DSB 67

Mark swallowed his saliva. Yutis had grown sensitive enough to bristle just from another Alpha hovering near his Omega in heat, let alone seeing Mark nearly lose control to temptation.

“I, I would never touch Young Madam! I only meant to check his condition…”

“If Lord Lebel embraces him, he will get better.”

When Illa suddenly joined the conversation, Mark flinched in shock.

“Priest Illa! You know what happens to a body after heat, after what Lord Lebel went through!”

Mark recalled Lebel’s body torn to shreds after Yutis’s last rut.

“He won’t do it.”

“……”

“Once was enough to regret. He’s holding onto reason now.”

Illa looked at Yutis with a calm face. He was certain.

By human measure, it required an impossible amount of pheromones, but by the standards of demons, it was only natural. The body couldn’t contain all that demonic energy, but his soul craved his mate’s demonic energy and pheromones.

As proof, though the fever hadn’t fallen completely, he was no longer delirious. His state improved and he could still hold a conversation.

Of course, no one could call this state good.

“I don’t know why outsiders keep telling me what to do. You mean to tell me to take my wife who can’t even stay conscious and is on the brink of dead?”

“If sharing pheromones no longer works, shouldn’t you do the last thing left? And I’ve heard Lord Lebel already agreed to go through his heat with you, Young Master.”

“I don’t think that’s something I should hear from you.”

“…That was out of line.”

Faced with Yutis’s cold gaze, Illa bowed his head.

“Of all times, it had to be during a snowstorm…”

Yutis clenched his teeth. The fierce snowstorm made it impossible to go fetch another suppressant. They were trapped inside the northern castle with no way to move.

And he couldn’t possibly leave an omega in heat alone. Mark had nearly blacked out just from the scent of the dominant omega in heat. What would it do to the others?

Even without that, Yutis couldn’t separate himself from Lebel’s side. The sound of Lebel’s voice telling him to stay close still echoed in his ear.

Then a small voice reached Yutis’s ear.

He had been listening more closely than anyone to Lebel’s condition, and when he heard that call from inside the room, he went straight to the door and entered.

“…What’s taking you so long to talk?”

Lebel spoke while gasping for breath, his face red.

“It was not much of a talk.”

“It was not? Then what did you hear to make your forehead wrinkle like that?”

“Please lie still.”

“Hah, with a face like this, I can’t exactly tell you I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

Yutis knew how much pain he was in, and he couldn’t stand himself for being unable to do anything.

Lebel tried to open his eyes and raise his body, but he lacked strength and fell on his side. Yutis rushed and held him up.

Lebel inwardly clicked his tongue. He had always trembled from cold, but he had never imagined a day would come when he trembled because his body burned too hot.

“Is an omega’s heat always like this? Yours wasn’t this bad.”

Lebel’s head moved slowly as he tried to recall Yutis’s own rut. Yutis had been in pain then too, even though it was a different kind of pain.

“It seems to be because it’s your first heat. If you rest enough, you’ll recover.”

“You endured it that day. I can’t stand it at all…”

Lebel reached out and grabbed Yutis’s clothes. His body instinctively knew the way to cool this fever.

But no matter how many times he begged, the man before him coldly refused.

It was fortunate that his frail body couldn’t follow his instincts, or he might have devoured the man in front of him. Yutis’s shoulders trembled as Lebel’s pheromones grew thicker. Lebel licked his lips and looked down at him.

He could tell Yutis was reacting to his pheromones, yet he never crossed the line. He would come running whenever Lebel called, but never gave what Lebel really wanted.

“My wife, you mustn’t.”

“Wouldn’t it get better if I did it with you?”

You said that too.

“How could you do anything like this in that state?”

“You made a promise with me.”

“…You cannot handle me in that state.”

“I can… tch.”

The heat clouded his mind. His body released demonic energy together with pheromones without restraint, and his condition only grew worse without end.

“My wife, come here.”

Lebel pouted and leaned into Yutis’s arms. He didn’t give him what he really wanted, but the embrace was comfortable. The warmth that always came from that body had cooled from the time he had spent outside, but the chill felt pleasant. Lebel rubbed his cheek against Yutis’s chest and spoke.

