* * *
While Adam was spending the morning in a haze of complicated feelings, the Carlisle brothers were riding their horses through the forest.
Beneath the clear morning sunlight, Chester suddenly burst out laughing.
“Ahaha.”
His violet eyes were fixed on a large clearing in the woods.
At its center was an artificial pond with a small island, upon which stood a massive oak tree.
From the outstretched branches, various sculpted birds hung suspended.
Soon, jets of water sprayed from the birds’ beaks.
Watching the sparkling fountain shimmer in the sunlight, Chester spoke.
“There really isn’t a single place untouched by our hands.”
“Is that so amusing?”
“It reminded me of someone. That Omega you chose, brother. He explained the meaning behind the garden’s fountains.”
Isaac continued walking silently, his eyes fixed forward.
It was an indifferent response, but Chester didn’t seem to mind.
“He interpreted the symbolism of the statues, guessed the ideology we’re aiming for just by looking at the trees in the garden. He seemed like a rather cultured person.”
“So, you’ve already met him?”
Isaac finally asked in his usual dry tone.
Chester didn’t answer that question.
He only smiled faintly, replying inwardly instead.
‘Met him before you did, brother.’
Isaac didn’t press for an answer—perhaps he wasn’t especially curious.
He simply lifted his gaze, staring past the oak tree toward the castle in the distance.
“How do you plan on consummating the night?”
“Interesting question. Hmm, let’s see. A threesome might be fun. It has a different appeal than just sex between two people.”
Isaac felt a sharp pang in his temple.
Unlike him, who had no interest in such matters, his younger brother treated sex like a game.
He’d once even bragged about having tumbled with both men and women.
To such a brother, Isaac had simply said: ‘Do what you want, just don’t make a mess like causing a pregnancy.’
Chester had only laughed like a boy, unsure whether his brother was being strict or permissive.
“Orgies aren’t my thing. Let’s just decide who goes first.”
“You should go first, brother.”
Isaac turned to look at Chester.
The younger brother was already meeting his gaze.
His pale blond hair fluttered gently in the breeze, and his violet eyes curved with angelic charm.
Smiling with a face as beautiful and gentle as any in the world, Chester said:
“You’re the one who chose the Omega. Naturally, the first night should be yours.”
“There’s no rule like that. I don’t care about the order. As long as he gets pregnant, that’s all that matters.”
“You sound completely uninterested. But once you’re in the act, I think you’ll enjoy it. His pheromone scent is quite seductive. No Alpha could possibly resist it.”
Isaac didn’t respond.
The scent he’d caught during their first encounter vividly came to mind.
Faint, yet unmistakably present.
‘No denial, huh. So you thought the same.’
There was a reason Chester had insisted his brother go first.
He was curious to see how that rock-solid man would behave afterward.
An arrogant man who hated being touched.
Who refused to even look vulnerable, and had always ignored matters of intimacy.
Would Isaac, of all people, change after sharing a bed?
A mischievous curiosity welled up inside Chester.
“Still, I’m surprised you agreed to my proposal. Bringing in a single Omega just to get him pregnant. Anyone else would’ve laughed it off as insane.”
“It’s efficient. No need to involve another family.”
“In return, people will say we’ve lost our minds.”
“You already know what I’m going to say.”
Isaac murmured quietly.
“Power is the ability to do what others wouldn’t even dare. It’s a privilege only we brothers can enjoy. Bringing in an Omega to bear a child… becoming co-heads of the family…”
“Agreed, brother.”
Chester blinked slowly, his long lashes brushing his cheeks.
“Then since you’re doing this anyway, enjoy it to the fullest. You’ll start tonight, won’t you?”
“…Tonight, huh. Just thinking about it tires me.”
“Haha! No one hates sex as much as you do, brother.”
Isaac shook his head.
Unlike the amused Chester, he remained calm.
The face of the Omega with the fair skin and refined features briefly crossed his mind—but only for a moment.
As the morning air brushed across his brow, Isaac murmured as if to himself:
“As if I could enjoy it. It’s nothing more than a mission.”
Night had fallen, and stars were beginning to appear, one by one.
After lighting every candle, the maids left the room.
The orange flames reflected in the golden candlesticks, casting a glittering glow.
Adam stared at the shimmering light and swallowed dryly.
His throat kept drying up from the tension.
He was dressed in a nightgown made of soft, white fabric.
Just from the feel, it was clearly a luxurious cloth.
He raised his wrist.
A faint fragrance rose from the veins beneath his pale skin.
He’d bathed in a tub filled with flower petals and had even been rubbed down with scented oil.
“I feel like a doll.”
Like one of those pretty little dolls noble girls play with.
Except, he wasn’t pretty—and the one about to play with him certainly wasn’t a girl.
Adam smoothed his palm over the bed sheets.
The anticipation made his fingertips tingle.
Just then, the sound of the bedroom door opening shattered the silence.
At the presence of someone entering, Adam froze.
Who is it?
“Who is—ah.”
He didn’t finish his question.
As he rose from the bed to get a better look, his vision blurred.
Adam’s eyes wavered in confusion.
A foreign scent gripped the nape of his neck.
It clung to his hair, brushed his skin—it was sticky, undeniable.
Instinctively, Adam knew.
‘Alpha…!’
There was no doubt.
It was an Alpha’s pheromone.
Alphas were rare, just like Omegas.
He’d had almost no chance of meeting one.
But the moment he caught that scent, his body reacted instinctively.
His whole body burned, and a moan escaped his lips.
“Ugh…”
Both Alphas and Omegas lived suppressing their pheromones.
So for someone to release this much on purpose…
It could only mean one thing: they wanted to seduce, or dominate.
Adam collapsed fully onto the bed, his legs giving out.
“It’s… too strong…”
“Isn’t strong better?”
A low voice answered as he struggled to speak.
Adam realized someone was now sitting beside him.
The man at the edge of the bed was Isaac.
“To an Omega, an Alpha’s pheromones are no different from an aphrodisiac. They excite you, heat you up…”
He looked different from the day before.
His bangs fell low over his brow, and his clothes were more relaxed than yesterday’s.
“That’s why Omegas crave Alphas. Betas can’t give them the same pleasure.”
“That… goes for Alphas too, doesn’t it…”
“Of course it does, but…”
Isaac trailed off.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them.
His red gaze burned as it settled back on Adam.
What unsettled him now was Adam’s own pheromone scent.
It was just as potent as Isaac’s, filling the room.
“So, you want to challenge me?”
“N-never… ugh, not at all…”
Adam summoned all his strength to push his upper body upright.
His cheeks flushed crimson, and heated breaths escaped between his parted lips.
“It was to make you feel at ease. Holding a stranger for the first time… huff… couldn’t have been pleasant for you.”
“You did that for me?”
* * *
