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Chapter 10
Leian bit his lip hard and quietly took the glass. Amused by his deathly expression, Edward twisted his lips.
“You don’t have to make a face like you hate it that much.”
“It’s not that…”
Leian mumbled at his lips as if he had more to say, then raised the glass and wet his throat. Not wanting to hear any more of his excuses, Edward rose to his feet.
“Let’s go to the bathroom.”
Thinking it would be nearly ready by now, Edward strode toward the bathroom.
The bathroom attached to the private bedroom was not very large, and the bathtub was comparatively modest in size. Sure enough, the bathwater was already nearly full.
“That’s enough, you can leave now.”
Edward sent out the servant who had been preparing the bathwater, then readily took off his nightclothes. Leian, who had followed in cautiously, was startled and turned his body away.
“You’re going to take your clothes off and get in?”
“Then would I get into the bathwater with my clothes on? Of course you have to take them off so the pheromone can seep in.” Edward stripped off his clothes without a care and sank his body into the bathtub. Only after hearing the sound of water did Leian slowly turn around.
“You only have the one gown, so just come in wearing it. I’ll take it off for you.” Not quite willing to show himself naked, Leian obediently stepped into the bathtub still wearing his gown.
The red silk instantly drank in the water and clung tight to Leian’s skin. Beneath the thin fabric, his white skin showed through, faintly and suggestively.
Somehow, that state of being half-seen and half-hidden felt more sensual than if he had been completely naked.
“It’s a bit narrow.”
The bathtub was made for one person, so it was cramped for two grown men to get in. Leian, wanting as little contact with Edward as possible, curled his body round like a pill bug.
“Come closer.”
Edward rested his arm on the bathtub and propped his chin on the back of his hand. Leian cautiously stretched out the legs he had been hugging between Edward’s legs.
“Come even closer!”
“How close?”
Did he really have to ask that to know? Edward let out a deep sigh at the frustration of it.
“I’ll handle it, so you just stay in that position.” Edward lifted his back from where he had been leaning against the bathtub and grabbed Leian’s waist, pulling him toward himself. Leian’s folded knees rose up over Edward’s thighs.
Startled, Leian hurriedly gripped the bathtub and braced himself with all his strength. At a distance so close their noses might touch, Edward laid his hand on Leian’s back.
“It has to be at least this close.”
Whether from the hot water or not, Leian’s cheeks were flushed red. Seeing his scrunched-up expression, Edward felt something warm stir in his belly, for some reason.
Without realizing it, strength gathered in his lower body and heat rose hotly through him.
“Ngh…”
Because Edward was emitting his pheromone, Leian unconsciously clutched at his own nose and narrowed his brow.
“Don’t try to resist it, just take it in. That’s what we’re going through all this trouble for.”
“I’m a bit dizzy. I feel like the strength is draining from my body… Is this normal?” He seemed aroused by the alpha’s pheromone. It was a natural reaction, yet Leian floundered, not knowing what to do with himself. He found it hard even to hold back his arousal, his hands trembling.
Edward slowly raised his hand and took hold of the gown hanging precariously on Leian’s shoulder, pulling it down.
His gaunt chest rose and fell rapidly. Leian, steadying his rough breathing, gazed at Edward with hazily unfocused pupils.
A stinging sensation swept past, as if sparks were flying. Before long, Edward’s pheromone seeped into the other through the skin pressed against his. He could feel warm heat even through his own skin.
“Suddenly… it smells like roses from somewhere. My body is hot, hot.”
Leian’s eyes went wide with surprise at the floral scent suddenly tickling the tip of his nose. He claimed never to have been with anyone, and it seemed this was his first time receiving an alpha’s pheromone scent as well.
“It’s a natural reaction, so bear it.”
“Uh-huh, but…”
Leian, gripping the bathtub hard, squirmed his hips anxiously.
Amused by the sight of Leian melting from just this much pheromone, Edward let out a small laugh. At this rate, he hardly seemed any different from a whore spreading her legs on her own.
“You’re weak to pheromones, being a recessive omega.” It was surprising enough that no omega pheromone scent came from him even though he was this aroused.
“I, huh, I’m having a hard time….”
Leian’s eyelids sank heavily, and at the same time his body went limp. Before long, his strength gave out completely and Leian slowly went slack.
Leian bowed his head deep and plopped his cheek onto Edward’s shoulder. He was entirely in Edward’s arms.
Edward carefully swept upward the palm he had laid on Leian’s back. His flawless, fine skin felt as smooth as expensive silk.
Through their pressed-together chests came the busy thumping of his heartbeat. As if he were a chick, even that heartbeat was terribly frail.
“…Leian.”
Leian did not stir at all, as if he had truly fainted. Edward felt a sudden impulse to rummage through his most tender flesh.
He wanted to touch the private parts no one had ever seen and watch his white face twist in pain. A selfish and violent sadism welled up, unbelievable, like a thoughtless child snapping a slender flower stem.
“Tsk.”
Edward clicked his tongue briefly. It was absurd that someone who couldn’t even endure this much would brazenly claim he could have sex with him.
Still, this confirmed one fact. Edward felt nothing at all even when he was close against Leian.
There was no pheromone scent from him at all, even without deliberately coating him in his own pheromone.
“Ha, honestly…”
Edward let out a long sigh mixed with self-mockery. It was all so absurd and funny, afresh.
Until just a short while ago, they had lived so far apart they barely knew of each other’s existence, and now suddenly here they were, clinging to each other in one bathtub.
Then he abruptly furrowed his brow. It was because he belatedly realized he had to move Leian, who had fallen asleep as if fainting, to the bed.
“How tiresome.”
Edward muttered the complaint softly to himself and, with no other choice, wrapped his arms around Leian’s back and rose. He roughly stripped off the wet gown and threw it onto the bathroom floor. His body temperature quickly cooled in the cold air, and goosebumps rose.
Leian’s sleeping body kept slipping limply downward. No matter how firmly Edward tried to hold him, their wet skin kept sliding.
“What a handful.”
Edward draped a towel over Leian’s back and muttered irritably as he headed for the bedroom. He roughly dried his soaking wet body and tossed him onto the bed as if throwing him down.
Leian lay fast asleep with his eyes closed, as if he had never been aroused at all. His bright gray-brown eyelashes, damp with water, drooped limply.
It seemed penetration would be difficult until he grew used to his pheromone. How could someone who struggled this much from merely touching the scent take a body into himself?
It would be troublesome if he pushed too hard and broke him before he even got pregnant. If it wasn’t Leian, he didn’t want to mix flesh with any other omega.
Climbing onto the bed and settling beside Leian, Edward suddenly found the whole sequence of events so funny that he laughed softly.
Come to think of it, this was Leian’s first night at the palace, and here he was spending it passed out like this.
“He really is a funny one.”
He still couldn’t be sure whether making the contract with him had been the right decision. But at least, the thought suddenly came to him, it wouldn’t be boring.
The problem was that it wouldn’t necessarily work out only for the good. The contract was already written, and now there was truly no taking it back. Unofficially, they had become people who had spent their first night together.
Edward gazed at Leian’s face for a while, then reached out his hand. As he swept back the hair clinging wet to his face, Leian smiled faintly. The faint remaining heat seethed below his navel.
Edward deliberately turned away from that ticklish sensation, pretending not to know it.
The quiet night was still long, and Edward’s head was noisily in turmoil.
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