah to sigh involuntarily.
Indeed, Noah’s life these days was distinctly different from his past two lives.
Back then, he would dance according to the expectations of the people he met, bowing his head whenever he was introduced to someone new. He couldn’t speak freely for fear that strange words might slip out from his mouth as he hadn’t yet adjusted to this place. Because of this, Noah, the only son of the Grand Duke of the North, naturally developed an image of being obedient and good.
However, unlike his past when he couldn’t take control and just went along with others, the current Noah firmly held the reins of his own life.
Even without the Schwein family, even without Lucas, the Grand Duke of the North whom everyone looked up to, Noah himself was already a complete person. Moreover, though he was an omega, he was one of the few academy graduates and now a proper businessman with chain stores throughout the empire.
He was already walking a different path from other omegas, who were typically submissive to alphas and betas and for whom being quietly supportive at home was considered a virtue. Since his family wasn’t pressuring him to marry, Noah had no reason to bow his head first.
Within the bounds of imperial etiquette, Noah now acted as he pleased. And strangely, people seemed to be drawn to this side of him, and the number of people who overlooked his thinly veiled insults grew.
Sigh, if you don’t like the temple, the monk should leave. How can you ask the temple to leave?
Since the man had already planted himself on the bench and didn’t seem easy to shake off with words, Noah stood up. The man’s unique scent was growing stronger, making Noah wonder if he was deliberately releasing pheromones to appeal to him.
Seriously, didn’t this guy receive proper family education? Releasing pheromones like that toward an omega is a crime, you know? It seemed like he was trying to appeal through pheromones because nothing else was working.
True, alphas and omegas are heavily influenced by pheromones, and there’s a saying that couples with good pheromone compatibility live well together, but these were stories that had nothing to do with Noah.
Although his phenotype was omega, he had never experienced any inconvenience or been swayed by an alpha’s pheromones. Most people fully manifest around puberty and start experiencing things like heat, but this didn’t apply to Noah either.
Occasionally he would fall ill like with a fever, but he had never truly struggled, and he had never experienced difficulties controlling his own scent, which was similar to lemon. Of course, even when he could sense pheromones being deliberately released in front of him, they didn’t particularly affect him.
Standing up and briefly looking at the sky, Noah suddenly had to plop back down on the bench when someone pulled his hand.
“I cannot promise to pluck the stars from the sky for you, but I promise that these delicate hands will never have to touch water for the rest of your life.”
It was already annoying that the man was touching his body as he pleased, but when he supported Noah’s hand with one of his own and stroked the back of it with the other while speaking, Noah felt shivers run down his spine.
“…Do you know what my occupation is?”
Quickly pulling his hand away from the man’s grasp at his absurd words and actions, Noah clung to his last shred of rationality and spoke politely to him.
He might not know who I am. Though I’m supposed to be somewhat famous, he might not know. Besides, this person didn’t attend the academy.
From his appearance and their current location, Noah could easily deduce that he was someone invited to the imperial party. He might also think Noah was an omega. So this person might just be making a common pass at him because he didn’t know who Noah was.
Since he was at the imperial party, he must have some basic background, and this body, which never built muscle no matter how much he exercised, was objectively pretty and slender, the likable type.
So if this man was saying such nonsense because he didn’t know who Noah was, Noah could understand him once.
“I heard you’re in the food service industry…”
“So you do know. My God, what chef doesn’t get their hands wet while cooking? Is that even possible? Not even a dragon could do that. People shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep. And you, can you handle the cold well? You know how freezing the Austen region is, right?”
“No matter how cold, it’s a place where people live…”
No matter how cold, it’s a place where people live, and frankly, our knights train there even in the dead of winter, saying it’s hot and taking off their clothes.
But you ran away on the first day you came to the territory because it was too cold.
If he was hitting on me without knowing who I was, I’d try to understand, but he knows I’m the owner of “Aeongi’s Place” restaurant chain and he’s saying he’ll make sure my hands never touch water? Even babies don’t believe such promises these days. What? If my hands don’t touch water, how am I supposed to wash myself? Am I not allowed to wash my face as I please?
“Yeah, everyone else lives there, but you can’t. I’ve taken up a lot of your time, right? You must be super sorry? So, can you please leave now?”
As Noah wiped his hand vigorously with a handkerchief after pulling it away from the man’s grasp, he noticed the expression on the man’s face gradually hardening.
“What? Are you angry? This is who I am. Haven’t you heard about my reputation? There might be some good things, but there are also things about me having no manners, right? You know what happens if you touch or hit me now? Your life is over. So go on your way.”
“How dare you behave so recklessly and speak so disrespectfully… Don’t you know anything about imperial etiquette…”
“Oh, I only show respect to people who deserve it. In the past, I might have fallen for your trick because I didn’t know better, but if you see someone alone, you should first politely ask if you can sit here. And if they say no, you should say ‘I understand’ and leave—that’s the etiquette you claim to love so much. Not trying to dominate by randomly releasing that trashy, strange pheromone of yours.”
Feeling that staying any longer would only ruin his mood, Noah stood up again, rapidly fired off his words, and turned around. This is why I didn’t want to come to the party. I just wanted to be alone.
I’ve already met you, and where did I meet that absurd second guy? I think it was around this time… It wasn’t at the imperial party, but at some party in the western region?
Noah knew the rose garden inside out, so even if this guy followed him immediately, he was confident he could escape through another path.
“Ugh—”
However, when someone grabbed his wrist, Noah was about to shake it off, thinking these types never learn, but he turned his head when he heard a strange sound and the man immediately let go of his hand.
“It’s me~”
“…”
On top of the man who had fallen flat on the ground was Aeongi in his tiny form, making cheerful, cute sounds. If he had sat on him in his large form, Noah would have understood the situation, but seeing him crush a grown adult while in such a tiny form—perhaps trying to surprise Noah—made Noah chuckle.
“Kuk.”
As Aeongi got off the man’s body and waddled with his small feet, the man made sounds as if he were being crushed by something incredibly heavy. Noah bent down and picked up Aeongi.
“You kept your promise.”
Aeongi, who had said he would return before Noah’s twentieth birthday, had come back to him as promised, although in a strange situation.
“Nyaa…”
Noah held Aeongi in both hands, rubbing his cheek against that small face and kissing his head, fully enjoying the joy of their reunion as he stepped into the complex maze.
“Nyaa…”
As Noah exchanged intense greetings with Aeongi, who seemed just as happy, rubbing faces and making cute sounds, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
“…But are you a dragon?”
In a situation where he couldn’t distinguish between dream and reality, Angel had said he was both Aeongi and a dragon. No matter how much Noah thought about it, it didn’t make sense that a dragon had stuck close to him pretending to be a pet. So the first thing Noah wanted to ask when Aeongi returned was this.
Plus, if Aeongi is a dragon. What should I do? How should I treat a dragon?
Noah’s pupils trembled as he looked into Aeongi’s clear eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
