The sheets were so damp they felt as though they had been soaked in water.
Ruite’s body, which had been spasming moments ago, suddenly went rigid.
As his inner walls constricted with a pressure unlike anything before, Chester let out a sharp, choked moan.
With his eyes fixed on space and the muscles in his thighs tensing and defining sharply, Chester reached his own climax.
“Haa……”
Ruite took short, shallow breaths, feeling the dampness beneath him.
‘What was that? What did I just…?’
Even though he wanted to check, his body was frozen in embarrassment, unable to move an inch. Still, if he had let out that much, surely Chester’s rut was finally over.
“Ugh!”
But just as that thought crossed his mind, an immense pain suddenly surged from below.
It was an agony on a completely different level than the initial penetration.
Something inside him was swelling, expanding rapidly.
“Ah…… Ruite.”
“Wha—what is this? This feels weird…… Ah, it hurts.”
“It’s okay.”
Chester cupped Ruite’s face, forcing him to look back, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his lips.
“I told you it hurts…… hngh……”
Eventually, tears spilled from Ruite’s eyes.
Chester kissed his eyes and stroked his cheeks repeatedly, releasing his pheromones in a soothing wave.
“It’ll be over soon. I’m sorry. Try to take slow breaths, okay?”
Ruite did as he was told. Perhaps it was an instinctive move to drive away the pain.
As Chester’s pheromones traveled deep into his body, the sharp agony seemed to dull slightly, though the strange, full sensation remained.
Sensing Ruite’s anxiety, Chester continued to kiss him and share his warmth.
‘What on earth is happening…’
Ruite made a silent vow never to go on a dispatch mission again before he finally lost consciousness.
Chester’s rut continued for a full day.
Ordinarily, it might have lasted longer, but perhaps due to the sudden nature of this heat or because he had been so thoroughly satisfied by Ruite, he regained his composure relatively quickly.
“I am never going on a dispatch mission again.”
“…….”
Chester, who was wiping Ruite’s face with a wet cloth, flinched.
“I’m sorry.”
Chester let out another apology—he had lost count of how many times he’d said it by now.
After the rut ended, Ruite had ended up bedridden with a slight fever that refused to break.
Fortunately, Ruite had been granted a few days of leave after his dispatch, allowing him to recover at home.
Chester took a day off the following day; the Knighthood was generally lenient with emergency leave for Alphas and Omegas during their cycles, so he was able to stay by Ruite’s side and nurse him.
By the next day, the fever had subsided, but Ruite still hadn’t left the bed, complaining that his body felt as if it had been trampled.
Because of that, Chester—who was supposed to head back to the Knights’ headquarters—couldn’t bring himself to leave.
“Does it still hurt a lot?”
Chester watched Ruite’s expression warily.
“It feels like someone is repeatedly hitting my waist with a club.”
Ruite slowly sat up.
Sitting beside the bed in his full knight’s uniform, Chester looked pathetic, his shoulders slumped.
“But what about your schedule? Shouldn’t you be heading out soon?”
“Just a little longer.”
Chester smoothed Ruite’s ruffled hair.
He was well aware he had gone too far.
He could confidently say it was the most intense excitement he had ever experienced during a rut.
The longing for Ruite had triggered the cycle prematurely, and the moment he saw Ruite return, his instincts had hit a peak before he could even reach for suppressors.
He had spent ruts with Ruite before, but it had never resulted in Ruite being bedridden for days.
Despite being an Omega, Ruite was a knight with considerable physical endurance.
But this time was different.
“I can’t believe I actually ended up knotting you.”
Yes, that was the problem. In his state of extreme arousal, Chester had knotted Ruite.
At that moment, he hadn’t been able to think.
He only had one thought: to pour everything inside Ruite and stay there.
He wanted Ruite to hold onto his essence and never let go.
“Haa.”
Ruite took a sip of water from the nightstand and stared at Chester, who was sighing to himself.
Seeing him so dejected, Ruite’s eyes narrowed.
“Were you really that lonely without me? Enough to trigger a rut?”
“Yeah. But in the future… I’ll try to control myself.”
Ruite had joked about never going on dispatch again, but was that even possible?
In the Knighthood, one never knew what orders would come down.
As long as they were knights, they had to follow commands unless they were unreasonable.
This time Ruite had gone, but next time it might be Chester.
If this happened every time they were apart, how could Ruite endure it?
“Hmm, do you really have to?”
“……Huh?”
Chester, who had been brooding and messing up his hair, looked up.
Ruite casually finished his glass of water.
