* * *

Lowell squirmed in alarm, but Felix’s firm grip didn’t budge an inch.

Even so, the faint, smoky apple scent wafting from Felix’s body helped ease Lowell’s nausea.

Unable to resist the comfort it brought, Lowell eventually relaxed into Felix’s hold.

“We’re going to the priest.”

But when Felix tried to head straight out the door, Lowell quickly stopped him.

“Who goes to a priest for morning sickness?!”

“You were fine yesterday, and now it’s suddenly severe. It could be something serious. We need to see the priest immediately.”

Felix’s tone was firm and resolute.

It was ironic, considering he once set his own broken bones with a splint, but he took even the smallest changes in Lowell’s condition very seriously.

“I know my body best. This is definitely morning sickness, so there’s no need for a priest.”

Holding his fiancé tightly, Felix hesitated.

He wanted to run to the priest right away, but dragging Lowell against his will only to find out it wasn’t serious would just exhaust them both.

“Then… release more of your pheromones. I think it’ll help.”

Lowell drove the point home, giving Felix a reason to drop the idea of the priest.

No alpha could refuse such a request from their bonded omega.

The soft, bittersweet apple scent filled the room.

Felix’s gentle pheromones carried his concern, easing Lowell’s churning stomach.

Lowell clung to Felix, finding relief.

“How did you know alpha pheromones help with morning sickness?”

“Books,” Felix replied curtly, a habit of his whenever he was embarrassed.

‘There’s no way he’d normally read such books… Did he start studying after finding out I was pregnant?’

Lowell pictured Felix borrowing books on pregnancy from the palace library and couldn’t help but laugh softly.

The image was so quintessentially Felix, but thinking about him earnestly researching male omega pregnancies made it endearing.

“Thank you. I feel a lot better now.”

“Do you want to try eating some fruit?”

Lowell didn’t feel like eating anything, but trying was better than worrying Felix more.

“Something mild, please.”

“Got it.”

When Felix returned, his arms were full of fruit, as though he’d emptied an entire shop.

Using his magic with impressive precision, Felix sliced the fruit into beautiful pieces.

‘Who else would use magic for something like this?’

Lowell enjoyed the little magical performance before tentatively biting into a fruit that looked like a green mango.

Its sweet and tangy flavor wasn’t bad, but the large bite caused his nausea to surge again.

“Ugh…”

Lowell tried to swallow it, but Felix reached out to catch the chewed fruit without a second thought, gently patting his back to coax him into spitting it out.

“Sorry…”

“Try something else,” Felix suggested, though he left briefly to dispose of the fruit.

Lowell picked a plain, white fruit and nibbled at it.

It was nearly tasteless but didn’t trigger his nausea, making it tolerable.

“Is it okay? It probably doesn’t taste like much.”

Felix wanted to try feeding him other fruits, but Lowell didn’t want to risk more nausea.

Though he could endure the discomfort, he hated seeing Felix more distressed than himself.

‘He caught my vomit in his hands and still prioritizes me… I can’t let him worry any more.’

Lowell finished the bland fruit.

Only after seeing this did Felix relax and start tidying up.

“It’s time to take you back to the Count’s estate. In two days, we’ll leave for my territory.”

Formally, the Count’s family should have invited Felix to a meal and treated him as a guest.

It was only proper to extend such courtesies to him as a fiancé.

However, the Count’s household leaned more toward the pro-Emperor faction than the aristocratic one, and they were reluctant to showcase their association with Felix too openly.

They delayed the invitation repeatedly, finally sending word only the day before Felix was scheduled to leave.

Felix, quickly discerning the Count’s intentions, declined without hesitation. It was a mutually beneficial decision.

“Still, it seemed like you had a conversation with the Count.”

Lowell wondered what Felix and the Count might have discussed but chose to keep his curiosity to himself.

He could only guess that the Count had likely taken the nagging he’d delivered to Lowell two days ago and repackaged it into something more refined for Felix.

