* * *
My bold move… to be honest, it was half sincere, half a tease.
Joo Minhyuk actually likes physical contact more than you’d think.
Whether that’s only with me or he’s like that with everyone, I’m not sure.
But I’ve never seen him hold anyone else’s hand or touch their arm, or wrap his hand around their waist.
So I decided to believe it’s just with me.
But here’s the funny part.
If I pretend not to notice, he won’t stop touching me.
But if I react or acknowledge it, he backs off—acting all innocent like nothing happened.
And if I push back harder?
He usually folds, tail between his legs.
Why? I don’t know.
Maybe he realizes our relationship whenever I touch back.
Maybe he’s just inexperienced and gets flustered.
Or maybe he gets turned off by how forward I am.
Whatever the reason, he’s unpredictable like that.
So I assumed it’d be the same this time.
I brought his hand to a spot no one—not even Han Heeseong—had touched, and for a second, I thought, ‘Was that too much? Too risqué?’
Usually when I go this far, he gets startled and stops.
But not this time.
“Here? Are you saying he really touched you here?”
“W-Wait, Your Majesty—”
“Why should I wait? I’m asking if he touched you here. Answer me properly. Did Han Heeseong touch you?”
His hand, which had been moving up, froze just a breath away from my chest.
My heart nearly exploded.
God, I really thought he was going to touch me for real.
Turns out I’m the inexperienced one, not him.
Of course.
Not just anyone can play these games.
I awkwardly laughed, trying to end the little tease and gently pushed his hand downward.
But his hand didn’t budge.
Held firmly in place, his hand stayed right there, trapping my poor chest between his long fingers.
Even the slightest twitch and I’d be done for.
I swallowed hard from the tension.
Then, one of his hands slipped lower, brushing across my lower abdomen.
The ticklish sensation made me shiver.
He kept stroking my stomach and asked again:
“…I asked if Han Heeseong touched you. Think carefully and tell me the truth. You’re in the Daebin Palace, and a single word from you could wipe out an entire noble family.”
Why… does something that cringey and over-the-top actually feel sincere coming from him?
No, it’s not just in my head.
He is the kind of person who’d mean something like that.
So I had to respond in a way he’d understand immediately.
I shook my head so hard it probably gave me a neck cramp.
“No. He didn’t.”
My voice came out kind of pathetic, but sincerity matters more than pride.
Forget pride, Cha Haejoo.
“Then why would you provoke me with that nonsense?”
“S-Sorry…”
But I didn’t even get to finish apologizing before—
Suddenly, his pheromones surged through the room, thick and overwhelming.
Not just “Ah, smells nice” level—this was choking, suffocating, dangerously intense.
‘What the hell is going on with him today?’
He’s normally obsessive about pheromone control.
Borderline neurotic.
This doesn’t make sense.
Why is he letting it pour out like this?
He’s acting strange.
Way too clingy. He’s never been this obvious before.
Even when being flirty, it never felt sticky like this.
“Ah! Your Majesty, what are you—my ear…?”
“What about your ear?”
What do you mean what?!
Why are you rubbing your lips against it?!
No, this is really weird.
Even the sound of his breath in my ear was rough and fast—unlike his usual composed self.
And worse… my own body started heating up.
His pheromones were affecting me.
That’s when I realized something was wrong.
The heavy weight pressing down on my lower back…
The tension in my gut…
Everything was pointing to one conclusion.
‘Shit. He’s in rut.’
Joo Minhyuk is having a rut.
Crap. What do I do?
I should’ve known his rut cycle.
Why am I only realizing this now?
“Nngh…”
But before I could do anything, my body was already pinned down by him.
I couldn’t even move.
So heavy.
The weight of him on top of me was suffocating.
His lips kept brushing against my ear, my neck—countless times.
And my chest was already in his palm, being toyed with.
Big, warm hands with slightly calloused skin pressed into me again and again, making me shiver every time.
The sensation was too intense.
Too strange.
It felt… wrong. And yet…
Like I was drunk, my body loosened up under his touch.
And… I didn’t hate it.
Somewhere along the way, I had become intoxicated by Joo Minhyuk—his touch and his pheromones.
I didn’t even notice I was releasing my own pheromones, thick and heavy in the air.
My body wasn’t normal anymore.
My head felt dazed, and my nerves were hyper-sensitive.
Every little touch set me off.
‘What is this feeling?’
I’ve never felt anything like it before.
It’s like my whole body turned into an erogenous zone.
It was so sensitive, it scared me.
As an Omega, maybe… maybe deep down I was waiting for an Alpha’s rut.
And now, my body was responding—helplessly—to Joo Minhyuk.
It was unbearable.
Too sensitive. Too much.
“Nnngh… Your Majesty… this is weird…”
Joo Minhyuk was so drunk on his rut and my pheromones that he couldn’t stop kissing me.
This wasn’t like the Joo Minhyuk I knew.
Is this what happens when I go into heat too?
Do I lose my mind like that, overwhelmed by pheromones?
No! I can fight it.
I can overcome heat with willpower.
With willpower!
“It’s okay. This is okay.”
But that was a miscalculation.
Ah… so willpower doesn’t work.
Joo Minhyuk’s sweet words and pheromones broke down the rational part of me that clung so desperately to sanity.
He touched me even more boldly, kneading my body while pressing against my back, then suddenly flipped me over.
And when he did, I saw a face of his I’d never seen before.
The way Joo Minhyuk looked at me—it was exactly like an Alpha about to devour an Omega.
I was genuinely scared.
It felt like he was really going to consume me.
His face was flushed red, from cheeks to neck to ears, filled with a desire I’d never seen before.
It was in that moment I finally understood what the books meant when they warned that an Alpha without a fated mate could be dangerous to an Omega.
Legally, I was married to Joo Minhyuk.
But I wasn’t his fated mate.
That meant I had no control over him.
There was no way I could overpower him physically, no matter what I did.
And looking at him now, completely lost in rut, it was clear he wasn’t going to snap out of it anytime soon.
Worse, I could feel it—I was going into heat too.
I just knew it.
My skin tingled, I felt hot, and the desire to have Joo Minhyuk surged within me.
Damn it. This is your fault.
Now I’m in heat too.
What are we supposed to do now…?
“What are we going to do now, with both of us like this? Your Majesty…”
“What do you mean, what are we going to do? There’s only one thing to do.”
One thing? I didn’t need him to spell it out—I knew exactly what he meant.
God, how could he say that when he’s been making me take birth control for so long?
Only one?
As he sucked and nipped at my cheek, Joo Minhyuk pressed kisses to my nose, my lips, my chin, and whispered:
“My baby. Haejoo, you need to carry my baby. You have to bear my heir. You will… won’t you?”
Bear it? As if I even can? I’ve been on birth control for years.
And now you say I have to? Have to?!
He’s completely out of it.
When an Alpha is in rut, they develop an obsessive need for their own bloodline.
Joo Minhyuk, now totally consumed by rut, was fully acting on his Prime Alpha instincts.
He’d completely forgotten it was him who’d been making me take birth control all these years.
And a Prime Alpha’s rut doesn’t end in just a day or two.
I didn’t know how long I’d be able to hold out, but from the way he looked at me—eyes burning with desire—it was clear.
Our first night together was about to begin.
* * *
