Because the hand was so thin that the bones stood out and it looked very cold, Rishar hesitated a moment, wondering if it might be better to pull the sleeve back down.
“I’ll return it later.”
Sensing Rishar’s gaze, Etienne drew his arm back as if to hide the scrawny hand. For some reason, he felt embarrassed.
“Keep it on, so you don’t catch a chill.”
Having finished cuffing the other sleeve as well, Rishar’s eyes curved in a smile. Then, as if a good idea had occurred to him, a playful look came over his face.
“Since I’m lending it, you’ll have to return it later, all right?”
“Hm?”
“The cardigan. Don’t send it by a servant—I’d like you to return it yourself.”
“In person?”
“Yes. In person.”
Rishar put weight on the word in person. He suspected Etienne wouldn’t agree, but there was nothing to lose by asking. What mattered was making a pretext to see him again, somehow.
“…All right.”
After a brief deliberation, Etienne nodded. Rishar was planning to remain in the capital for several months, perhaps longer depending on circumstances. If so, chances to see each other would arise whether they liked it or not.
Etienne decided to admit that simply avoiding Rishar was not the answer. He could not run forever. It was time to steel himself, if only to resolve the problems surrounding Rishar and himself.
“It’s a promise. Don’t go back on it later, all right?”
Rishar had not expected Etienne to agree; his eyes widened and then softened at the corners. It felt like a dream.
“I said I would.”
Etienne answered Rishar’s repeated question with an expression of annoyance. Even so, Rishar seemed unconvinced; he held out a finger.
“Hm, that won’t do. Let’s pinky-swear.”
“What?”
“Promises are supposed to be sealed with a pinky and a stamp, aren’t they?”
“What are you… we’re not children.”
Is this really something to pinky-swear over? Etienne stared at Rishar in disbelief. Unfazed by Etienne’s look, Rishar stubbornly wiggled his little finger.
“Won’t you?”
“Haa.”
I’ll go mad. Etienne sighed, furrowing his brow as he muttered inwardly. At that, Rishar made a face like a puppy fallen in the water. The surge of irritation in Etienne subsided as if it had never been.
“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.”
With a helpless air, Etienne raised his hand. Whatever else might be said, he was weak against Rishar.
“Thank you.”
When Etienne hooked his finger with his, Rishar beamed. For an instant, Etienne felt as though someone had struck his chest hard.
“Etienne?”
Seeing Etienne’s expression turn strange, Rishar tilted his head. Etienne hurried to stamp thumbs. The tip of his finger trembled ever so slightly.
It was only a pinky hook and a stamp. Such a trifling touch—so why was he like this?
Feeling his mouth go dry, Etienne bit down on his lower lip. A sudden, inexplicable tension rose.
“Satisfied?”
Stamp done, Etienne snatched his hand back as if to flee. Thud-thud—his heart pounded as if it would burst from his chest.
Etienne took a step back, widening the distance between them. He worried that Rishar, with his keen senses, would hear his wildly hammering heart.
“We’ve made the promise, so now… ah.”
As he drew out the end of his words and took another step back, Etienne’s heel caught on a stone that jutted up.
“Etienne!”
Losing his balance for an instant, Etienne lurched; Rishar reached out in haste. A firm, well-muscled arm wrapped around the slender waist as if to catch and sweep him in.
“…!”
Feeling his body, which had been falling backward, yanked forward, Etienne squeezed his eyes shut.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah.”
Before he had even registered what had happened, a startled voice brushed his ear.
Only then did Etienne grasp his situation. He was in Rishar’s arms. The instant he realized that what touched his forehead was Rishar’s chest, the scent of a white spray over the sea pricked at his nose.
“…Hup.”
Sensing Rishar’s body scent, Etienne pushed him away without thinking. Thump, thump—his heart beat even harder than before.
It’ll be fine, right?
With a tense face, Etienne looked at Rishar. He was anxious that, just as he had sensed Rishar’s pheromones, Rishar might have sensed something as well.
Rishar was staring at his own hand with a strange expression. He slowly clenched and opened the hand that had held Etienne’s waist and tilted his head. At that, Etienne’s heart dropped with a jolt. He hurried to speak.
“R—Rishar?”
At Etienne’s call, Rishar lifted his eyes. Swallowing dryly, Etienne searched his face. With the moon at his back, he could not see Rishar’s expression clearly.
“Th—thank you.”
Striving to hide his agitation, Etienne moved his trembling lips. He wanted to act as if nothing had happened, but his body shook and his words stuttered.
“Think nothing of it. Be careful—the path isn’t kept.”
