OPDSP 13

‘He looked perfectly fine during the day, so I probably don’t need to check on him every day anymore—but I didn’t tell him that. I can’t risk losing such a valuable research subject, after all.’

‘Until the subjugation ends, Your Grace, you’re my research material.’

There were so many things Aeryl wanted to confirm using the Grand Duke’s body.

“Your Grace, it’s Aeryl.”

He knocked quietly and waited, but there was no response from within. Why not? Aeryl glanced around, suddenly uneasy. Fortunately, not even a guard was posted nearby.

“Your Grace?”

Still no answer, though the lights were on inside. A creeping sense of dread washed over him.

Is it a situation where he can’t respond?

Entering the Grand Duke’s quarters uninvited was unquestionably disrespectful—but if it was an emergency, courtesy would have to wait.

After a moment’s hesitation, Aeryl stepped inside the tent.

“Your Grace!”

There, in the center of the tent, lay the Grand Duke collapsed on the floor. It was an emergency.

But he was fine just this afternoon!

Aeryl rushed over to him. First, he carefully turned the Duke’s body and checked for consciousness by lifting his eyelids. Then he studied his complexion and checked his pulse.

His face was deathly pale, his lips completely drained of color. His skin was so cold it felt lifeless, and his pulse was faint and slow.

Like someone frozen to death…

Why was he suddenly like this? Aeryl’s mind raced. The Duke was in the prime of his life, and apart from his pheromone levels, there had been nothing unusual.

‘Now that I think of it—his pheromone levels had dropped.’

When Aeryl had checked earlier, they’d still been within the stable range. But what if they’d fallen further? Extreme deviations in pheromone levels—either too high or too low—could be dangerous. And if they were still dropping…

‘This is bad. I have to stop it. But how?’

There was no precedent for this. There were few trait-bearers to begin with, and the Grand Duke’s case was a rare anomaly. There was no reference material. Aeryl would have to rely on his own insight.

‘First, I need to increase his pheromone production. But how? Do I have any heat inducers?’

Omega-specific heat inducers did exist. They were developed to increase fertility when betas married omegas to produce alpha offspring. Aeryl personally found them disgusting and had never needed them, so he didn’t carry any.

Just let omegas go into heat naturally! What’s the point of forcing it? Alpha pheromones alone are enough to trigger it anyway—what is wrong with those people and their obsession with control? …Wait.

A sudden thought struck him.

Alpha pheromones trigger heat in omegas. And the reverse is true, too. A heat state means elevated pheromone levels. So what if…

He formed a new hypothesis: if an omega’s pheromones could arouse an alpha, it might stimulate that alpha’s pheromone production in response.

‘So I need to arouse the Grand Duke with my pheromones. Is that even possible? Is this really the right move?’

It was a daunting prospect—but also deeply fascinating.

‘This hypothesis… I have to test it!’

His hesitation didn’t last long. Aeryl shrugged off his thick coat, then stripped off his upper layers without a second thought. He unfastened the Duke’s tunic and loosened his garments. If he was going to try this, he’d need to hold the Duke close—and it would be more effective if skin touched skin, helping to raise his body temperature.

“This is a necessary medical procedure, so I ask for your understanding.”

Aeryl carefully lay down beside the Grand Duke and pulled him into his arms. Their bodies touched. He could feel the slow beat of the Duke’s heart through the cold, firm muscles.

‘Ugh. This is so embarrassing.’

Thank the stars the Duke was unconscious. Aeryl hugged him tighter and began releasing his pheromones.

He didn’t really know how to emit “seductive” pheromones. It wasn’t something he had experience with. The only thing he could do was think as many dirty thoughts as possible.

‘That erotic scroll I saw once…’

He’d been so shocked he’d thrown it across the room—but then curiosity had gotten the better of him and he’d picked it up again. He tried to recall it now, but his mind kept drifting back to something even more vivid.

‘That night was… hot…’

The memory of the Grand Duke’s breath brushing against his nape returned. It had chilled him to the bone—and yet made his body burn. Those large hands had roamed over him without permission. That desperate touch had been unbearably arousing.

