99
The next day, we prepared from early morning and boarded the carriage to return to Lowell territory after passing through Soliwen territory.
I let out a big yawn in the running carriage when I felt a gaze from Cedric sitting beside me and turned around. He was looking at me with eyes full of something peculiar.
“What?”
“…Um. It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, why are you staring like that?”
Cedric still wasn’t taking his eyes off me. Finally, Cedric scratched his cheek, let out a short hum, and answered.
“You smell good again.”
Good. Cedric is definitely just trying to flirt with me.
Conscious of Lionel sitting across from us reading the morning newspaper, I glanced at him and lowered my voice.
“Why are you flirting from the morning?”
“I’m always ready to be loved by you. I want to flirt with you every moment. But this time it’s not like that. You really smell good, I’m telling you.”
While saying this, he brought his face close to mine and sniffed like a dog, then furrowed his eyebrows with an uncertain expression.
What smell is he going on about? Like yesterday, I couldn’t feel anything different about myself. Only the scent of the bath salts I used when washing this morning remained.
So I had no choice but to conclude that he liked the scent of the bath salts.
“You must really like this bath salt scent.”
If I had known he’d like it this much, I should have found out where we get the bath salts from.
But unlike my simple conclusion, Cedric seemed somewhat frustrated.
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem like the bath salt scent…”
He was denying it like that, but there was no conviction in his voice. Watching Cedric become dejected, I stroked the back of his head. I didn’t know what he was worrying about, but I comforted him like that for now.
Around midday, the carriage first arrived near the entrance of the Soliwen territory mansion. Cedric, who had to part ways here, got off the carriage and exchanged farewells with Lionel and me.
“Well, I’ll be going, Eddie.”
“Yeah. See you later.”
Even though we had been together like that, I felt regretful when we actually had to part, and I kept my gaze on him until the carriage door closed and started running again.
That’s when a scent flowing from somewhere brushed my nose. I immediately noticed it was the same fragrance I had felt in the corridor last night. At the same time, I could distinctly feel Cedric’s presence moving away.
It was a very clear sensation I had never felt before. An unfamiliar sensation that let me clearly know my mate was there.
‘…Huh?’
Suddenly the scent became stronger. A fresh scent that burst open like a freshly picked orange twisted with its peel. I clearly recognized it as a sweet flesh fragrance containing the scent of sunlight.
It was as if blocked energy had been unblocked, suddenly permeating around me. Then I instinctively realized.
This scent was coming from me now.
…That this was my ‘pheromone.’
Until yesterday, the concentration was too faint and I didn’t think it was pheromones, so I had passed it off as nothing, but now I could know for certain.
‘Was this what Cedy felt too?’
Right after that, my heart began beating loudly. My chest swelled as if an invisible vessel in my heart was filled with water, and my mind became urgent. I fidgeted in my seat and gestured to Lionel.
“Wait, wait, tell them to stop the carriage!”
“What?”
“I need to go back to Cedy.”
Though Lionel looked flustered, he quickly opened the small window at the back of the carriage and told the coachman to stop.
Soon the carriage stopped. I rushed outside without delay. I could still see Cedric’s retreating figure going up to the mansion. Behind me, I heard Lionel’s shout worrying I might get hurt, but my gaze was solely on Cedric.
“Cedy!”
When I called out while running toward him, Cedric, who had somehow heard my voice, turned to look at me.
I ran to a distance where we could clearly see each other’s facial features and caught my breath for a moment before looking up. He was staring at me with an unreadable expression.
“I, I…”
I think I manifested, is this right that I manifested, did we succeed? There were so many things I wanted to say that I couldn’t figure out what to say first and just moved my lips.
Suddenly Cedric pulled me into his arms. As if he had finally become certain of what he hadn’t been sure about, he was barely breathing out trembling breaths.
I felt pheromones rippling and flowing out from him. The emotions contained within, similar to mine, were definitely reaching me.
I firmly suppressed the surging emotions and hugged Cedric back. We stayed like that, not saying anything and embracing each other for a while, savoring this moment.
