Seeing the mouth that had closed tightly with nothing to say, Reynard drove in the final nail.

“Besides, with our child in this belly, what do you intend to do?”

That’s right. There was the most important issue.

“Do you want to get rid of the child?”

At those terrible words asked while rubbing his belly, Valentine shook his head vigorously.

Get rid of the child…!

Though it might only be the size of a bean and not yet in human form, it was still a precious life. Moreover, Valentine, who had grown up hearing the strict doctrines of the Anglican Church that condemned abortion, had never once considered the option of terminating a fetus.

“Absolutely not…”

He answered with a deeply furrowed brow. Though the child was unintended, he had no desire to get rid of it. He just thought it was overwhelming.

Reynard once again pulled up the waist of Valentine sitting on his lap. Holding him tightly like that, he spoke calmly.

“That’s right. You wouldn’t arbitrarily get rid of the only heir to the Dennox Grand Duke’s family. If that were to happen, I’d like to tell you it would become an issue between families.”

Though his words seemed to soothe, saying you definitely wouldn’t have done that, they contained a frightening and heavy pressure. A subtle pressure saying such a thing must absolutely not happen, or even be thought of. Valentine trembled slightly, seeing the fierceness in Reynard’s eyes within his smile that was laying down the law. It was like a sweet threat.

“Where do you think an omega carrying my child can go, Valentine?”

As if the polite proposal had just been sweet formality, Reynard did not tolerate Valentine who seemed about to voice a refusal.

It was forceful.

The momentum of pushing for marriage as if it were natural, as soon as he learned of the pregnancy yesterday, was coming out again.

Seeing this, Valentine felt his long-standing rebellious nature that had refused the engagement to the 3rd Prince prickling up. Courage he didn’t know he had sprang up from his small body.

“No. Even though I’m carrying a child, I am myself, not anyone else’s.”

Though he was carrying his child in this body, the one to decide his own life was himself alone.

‘No one has the right to force my life on me.’

It was a natural right as someone who had lived in the modern era in a past life. Even his parents in this life hadn’t raised him that way. He had no intention of tolerating the alpha claiming ownership and wielding it arbitrarily, just because he was the child’s father, when even the parents who bore and raised him didn’t do so.

Though he was weak to being subtly pushed along in confusion, he had the strength to encounter forceful power. Valentine gathered his courage and spoke in a clear voice while looking straight at Reynard.

“I have a condition.”

“Give me a week to think about it.”

At these words boldly demanding a postponement while mentioning conditions, Reynard tilted his head slightly and fell into thought.

“Hmm…”

Though his expression showed he wasn’t pleased, Reynard didn’t argue separately as he looked at the omega with his quills raised.

“Marriage is one of the biggest events in a person’s life. I need time to think about it.”

The alpha stared at the omega demanding while looking straight into his eyes for a long while before answering slowly.

“…Is that enough?”

“…Yes.”

“Alright then.”

Reynard answered as he put the ring he had been holding to put on back in and snapped the box shut.

It was an unexpectedly quick agreement.

And so the ring that had failed to find its owner went back into the small darkness inside the velvet box, vainly.

‘Is he serious…?’

Valentine leaned back with an incredulous look at the unexpectedly quick consent. Of course, he was still sitting on his lap with his waist firmly held. Though leaning back only moved his head back a little, it was enough to fully look at his face.

“Really?”

Looking at the omega full of doubt, the alpha answered lightly as if it were no big deal.

“Yes. Think about it for a week.”

It was hard to believe this was the same person who had been subtly forceful in demanding marriage earlier. An unbelievably cool affirmation from someone who had been so persistent.

Was it because it was too cool? Once again, a cool and sudden farewell came out.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

Reynard gave a brief kiss to the ambiguous spot between the corner of Valentine’s lips and his cheek, then detached himself plainly. Now it had become too cool, almost cold on both sides.

He detached himself so neatly that Valentine had to feel an inexplicable regret in the brief moment Reynard lightly lifted his body sitting on his lap and set him down on the floor.

Valentine still couldn’t grasp the situation and stood blankly on the carpet. Reynard buttoned up his gaping indoor clothes neatly and gave a final greeting.

“I’ll hear your answer in a week. Take care of yourself until then.”