The Grand Duke had craved Aeryl with his whole body. What would’ve happened if Aeryl had removed his mask and inhaled his pheromones directly?

‘I probably would’ve ended up just like him.’

Even just imagining it made his head flush with heat. Had he ever felt such intense sexual desire in his life? If he hadn’t knocked the Grand Duke out when he did, he might have been swept up in it completely.

It wasn’t hard to picture what would have happened next. Aeryl absentmindedly bit his lip.

The erotic thoughts were working. Aeryl’s pheromones shifted to a heavier, stickier scent that clung seductively to the alpha.

And in response, the Grand Duke’s body began to change. His temperature rose, and his heartbeat quickened. Color slowly returned to his face, and his lips were no longer bloodless.

It’s working!

His hypothesis had proven correct. Aeryl felt a small thrill of triumph.

‘Next time, I should test this on myself too. How do I get the Grand Duke to cooperate? Once I gather solid data…’

Embarrassment forgotten, Aeryl burned with curiosity. But he couldn’t stay lost in thought.

“Nnngh…”

The Grand Duke let out a low groan—so soft and vulnerable it was startling coming from him. He kept burrowing into Aeryl’s embrace like he was trying to crawl in. Whether his pheromones had weakened or he was simply cold, his large body curled in on itself in a way that was strangely pitiful.

‘….Sigh. Guess I better keep thinking dirty thoughts.’

Aeryl pushed the research plans to the back of his mind and tried to replace them with erotica instead. With the Grand Duke’s body pressed so closely against his, it wasn’t particularly hard.

‘How am I ever going to look him in the face again?’

It was a night of conflicting emotions, to say the least.

***

When he came to, a strange ceiling greeted him. Hiello Asirion sat up with a jolt, a sense of déjà vu creeping over him. He quickly recalled that he was out on the Great Purge—and that the night before, he’d lost consciousness late at night.

Again…

If the symptoms had been the same as before, he might’ve been able to manage it—but this time, it had been something else. A chilling sensation, like all the blood in his body was draining out, had overtaken him before he could react. And then, he collapsed. There was no doubt that something was wrong with his body.

‘This is what I get for manifesting…’

Manifesting as an alpha now meant nothing. The Grand Duke furrowed his brow slightly.

He remembered nothing after he passed out. But he did recall the sensation of someone holding and gently patting him. Since he’d given strict orders that no one was to approach his tent past midnight, it could only have been Aeryl.

‘His scent is still here.’

Aeryl’s pheromones clung to the bedding and to his skin. Even though the man himself was nowhere in sight, it felt like he was still close. It was an unfamiliar sensation—strange and new. But the Grand Duke felt no urge to push it away.

He gazed at the empty spot beside him for a moment before climbing out of bed. Aeryl seemed to have stepped out briefly; he wasn’t in the tent. It was still early, before dawn. Aeryl probably hadn’t finished his rounds yet—he’d return soon enough.

‘My body…? Heavier than usual.’

Still, his mind was clear.

‘I can still work.’

There were documents he hadn’t had a chance to review because of the collapse. He had work to do—and was in a state to do it. With that decision made, he went to the desk and resumed the paperwork he hadn’t finished yesterday.

Not long after, Aeryl returned to the tent. As the Grand Duke had predicted, he’d gone out to check the results of the blood tests.

“What are you doing?!”

Aeryl froze, eyes wide, when he saw the Grand Duke sitting at his desk.

“Wait—you’re working?!”

“Is that a problem?”

Aeryl was speechless. The man had collapsed, spent the entire night unconscious—and now he was back to work like nothing happened?

“You need to rest! You passed out, remember?!”

“I’m fine now.”

“That’s only because I worked myself half to death last night to keep you stable!”

Does he even realize what I went through because of him?!

Aeryl’s face turned bright red. Even now, he could still feel his own pheromones clinging thickly to the Grand Duke’s body. It was a scandalously indecent scent.