SATURDAY 30

“Mr. Taeseon…?”

“Yes.”

My entire body sent out danger signals. Lili jumped from my arms, arched her back, and stood her tail straight up. She was in a state of high alert, her hissing sounding almost like a shriek.

And with good reason. A pheromone so thick it made my breath hitch was flowing from Mr. Taeseon. It was the pheromone of a rut. No, but hadn’t his rut just passed not long ago? Could it be that because he unstablely suppressed it with medication back then, it had returned at such an impossible interval?

That was strange too. Many people pass their cycles with suppressants. If all those people’s cycles became irregular, this world would become a place where one couldn’t live with a sane mind.

My heart thudded. Mr. Taeseon’s eyes were already completely glazed over. His clothes were a bit disheveled. It seemed he had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt because it felt stifling. He stared at me with vacant eyes, then barely managed to take off his shoes and come up to embrace me.

“…!”

Overflowing pheromones spilled from Mr. Taeseon. No matter how I looked at it, he was clearly in an abnormal state. His body was hot, and particularly his forehead touching my shoulder felt as if it were burning. And the sound of his ragged, heavy breathing pouring from between his lips—it was a typical symptom of a rut. Even down to the slight sweetness mixing into his body scent.

My head spun. All the staff except for a couple on duty had already left for the day, and naturally, being Betas, they were of no help in this situation. Ah, no, that’s not right; at the very least, laying Mr. Taeseon down in his room….

“Inyoung.”

“Nnh…!”

His voice flowed in along with his breath, as if he were blowing air into my ear. Having let out a groan involuntarily, I laboriously dragged Mr. Taeseon along and managed to lay him down on the sofa. In truth, it was closer to dropping his upper body onto the sofa and lifting his legs to rest them there.

As I pushed his awkwardly protruding waist to lay him down completely, this time both of Mr. Taeseon’s feet ended up dangling off the sofa.

My head ached. Holding my forehead, I headed toward the intercom to call the staff, when suddenly a chill ran down my spine. My insides felt itchy and a sudden heat rose. From my toes to the top of my head, something passed through that I couldn’t tell was a chill or heat.

‘Ah…. No, this can’t be happening….’

It was a heat cycle. Of all things, in a house with an Alpha in the middle of a rut. Furthermore, that Alpha was Lee Taeseon. If anything were to happen like this, Mr. Taeseon would not leave me alone.

Moreover, Mr. Taeseon’s rut had arrived suddenly as if triggered by something, and my own cycle wasn’t normal either. No, it was I who was likely triggered by Mr. Taeseon. Mr. Taeseon would surely think that I had pulled some trick to cause his rut.

‘The medicine….’

Suddenly, the medicine Professor Jang had prescribed came to mind. Barely grabbing the intercom, I contacted the annex and asked them to move Mr. Taeseon to his room.

Two on-duty staff members came from the annex and moved Mr. Taeseon without asking any questions. It was a relief that both were male Beta staff members.

“It seems to be a rut, so…. please provide him with suppressants as well. Just in case, please lock the door from the inside before you come out.”

“Understood.”

After the staff entered Mr. Taeseon’s room, I also staggered to open my own door. Lili followed me in silently. Without even a moment to spare for Lili, I rummaged through the drawer containing the medicine. I wasn’t just looking for ordinary suppressants. It was the one Professor Jang had prescribed as an extra….

There was a medicine he prescribed for me to take if a cycle hit both me and Mr. Taeseon at the same time. Alphas and Omegas are heavily influenced by each other’s pheromones. Especially during a cycle. Just me being in this room could influence Mr. Taeseon.

I searched for the medicine with trembling hands and pulled out pills at random. I didn’t even know how many there were. A single pill didn’t put my mind at ease. I tossed about five or six pills into my mouth and pulled a water bottle out of the small refrigerator in the room.

Thanks to the water that had always been kept in several bottles since that day, I was able to swallow the medicine immediately. After taking the medicine, I hurriedly got up to lock the door and closed the windows tightly. So that not even a hint of my pheromones would leak out. I even placed a towel under the door.

Only then did Lili enter my sight. Lili was looking at me with her characteristic blunt expression, appearing somewhat restless.

