11
It was the result of my own arrogance.
“Sorry.”
Embarrassed, I quickly composed myself while grabbing my nose that felt hot. Cedric showed a slight smile.
“It’s okay. You’re doing much better than I expected.”
…Mmm. Should I take that as a compliment?
I had already lost the beat and the music was flowing on.
We rewound the music to follow the beat from the beginning, and I received separate instruction on just the difficult parts. We spent quite a while like that.
I was struggling to follow the music’s beat when my feet got tangled again and I ended up bumping my head against Cedric’s chest. Feeling deep doubt and a bit tired at the same time, I let out a sigh while staying like that…
Suddenly, Cedric’s hand supporting my lower back tightened with strength. I could distinctly feel his large, firm hand pressing close and wrapping around my waist.
At the same time, I caught a familiar scent from Cedric.
A clear fragrance that coolly stimulated my nose. A deep, heavy blue scent that reminded me of a quiet forest where darkness had settled.
Mixed naturally with the smell of damp earth and the coldly felt rose fragrance, it seemed to spread subtly.
That was Cedric’s pheromone scent.
He probably released it unconsciously.
Alphas and omegas generally know how to control their pheromones instinctively, but sometimes they let them slip out for no reason, and actually not just Cedric but Riette sometimes did this too. So normally I wouldn’t have minded.
But today I felt strangely different.
Suddenly feeling an emotion that made it hard to stay still, I quickly tried to push away Cedric’s forearm to separate from him. Because of Cedric’s strength firmly supporting my back, only my head tilted backward.
“Ce-Cedy. That’s enough now, so move away a bit.”
“…Why?”
Why, he asks.
I was flustered by Cedric’s question instead.
Why am I so bothered by this right now?
“…Because you’re too close, so move away.”
I pointlessly hit his chest area and got irritated. Only then did Cedric release the strength from the hand supporting my lower back without saying anything else.
I felt awkward afterward, as if I had gotten angry over nothing. Feeling sorry, I glanced at Cedric and said,
“Shall we stop here for today? I’m tired.”
“……”
“Is that okay?”
It was probably just my imagination, but Cedric’s gaze staring directly at me felt as if he was trying to dig into my inner thoughts, making me unbearably uncomfortable.
While I could neither do this nor that and just rolled my eyes around, the music ended.
In the quiet silence, Cedric was the first to speak.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
His eyes narrowed faintly as usual.
* * *
The next day.
Riette, Cedric, and I finished preparing to head up to the Imperial Palace, loading the luggage we had packed since early morning onto the carriage.
We brought along one coachman to drive the carriage and one servant to carry luggage.
Mother and Father also helped us prepare and came out personally to see us off.
“Cedy, Ret, Eddie. Have a safe trip.”
“Please take good care of Eddie.”
“Yes, don’t worry. We’ll be back.”
“We’ll be back.”
We climbed into the back seats of the carriage and waved until we could no longer see the two people seeing us off.
Since it would take several days to reach Boremia Imperial Palace, we planned to travel while stopping at several territories along the way.
Our short trip together had begun.
“What territory do we arrive at first?”
“Glis territory.”
Riette answered while looking at the map in response to my question. I happily looked out the carriage window.
It had been a long time since I went this far away, so I felt excited. Climbing Mount Burden with Cedric was an exception since that wasn’t for fun.
“Ret, have you been to Glis before?”
“Yes! This place is famous as a tourist destination too. According to Father, even foreigners from outside the empire frequently visit, so the tax revenue that Glis territory earns is quite substantial.”
“I see.”
For reference, Riette’s father is the Prime Minister of the Nemad Empire. Riette is the Prime Minister’s only daughter, and Cedric is the only son of the empire’s sole Grand Duke family. It was also Riette who introduced Cedric to me, and they said they knew each other before meeting me.
This must be what “birds of a feather flock together” means. Of course, since our family is also the empire’s top wealthy family, that’s how I was able to meet those two.
“If it’s a tourist destination, what’s it famous for?”
“Hot springs and related businesses.”
“Hot springs?”
“Yeah. They say if you dig the ground, water just comes gushing out from the bottom.”
