If there is a god, he wouldn’t do this to me. My life is already crap—how much more miserable am I supposed to get from here.
Etienne bit his lower lip and curled himself up as small as he could. His teeth chattered as if he’d caught a chill, his body shook. In contrast to the convulsing limbs, his insides seethed like boiling water.
Please, please, please…
Feeling tears well, Etienne prayed inwardly. God, devil, anyone—he didn’t care who—he just wanted someone to pull him out of this crisis.
But no one answered his prayer. As always, this time too, no miracle occurred.
“Your Highness.”
Rustle—grass crushed underfoot came with the urgent voice. Etienne, who had been trying somehow to steady himself, flinched, his body going rigid at the sound drilling into his ear.
It was the last voice he wanted to hear right now.
“Why all of a sudden…”
Rishar, who had chased Etienne down at last, broke off as if to catch his breath. Seeing Etienne with his face hidden between his knees, he furrowed his brow. Something was wrong.
“…Are you crying?”
After a brief hesitation, Rishar asked in a lowered voice. Etienne didn’t answer.
“Your Highness.”
When Etienne gave him nothing in reply, Rishar called him again.
“Your Highness.”
Persistent bastard. Just go.
Etienne swore at Rishar in his head for calling to him. He wanted, by sheer temper, to yell at him to get lost, but he couldn’t. If he made a sound now, Rishar would notice immediately that something was off.
“Hoo.”
Rishar, looking down at Etienne who kept ignoring him, let out a small sigh. At the faint breath from just above his crown, Etienne clenched his teeth. From a single breath, a tingle fluttered low in his belly.
Not yet. Not yet.
Etienne mustered everything he had to tamp down the heat roiling in his gut. Before Rishar caught on, he had to corral the rampaging pheromones somehow.
“…Go.”
Etienne forced his throat as if wringing it to keep his voice from trembling and squeezed out a single word. He wanted Rishar to mind his own business and turn back. If Rishar found out, everything was over.
But Rishar didn’t move as Etienne wished. Sensitive as he was, he caught the faint quiver in Etienne’s voice, sunk heavy as if drowned under water.
“You can’t go alone.”
Behind his hardening tone came the crisp sound of grass bending. The next moment, a scent like the chill of the night air swept close. Rishar had sunk to one knee before Etienne.
“—gh!”
Etienne sucked in a broken breath at the sharp pheromones pricking his nose. As if oil had caught fire, his belly flared hot.
Danger.
A shiver ran down Etienne’s spine and curled his toes. His head spun; the corners of his eyes burned.
“Your Highness?”
Sensing something off, Rishar reached a hand toward him. He didn’t want to do what Etienne disliked, but he had no choice. Anyone could see Etienne was in an unstable state.
“D-Don’t touch me!”
Smack.
Rishar’s hand never reached him. With a sharp voice came the sound of skin being struck. At the clear rejection, Rishar’s expression tightened, if only slightly.
“D-Don’t… m-meddle with me.”
Etienne hissed like a cat with every hair standing on end. But the words wouldn’t come out right. His voice shook pitifully.
“Get lost.”
He ground the words out, and Rishar paused. In that beat, Etienne moved his hands like a man flailing in the sea. Grabbing the tree at his back, he forced himself upright.
“Huff—hah.”
I have to run. I have to get out of here fast…
Harsh breaths leaked through his lips. His heart, reacting to Rishar’s pheromones, pounded as if it would burst right out of his chest. Feeling his vision blur, Etienne wrenched one foot forward.
“Your Highness!”
When Etienne lurched wildly before he’d even taken a single step, Rishar caught him fast. The instant a firm arm cinched around his waist, Etienne felt a dizzy swoop and the world tilt.
“Let go of me!”
Etienne fought to shove Rishar away, desperate. His movements were miserably weak, nothing like the urgency in his heart.
“I’m sorry.”
Ignoring Etienne’s refusal, Rishar only drew him closer. On any other day he would have backed off by now, but Etienne’s condition was too poor for that.
More than anything, his instincts were screaming. Do not back off.
“Let’s go back to the residence. I’ll call a physician.”
“I don’t need it. I’m f-fine. Please just…”
Get away.
Etienne begged in a voice close to a sob. Every time Rishar’s gaze touched his skin, goosebumps raced across him.
“Don’t be stubborn. You can’t even stand properly right now.”
Rishar leaned his upper body toward Etienne. He meant to carry him off by force if he had to.
“—mm.”
Etienne swallowed at the body-scent that stung the tip of his nose. His heart hammered like a sprint, his stomach churned. When he clapped a hand over his mouth, Rishar’s face hardened.
“Your Highness.”
A hand as gentle as his voice touched Etienne’s cheek. Etienne ducked his head to avoid letting Rishar see his face. He didn’t want to show the tear-damp corners of his eyes or the flush burning up from arousal.
“Please lift your head.”
“No…”
Etienne shook his head stubbornly. Watching him dig in, Rishar let out a small sigh.
“I’m sorry.”
Apologizing once more, Rishar caught Etienne’s chin and forced it up.
“…!”
The instant he met eyes the color of deep blue night-sea, Etienne froze like prey caught by the nape.
Rishar was just as startled. At a sight of Etienne he’d never seen, Rishar faltered. Meeting those wavering water-colored eyes only sharpened the strange sense of wrongness he’d felt all along.
A faint flush on his cheeks, eyes duller than usual, a face hazy with sweat—every bit of it was overwhelmingly provocative. More than anything, what riled him was the scent spilling off Etienne’s body.
“What is this…”
Catching the subtle floral fragrance, Rishar murmured, bewildered. A crease formed between his neat brows. He moved on instinct before thought.
“…!”
Etienne’s eyes flew wide when Rishar suddenly pulled him into an embrace.
“R-Rishar!”
Trapped in that hard body before he could even resist, Etienne thrashed like an animal in a snare. But Rishar had no intention of letting him go.
“Just a moment… just a moment.”
Drawing the violently struggling Etienne in, Rishar whispered. Strangely, his mouth had gone bone-dry. With a fierce thirst, he tightened his arms to keep Etienne from escaping, then buried his face against that slender nape.
Sss—
Rishar pressed his nose to the reddened skin and drew in a deep breath. He felt the body in his arms go rigid.
A scent like evening primrose blooming under moonlight and falling with the morning dew—soft yet aching.
Rishar recognized the nature of the scent from Etienne’s body by instinct. In that instant, the pheromones he kept so cleanly in check burst forth like a broken dam. They raged like waves whipped up in a storm.
“Mm!”
Etienne trembled, teeth gritted, at the scent wrapping him as if to devour him. He held back the moan that threatened to break free. It was like being swallowed by a towering wave—he couldn’t come to his senses.
“Ha.”
Lifting his face, Rishar let out a sigh that was almost a gasp. In his head, pieces clicked into place one by one, the scattered puzzle completing.
“Your Highness.”
At last realizing everything, Rishar gave a strangled laugh and called to him. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed until now.
“Etienne de Frederick.”
I’m found out.
The moment Rishar spoke his full name, Etienne squeezed his eyes shut. A deep, drowning despair rolled over him.
Rishar looked down at Etienne, trembling with his chin caught in his hand, and wet his lower lip with his tongue. His dark navy eyes gleamed as if he’d spotted tempting prey.
“You…”
Letting the end of his words trail, Rishar’s lips parted. The moment he grasped the secret Etienne had hidden all this time, an unbearable hunger surged up.
“You were an Omega?”