* * *
I quickly dropped my gaze lower.
He buried his face in the nape of my neck again.
His thick, dark eyelashes felt as if they were brushing against my skin.
My insides felt ticklish, and a strange pressure began to build in my lower abdomen.
The bridge of his high nose grazed my neck. I shrunk back instinctively.
Perhaps I was sitting too close to the fire, as my face had been flushing for some time now.
With his hand firmly on my shoulder, I couldn’t even move away from the flames.
I simply had to endure it.
Just as the heat in my body began to rise to the point where I started to squirm, Locke finally spoke.
“It is pheromones.”
“Really?”
“Why did you ask if you weren’t going to believe me when I told you?”
“No, I believe you. But… don’t you think your tone has gotten a bit cold?”
“……It has always been like this.”
“No. Not long ago, you were a bit warmer. Kinder.”
I spoke grumpily and turned away.
‘By the way, why did I manifest so early?’
Even if the story had to change because I had been meddling with it, manifestation should be a hormonal phenomenon.
In my past life, I manifested after I was dragged to the castle by my hair by Locke.
I only found out because he told me to stop that “disgusting grape smell” while I was paralyzed with terror.
After several bouts of manifestation fever, I became a dominant Omega.
I died not long after that.
To me, fever and pain were a daily occurrence.
That’s why I thought today’s pain was just a simple cold. I hadn’t even imagined that my manifestation would be moved forward.
“It’s not time to manifest yet…”
“Was there a set time for manifestation?”
I must have let my inner thoughts slip out loud.
“I was talking to myself.”
“For talking to yourself, your voice was so loud I thought you were whispering in my ear.”
I thought about nitpicking his tone once more, but I decided against it because I didn’t want to seem like a nagging old man. Instead, a question occurred to me.
“But Locke, if you can sense my pheromones, that means you’re a manifested person too. Why didn’t you tell me you had manifested?”
In my past life, Locke hadn’t manifested while he was at the mansion.
At least, not as far as I knew.
But then again, there were plenty of ways to hide it.
Since there were no other manifested people in the mansion, he could have easily pretended to be a Beta by claiming he was sick during his rut.
In fact, there were three or four times when he was so ill he couldn’t attend to me.
If he had a reason to hide it, it made sense to keep it a secret until the end.
But in this life, Locke revealed his manifestation.
Was it because he decided to leave the mansion?
Or was it to let me know that I had manifested?
I was curious about the reason.
“It seems you have a lot of curiosity regarding my private life.”
“What?”
“If you’re planning to ask about my preferences in bed as well, should I prepare an answer in advance?”
I shut my mouth tight.
I was purely curious, but he was being way too sarcastic.
It felt like a warning not to pry any further.
Feeling offended, I didn’t speak to him for a while and just stared outside, but then he spoke.
“The scent is starting to get thicker. The manifestation pain will start in earnest soon. Return to the mansion before then.”
I pulled my sleeve and rubbed the back of my neck.
When I brought my sleeve to my nose, I really could smell grapes.
If I could smell it myself, it meant my first heat, caused by the manifestation pain, was about to hit.
This was bad.
‘The first heat is accompanied by a deep kiss.’
That was a common saying of this era.
While it meant that every incident has its consequences, it also literally meant that the first heat could be resolved with just a kiss.
One might think of it as a relief in the midst of misfortune, but in my situation, it was absolutely not.
I turned and looked at his indifferent back as he busied himself with something.
The only ones here were me and the guy who had killed me.
Furthermore, wasn’t he the victim I had been bullying?
I would rather grab a random person on the street and ask for a kiss.
Since it was an awkward situation to either receive a kiss from him or give him one, I could only scratch my head in frustration.
In the end, was returning to the mansion the only way?
Sighing, I watched as Locke suddenly took a large stone and struck the magic stone embedded in my sword.
With a cracking sound, the blue stone shattered into dozens of pieces.
Had he lost his mind?
I could have gotten hundreds of gold pieces for that!
Why would he do that?
‘Wait, the one he was holding earlier was a red magic stone, wasn’t it?’
Could that be… the sword I received as a gift from Aiden?
The masterwork sword that had shattered the monster?!
“Hey, that’s mine! Why did you…?”
I shouted in surprise but cut myself off when I realized something was off.
The quality of a magic stone could be determined by its hardness.
But for it to be shattered by a common stone…
It meant the stone in my dagger was only strong enough to kill a monster the size of a rat.
My jaw dropped.
‘Even if it’s a gift for someone who doesn’t hunt, isn’t a low-grade magic stone a bit much coming from a young master of a Viscounty?’
If that were the case, how weak was the monster whose body had been shattered by a low-grade stone?