“Since a sacred conception has taken place, I won’t oppose the engagement. However, before the marriage, you must report to me. Once the marriage is finalized, Lowell Clarke will no longer be associated with the Count’s family,” or something along those lines.

Two days ago, the Count had shown no intention of protecting Lowell, instead bombarding him with warnings not to damage the family’s reputation.

“We’re ready to depart.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Lowell snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of someone calling his name.

For now, their priority was to reach Felix’s territory.

Originally, they had planned to travel by carriage, but Felix abruptly decided to switch to teleportation.

The cost was over twenty times higher, so their party had been pared down to just Lowell, Felix, and two escorts.

One of the escorts was a Beta male named Tony, and the other was an Alpha female named Tia.

The rest of their group would follow later, traveling with the carriage they had originally intended to use.

“You should dress warmer than that.”

Even in the warm climate of Phoebos, Felix insisted on bundling Lowell in an overcoat and still seemed dissatisfied with his efforts.

“I’ll put on more layers if it gets colder. If I do it now, I’ll break out in a rash.”

“I’m not a child. I can manage,” Lowell interjected, but Tony cut into the conversation with a tone that made his displeasure obvious.

“Really, he’s not a kid. He can handle himself.”

Tony’s glare toward Lowell made his feelings all too clear—he didn’t like him.

‘A loyalist. I guess he thinks I’m using Felix, and that’s why he’s so on guard.’

Lowell wasn’t offended by the hostility.

If anything, Tony’s disdain only proved how much he cared about Felix, and Lowell found that oddly satisfying.

‘Was Tony the one who stood against Felix when he turned into the Demon King?’

The incident following Felix’s transformation into the Demon King was only briefly mentioned by a supporting character in the novel, so Lowell wasn’t sure.

Still, he had a gut feeling that Tony was the one who had tried to stop Felix.

Even now, Tony exuded an almost overwhelming sense of loyalty toward Felix.

‘At least there was someone who genuinely liked Felix as a person.’

But that loyalty hadn’t necessarily been a good influence on Felix.

‘It’s different from affection. It burdens people with expectations, especially those with low self-esteem.’

Lowell hoped they could build a better relationship this time around.

“We’re teleporting now. There will be seven jumps in total, and the journey will take about five hours.”

“Wow…”

After the first teleport, Lowell found himself stunned, letting out a soft exclamation without realizing it.

His surroundings shifted rapidly, like something out of a sci-fi movie, leaving him gaping.

Despite spending the last few weeks getting accustomed to magic, he couldn’t help but marvel.

“Is this your first time teleporting?” Felix asked, idly wondering what it would feel like to stick a finger into Lowell’s open mouth.

Oblivious to Felix’s intrusive thoughts, Lowell smiled awkwardly.

“Yes.”

The actual teleportation didn’t take long, but each stop required preparation for the next jump, which meant waiting around for an hour or so before moving again.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Felix’s concerns proved valid as the temperature dropped with each jump.

By the fifth stop, it had gotten so cold that Lowell had no choice but to pull out the coat he had been saving.

“Cold, huh? I bet a young master who’s lived his whole life in the capital couldn’t have imagined this,” Tony teased, feigning playfulness while ignoring Felix’s sharp glare.

Lowell felt a pang of regret at not being able to retort that he’d survived summers over thirty degrees Celsius and winters plunging to minus twenty in Korea.

‘I’d love to see Tony experience Korea’s four seasons—especially the biting chill of winter and the sticky heat of summer.’

“If you’re cold, you can wear my coat too,” Felix offered, already preparing to strip off his own.

Lowell declined, insisting that the coat he had was more than enough and that adding any more layers would just make him sweat.

“We’ll be departing for the next stop soon,” Tia reported with strict professionalism.

Lowell secretly sighed.

The brief visual distortions during teleportation were enough to make his stomach churn, even though he hadn’t eaten much.

‘Spending two weeks in a carriage would have been unbearable.’

Despite the exorbitant cost, Felix’s decision had been the right one.

* * *