“This won’t work, will it?”
I gathered all the fabric in the room and tied them together, but even at a glance, it was clear they wouldn’t be able to support a person’s weight. Still, just in case, I tossed the makeshift rope out the open window—but it fell far short in length.
“What the hell is this?”
Sighing, I pulled the fabric back inside and set about tidying up the room I had deliberately left in disarray, making sure to erase any traces of my escape attempt. He had said he’d be late because of a gathering, but I didn’t know exactly when he’d return. I had to be thorough.
As I smoothed out the crumpled sheets with a few swipes of my hand, exhaustion took over, and I collapsed onto the bed. I had no strength, likely from not eating. Even if I managed to get out of the bedroom, would I even make it to the district’s boundary? A hollow laugh escaped me.
“I need to go back.”
I had no idea if Se-yul was alive, or if Han Jae-hoon and the butler were safe. Thankfully, District 5 hadn’t been completely reduced to ruins beyond recovery, but it certainly wasn’t in good shape either. With the mansion burned to the ground, it would take time before things returned to normal.
The chances of Han Jae-hoon coming to get me from here were slim to none. Before being Han Seo-yul’s father, he was the district leader, responsible for managing District 5. That meant escaping was entirely up to me.
‘How the hell am I supposed to get out?’
Facing a problem with no solution, I felt myself sink into helplessness. I turned my body upright and stared at the ceiling I had become so familiar with. As I absentmindedly traced the meaningless patterns etched into it, the closed door suddenly opened.
I quickly shut my eyes, pretending to be asleep. He approached quietly, muting his footsteps. The mattress dipped slightly as he settled beside me, and a cool hand brushed my damp hair back from my forehead.
It was a gentle touch—but one I could no longer accept. The faint scent of his pheromones spread through the air, lulling me into a false sense of calm, yet my fractured heart rejected him completely.
No matter how many times I asked why he did it, the only answer he ever gave me was that he had to. That cryptic, meaningless response. The very future I had desperately wanted to escape from had come to pass—and it was all because of me. And he… he had done all of this because of me. The weight of guilt crushed my chest.
At moments like this, I was reminded yet again—we were never meant to be together. Of course, he would never accept that.
“Mm…”
Feigning a sleepy toss, I turned onto my side, away from his touch. I worried the movement had been too deliberate, but when he didn’t react for a long time, I let out a quiet breath of relief. He must have thought it was just a normal sleep habit.
After watching me for a long while, he finally lay down beside me. Some time passed, and if I focused, I could hear the softest of breaths—so faint they were barely audible. Only then did I realize he had fallen asleep.
Normally, he was such a light sleeper that even the smallest shift from me would wake him. Yet tonight, he remained still. Had he been exhausted? Come to think of it, he had seemed sleep-deprived lately.
‘Not like that has anything to do with me.’
Contrary to my thoughts, my hand was slowly, cautiously reaching toward him. Before my fingertips could brush the dark circles beneath his eyes—made all the more pronounced by his pale skin—my sense returned.
I withdrew my hand quickly and slipped off the bed. The mattress shifted slightly, making my heart race with the fear that he would wake, but once again, he didn’t open his eyes. Letting out a quiet breath of relief, I took off my slippers and carefully rose onto the balls of my feet. That way, my steps would be silent.
I opened the firmly shut door and peeked outside. The guards who were supposed to be stationed just outside were nowhere to be seen. He must have sent them elsewhere when he came into the room. He hated being interrupted when he was with me.
‘Maybe I can get out now.’
Clinging to that small sliver of hope, I stepped forward—only for a large, pale hand to push the door shut again. A shiver ran down my spine as soft lips ghosted over the nape of my neck.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
His sleep-roughened voice was deep, weighted like a darkness pulled from the abyss. Slowly, I turned around and met his gaze. My hands clenched into trembling fists, but before I could say anything, he leaned in close and spoke first.
“You can’t escape. Do you have any idea how many guards are stationed outside?”
“…I wasn’t trying to run.”
“Liar.”
