DSB 12

He had proudly declared to the Emperor that he would take Lebel as his bride.

The boy who rarely insisted on anything was now stubborn. From the moment he declared he would take that man as his bride, everyone knew he would not back down. Their argument over this matter had gone on for more than a day.

The man gave up trying to persuade Yutis and he turned his bright eyes to Lebel, intending to persuade Lebel instead of Yutis.

“Your Highness, do you not know about the curse passed down in the Hestro family? I thought it was well-known even in the imperial capital. The story that he becomes a monster during rut cycle. Yes, that’s right. Moreover, he even killed someone.”

Lebel looked up at Yutis. His eyes and hands were trembling like aspen leaves.

It was true.

He knew from the moment he mentioned the rut cycle that the reason the man opposed the marriage wasn’t just his status. He had said it knowing that.

“Dad….”

“Your Highness needs to know the truth too.”

Of course, he hadn’t heard the part about someone dying.

“I’ve heard the story about becoming a monster. And about the prey too.”

Ah, the prey the knights mentioned might have been that story.

“Your Highness, it’s even more dangerous because you’re half-baked. You who can’t emit pheromones and can’t soothe the monster could be torn to shreds and die.”

The man said calmly. There wasn’t a shred of lie in those words. Yutis’s stiffened gaze continued to shake.

Just a moment ago, he had confidently declared it was okay, but where had that momentum gone?

Lebel clicked his tongue as if it was pathetic and gripped Yutis’s hand firmly. Since marriage meant he would become his mate, he needed to encourage him.

“What are you worrying about? Are you going to hurt me? You won’t.”

“…….!”

“And I’m not as weak as you think.”

Of course, he was weak now.

But if he could handle demonic energy a bit more, if his body gradually got used to demonic energy, he would become sturdy.

There were limits because it was a human body, but he could subdue a monster or so.

If the monster the man called was the process of changing due to demonic energy, he was even more confident.

All demons, all beings with demonic energy, were destined to kneel before him.

“So what will you do? Will you do it?Or not? If you don’t want marriage with me, let go of this hand. If you intend to marry, no one can stop it anymore, so decide carefully.”

Somehow he ended up coming as a human bride, but it was a short life, and since he liked this human reasonably, he could cherish him as a mate until death.

“Your Highness, I….”

The man laughed hollowly in exasperation at Yutis’s attitude.

Lebel’s attitude was equally puzzling, but his son Yutis was more puzzling.

Why was he showing such a low posture? The man had continued to oppose until Lebel came. Because the emperor’s scheme was too obvious.

Giving the duke title to put Hestro under the empire and handing over his own son as a bride?

At first, he told Edmund to take him as a concubine. But the north was monogamous.

When Edmund firmly refused, they said they would attach him to Yutis, who had no mate.

No matter how much they refused, they wouldn’t listen, so Yutis had gone as an envoy to conclude the agreement.

Of course, to refuse the proposal.

But what was this appearance now? Did he fall in love at first sight? No, that couldn’t be.

The man believed it couldn’t be, but he soon met Yutis’s eyes, which had resolved his determination.

“Dad. Please allow it. I, I will take responsibility. Anyway, isn’t the marriage mine to do?”

“Yutis….Are you serious?”

“Have I ever not been serious?”

A long silence fell. Only the sound of the watching servants swallowing saliva echoed.

At that moment, presences were felt from behind. Lebel’s head turned back, and a group arrived behind.

“Hm?

What’s this commotion?”

He could tell at once. A man as strong as Yutis. His aura was similar, and the silver hair draped like fine threads resembled Yutis’s.

He was the duke of the Hestro family and Yutis’s father. The man ran toward him as if seeing a savior and shouted.

“Edmund! Yutis is saying he’ll marry that prince now! Stop him!”

“Father, as Dad said, I have decided to marry Your Highness.”

Yutis declared his marriage to Lebel to his father, who was the head of this northern territory, Edmund.

The moment Edmund’s gaze reached Lebel, he sneezed.

With a sniff, Lebel swallowed his runny nose.

Edmund’s eyes narrowed, and Lebel’s body soon began to tremble.

“…Your Highness!”

Ah, he had been outside too long.

***

How did it end up like this?

“Edmund, I oppose it.”