After a while, Cedric, who had separated from me, faced me and smiled broadly.
“It seemed like pheromones, but it was too faint until yesterday so I wasn’t sure. Now I know for certain. It’s pheromones just like you.”
“I didn’t know either… But how do I control this? It seems like pheromones keep coming out but I don’t know how to contain them.”
The pheromone scent itself was no longer noticeable, perhaps because I had gotten used to it, but I could tell that pheromones were constantly flowing out. However, I couldn’t control it myself, which was somewhat frightening.
Cedric stroked around my eyes and said.
“That can happen at first. You’ll instinctively learn how to control it, so wait a little longer.”
“Mmm.”
“For today, it would be better to go home. Since we’re imprinted there shouldn’t be any big problems, but people around might take bad interest.”
Cedric checked the carriage that was still waiting.
“Should I come with you?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine. We can see each other tomorrow.”
He must be tired too, and I didn’t want to prevent him from resting by making him worry about me. I patted his shoulder to mean it was okay. Cedric also seemed to think for a moment, then soon nodded.
“I’ll come see you tomorrow right away.”
“Yeah, got it. Rest well.”
Instead of answering, Cedric pressed his lips firmly to my forehead like a stamp. After returning to the carriage shortly after, I headed straight home without taking any detours.
“What were you doing with Young Master Cedric?”
Lionel, who had waited silently until I returned to the carriage, asked playfully. Being a Beta, he didn’t seem to notice any changes in me.
“Um, just. We just talked a bit.”
When I smiled awkwardly and glossed over it appropriately, Lionel seemed to misunderstand it as something else and smiled warmly.
“How young and innocent.”
“Haha…”
The carriage arrived safely at the Lowell mansion. About half a day later, as Cedric had said, I instinctively learned how to handle pheromones, and I was gradually able to adapt to the changes in myself.
I had wondered if something would be greatly different when I became an Omega, but it didn’t feel like much had changed.
‘Well… I’m still me.’
Whether Omega or Beta. The fact that I’m me doesn’t change in the end. Having spent the first day of experiencing trait change alone and maturely, I met with Cedric, who came to our mansion the very next day, and brought up the topic.
“Let’s go see your parents.”
It was time to go get the permission that had been conditionally postponed.
Right after visiting the Soliwen mansion with Cedric, I was both excited and somewhat anxious, caught in complex emotions as I followed Cedric to the reception room.
“Come in.”
The Grand Duke of Soliwen welcomed me with a stoic face. Beside him, the Grand Duke’s wife was gently smiling and welcoming me.
“Yes. You have something to say? Come sit here.”
I didn’t know if Cedric had already spoken, but both of them seemed to have somewhat figured out the content of what we were going to talk about.
I exchanged glances with Cedric once, then sat on the sofa across from them. Soon I gathered my mind so as not to show too much excitement and opened my mouth.
“I have manifested traits.”
Cedric said it was definitely Omega pheromones. When I let out just a little of those pheromones, I could see that both trait-bearers immediately noticed.
“The condition you mentioned has been fulfilled. So our marriage too… I hope you’ll give permission as promised.”
Cedric’s mother glanced at the Grand Duke of Soliwen. The Grand Duke still looked at me with an unreadable expression and opened his mouth.
“I’d like to have a conversation just the two of us for a moment.”
I suddenly became tense. In this situation, what could he want to say that he wanted to talk just the two of us?
Cedric seemed to have similar thoughts as he slightly furrowed his brow and didn’t get up from his seat. The first to move was Cedric’s mother.
“It’s fine. Let’s go out.”
And I focused on the statement that it was fine. Mother had been someone who consistently supported our relationship.
So I decided to trust those words and patted Cedric’s shoulder to mean it was okay.
Soon Cedric left with his mother. At the same time, heavy silence arrived.
“……”
My mouth went dry from some unknown pressure.
A moment when one second felt like one minute…
“Come to think of it, this seems to be the first time you and I are having a conversation alone like this.”
The Grand Duke spoke first.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
