"What do you mean, where are you taking me?"
The moment Kwon Minseong finished speaking, the automobile came to a stop before a massive cobalt-blue gate.
"Where else would it be?"
Adelgius pressed a button on the ceiling and laughed at the question.
Three seconds later, the enormous blue gate swung open with a deep rumbling sound.
"Naturally, the Imperial Palace."
Surprisingly, Adelgius had been telling the truth about being a member of the Imperial Family.
The automobile carrying Kwon Minseong sped along an endless golden roadway.
After driving for more than five minutes beyond the blue gate, an enormous palace appeared before him.
It was more extravagant than the Palace of Versailles and as immense as the Catherine Palace.
"Hmm."
Despite its grandeur and magnificence, Kwon Minseong wasn't intimidated in the slightest.
He merely folded his arms and stared at the palace perched atop hundreds of steps, letting out a brief grunt.
"You're a strange one. Is that all you have to say after seeing the Imperial Palace?"
"It's because it doesn't feel real. Feels like I came to a tourist attraction. You know what I mean? Like the moment I walk in, a bunch of guides carrying umbrellas will start waving people around while everyone rushes about taking pictures."
"I do not."
Adelgius snorted.
"Insolent fool."
"More importantly, why did you bring me here?"
"A member of the Imperial Family was born. Naturally, I must report it."
"Me too?"
"The physician responsible for the birth of an Imperial Family member is obligated to report the event to the Emperor as a witness."
Adelgius looked at him as though he couldn't believe such ignorance existed and stepped onto the white staircase.
Kwon Minseong hurriedly abandoned his bored expression and blocked his path.
"Wait a minute! You just gave birth. You shouldn't be climbing stairs right now—"
Before he could finish, the countless marble steps began moving on their own.
"You shou... huh?"
"Tsk tsk."
Adelgius shook his head.
"Why would members of the Imperial Family climb stairs? How provincial."
He grabbed Kwon Minseong's hand and helped him regain his balance.
Minseong could only stare in astonishment.
The marble staircase was moving like an escalator.
Before he had time to properly appreciate it, the marble escalator carried them smoothly to the top without producing so much as a whisper of noise.
Viewed up close, the Imperial Palace was astonishingly intricate.
The ceiling was coated in a deep, elegant blue that looked as though it had been painted with liquid sapphire.
The walls shimmered with a soft pearlescent glow.
The atmosphere was calm yet noble.
Had no one told him it was a palace, he would have mistaken it for a temple.
"Listen carefully."
Stepping onto a white carpet, Adelgius addressed him in a serious tone.
"I brought you here because I hold your medical skills in high regard. However, this is the Imperial Palace, and the Imperial Palace has its own etiquette."
He glanced at Minseong's clothing.
"Judging by that bizarre outfit, there's no chance you've learned any palace etiquette. But surely you can manage this one thing."
At the word bizarre, Kwon Minseong looked down at himself.
The doctor's coat he had been wearing while sobbing on the floor of his bankrupt clinic.
A thick knit sweater.
A pair of jeans.
Aside from the coat, it was an outfit so ordinary in South Korea that it would disappear into any crowd.
Here in Elunem, however, it was completely alien.
Adelgius suddenly handed Cordette to him.
Caught off guard, Minseong instinctively accepted the baby.
"When speaking to others, use formal language."
With both hands now free, Adelgius clapped once.
The white carpet immediately began vibrating.
Startled, Kwon Minseong tightened his hold on Cordette and looked down.
The carpet was moving.
Like a moving walkway, it carried the two men and the newborn Imperial Family member somewhere deeper into the palace.
A telephone-equipped automobile.
A marble escalator.
A moving carpet walkway.
Staring down at the self-propelled carpet, Kwon Minseong muttered,
"I don't know about your medicine, but your technology is incredible."
"Of course it is."
Adelgius proudly lifted his chin and reclaimed Cordette.
"Because you happen to be standing before a genius inventor."
"An inventor?"
At that moment, the carpet abruptly stopped.
Without further explanation, Adelgius led him to a room.
"You helped deliver a member of the Imperial Family. Testimony is important, yes, but you also deserve a reward."
He smirked.
"After all, despite needing your assistance in the street, I am still the Emperor's cousin and an Imperial Advisor."
"Give me money."
"I shall give you something better than money."
"No. Nothing is better than money. Give me money. Lots of money."
Adelgius casually ignored him and stepped forward.
The marble doors, each nearly three stories tall, slid open automatically.
"From this day forward, I appoint you as the Second Court Physician."
Adelgius spoke with solemn authority.
"No. I'd prefer money."
Kwon Minseong rejected the offer immediately.
"As a Court Physician, I hereby assign you your first duty."
"I'll also accept land. Buildings are fine too."
"You believe this is a joke?"
"No. I'm completely serious. Few people take money as seriously as I do."
"The due date is approaching."
Adelgius's expression darkened.
"I have heard that Male Omegas are twice as likely to die during childbirth as Female Omegas or Female Betas. And age certainly won't improve those odds."
Kwon Minseong raked both hands through his hair and lowered his head.
Adelgius looked down at him nervously.
What if this physician refuses too?
The fear was written plainly across his face.
To Adelgius, Kwon Minseong was his last hope.
His final lifeline.
"I said the physicians of Elunem lack courage and refuse to treat Reiner..."
Adelgius's voice gradually lost its arrogance.
"But the truth is that there are almost no physicians capable of treating Male Omegas at all."
He hesitated.
"As you saw yesterday, Male Omegas give birth differently from women. Most physicians are women themselves..."
The proud nobleman had abandoned his commanding demeanor and was now mumbling uncertainly.
A member of the Imperial Family had been reduced to cautiously watching the reaction of a single doctor.
Yet Kwon Minseong remained motionless, head lowered.
...There are no doctors capable of treating male pregnancy?
A minute passed.
For Adelgius, it felt like an eternity.
Then Kwon Minseong slowly raised his head.
Gulp.
Adelgius swallowed hard.
Would it be rejection?
Or acceptance?
The first physician in history to make a member of the Imperial Family this nervous finally spoke.
His dark eyes, shaped like a cat's and slightly upturned at the corners, gleamed with life.
"Where's the library?"
[Alpha and Omega refer to secondary genders. Those who are neither Alpha nor Omega are classified as Beta. Secondary gender, also known as a trait, is determined at birth. However, the timing of manifestation varies by individual. Omegas experience a Heat Cycle. During this period, Omegas emit a scent known as Derfyu that attracts Alphas, and their bodies prepare themselves for pregnancy...]
Thud.
"This is exactly the same thing the last book said..."
Kwon Minseong snapped the book shut and collapsed onto the desk.
His sigh echoed upward through the spiral arrangement of bookshelves and bounced off the circular ceiling.
In the center of the dome-shaped ceiling, which resembled an astronomical observatory, a brass mechanical arm creaked as it bent into an L shape.
"How is it possible that not a single one of these books properly explains male pregnancy?"
The Imperial Library that Adelgius had shown him was magnificent.
Its size was extraordinary.
Its architecture was equally impressive.
But what good was any of that?
He had devoured every book remotely related to Male Omegas he could find.
Yet nearly every single one spent hundreds of pages discussing Omega biology, Derfyu, Heat Cycles, and mating instincts.
And almost none of them contained practical medical information.
Not how pregnancy progressed.
Not how childbirth worked.
Not the anatomical differences.
Not complications.
Not mortality rates.
Nothing a physician could actually use.
As far as these books were concerned, it seemed that the most important aspect of being an Omega was endlessly describing Derfyu.