“It’s not like ruts or emotions follow my will. If it happens, it happens.”
“But you suffered because of it.”
“I recovered just fine, didn’t I? You tend to see me as too fragile. I work for the Ferwin Knights; there’s no way I’m a weakling. Sure, this was the hardest it’s ever been, but… just you wait. When my heat comes next, I’m going to torment you just as much, so stay on your guard.”
Chester could do that anytime.
In fact, if Ruite “tormented” him, he would consider it a reward.
“But you said you’d never go on dispatch again.”
“That was a joke, obviously. I said it because you look cute when you’re pouting in front of me. And……”
Ruite’s voice trailed off. He scratched his cheek, hesitating.
“I… I actually liked it. That you missed me so much it brought on a rut. It made my heart flutter.”
Of course, he had been flustered to find his husband in heat the moment he stepped through the door, but that was all.
Thinking about why Chester had ended up like that made him feel happy and, strangely, made Chester seem adorable.
He finally understood why Chester always called him “cute” or “precious.”
“I missed you like crazy, too. To confess… I actually took some of your clo—clothes with me and hugged them every night to sleep.”
Embarrassed by his own admission, Ruite glanced at Chester, only to find Chester’s face had turned as red as a roasted sweet potato.
He had wondered why he was being so quiet; it turned out he was busy flushing that deeply.
“Your face is really red.”
“Haa.”
Chester took a breath and wiped his face with his hands.
“If the day ever comes that I die, it’ll be because my heart stopped because you’re too cute.”
“If you have time for such nonsense, hurry up and get to the headquarters.”
Ruite lay back down in bed.
Chester stood up from the chair but didn’t leave immediately.
He kissed Ruite’s forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips in sequence before finally pulling away.
“I’ve told Vilter to focus only on you until I return. If you’re in pain or need anything, tell him immediately. Got it?”
“Yeah. Have a good day.”
Chester gave him one last kiss and headed for the door.
Leaving Ruite behind felt like his feet were made of lead.
“Oh, wait, Chester.”
“Yeah?”
“Have you seen the outfit I usually wear around the mansion? It’s not in the dressing room, and I asked Vilter and the servants, but no one can find it.”
“…….”
Chester stiffened.
He knew exactly which outfit Ruite was talking about.
“I… I wonder. Just look for it later. If it doesn’t turn up, I’ll buy you a new, better one.”
“Aside from that, it’s just weird that something that was right there suddenly vanished into thin air.”
“Don’t worry about it too much and just sleep for now. You’re still in pain.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Seeing Ruite’s interest in the clothes fade, Chester felt a surge of relief.
He quickly slipped out of the bedroom before Ruite could restart the conversation.
He needed to find a similar outfit as soon as possible.
He had to make sure Ruite never found out that the original clothes were covered in semen and in such a state that they couldn’t be worn again—forcing him to secretly throw them away.
‘At least I managed to dodge that without panicking,’ he thought.
Chester let out a sigh of relief and headed for the Knights’ headquarters.
“Ruite, I’m sorry, but could you organize these materials for me?”
“Of course.”
A few weeks had passed since the dispatch mission.
Fortunately, the simultaneous appearance of Grade-1 monsters in the North hadn’t recurred, and the situation had been resolved smoothly.
Having returned safely to headquarters, Ruite was back to his usual routine.
Like a proper knight, he worked hard at his assigned tasks, and when work got tough, he would go find his husband—who worked in the same building—to “recharge.”
When they returned to the mansion, they spent their private time together.
It was a peaceful and comfortable daily life.
“There’s quite a lot to organize.”
Ruite spent his time handling the task Ciel had requested.
By the time he could see the end of it, lunch was approaching.
“I should go eat when Dane gets here.”
Ruite stretched and massaged his stiff neck.
Warm sunlight streamed through the window, making his body feel pleasantly heavy.
His eyelids grew heavy.
Strangely, he had been feeling exhausted lately.
It felt as though he needed more sleep than usual.
Just as Ruite’s eyes were half-closed and he was about to doze off, the lab door opened and Dane, who had been out on monster subjugation, walked in.
“Ruite, did you wait long? Let’s go get lunch.”
“Yeah.”
Waking up fully, Ruite headed to the cafeteria with Dane.
While they stood in line for food, Dane rambled on about the field he had just visited, and Ruite responded with his usual enthusiasm.
They found a seat, and just as Ruite was about to take his first bite, something felt wrong.
“So, at that time, I……”
“Ugh……”
It happened then. Ruite, who was about to eat, suddenly covered his mouth and gagged.