Riette giggled as she answered. Hot springs are places where underground water heated by geothermal energy comes up, right? I recalled what I had learned as general knowledge.
Then Cedric, who had been quietly listening to our conversation from the seat next to me, interjected.
“Most of the inns in Glis have hot springs attached.”
“Then we won’t need to look for them separately.”
“Right. The inn we’re staying at will have one too.”
“Ah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Riette was thoroughly excited. Since she said she had been to Glis before, she must have experienced hot springs too.
“Have you tried hot springs? How were they?”
“Really great! Eddie, you’ll be amazed too.”
We were continuing our chattering conversation like that when Riette, as if suddenly remembering something, opened her eyes wide and began to speak.
“Come to think of it, Cedy, you’re about to have your rut, right?”
…Rut.
At those words, I looked at Cedric.
I had learned that omegas have heat cycles that come periodically, and alphas have ruts that come periodically.
And I also knew the fact that most nobles with secondary genders control those embarrassing cycles with medication.
“Yeah. It should be soon.”
“The timing overlapped awkwardly. Did you pack your medicine properly?”
“I packed it. But it won’t hit during the ball period.”
“Still, you never know.”
Riette’s heat cycle was definitely once every three months. Cedric was… what was it?
Hmm. I can’t remember well.
I didn’t want to look foolish by pretending to know wrong, so I quietly turned my gaze toward the window. Riette’s nagging about not forgetting to take his medicine properly and Cedric’s retort asking if she thought he was like her tapped at my ears.
It was fine until then, but their voices got louder as if they had gotten into a childish argument during their conversation. When I listened to their conversation from a third party’s perspective, the cause of the argument was clearly Cedric.
“Ugh! Even when I worry about you, you act like that. I don’t know what other omegas find so appealing about such a bad-tempered guy to make such a fuss.”
When Riette got angry, Cedric snorted briefly. Perhaps because they’re close, Cedric was particularly shameless and casual with Riette.
But seeing how they bicker like that yet get along well, I sometimes think they make a well-matched pair.
Even though Cedric is acting in ways that are hard to understand, different from the original work… in the end, being an official couple is no different.
“Look at that. Eddie, don’t you think so too?”
Suddenly the sparks flew toward me. I, who had been blankly watching their argument, quickly turned to look at Riette. Cedric suddenly frowned deeply and glared at Riette.
“Who has a bad temper?”
“What did I do?”
“You asked knowing Eddie would take your side.”
“That’s not really…”
Ah. A rebuttal slipped out of me without realizing it.
A moment of silence. The two people’s surprised gazes pierced me as if they had heard something they shouldn’t have, and I awkwardly avoided their stares while muttering.
“I mean, so… I don’t deliberately take just one side.”
Of course, if it were the past me, regardless of whether it was true or not, I would have unconditionally taken Riette’s side and agreed that Cedric’s personality was bad, but not now.
“Then?”
Cedric’s gentle question pierced through the silence and reached me. I glanced at Cedric.
“Hm?”
“What kind of person do you think I am?”
…You’re asking that so directly?
“Well.”
This is awkward. It’s embarrassing to speak honestly.
I sent Riette a gaze containing a rescue signal, but she had already closed her mouth tightly and was just watching with an expression that said this was interesting.
I smiled awkwardly.
“Just, well… you are kind, despite what you say.”
“I’m kind?”
“Mm, yeah.”
Cedric was someone who would even flatter me when we weren’t close, and unlike his cold appearance, he was quite affectionate and playful, didn’t act arrogant because he was the Grand Duke’s son, and was kind.
Even with Riette, though they sometimes argued, he actually took good care of her through his actions normally. It’s not for nothing that Cedric is famous as the flower of high society.
Even if there are some flaws, his face covers everything. No, to begin with, eighty percent of the reason that guy is popular in high society is probably because of that handsome face.
‘He is good-looking, after all.’
Just as I was emerging from that thought…
‘Ah.’
Our eyes met. Soon Cedric curved his eyes with a pretty smile on that handsome face.
“So you’re on my side then?”
Without realizing it, I stared blankly at that face before suddenly being pulled back to the conversation we were having just moments ago.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
