* * *
A shiver crawled down Adam’s spine for no reason at all.
“I-I was just… flustered. And a little embarrassed. I apologize if I seemed displeased.”
“Haha, no need to apologize. We’ll be entangled like this plenty from now on. That embarrassment will fade before long.”
The casual remark made Adam feel even more embarrassed.
He awkwardly cleared his throat and lowered his gaze, only to find it drifting to Chester’s chest.
A few undone buttons revealed the faint valley between his collarbones.
“Adam.”
“…!”
Chester suddenly leaned in close, his violet eyes sparkling like dew-kissed violets.
Adam inhaled sharply.
“You were out for a stroll, weren’t you? Mind if I join you?”
“Ah…”
“If you don’t mind, shall we head to the garden? There’s something I’d like to show you.”
His voice, so gentle and kind, pulled Adam in like a dream.
Chester felt like the very opposite of his older brother Isaac, who was cold like winter.
Chester, by contrast, was light and soft, like the beginning of spring.
Thinking how different the brothers were, Adam nodded.
Chester’s smile deepened.
“Come, this way.”
Without fully realizing it, Adam found himself walking beside Chester.
As he followed his lead, a strange sense of unfamiliarity washed over him.
‘Never in my life did I think something like this would happen. Taking a stroll with the famous Duke…’
With a wide lawn and fountain as their backdrop, Chester looked like a painting come to life.
His pale, smooth face resembled a perfectly peeled egg—unblemished and flawless.
Adam tilted his head as he stared at that unscarred cheek.
“Something on your mind?”
“Ah…”
“Ask anything you like, Adam. We’re not exactly strangers, are we?”
Chester stepped a little closer.
His subtle alpha scent drifted over to Adam.
Though faint, it made his throat go stiff.
The scent triggered memories of the previous night—how overwhelmed he’d been by another alpha’s presence.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
The thought of that messy night brought heat to his face.
Adam coughed a few more times, trying to push the memory aside.
Chester watched him, curiosity glinting in his violet eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“N-no, nothing. Just something caught in my throat. It wasn’t a question, just… I was marveling, that’s all.”
“Marveling?”
“You’re a hero who slew a dragon… It feels surreal to be walking alongside someone like you.”
Chester’s eyes softened into a smile.
“It doesn’t suit me, does it?”
“Pardon?”
“My appearance, I mean. I hardly look the part of a warrior. It’s probably hard to believe someone like me killed a dragon.”
“I-I didn’t think that at all!”
Adam’s denial came too quickly, too reflexively.
Chester let out a pleased laugh.
“That monster that loomed over a whole mountain… The dragon tried its hardest to ruin my face. It wanted to insult me somehow, even as it died at the hands of a ‘mere human.’”
Chester ran a finger along his jawline. In the sunlight, his face gleamed.
“But it couldn’t do a thing to me.”
“It really does feel like I’m hearing a legend…”
“It is a living legend.”
There was no shame in Chester’s pride.
Adam didn’t find it boastful—if anything, he nodded in quiet awe.
“Of course… The whole world was shocked by your accomplishments.”
As Adam spoke in sincere admiration, Chester suddenly stopped walking.
He wore a cryptic smile.
“I’m very pleased that you were chosen as our omega. You’re a delight to talk to.”
“You flatter me again.”
“It’s not flattery. It’s just that I never know what expression you’ll show next.”
His voice dropped low, thick with hidden meaning.
A breeze passed, tousling Chester’s hair, which he casually swept back with his fingers.
“You’ve got eyes that can shake a man, Adam.”
The elegant yet lazy gesture left Adam dazed.
But Chester’s unexpected murmur snapped him out of it.
‘Eyes that can shake a man?’
Adam had only ever been told he was proper and well-mannered.
No one had ever said anything like that.
To shake a man?
Did that mean… Duke Chester himself was shaken by his gaze?
“Oh, right. I’m curious about something too. Will you answer me?”
As Adam’s mind spun, Chester smiled, watching his confused expression with delight.
“Of course… I’ll answer anything.”
“Good. Then let’s go inside first. We can talk more there.”
“Inside… where, exactly…?”
Before Adam could finish, Chester reached out.
His hand gently gripped Adam’s shoulder and turned him around.
Only then did Adam notice the entrance of a narrow cave, flanked by carved statues.
“Let’s go.”
As Adam stared at the elemental statues, a soft whisper brushed against his ear.
And just like that, he was led into the cave’s darkness.
Inside, he glanced at his shoulder.
‘Yes… he is a hero.’
The hand gripping his shoulder was far larger than his own.
Even the fingers adorned with a ruby ring bore faint scars.
Watching silently, Adam suddenly furrowed his brows.
‘But why is he taking me this far inside?’
They could’ve just talked somewhere brighter.
Why go deeper into the dark?
As soon as the thought hit him, his heart started pounding strangely—thump, thump, thump.
“Why did you suddenly stop?”
Standing at the cave entrance, Chester smiled and let go of Adam’s shoulder.
“You’re not nervous, are you? Don’t worry—it’s brighter inside than you think.”
It seemed he mistook Adam’s tension for fear of the dark.
Chester even gestured toward the cave as if urging him to come.
Adam had no choice but to force his stiff legs to move.
“Wow.”
As he stepped inside, Adam’s eyes widened.
The cave was a mysterious, beautiful space.
The walls were inlaid with stones of various colors, and the rounded ceiling above was decorated with volcanic rocks, shells, and even precious gems.
“It feels… almost holy.”
The words left Adam’s lips in a daze.
“Exactly. This place was made to enchant people. So much so, they forget time, forget even where they are.”
Adam finally shifted his gaze to Chester, who was now standing by a window carved into the man-made cave.
Sunlight filtered in through stained glass, casting a spectrum of colors on both Chester and the cave floor.
“I’ve never seen a cave embedded with gems before.”
“Beautiful, right? See, I told you it’s brighter than you’d expect.”
Chester smiled, the light catching the sharp bridge of his nose and painting it in fragments of color.
Adam’s lips suddenly felt dry.
It felt like standing before a living sculpture.
That’s how unreal Chester looked—his beauty was practically inhuman.
“Those gems came from a dead dragon.”
Chester walked toward the part of the cave with a carpet and a set table, gesturing for Adam to sit as he lowered himself into a chair.
“He probably extorted them from nearby humans—over 500 years, no less.”
“How did it feel?”
“What do you mean?”
“When you killed the dragon. It’s not something someone like me—just an ordinary human—could ever dream of.”
“Ah, that’s a common question. Even His Majesty the Emperor asked me that once.”
Adam cautiously sat beside him.
The sunlight now reached the ceiling, making the embedded gems sparkle like stars in the night sky.
“Every time, I could only give the same dull answer. Truthfully, I didn’t feel much. Just a kind of relief. ‘That monster’s finally dead.’ That’s all.”
Placing a hand gently on the table, Chester added softly:
“Of course, it was fun. He was the only one besides my brother who ever pushed me that far.”
“Sir Isaac is quite something too.”
“That man is a monster.”
“…”
Adam quickly shut his mouth.
He’d almost said ‘He really is.’
* * *