“……”

The gentle touch fastening his clothes to keep out the cold air soon detached neatly as well.

Valentine couldn’t come to his senses at the sudden change in attitude and quick farewell. Looking at him staring with wide eyes in a daze, Reynard gave a polite final greeting.

“Well then, until next time.”

Though formal, there was no affectionate embrace like before, no kiss on the back of the hand full of intimate affection, and no hot kiss landing on the lips.

Moreover, what was even more bewildering was that not a trace of pheromones came from the person saying farewell.

Reynard completely locked away his pheromones in front of Valentine as if he had decided to do so. Only a small amount of residual pheromones remained in the air. There were no more alpha pheromones left for Valentine to pleasantly absorb.

Watching Reynard’s back as he left, opening the door himself after giving a perfect farewell, Valentine became like a raccoon washing cotton candy. The omega, fallen into a sense of emptiness as he watched the place where he had kindly closed the door and disappeared, muttered.

“…He could have at least left lots of pheromones…”

It was already too late to speak to the empty space of the person who had completely left.

He was left alone bewilderingly. Valentine felt like his stomach was churning again as soon as his pheromones disappeared, and sat on the sofa pressing his throbbing forehead.

‘Did I do the right thing…?’

He lacked confidence in himself as it was words thrown out impulsively.

No, it wasn’t just confidence.

In fact, he had no confidence in anything about the current situation, and couldn’t even tell what his own feelings were. He didn’t know what he truly wanted, and felt like a lost child wandering. It was just a fool acting out of rebellious nature against pressure.

He had no idea how to live and what choices to make going forward.

It just felt like everyone around him was carrying him this way and that to some unknown place because of his pregnancy.

Though he wanted to decide his own destination, he felt pushed and pulled by external factors and others.

And a fool who didn’t even know that destination.

“What on earth should I do…”

He was being swept up again, losing his destination and will in front of the huge storms of pregnancy and marriage in life.

A wanderer in the storm. That was his name now.

* * *

Reynard strode out of the Wiche Viscount’s mansion. The tails of his dark gray tailcoat fluttered in the air at his momentum.

“Did the conversation go well?”

Shane asked as he watched Reynard get into the carriage.

His faithful aide had been suffering from his superior’s work today as well, and had even taken on the responsibility of the huge personal matter of a proposal, accompanying him to the Viscount’s mansion.

[When the young master has finally found a mate whose heart and pheromones match, if our family doesn’t take the initiative, who will?]

That cringe-worthy young master talk! Shane shuddered, recalling his father’s voice calling his 30-year-old superior by the creepy titles of young master or young lord.

So the reason he was struggling in the middle of his unwelcome superior’s private life was due to his father’s strict orders. The Marquis of Willgrave, a loyal ally and retainer of the Grand Duke’s family since the first generation. This was Shane’s father.

He was one of the Grand Duke’s closest confidants and one of the few people who knew the secret of Reynard’s pheromones. So it was natural that he was overly excited along with the Grand Duke upon hearing the news that he had finally found a mate.

[You must assist well by his side so that the young master absolutely doesn’t fail.]

[Pardon?]

It was natural for Shane’s face to rot away upon hearing the Marquis of Willgrave’s earnest request.

[As you know, he doesn’t know anything about omegas. If you, who’s at least dated a few times, don’t help, who will?]

Who’s helping what and how?

If my father had heard all the tales of my failed relationships so far, he wouldn’t have entrusted me with such an uncomfortable and unreasonable task…. His father’s delusion that his sons lacked nothing was amazing.

[For such things, please assign a separate secretary to the Colonel…]

[Hey now!]

Throughout his military life, he had emphasized that he was an aide helping him with work in the military, not a secretary or butler taking care of his private life. But he could clearly see how ineffective that had been from the Marquis of Willgrave’s remarks when they met recently. He was at a loss for words as his father, who wasn’t even raising a dog, silenced his son trying to protest with just a “Shhh!” sound…

This was why Shane was sitting in an uncomfortable carriage, managing the Grand Duke’s family’s servants and shuffling through documents, behind his comfortable chair at naval headquarters.

It was when he had gone to the Grand Duchy with his superior last month, under the pretext of military maintenance there.