# Chapter 55
The Duke said he would proceed with the engagement to Luke as soon as possible, as Shaki had suggested. He added that rushing the engagement even before his heat had occurred might be advantageous for becoming pregnant, revealing a smile tinged with ambition. Since Asher had no reason to create trouble with the Duke, he agreed and left the place.
“Young Master.”
When Asher returned to his room after parting with Shaki, Toms approached him as if he had been waiting. Asher signaled with his eyes to discreetly summon the personal physician, then moved to where the bedroom was.
“Have you been experiencing any discomfort lately?”
The physician, who had entered at some point, asked Asher. As if he had been waiting for this, Asher half-raised himself and said to him:
“I called you because I feel my body has been getting worse lately.”
“How exactly are you feeling unwell?”
“I don’t know if it’s anemia, but when I stand up after sitting, I feel dizzy and a suffocating sensation like indigestion. I’ve always been prone to indigestion, but lately it seems to have gotten much worse.”
Asher carefully explained the symptoms he had been feeling recently to the physician. Fearing that these symptoms might be side effects of poison, he was quite alarmed, but continued the conversation with a calm expression.
“When did these symptoms begin?”
“Not long ago. To be precise…”
Asher stopped mid-sentence and bit his lip. The recent symptoms had appeared after spending the rut with Luke. More precisely, they had emerged after he realized his pheromones had disappeared. The physician, as if reading Asher’s thoughts, made a benevolent expression and answered:
“First, I should check your pulse. Excuse me for a moment.”
The physician asked for Asher’s permission and checked his pulse by grasping his wrist. Then, with a surprised look, he widened his eyes and checked the pulse again while asking:
“I heard your heat… didn’t come.”
“…No, it didn’t.”
“Are you certain it didn’t come?”
At his expression, which had become somewhat sharper than before, Asher hesitantly bit his lip. Somehow, he was suddenly afraid that he was about to hear something he shouldn’t. Instead of answering, Asher stared at the physician while holding his breath.
“You’re pregnant.”
Words that were almost like a death sentence flowed from his lips. Asher asked the physician again, as if he had heard correctly but couldn’t believe it.
“What… did you just say?”
“…I believe you are pregnant.”
How could a single mistake result in pregnancy? He had heard that recessive omegas had slim chances of conceiving a child. But to become pregnant so easily? Asher recalled Luke, who had tormented him for five days without allowing a single moment of sleep, and covered his mouth.
“Are you alright?”
The physician carefully inquired seeing Asher’s face, which had turned so pale that it wouldn’t have been strange if he collapsed right then, but Asher couldn’t hear those words. Instead, he wore an empty expression for a long time, unable to continue speaking, as if in shock.
“…Am I really pregnant…? With…”
With Luke’s child…? Asher couldn’t finish his sentence and looked down at his trembling fingertips.
To Asher, the word “pregnancy” was unfamiliar and strange. Being an omega, he had thought that he would eventually become pregnant someday, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. Asher placed his hand on his lower abdomen as if he couldn’t believe it.
“How…”
Although his belly didn’t feel any different yet, Asher felt like he might burst into tears at any moment. To think that another life had taken root inside him. Unable to believe it, Asher forcibly held back his tears and said:
“You must not tell anyone about this.”
“Of course. I am the Young Master’s physician, not anyone else’s.”
The physician was already planning to keep quiet, having received money from Asher. That money was enough to live on comfortably without working. But perhaps feeling somewhat uneasy regardless of the money, he asked Asher:
“May I ask what would happen to me if His Grace the Duke were to find out about this?”
“That won’t happen. You never examined me in the first place.”
When Asher responded firmly, he nodded as if understanding and added:
“However, you cannot deceive His Grace and the Young Masters forever. If the child’s type is not beta but omega or alpha, the fetus’s pheromone scent will start to emerge after a month.”
“From the fetus too…?”
Asher was startled to hear that pheromones could emerge from the fetus. How nice it would have been if Aria were here at a time like this. Asher instructed Toms, who was waiting outside, to bring the money he had prepared.
“I won’t accept any more money. What you’ve already given me is more than enough.”
“If that’s your wish, I understand.”
At the physician’s adamant words, Asher signaled to Toms to leave again, then continued the conversation.
“What should I do to prevent the pheromone scent from the child in my womb from being detected? It could be a dangerous situation if the child’s type isn’t beta.”
“There are temporary perfumes you can apply, but I’ve heard these don’t work on dominant types.”
“…”
As a physician, he seemed to be cautioning about being careful when meeting Luke. But Asher, as if caught off guard, pressed his lips tightly together and waited for the next words.
“Still, it would be better than not using anything. I’ll send the perfume to you through Toms.”
Having finished what he needed to say, the physician rose from his seat, then carefully spoke to Asher, who was sitting in a daze.
“I didn’t ask because I was afraid it might upset you, but you seem not to know. Usually, the fetal cycle is counted from the day the heat began.”
“…”
“I thought you might wonder about it later.”
As if not wanting to add any more unnecessary words, he smiled kindly like a parent and left the room. Asher quietly watched him go, then shifted his gaze to his lower abdomen, which he was still touching.
“From when the heat began…”
If so, the child was approaching a full month. Since there was a possibility that pheromones could start to emerge, Asher instructed Toms to follow the physician and receive the perfume. After all, no one should know about the existence of the child.
“But what should I do now, going forward?”
It wasn’t just anyone’s child but the child of the person he loved so dearly, yet Luke was someone who would soon be engaged to Braden, who would be returning, and live happily ever after.
He didn’t want Luke, who deserved happiness more than anyone, to be held back because of his pregnancy, and above all, he had no intention of telling him the truth. He knew better than anyone how terribly Luke hated the term “illegitimate child.”
“It’s not that I’m unhappy you’re here. It’s just that I feel guilty for making your life, which should be blessed, unhappy…”
That’s why he felt guilty. Although he questioned whether he should really give birth to this child and if he could raise it well, Asher was determined to protect this child no matter what.
“After all, you are mine and Luke’s child.”
Asher wrapped himself in a blanket as if the child’s existence was precious. Although the child’s arrival came as a burden to Asher, the child was the only connection between him and Luke, and perhaps one of the things he could selfishly desire. Asher buried his confused face in his hands.
At first, he had intended to follow the original work if it didn’t deviate. But now that he had a child in his womb, he had no intention of moving according to the original work’s will. Even if the original work suffocated him, tightening around his neck, he would escape from them somehow and protect the child. It didn’t matter if the child would never know the existence of its father.
Asher called Toms, who was outside, and instructed him to schedule an appointment with Luke. After all, being the child’s father, he felt he should at least say goodbye. Recalling his promised date with Narta, Asher got up from the bedroom and headed to where the table was.
“I have the wishing stone, after all.”
Given the current situation, it seemed better to meet Narta in the Bulldog Kingdom using the wishing stone, rather than meeting in the empire. He thought it would be safer for both himself and them. From now on, there would be not one but two watchers observing him. Thinking of the Duke and Luke, Asher hurriedly sent a letter to the western tower of the Bulldog Kingdom.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
