SPW 46

“I….”

If he said it out loud, Sarang would surely be hurt. But Florian couldn’t hold back these words.

“There will never be a time when I come to love you, Sarang.”

“……”

“Are you still really okay with that? Sarang.”

A smile touched the eyes that were directed at Florian, who was asking the question carefully with a gaze full of worry.

“Yes, Rian. I’m okay.”

“……”

Looking at the flawlessly bright smile, Florian’s heart instead became unsettled. The decision he’d made after endless agonizing and deliberation since regaining consciousness was wavering. Is this really the only way? Is this really okay? Florian calmly collected his scattered thoughts.

Sarang had already come to love Florian, and every time Florian tried to cut ties one by one, he got hurt or into an accident. As if in punishment for that, Florian began to suffer from a pheromone problem, and in the end, he had to admit that the alpha who could stabilize his pheromones was Sarang.

He was different from other alphas. Sarang’s pheromones were as sweet as soft-serve ice cream, as soft as cotton candy, and as warm as sunlight. That was what Sarang’s vanilla scent was like. It wasn’t sickening, nor was it accompanied by the strong pressure that seemed to pin Florian down. Rather, it was a scent he wanted to keep on his body for a long time.

“How much did Bailey explain to you?”

Florian unclasped his hands, bent his legs, and stood up. Sarang, who naturally rose to his feet as well, followed behind Florian as he took the lead. Florian headed for the kitchen.

“You must know that I’ve been suffering from a pheromone problem for two years.”

Florian opened a cabinet, and his eyes lingered there for a moment. In the kitchen cabinet of Sarang, who had only ever known tea bags, expensive teas of all kinds were displayed. Most of them were from the brand Florian enjoyed. Whenever he missed Florian, he would restrain himself ten times and buy one, so now unopened boxes of tea could be found in every corner of the mansion.

“Oh… I’ll get it out.”

There was no way Florian would notice, but Sarang, feeling needlessly self-conscious, took out the tea and quickly closed the cabinet. It was quite an unnatural action, but Florian chose not to mention it.

“……”

Florian, who had left the tea to Sarang and was turning around, took a step back. As a result, his back was pressed firmly against the hard countertop of the sink. Not that an impact of that degree had any effect on Florian. A sweet scent wafted from Sarang, who was right in front of him. No, perhaps it was coming from his own body. Tearing his eyes away from the space between the carelessly unbuttoned shirt, Florian looked up at Sarang. To meet those black eyes now, he had to tilt his head back.

“Our eye levels have changed a lot, Sarang.”

“……”

“Are you still in your growth spurt?”

Unaware that the distance between him and Florian was too close, Sarang was captivated by the brilliant blue eyes, and his cheeks turned slightly red.

“I’m not.”

As if to say absolutely not, as if his growth spurt had already ended, he met the brilliant blue eyes straight on and said it once more.

“I’m not, Rian.”

☀️

A sweet fragrance spread widely through the drawing room where the two sat facing each other.

Knowing Florian liked black tea, Sarang had once wished his pheromones smelled of black tea. Of course, since that was impossible, Sarang focused all his attention on answering Florian’s question.

“That it started the winter of the year I moved out, and that my third heat suddenly began one day in December.”

The way Florian lifted his cup to drink his tea was flawless.

“That you can’t remember anything that happened during your heat.”

“Is that all?”

“……”

“Thanks to being both sexually and physically assaulted by the alpha I spent my heat with, I ended up taking two long leaves of absence.”

It was Sarang, rather, who looked as if he had suffered all that assault. Although he tried not to reveal his inner feelings, that aspect of Sarang, his inability to hide everything, had been cute since he was young.

“He was an alpha who had to be called in a hurry that December.”

A muscle in Sarang’s cheek twitched.

“Yes, the man who hid your soccer ball in the back garden, Sarang.”

“That person…”

“Calling him again last summer was a mistake.”

It was his 6th heat of that year. It was a time when his aversion to alpha pheromones lingering on his body was worsening, and he was changing partners with every heat. Florian, who went into heat while performing his duties as the ducal successor, was rushed to a nearby owned mansion, and Bailey chose the alpha from the list who could be summoned the fastest. By then, the list had already run out, and dangerous rumors had begun to circulate.