“It’s okay, Lili, I’ve taken the medicine now….”

As I sat leaning against the bed saying that, Lili approached and rubbed her head against me. I think I fell into a faint sleep just like that. But I couldn’t stay asleep for long….

I woke up startled by a heat that felt as if my whole body were burning. My stomach felt itchy as if stuffed with cotton, and a cold ache throbbed up to my solar plexus. More than anything, my rear—my backside—was twitching incessantly and leaking fluid.

I had clearly taken strong suppressants.

Yet my body did not calm down at all. Rather, I felt even more severely flushed than before, as if I would die right this second. An impulse to have anyone, it didn’t matter who, touch my body. A sexual desire that completely dominated my head and blew away my reason.

A flood of hormones forcing a mating took hold of my entire body. Any partner would do. As long as they were an Alpha. And an Alpha was right here. In a place just a few steps away.

I staggered to my feet. Lili busily circled around me, meowing loudly.

It’s okay, Lili, it’s no big deal…. I said that, but I had no conviction. What am I trying to do right now, is this okay?

This is Inha’s… ah, but it didn’t matter. No matter what happened, if only I could accept an Alpha into my body. If I were in a body that knew nothing, it might be different, but I already knew an Alpha through Mr. Taeseon. My body had been tamed to match Mr. Taeseon, and I knew no one but Mr. Taeseon.

The very same Lee Taeseon was right here.

My vision was blurred. I had to go to Mr. Taeseon. Nothing else entered my sight. Lili was shouting with hisses and spits as if something terrible had happened, but I acted as if I couldn’t hear her.

I walked slowly down the hallway to the room Mr. Taeseon used. On the way, as I passed the room originally intended to be the master bedroom, I even glanced at the door once. Reaching Mr. Taeseon’s room, I grabbed the doorknob and gave it a turn. But with a clack, I only heard the sound of it catching; the door wouldn’t open.

Come to think of it, I had told them to lock it from the inside before coming out. Why did I do that? Making things difficult for no reason. I slowly knocked on the door.

My head was hazy as if I were drunk, or even more so. I didn’t even really know what I was doing right now. At any rate, I could think of nothing else but the need to see Mr. Taeseon.

Knock, knock, knock….

“…Mr. Taeseon….”

Yowl! Lili’s voice cracked sharply. I glanced at Lili. She was sitting about three steps away from me, crying out with a face full of wariness.

“Mr. Taeseon.”

Knock, knock.

How long had I been doing that? The door I thought wouldn’t open finally did. The inside was gloomy, perhaps with only one or two small lights on, and Mr. Taeseon stood with his back to that light.

Whether he had showered, his hair was still a bit wet. His eyes were sunk deep and dark, and a calm energy flowed from his entire body.

Suppressants settle even an excited mood. Like a reaction to burning excitement, when one takes suppressants, they might fall into a pit of depression from the mood of being in the middle of heat.

Mr. Taeseon also looked very downcast. However, that gloominess soon turned into irritation and contempt. He looked at me with eyes of disdain and spoke.

“What do you think you’re doing right now?”

“….”

Without a word, I tried to fall into his arms while letting my pheromones leak out. Immediately after, a light shock hit my chest and my body was pushed back. With a thud and a crash, I tumbled onto the floor. Lili gave a hiss and hurriedly fled somewhere. It seemed she had gotten scared when I fell.

Mr. Taeseon came out of the room, grabbed my arm as I lay fallen, and dragged me along. I think I was hurt somewhere, but my whole body was in pain so I couldn’t think. Even in pain, my head held nothing but the thought of wanting to be held by Mr. Taeseon.

Having dragged me to my room, Mr. Taeseon threw me down in front of the refrigerator and rummaged through the medicine drawer. He found the ordinary suppressants without much trouble.

Then he approached me, forced my mouth open, and poured the medicine in. He practically dumped them in. Grains of medicine that failed to enter my mouth tumbled down along my body.

These were suppressants that were already bad for the body, so if I took these on top of what I took earlier, I might end up becoming quite ill.

But Mr. Taeseon, as if such things didn’t matter at all, opened a new bottle of water and poured it into my mouth. Water streamed down the sides of my mouth.