“Mm. I’ll be careful.”
Etienne answered awkwardly. His tongue kept tangling. Feeling bile rise, he clutched the cardigan’s cuff hard.
It had been the briefest touch. There was no way Rishar had sensed anything.
Etienne tried, somehow, to calm himself. But it was no use. Anxiety kept rising and rising.
“I—I’ll go back now.”
“Yes?”
“I’m tired, so, um… sleep well.”
In the end, Etienne chose to leave. He offered a one-sided farewell and turned away.
Fortunately, Rishar did not stop him. Instead, his gaze clung, heavy and lingering.
Feeling that gaze on his back, Etienne bit his lower lip. Cold sweat trickled from his brow to his cheek. He fled the garden as if being pursued.
He hadn’t slept a wink.
Eyes stinging, Etienne sank into the sofa. He had no idea what state of mind had brought him back last night.
“Drink.”
Clink.
With a curt voice, something was set down on the table. Etienne lifted his heavy eyelids and looked at what Ben had brought.
“What is it?”
“Citron tea.”
Ben answered with a hard face. He was angry with Etienne. When he had come in at dawn to check on him and found him trembling under the covers, how he had been startled.
If Etienne hadn’t held him back, Ben would have run for the palace physician at once. That was how bad Etienne had looked.
“Honestly.”
Recalling the small commotion at dawn, Ben let out a long sigh. At this rate, he’ll die young.
Watching Ben sigh and sigh, Etienne took the steaming teacup. He sipped carefully; a sweet-sour taste spread through his mouth.
“Huu….”
Blowing gently, Etienne drank the citron tea. Ben shot him a sidelong look as he sipped with a wan face.
The bloodshot eyes, the dusky circles beneath them, the lips that now and then gave a cough—there was not a single thing to like.
“From now on, do not go out alone.”
Gazing at Etienne, Ben spoke with a stern face. Etienne lifted the cup to his lips without a word. At his evasion, Ben’s eyes hardened.
“Your Highness.”
“…I only went to get a bit of air.”
Etienne mumbled an excuse in a voice that crawled. Ben twisted one corner of his mouth.
“Ah. And the person who only went to get a bit of air slept not a wink, caught a chill, and is groaning?”
“Don’t be snide.”
Frowning, Etienne set down the cup. Anyone else would have realized his mistake and thrown themselves flat—but Ben was not anyone else.
“At the very least, tell me when you go out. I can do without another morning like today.”
“If I say I’m stepping out for a moment, you’ll insist on coming with me.”
“Mm, that depends on Your Highness’s condition. Yesterday you kept vomiting the moment you returned.”
“So if it’s not like yesterday, you’ll say it’s fine for me to go alone?”
“That depends on the situation.”
To the end, Ben did not say he would leave Etienne alone. Etienne stuck out his lower lip in dissatisfaction, but there was nothing to be done.
To Ben, Etienne was like a child set down at the water’s edge—someone he had to keep watching because it made him anxious.
“By the way, whose cardigan is that?”
Seeing that any further talk would just turn into a pointless quarrel, Ben roughly changed the subject. He asked what he had wanted to ask from earlier.
The cardigan neatly folded on the bed was plainly not Etienne’s. After a moment’s hesitation, Etienne answered in a small voice.
“…Rishar’s.”
“What? The Grand Duke’s?”
“Mm. We ran into each other while I was walking last night.”
“What on earth…”
Ben’s mouth fell open in disbelief. He had suspected as much, but hearing it from Etienne left his head ringing.
“Something happened with His Grace last night, didn’t it?”
“…No.”
Etienne answered Ben’s question a beat late. Catching the oddity in his manner, Ben narrowed his eyes. Something had certainly happened.
“No? You might deceive a monster, but you won’t deceive me.”
Ben spoke with certainty. Thinking that the two had met the previous night, Etienne’s state at dawn suddenly made sense.
As far as he knew, aside from the Emperor and the Empress, the only person who could break Etienne emotionally was Rishar.
“Tell me.”
“Nothing much happened.”
Etienne slid his gaze away under Ben’s pressing. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to consult Ben—but he was wary of stirring up trouble by scratching at what might scab over.
It’s fine. It will be fine.
Thinking of what had left him anxious all night, Etienne gripped the cup hard. He decided to think positively.
Because of the various drugs he had been taking since childhood, his scent was lighter than even that of a recessive Omega. On top of that, with steady training he could control his pheromones almost perfectly.
So it would be fine. Though his condition had been poor yesterday and his composure had slipped for a moment, there was no way anyone would notice something from just that. Not even Rishar…
Forcing the rationalization, Etienne pushed down the unease that kept creeping up. He firmed his lips and feigned calm as best he could.