“Damian, don’t be too much. Yutis wants it. Yutis, is your will firm?”

“Yes. Father.”

In this place where family members sat in a circle, the uninvited guest was only Lebel.

He held the tea in front of him without drinking it. The warm heat melted his body. He examined the two men.

Judging by gender, both were men, so the one who gave birth was called dad, and the one who passed the seed was called father.

Lebel couldn’t understand why Yutis’s parents were interfering with his marriage as an adult, but he didn’t voice it.

“I want to marry Your Highness. Your Highness is not the kind of person Father and Dad think. I am certain.”

“His impression is certainly different from what I’ve heard.”

Edmund examined Lebel. On the way here, he had heard from Yutis about the proposal – not quite a proposal – that Lebel had made.

He too was a human who harbored demonic energy in his body.

He could hear voices that ordinary people couldn’t, even from afar.

And his attitude so far. He had heard that the foolish prince suddenly could talk, but he couldn’t have imagined this attitude.

Because he harbored demonic energy, humans naturally found him repulsive. An example was that people feared facing him.

But Lebel showed no such signs. Rather, the first time he saw him, he seemed to look at him as if he was curious.

Look at him now; far from being scared, he was just relaxed.

Lebel’s expression was melting as if the blanket draped over his shoulders would slip off, even amid Damian’s fierce gaze and the ominously heavy atmosphere.

He might be different from what he thought. Edmund slowly opened his mouth toward Lebel.

“Does Your Highness truly think it’s good? Yutis is special. You’ve probably heard the rumors about us even in the empire. We know the empire calls us demons. That’s not entirely wrong.”

In fact, there was a theory that the ancestors of the Hestro family carried demon bloodline.

For it to be the extravagant words of a distant ancestor, these people with particularly thick blood experienced strange symptoms when manifesting as dominants.

He had been like that himself, and Yutis was too. Yutis was even more severe.

Lebel’s gaze reached Edmund and then turned to Yutis.

“Well, it seems okay. Hm, but it’s good to hear directly from you what situation will unfold. Tell me.”

“Your Highness, that….”

“No need to be scared. I’ll just listen.”

“Edmund, are you going to watch that?”

Damian shouted at Lebel, who was commanding Yutis.

Meanwhile, Yutis, giving up at Lebel’s words, lowered his head like a sinner and said.

“During my rut cycle…….I could hurt Your Highness. Monster, that form is right. I change into a form that’s not human.”

A form different from human. During rut cycle, the demonic energy rampages, turning into a demon form or something.

“Of course, marriage doesn’t mean we have to spend heat together. If Your Highness doesn’t want, I won’t touch you. Your Highness proposed marriage to me probably because you want to escape the imperial capital.”

“What? You knew that and….!”

Damian jumped up, and Lebel looked at Yutis with one eyebrow raised. Yutis’s thought was accurate.

Lebel had felt bone-deep during his time in the imperial capital what treatment he received from the emperor.

He didn’t know how long it would take to regain his power, and he didn’t want to face the imperial capital’s humans, so he wanted to cling to Yutis, whom he liked.

He figured it all out but still took his hand. But he wouldn’t touch him during rut? Wasn’t a dominant omega needed to suppress rut?

He thought they accepted him because there were no dominant omegas to rely on to this extent.

Or did his body look that weak?

Hm, considering the appearance he had shown so far, it wasn’t entirely unfounded.

While Lebel thought if his body looked that frail, the conversation continued.

“The one who couldn’t refuse the emperor’s proposal was me. It’s right for me to take responsibility.”

“Even if we refuse that, the north won’t fall! Right? Edmund?”

“Hm, that’s true, but.”

“If we refuse the emperor’s proposal, harm could come to the north. Since I couldn’t wrap it up well, it’s right for me to take responsibility for Your Highness.”

Ah, that side. Leaving aside rut and dominant omega, it seemed it was the emperor’s fault. They seemed to know the emperor’s scheme too. The emperor was determined to make this marriage happen no matter what.

“We should avoid war again, shouldn’t we?”

“We won’t lose to the empire. No need to worry about that.”

Hm, he was worried about war breaking out.

He thought he wasn’t worried because he heard him boldly say he’d go to war earlier.

“The emperor won’t have the courage for war.”

When Lebel spoke, the three’s gazes concentrated on him.