“He had spent two heats with me without issue, he was in the closest vicinity, and he was an alpha who had previously signed a non-disclosure agreement, so Bailey’s decision was a reasonable one, Sarang.”

Sarang’s chest grew increasingly tight at Florian’s calmness, as he spoke as if it were an old story and nothing special.

“It seems he figured it out while we were spending the second heat together. I sustained injuries that required six weeks to heal at that time.”

The alpha, who had fled as if escaping even before Florian’s heat ended, was soon captured. His jaw was dislocated, his nipples were nearly torn off, and his testicles below his tightly bound, blood-starved penis were swollen from punches or kicks. The most severe physical injury was a fractured rib.

Florian didn’t tell him such detailed parts. There was no need for Sarang to know.

“This past April was in a similar context.”

Sarang’s face, which had been growing whiter and whiter, turned pale. Florian, who was observing him, unable to control his anger, was actually thinking about something else.

Why are the tips of the kid’s fingers so red?

“Sarang, they have all paid the price for their wrongdoings.”

“What… price?”

“To pay back the penalty fees, they would have to work on a deep-sea fishing vessel for the rest of their lives, and it still wouldn’t be enough. But that was the best I could do.”

“All you did was put them on a deep-sea fishing vessel?”

“Sarang, are you by any chance in favor of the Code of Hammurabi?”

“Rian…!”

In reality, the one who had followed the teachings of the Code of Hammurabi to the letter was Florian himself. The two alphas who had landed Florian a long leave of absence were currently classified as travelers and would later be processed as accidental deaths. It was Florian who had shot their limbs and left them in the desert to become food for a flock of crows.

“Sarang.”

“……”

“Sarang.”

“……”

“Mr. Kim Sarang?”

“…Don’t call me that.”

Sarang, who had been glaring silently at the table, lifted his gaze. When he looked at Florian, his eyes had already become moist and soft. A moment ago, he was ashen as a corpse, but now a blush had risen to his cheeks again.

Just like his physical reactions, Sarang was free with his emotional expressions. When he lost a match, he would weep like someone who’d lost their country; if he was unhappy with the game, he would stick his lips out in a pout during interviews; and when he won, he would smile brightly as if he had the whole world. He was like that even in front of tens of thousands of spectators and the global soccer fans who would be watching on TV.

“I didn’t tell you this to upset you, Sarang.”

“…Then why?”

His eyes grew moist. He looked very upset by the fact that there was nothing he could do for Florian.

“To tell you not to worry.”

“……”

“I’m the type to make sure I punish those who have harmed me.”

“……”

“I have that much power and will, so I told you not to worry, Sarang.”

Sarang, who moved his Adam’s apple in a large gulp as if swallowing a sob, lifted his teacup and hid his face. It seemed he was also stealthily wiping the corners of his eyes.

“And I also wanted to say thank you.”

A small ripple appeared in Sarang’s eyes. But all I’ve done is wrong… His inner thoughts were read perfectly. It was a wonder he had survived in that jungle-like professional world with a personality like that.

“Weren’t you scared?”

Suddenly, thump-thump, Sarang’s heart pounded.

“Sarang must have needed a lot of courage to enter my bedroom during my heat without my permission.”

The tips of his fingers trembled, so Sarang clenched his fists tightly. The heat that had risen to his cheeks spread to his earlobes. Because he was embarrassed, sorry, and afraid, but at the same time, relieved. Because it felt like he wasn’t hated by Rian.

“You did nothing wrong, Sarang. You should blame the bad adults who created that situation.”

“…I’m an adult too.”

“Yes, Sarang.”

Smiling faintly, Florian leaned his upper body against the sofa with a much more relaxed expression. In the media, he was always portrayed standing correctly, sitting correctly, and saying only the correct things. Sarang liked this Florian, whose posture was at least a little relaxed in front of him. It made him feel like he wasn’t a complete stranger after all.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve opened my eyes feeling this at ease, Sarang.”