“We only talked a bit, that’s all. The cardigan… he took it off because I was cold.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
With nothing more to say, Etienne closed his mouth. Ben narrowed his eyes, unconvinced.
But he could not press further. If Etienne did not wish to speak, there was nothing he could do.
Stifling the urge to question him, Ben swallowed a sigh. Even the scolding from a moment ago had already crossed a line for a valet. He could not be more impudent than this.
“Then I’ll have it washed today and send it to the grand-ducal residence tomorrow.”
“No—just have it washed.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I’d return it myself.”
“What is….”
“He said he’d prefer I return it in person, so I agreed.”
What is he saying now?
Ben’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper. Ever since Etienne and Rishar had come to stand as political opponents, Etienne had avoided him. Only a few days ago, he had done so.
And now, suddenly, he would go meet him in person?
“Just have it washed and give it to me.”
“…Understood.”
Ben answered with a reluctant expression. Rubbing his tired eyes, Etienne did not see Ben’s disquiet. He lay down on the sofa with a cushion for a pillow.
“I’m tired. I’ll just close my eyes for a bit.”
“Don’t do that—go to bed properly.”
Ben spoke as he drew the curtains. The room went dark at once. Etienne closed his eyes without answering. Sleep still would not come.
Tap, tap.
Long fingers tapped the carriage window frame in a steady rhythm.
Why’s he doing that since earlier?
Sitting opposite, Elvin lifted his eyes from his papers and looked at Rishar, sunk in thought.
“What has you thinking so hard?”
“Mm?”
“I wondered whether something was troubling you. You couldn’t focus at the Council of State meeting today.”
“Ah.”
At Elvin’s voice, Rishar slipped out of his thoughts with a faint chuckle. He drew back the hand resting on the window frame and leaned into the soft leather.
“Well…”
Letting the words trail, Rishar lowered his gaze. Sinking back into thought, he slowly parted his lips.
“Elvin.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Do Betas have a body scent?”
“…Pardon?”
Elvin looked taken aback, as if he had heard an absurd question.
“If you mean personal odor—so long as one is human, Alpha, Omega, or Beta, everyone has it.”
“Not odor, but body scent. I mean—mm—does anyone have a scent like an Alpha’s or an Omega’s by nature?”
“Ah. Hm. Let’s see… a scent like an Alpha’s or an Omega’s… There are people with pleasant personal scents, but a Beta who has a pheromone scent… no. Not as far as I know.”
“Really?”
“Yes. If you searched the whole Empire, you might find one such Beta, but it’s unlikely. If someone like that existed, there would have been rumors long ago.”
“I see.”
Rishar nodded as if he understood. Then, with a small sigh, he murmured,
“…So it was a mistake after all.”
A mistake? At Rishar’s murmur, Elvin furrowed his brow. He did not know exactly what had happened, but judging from the question and reaction, it seemed Rishar had sensed a scent like Alpha or Omega pheromones from some Beta.
“Perhaps that Beta was wearing perfume.”
“Perfume?”
At Elvin’s cautious suggestion, Rishar showed interest.
“There’s a pheromone perfume that’s popular among Betas. They say alchemists studied Alpha and Omega scents to make it. It’s enormously expensive, but if you wear it, it gives the effect of seeming like an Alpha or an Omega, so it’s very popular.”
“That exists?”
“Yes. It started trending about ten years ago, and now many use it. In the capital alone, there must be easily twenty pheromone-perfume shops. Each shop has different lines, so the varieties are many.”
Finishing his explanation, Elvin offered his conclusion.
“Accordingly, if you sensed an Alpha or Omega scent from a Beta, pheromone perfume is the likeliest cause.”
“Pheromone perfume… now that you say it, I do remember hearing as a child that such perfumes existed.”
“It only became truly fashionable ten years ago; the product itself has been around far longer.”
“Tsk.”
Rishar clicked his tongue, displeased. As Elvin said, the body scent he had felt from Etienne last night was very likely perfume.
Then why was he disappointed?
With a clouded face, Rishar clenched and uncurled his fist. The sensation of catching Etienne as he stumbled on the stone still lingered vividly—the faint floral note he had sensed in that instant when their bodies pressed close.
As he recalled that scent—a scent that strangely pricked at his instincts—he shook his head hard. Thoughts that made no sense kept coming.
It was probably a floral note mixed in on the wind—or, as Elvin said, pheromone perfume.
Deciding he had only imagined it, Rishar closed his eyes. He needed to cool the heat that had risen of its own accord.