WMPW chapter 20

In the end, Lucian left the study more confused than when he entered. None of his questions had been answered, and his confusion only grew with each passing day.

“Step back, Beryl. Continue to support Etienne well.”

“Yes, Duke. I will do so.”

Lucian left Ferden and Beryl and walked out of the study, heading toward the lab where the source of his confusion awaited.

Meanwhile, Etienne was so engrossed in examining samples in the lab that he had forgotten about his aching back. Thanks to Lucian teaching him a new cell staining method, he was in high spirits.

How long had he been concentrating? When Etienne noticed Lucian entering the lab, he quickly gestured for him to come over.

“Duke, come here! This is what I was telling you about last time…”

But as Lucian approached, Etienne suddenly stopped and tilted his head.

It was because he sensed a familiar but distinctly non-Lucian pheromone.

“Uh, Duke.”

Without any embarrassment, Etienne approached and sniffed, then recognized the scent and spoke up.

“Is this Omega pheromone? This smells like my teacher’s pheromone.”

The teacher was what Etienne called Beryl. Lucian looked at Etienne silently for a moment before nodding.

“Correct.”

“I knew it!”

For a moment, Lucian wondered if Etienne would feel jealous knowing he had been with another Omega.

Even if it was just a primal reaction to the pheromones, Lucian hoped Etienne would feel a bit jealous. Despite knowing it was an irrational desire.

But Etienne’s reaction was far from what Lucian had hoped for.

“Wow, it’s amazing… I can distinguish people by their pheromones. Isn’t it great?”

Etienne simply smiled brightly, as if enjoying himself.

“Do you think we could someday create a system to identify individuals by their pheromones instead of iris or fingerprint recognition? Assuming no two pheromones are identical.”

As Lucian watched Etienne’s green eyes burn with curiosity, he eventually let out a faint smile.

Etienne had no idea why Lucian had another Omega’s scent on him.

If Lucian didn’t tell him, Etienne would never guess. He wouldn’t even be curious.

“…An interesting idea.”

“Right? Don’t you think so, Duke?”

Lucian had asked another Omega to release their pheromones in front of him.

No matter how strongly the Omega spread their pheromones, Lucian felt no reaction. The moment he confirmed this, he was enveloped in an inexplicable, strange emotion.

And now, just facing Etienne’s clear green eyes stirred his heart more than any pheromones.

“Oh, this is not the time for this. Hurry and change your clothes, Duke! We need to finish the dissection we started yesterday; there’s no time!”

Etienne Harrington would never know.

* * *

Days passed with repeated experiments and discussions, and finally, the long-awaited day of the ball arrived.

It was the day Etienne had been looking forward to, where he could meet many Alphas besides Lucian.

“The day has finally come!”

“Calm down and take this, Etienne.”

Receiving the special outfit Lucian had prepared for him, Etienne widened his eyes and looked up at the Alpha in front of him.

The frilled white shirt and the emerald cravat matching his eyes, along with the gold chain and jeweled brooch… But then…

“Uh, Duke? Isn’t this the outfit you’ve been wearing for the past few days?”

Etienne’s ball gown was unmistakably fashioned based on the clothes Lucian had been wearing repetitively for the past few days.

Etienne’s ball gown was saturated with Lucian’s pheromones.

Any alpha or omega would be able to detect the scent from ten paces away.

“Technically, it’s made from those clothes. You still can’t fully control your scent.”

“Ah… I thought you were being stingy about spending money on me.”

“Not at all, I wouldn’t save money at your expense.”

Lucian had taken these measures to prevent other alphas from reacting to Etienne’s scent or showing inappropriate interest.

After ensuring that Etienne was snugly dressed in a coat heavily imbued with his own scent, Lucian led him out of the mansion.

“Let’s go, then.”

Dressed in luxurious and elegant ball attire from head to toe, the two boarded the carriage.

Lucian’s role included calming the overly excited Etienne, who had momentarily forgotten about his motion sickness, and coaxing him to sit quietly.

Sitting beside Etienne, Lucian let the small brown-haired head rest on his shoulder and diligently answered the omega’s incessant questions.

“Will there be only alphas at the ball?”

“Not necessarily. Alphas make up about one-fifth of the nobility.”

“That’s fewer than I thought. I assumed all nobles were alphas because of their noble blood.”

“Family traits and titles are passed down through the paternal line. If the first male ancestor wasn’t an alpha, that family could never become an alpha-producing line unless they adopted an alpha from another branch.”

“That makes sense.”

Titles and traits were inherited from father to son. Thus, if the ancestor was a beta male, the males in that family would always be betas and could never produce an alpha.

Although, theoretically, if a female descendant married an alpha and continued the line, they could become an alpha family, such cases were unheard of.

Etienne found this quite inefficient, but such inefficiency, discrimination, and bad habits were the essence of this world.

“By the way, I’m worried. This is my first ball. What if I make a mistake…?”

“So what? I’ll handle it. Besides, this is my first ball outside the royal court too.”

“Oh, really?”

Etienne, realizing something everyone else seemed to know, sat up in surprise. Lucian pulled him back and responded nonchalantly.

“Yes, really.”

“So we’re both country bumpkins?”

“Country…”

Country bumpkin? The unfamiliar word left Lucian momentarily baffled, but he soon chuckled and agreed.

“Yes, we’re country bumpkins, you and I.”

“Haha, right?”

Had anyone else called him that, Lucian would have reprimanded them, but hearing it from Etienne, with his clear, melodious laughter, didn’t bother him at all.

They rode happily in the carriage, and Lucian arrived at the ball in a better mood than ever.

However…

“Welcome, Duke Leondine! This way, please!”

That mood quickly plummeted.

“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard you accepted our invitation. Half the guests are here because they heard you were coming!”

The obsequiousness of Marquis Ashton, the host, was off-putting enough…

“But who is your companion?”

“My partner.”

“W-what? Your partner?”

The sight of Etienne’s slender build and beautiful face made Marquis Ashton recall some rumors, leading him to commit an unforgivable rudeness.

“No, Your Grace! Isn’t this… isn’t this an omega?”

‘This.’ Not ‘this person,’ but ‘this.’ As if he was calling Etienne a thing.

That single word turned Lucian’s eyes cold with rage.

His violet eyes blazed with fury, and his sculpted face bore the terrifying menace of a war hero. His threatening voice echoed clearly despite its low tone.

“Say that again.”

The chilling intensity was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“W-why, Your Grace, what do you mean…?”

“Say it again.”

Watching this menacing scene with keen interest, Etienne thought it a pity he didn’t have popcorn at that moment.

“Did you just call him ‘this,’ Marquis Ashton?”