Despite its size, it must have been the lowest-ranked creature.
That was a huge relief.
While I stood there blinking in disbelief, Locke took another magic stone from his pocket and slotted it into the empty space.
It was transparent with a soft glow, looking like a light purple diamond.
Even someone who knew nothing about magic stones could tell it was far superior to the shattered blue one.
Locke tossed the sword to me.
As I scrambled to catch it, he picked up the crushed pieces of the old stone and threw them into the fire.
“It will be more useful than the trash you were holding earlier.”
“Calling it trash is a bit much. Didn’t you see that monster explode when it was hit by my sword?”
“……Did it have gas in its body?”
“Do you know you say things in a really annoying way?”
“Regardless, the magic stone in that sword only looked plausible. It was a low-grade item that wouldn’t have helped you at all. A young master of a Count’s family has a reputation to maintain, after all.”
As Locke finished his preparations to leave and moved to take the lead, I quietly grabbed a corner of his clothes.
The thought occurred to me that perhaps this was his parting gift.
With a slightly regretful expression, I asked him cautiously.
“Are you really not going back to the mansion? Is this the end for us?”
“You used to torment me so much. Now that I’m actually leaving, do you feel regretful?”
“Yes, I do…”
Perhaps he didn’t expect that answer, because an unidentifiable light flickered in his eyes that had been calm and sunken.
I was certain he wouldn’t come back and kill me.
But I wanted to hold onto Locke for a different reason.
If he left, I felt like Cedric—no, I—would truly be alone.
Even though Anna had been kind to me lately, she was Cassian’s person.
Therefore, I felt uneasy about opening up my heart to her completely.
The other servants were out of the question.
Locke was the only one in the mansion to whom I could speak my mind honestly.
If we parted ways like this, I might not see him for several years.
Maybe I would never see him again.
Thinking that, I felt like this might be my last chance to keep him.
So, I decided to tell him my honest resolution.
I began to speak in a serious and calm tone, one that wasn’t rushed but felt persuasive.
“I heard from Mother the other day that some Cartelgia specialties are coming in. They’re really delicious biscuits, and I wanted to eat them with you. And after hearing that you took the Academy books my sister threw away, I thought I should ask Father to send you to the Academy when he returns.”
“Servants cannot attend classes. I took those books to use as kindling.”
“I heard that nobles can be accompanied by one servant to attend to them. They say those servants are given educational opportunities as well. Honestly, you want to learn, don’t you? Magic. Isn’t that right?”
I felt a bit excited seeing Locke react.
“How about swimming together in the valley in front of the mansion? Or picking and eating fruit in the mountains. I’ve never done anything like that before. Because I didn’t have anyone to do it with.”
Locke did not meet my eyes.
Aside from the sound of the wind shaking the trees, the crackling of the campfire, and the sound of breathing, it was silent.
I continued, hoping that he would recognize my sincerity.
I wanted this feeling to reach him, and I believed it would.
“More than anything, I want to properly ask for your forgiveness. I’ll treat you really well. So, please, give me a chance for even a month, no, just a week…”
Ugh.
My heart throbbed.
It seemed the manifestation pain was beginning in earnest.
My breath began to grow ragged, and I clutched my chest.
My body heat rose to a level incomparable to before.
“……Just a week. If that… if that’s too difficult, I wish you’d give me a chance for just three days. During that time… just for that time, let’s be like friends.”
Heugh!
Scalding blood seemed to surge from deep within my heart.
Every time I inhaled, I felt a pain as if sharp blades were carving up my chest.
‘I feel like I’m going to die!’
The pain was equal to the penalty when a “Heart” disappeared.
Why now, of all important moments…?
I have to tell him to be my friend!
“I… I want to be, f-friends with, ugh!”
“Stop talking.”
Every time I spoke, it felt like my lungs were tearing.
I clutched my chest, trying to force a breath out.
My consciousness grew hazy, and my vision went dark.
I opened my mouth to try and say one last thing, but then I clamped it shut and bit my teeth together.
The pain was so intense it felt like my bones were being crushed, making it impossible to continue.
An agonizing sensation, like thousands of needles passing along my nerves, swept through my body.
Every time I tried to breathe, my lungs felt like they were burning so much that I felt the urge to bite my tongue off.
The muscles in my body gave out, and just as I was collapsing like a candle in the wind, a warm body carefully caught me and held me.
“……You really are a troublesome person.”
He carefully lifted my chin as I gasped for air. my consciousness flickered, and my vision blurred.
Am I going to die like this?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, two cold fingers parted my lips and pressed down on my tangled tongue.
“Breathe out. Or you’ll die.”
* * *
