PH 4

“Magnus Sirarund brought back the borderlands—which had originally belonged to the Empire—as spoils of war in the last war. In recognition of that achievement, Magnus succeeded to the ducal title. He hasn’t yet received official approval from the Emperor, but the Northerners already call him Duke and treat him as such. He is the new master of those gold mines, rock salt, diamonds, and iron ore. All that remains is to receive the Emperor’s permission. However, before that—”

“Produce an heir?”

“To be precise, it doesn’t have to be an heir—he just needs to prove his fertility. Whether alpha or beta, daughter or son, the Duke must impregnate an omega.”

Any omega taken to bed would conceive a child. Magnus Sirarund was only twenty-one years old and an exceptionally outstanding alpha male. There was no reason he shouldn’t be able to father children.

“The problem is—”

But the problem was—

“He suffers from a pathological aversion to physical contact.”

The Duke had an affliction…

“No one knows when this mental condition began. By the time his maternal relatives noticed, he was already in that state. No matter how beautiful the omega, no matter how lovely the woman, they all failed. The Duke cannot endure another person’s touch.”

The Duke’s maternal uncle, Count Nuveri, had pushed not only omega women but even alpha women into the Duke’s bedchamber. He made no distinction, from children who had not yet developed breasts to women old enough to be his mother.

The results were all the same. Every woman who entered the bedchamber screamed and ran out. And none of them wanted to go back in.

“As you know, an alpha must be exposed to an omega’s pheromones.”

Nile nodded. He knew that well. That story.

The selfish race that would sooner cut off an omega’s limbs than let them escape—the reason for that detestable obsession alphas had with omegas.

It was because if an alpha was not soaked in an omega’s pheromones, they would become mentally unstable.

No, “unstable” wasn’t enough to describe it. They literally went mad. Rage, phantom pains, hallucinations, delusions—the purer the blood, the worse the madness. An alpha without an omega would destroy themselves and harm others. It was a murderous frenzy.

“Male omegas are all right?”

“The Duke requested it. If he had to have a bed companion, it should be a male type. Since the Duke said so himself, well… it’s probably better than a woman.”

“Then you shouldn’t have come to me. What you’re looking for is an omega.”

Having heard that much, Nile rose from his seat. The old wooden chair creaked as it scraped backward.

“I’m a beta.”

“No. I came to the right place.”

Gerard also stood. He stepped in front of his friend, looked down at him, and said:

“You’re an omega. Aren’t you, Nile?”

“…”

Nile did not answer.

A quiet silence passed. In the brief lull in conversation, the autumn wind slipped through the ill-fitting window frame, making a bleak sound as it came and went.

They had met at fourteen and grown up together for five years. If asked to name his closest friend, even now Nile could name Gerard. They had been close enough that Nile had risked his life to help him escape.

“You knew.”

Nile did not deny Gerard’s words. In a tight voice, he simply asked what he was curious about.

“How long have you known?”

“About a year after we met. You were in estrus and must not have managed to conceal it properly—you gave off a scent. And even that was only once. You never made that mistake again.”

“I see.”

As if recalling the past, Nile traced the air with thoughtful eyes, then finally gave a bitter smile and sat back down. Gerard placed a teacup in his hand.

“You don’t have to accept the commission, Nile.”

After a brief silence, Gerard spoke. Nile only lifted his eyes briefly to look at Gerard.

“But if you take this job, that enormous debt your brother piled on you—three thousand pounds… that debt you could never pay off in a lifetime—you can settle it immediately, Nile.”

“You’ll wipe out that debt once you become viscount.”

“Of course. But that takes time. Do you think my brother will willingly name me his heir?”

“The viscount isn’t in good health. He’s been holed up since last year.”

“Right. My brother might die this year. But he might also drag on for another ten years, infirm and ailing. Alphas usually live long.”

“…”

“You’ve always wanted to leave. You never intended to stay in Galen this long in the first place. If not for that incident, you would have left eight years ago. But you decided to save me, and you got caught by my brother.”

“That was because of you—”

“Because of me.”

A dark shadow of self-reproach crossed Gerard’s face. After a moment of silence, Gerard spoke again, his voice laced with pain.

“It’s fine if you refuse the commission. I didn’t want to make this offer to you either. But if you succeed in this commission, you can gain your freedom soon. This opportunity won’t come again. You’ve always wanted to be free, Nile. From the very first time we met, your goal was always one thing: freedom. Not money, not honor—freedom. Only that.”

At those words, Nile felt his breath catch.

“Nile. My kind friend.”

Gerard gently stroked Nile’s cheek.

“Take back your freedom. And go find your Romana.”

Romana… Nile groaned the name as if in pain. His chest felt as though it would burst.

Freedom.

Romana.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Nile sprang up from his seat and paced the small sitting room with long strides. His chest heaved sharply up and down. The cheap tallow lamp sputtered and crackled, and beneath it, Nile’s shadow moved about restlessly.

“But Gerard. I—”

Gerard watched Nile in silence. After drawing a quick, sharp breath, Nile said, as if spitting it out:

“I don’t want to sleep with an alpha.”

“Why? Because you’re afraid of alphas?”

“What?”

When Nile looked at him with a bewildered expression, Gerard shrugged.

“You’re not the only omega who hides their identity and lives like a beta. People like that usually have a history of being badly hurt by an alpha. So I wondered if you were afraid of alphas.”

After thinking for a moment, Nile shook his head.

“It’s true I’ve had bad experiences involving alphas. But that doesn’t mean I hate or fear alphas.”

If that were the case, I couldn’t have shared a room with you, he added, and Gerard nodded in agreement.

“Then why?”

It was a question he’d wanted to ask for a long time. He could understand his friend living as a beta while being an omega—living as an omega was no easy thing. But he found it hard to understand the proclivity of a male omega who would only date other male omegas, just like himself.

To that question, Nile just smiled silently. Seeing that smile—as if he held some secret he could never tell—Gerard gave up on getting an answer. Nile was a sincere person, but once he made up his mind about something, he never changed his stance. That was why he could be trusted, and also why he was sometimes frustrating.

“Will you refuse?”

At Gerard’s question, Nile gazed at the sole decoration hanging on the wall—a painting of a boat with white sails, voyaging across a blue sea. Looking at that sailboat, free to go anywhere, Nile said:

“I don’t want to sleep with an alpha. But more than that, I want to get away from your brother.”

“Nile.”

“What do I need to do?”

Turning his gaze from the painting, Nile looked straight at Gerard. His eyes were trembling with unease, but his expression was one of resolve.

“Do I just go into the Duke’s bedchamber, seduce him, and have sex with him?”

“If only it were that easy.”

Gerard laughed faintly. If it were that easy, he wouldn’t have come all the way here to fetch Nile.

“Besides, Gerard, I… I don’t know how alphas have sex.”

“Do it the way you do, Nile.”

“The way I do?”

“Yes. The way you hold an omega.”

Gerard knew this friend inside and out. At first glance, he seemed endlessly gentle and soft, but in fact, Nile was quite a masculine man. He laughed off almost everything with ease, but when it came to crossing lines, he became extremely resolute. His standards and boundaries were clear, and he was the type to keep others within those boundaries as well.

“Just once, Nile.”

Gerard drove the point home.

“If the Duke can have sex with you, even just once.”

Then you’ll be free.

No one will be able to hold you back then.

Those words were decisive. His wavering eyes grew clear. Nile straightened his back and shoulders, let out a deep breath, and said to Gerard:

“Tell me more details.”

That was one month before Nile Giles threw the Continental Bank promissory note at Lugas Galen, Viscount of Galen, and set out for the North.