“…I was secretly expecting something.”

“It still cannot be done.”

Yutis held Lebel close. Lebel snuggled up to Yutis to fill the shortage of demonic energy. His pheromones and his energy both lacked, and he greedily absorbed Yutis’s.

Maybe because of that, Yutis’s face was starting to darken. Lebel examined him.

“Alright, I see. If this keeps up, you’ll collapse too. I won’t call you, so go away.”

Yutis shook his head and gripped Lebel’s hand.

“No. I must stay beside you.”

“You’ll stay beside me but won’t touch me?”

If something desirable sits before your eyes, you want to keep taking it. Doesn’t he know that?

Lebel watched Yutis’s face and kissed his cheek. Yutis’s body jumped high enough that his pheromones leaked. Lebel laughed as he saw Yutis’s widened eyes.

So he reacts, then.

Lebel could see the hunger burning behind those eyes. That was why he couldn’t stop teasing him. With his desire swelling so large, why didn’t it overwhelm him?

He said it was for Lebel’s sake, but wasn’t Lebel the one asking for it?

“Can’t you just hold me? I want you.”

“…No.”

The answer was not what Lebel expected, and the corners of his mouth drooped.

He had even kissed him, and Yutis still rejected him? He was so dizzy from the fever, but he also was upset and angry because Yutis didn’t give him what he wanted.

His lower stomach trembled and burned. He desperately wanted to relieve this heat. A normal human wouldn’t be able to endure it. They’d push past anyone in front of them and s earch for anyone who radiates pheromones.

But he didn’t want anyone else but the man in front of him. Apparently, even he had refined taste. Nothing outside appealed to him.

To be exact, the only person who stirred Lebel’s appetite and whom he wanted to tangle bodies with was Yutis.

If you say you love me, shouldn’t you give me what I ask for?

Then an idea came to Lebel. He didn’t mean to upset Yutis, but after being refused again and again, his chest tightened with irritation.

“Fine then. If you don’t want to, forget it. I’ll go find someone else.”

Lebel pushed Yutis away and tried to rise, but his legs gave out before a single step, and he collapsed again.

Tch, can’t even move your body right?

“With that body, where could you possibly go?!”

Yutis shouted in alarm at Lebel’s words, but even while raising his voice, he bent down to check that Lebel’s knees hadn’t hit the floor.

Lebel saw the scarred scratches on Yutis’s palm.

“You can’t satisfy me, so I’ll go to someone else.”

Yutis couldn’t bring himself to hold Lebel’s body too hard, and instead he only crumpled the bed sheets in his grip. Even now, the castle was full of Alphas, and Lebel was talking about going out there.

He had filled the place with Alphas who could endure his own rut, and that had become the problem. At the time, he had thought it was the best choice. He hadn’t imagined he would regret it like this.

“My wife, how long do you mean to provoke me?”

“Oh, so I’m doing well, then.”

Yutis let out a heavy sigh from deep in his gut and rubbed his face with his hand.

Lebel’s red eyes sparkled. After coming to his senses, he had tried to seduce Yutis again and again with no success, but this time it seemed to work.

You pretend to be gentle, but did you really think I wouldn’t know that you’re filled with lust inside?

“If you knew how much restraint it takes me…”

“Who told you to restrain yourself? I told you to do it. I said I’m fine.”

The sound of Yutis gritting his teeth echoed. He had told Mahan and Illa that he could endure, but truthfully, he was already on the edge.

The sweet scent that circled his nose repeatedly blurred his mind.

If not for the rut he had already shared with Lebel, he would have attacked him like a beast. But he couldn’t. That memory was still vivid.

The disaster that had come from taking what he wanted too much.

“Husband, the floor is cold. Will you still not hold me?”

Lebel had no idea why Yutis was so troubled. So, he spread his arms and spoke to Yutis in a coquettish manner. It was almost as if Yutis had been forced to embrace Lebel.

Lebel’s soft laugh drifted into Yutis’s ear. His earlobes turned red. Lebel looked at the reddened earlobe and bit it. Yutis turned his head in shock. His face was as red as his earlobe.