* * *
Henry realized he couldn’t hide it any longer.
Edwin knew everything and didn’t seem inclined to be deceived.
“I’ll explain everything… but first, lower those pheromones.”
At Henry’s resigned words, the overwhelming tide of pheromones disappeared without a trace.
Although the residual scent lingered, it became much easier to breathe.
Henry collapsed in a heap, gasping for air. It felt as if he had been running at full speed without rest.
Was it possible the pheromones had liquefied?
His hair, wet with sweat, clung messily to his face.
Henry brushed his forehead back, leaving the strands stuck to his cheeks.
“Yes.”
It was hard to admit. Yet, trying to brush this off lightly now…
Henry knew exactly how Edwin would react.
Glaring at Edwin, Henry lifted his head.
“I’m an Omega. So what?”
“How shameless, after hiding your nature all this time.”
“Well… since I got imprinted with you, how was I supposed to reveal it?”
“What happened exactly?”
Edwin asked why the bond had formed.
Only Henry knew the real answer, but Edwin’s calmness, as if retrieving something that had always belonged to him, irritated Henry.
Nonetheless, Edwin crossed his arms and waited for Henry’s explanation.
“When you were manifesting… I snuck into your room.”
Though he wasn’t responsible, Henry still struggled to get the words out.
“I wanted to see your manifestation, but your pheromones triggered mine. That’s how we ended up with this incomplete bond… and that’s all you need to know, right?”
Edwin hadn’t known the cause, couldn’t sense other people’s pheromones, nor could he identify anyone who could smell his.
Henry had glossed over it, too uncomfortable to explain further, and fortunately, Edwin didn’t press.
He merely looked at Henry, following the invisible trail of pheromones while organizing his thoughts.
Henry, soaked in sweat, lay helpless, waiting for his strength to return.
“How did you know it was an incomplete bond?”
“It’s a bond that formed without physical contact. I could only smell my own pheromones recently. And also…”
Henry, unwilling to answer, muttered quietly.
“I’ve never gone into heat.”
While Edwin, who had fully manifested, experienced regular ruts, Henry lived no differently than a Beta.
The only anomaly was that he could detect Edwin’s pheromones.
“You planned to hide it until the end?”
“If I could.”
“You never considered my feelings.”
Henry bristled, suddenly painted as selfish.
The old Henry wouldn’t have cared if he was called selfish.
He had once been someone who only wanted to claim Edwin for himself, disregarding Edwin’s pain.
But he wasn’t that person anymore.
“Are you kidding me? I came all this way, struggling, because of that! And now you’re blaming me?”
Henry clenched his weakened fists and shouted.
He was truly indignant, unbearably so.
He didn’t want to be abandoned by Edwin, didn’t want to die.
That was why, as soon as he’d entered this world, he began preparing for the journey to sever their bond. It had been a challenge at every step.
“If it weren’t for you… No, knowing you’d reject me, I tried to break the imprinting bond.”
“Reject you?”
Edwin’s question ended on a note of confusion, as if he couldn’t believe it.
The expression made Henry scoff bitterly.
Did Edwin forget how he’d treated him all this time?
“You’ve always treated me like a stone on the side of the road. Have you ever really looked at me? If I told you we were imprinted, would you have loved me?”
“……”
“So that’s why I did it. Marriage? Sure. We’ve imprinted, so we could get married. But you wouldn’t have ever looked at me, would you? That’s proof of the incomplete bond.”
A bond was a symbol of mutual love, a connection formed between two who truly cared for each other.
But this bond had been formed without Edwin’s love.
That’s what made it incomplete.
Edwin pondered Henry’s words, before raising another question.
“But the bond can only be broken if one of us dies, right?”
“Then who’s going to die? Because I definitely don’t want to.”
Henry snapped back sharply.
“We went through all this to avoid dying, remember?”
“Tell me more.”
“I just… went to find the Great Wizard’s treasure, the one that could break the bond.”
“And after the bond is broken?”
“You’ll meet an Omega who actually wants you, and I’ll get my life back… That’s all there is to it.”
Henry’s voice trembled with frustration and sadness, fading into a soft mumble.
“The treasure left by the Great Wizard…”
Having come this far, Henry was about to spill everything when he suddenly stopped.
He felt a strange warmth in his abdomen.
Focusing on his body, he tried to dismiss it as a mistake, continuing to speak.
“The treasure’s true nature is… ugh.”
Suddenly, his body felt like it was heating up, as though flames were rising inside him.
Henry let out a short gasp.
This time, the heat was undeniable.
“What’s wrong?”
Edwin quickly closed the distance, placing a hand on Henry’s shoulder, asking about his condition.
Henry felt his body burn everywhere except where Edwin’s hand touched.
“Something’s wrong.”