He tilted his head with a faint smile. When I turned my face away to evade his lips, he caught my chin and forced a kiss on me. As his tongue pressed against my lips, trying to pry them open, I prepared to bite down—but as if he’d read my mind, he pulled away just in time.
Unlike me, burning with rage, he seemed to find the entire situation amusing. That damn smile, playing at the corners of his lips, made my stomach churn. The face I once found beautiful now only filled me with the urge to punch it.
I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward. He could have easily avoided it, yet he allowed himself to be pulled in without resistance. His height irritated me, forcing me to look up at him—so I dragged him lower by the collar.
“Let me out of here.”
The smirk lingering on his lips faded. In an instant, the teasing air between us hardened into something cold and unyielding. He pried my hands from his collar and dropped his gaze before murmuring:
“Then marry me.”
“…What?”
The sheer absurdity of his proposal stole the words from my mouth. He brushed his fingers lightly over my still-clenched hand, then pinched my left ring finger between his thumb and forefinger. When he finally lifted his head, the flames that had burned quietly beneath his expression flared toward me.
“It’s the only way for you to leave this place.”
“That’s what you have to say to me?”
I tried to shake off his grip, but he didn’t budge. The little space left between us disappeared, trapping me in his hold. I had no choice but to lift my chin and glare at him.
“This isn’t District 5. If they find out you’re an Omega, you’ll be thrown out beyond the border immediately. You know that, don’t you?”
No matter where an Omega went, it was hard to find a place to belong—but District 1 was especially merciless. The district leader’s inexplicable hatred for Omegas meant they weren’t even allowed to survive on the outskirts. The moment they were discovered, they were exiled beyond the boundary without exception.
What happened to them in the barren wasteland outside? That was of no concern to the district leader. To him, it was just another form of garbage disposal.
So if my identity as an Omega were revealed, I’d be thrown out of the district immediately. But that was only true as long as I remained in District 1. Once I returned to District 5, everything would be resolved.
“You just need to send me back.”
“You know that’s not an option.”
In the end, he had no intention of letting me go. He wanted to keep me here, an Omega, in District 1. If I married him, no one would be able to touch me so easily, even knowing what I was. He was clearly counting on that.
“Don’t pretend this is for my sake. You’re just trying to get what you want.”
“…You’re right.”
Surprisingly, he admitted it without resistance. Shrugging lightly, he loosened the restraint he had been keeping on his pheromones. In this close proximity, his scent crashed over me like a tidal wave, drenching me in it as if I had stepped into a shower of pure pheromones.
“Don’t—ugh.”
“There’s something you’re overlooking, Seo-yul. Most of the Shining members in this mansion are Alphas. They may not be as strong as me, but they all have pheromones.”
“And what about it—”
“Are you sure you won’t go into heat?”
I wanted to say yes, that I could handle it. But my breath was already growing shallow, my vision blurring at the edges. No matter how much I tried to ignore the heat pooling low in my body, I couldn’t stop the way my legs finally gave out beneath me.
He caught me before I could collapse completely, and the moment he withdrew his pheromones, I could breathe properly again. If he had kept going for just a little longer, I might have lost my mind and thrown myself at him first.
“I’m the only one who can protect you here, Seo-yul.”
“You’re the biggest threat to me.”
“That, too, is true.”
He smiled beautifully as he pressed kisses across my face. My body, drained of strength, was lifted effortlessly into his arms and carried back to the bed. He laid me down carefully before raising my left hand.
His lips closed around my ring finger, tongue flicking over it before his teeth clamped down. A sharp sting made me wince, but I lacked the strength to pull away. He rubbed the reddening bite mark with satisfaction, as if admiring an invisible ring, then spoke.
“Marry me. If you do, I’ll give you complete freedom within the mansion.”
He framed it as if it were true freedom, when in reality, all he was offering was a larger cage. I closed my eyes, refusing to answer. But he didn’t seem anxious—because he already knew what my answer would be in the end.
“I love you, Seo-yul.”
A confession as sweet as it was horrifying.