His body heated up, and an unspeakable thirst grew inside him.
It was similar to a past episode, but the intensity was different.
Instead of merely seeking water, his body now craved something else. His mind raced, barely keeping up.
‘This can’t be…’
Was this… heat?
Even though it was his first time experiencing it, he instinctively knew these were the early signs of a heat cycle.
As pain and fever swept through him, Henry twisted in agony, trying to lessen the discomfort.
But his efforts were in vain.
In the next moment, the heat disappeared as if it had never existed.
Henry panted and looked at Edwin. Just as he was about to explain what had happened, a new kind of discomfort surfaced.
“A… ah…”
It felt like something was crawling under his skin. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was unbearably itchy.
As the sensation intensified, Henry hugged his arms tightly, scratching and pressing against his skin to ease the feeling.
“That’s not what you need.”
Edwin, observing Henry’s suffering, seemed to have figured it out.
He noticed that despite Henry’s writhing, he hadn’t pushed Edwin’s hand away.
Gripping Henry’s other shoulder, Edwin laid him down sideways.
The carriage was spacious, so even with Henry lying on the seat, there was still room.
Edwin quickly positioned himself over Henry, straddling him in an instant.
“What are you… what are you doing?”
Henry looked at Edwin with eyes that could barely stay open, his breath hot and sweet escaping from his nose and mouth.
Edwin brushed Henry’s sweat-drenched hair aside and placed the back of his hand against his cheek.
Instinctively, Henry turned his head toward the side where the pain faded, his lips briefly touching Edwin’s hand before it lowered, gently grazing the hem of Henry’s clothes.
“Your body’s yearning for me right now.”
The odd garments made to fulfill peculiar requests slowly loosened under Edwin’s touch.
As Henry’s skin was gradually revealed, Edwin bent down and kissed him—a kiss like the ones he always gave when Henry had a seizure.
A kiss that could cool Henry’s fever and quench his thirst.
Edwin captured Henry’s burning lips, and, unable to properly breathe or even close his mouth, Edwin’s tongue delved deep into Henry’s mouth, exploring every inch.
At first, Henry resisted, but then he gripped Edwin’s arm, tilting his head as if inviting him to go deeper.
The space between their lips became nonexistent, and a heavy exchange of pheromones passed between them.
When the long kiss finally ended, Edwin raised his head and examined Henry’s face.
Though the agony had subsided slightly, his face was still flushed with a feverish excitement.
“It seems like that seizure was just the beginning.”
“What… do you mean?”
“There was a time when just kissing you was enough, but now, that’s not going to cut it.”
“Damn… the pheromone stone…”
At Edwin’s hopeless words, Henry groaned and recalled the treasure he had dropped earlier.
Maybe if he could hold it and try again, it might help.
But in that moment, Henry’s body craved nothing more than to be closer to Edwin.
Confusion clouded Henry’s face as his instincts and rational thoughts clashed.
Edwin looked down at him calmly, then posed a relaxed question.
“Forget about that. Tell me what you really want.”
‘Who knows? Maybe if you admit you want me, I might just give myself to you.’
There was a moment when Henry had thought about telling Edwin about the imprint.
The Henry from the original story had revealed the imprint before he died, but that had been a result of his own self-destruction.
Edwin married Henry.
Would the original Henry have crumbled like that if he had been content with just that?
Henry wondered.
In other words, his current self felt confident that he could reveal the imprint to Edwin without self-destructing.
But in exchange, he would surely earn even greater hatred.
He pondered whether he should retrieve the pheromone stone first and then reveal the truth to Edwin.
Of course, deep down, he knew he wouldn’t do that.
Resolving everything cleanly with the pheromone stone was the best option.
Why was he even thinking about this…?
“Ugh.”
Henry whimpered and clung to Edwin’s neck.
His body rejoiced in the pheromones Edwin emitted, but his mind was filled with endless sorrow.
It felt like he was being played by his own biology.
Even as he longed for Edwin, this half-hearted relationship where their hearts didn’t truly connect made him feel utterly miserable.
“He doesn’t even love me…”
Edwin gently wiped the tears pooling in Henry’s eyes.
“Don’t cry. This wasn’t something we could control. Don’t take it to heart.”
At Edwin’s comforting words, Henry’s sobs only grew louder.
He had found the pheromone stone after so much hardship, yet everything had fallen apart.
He hadn’t been able to sever the imprint with the stone, and in the end, he hadn’t even been able to keep the secret from Edwin.
Throughout their entire time together, Henry’s tears didn’t stop flowing.
* * *
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Hope they’ll get to know their feelings soon!
❤️❤️
Thanks for the chapter
They did it???😳
🫣
Oooh?
Urm thats kinda sad
Idk if I can consider this consent tho..