“Let’s eat.”

Reynard enthusiastically wrapped a napkin around Valentine’s neck, seeing his relaxed face. The way he even tied a neat bow in the back made it seem like he had seen people feeding babies somewhere.

“You’ve gotten thinner over the past week.”

With those final words, he naturally sat Valentine on his lap again and began feeding him, just as he had done before. Valentine wore a resigned expression as he watched Reynard wrap an arm around his waist and lift a spoon, as if it were only natural.

“Now, say ‘ah’.”

Reynard first scooped up some potato gratin, made with milk and cheese simmered until soft, from the meal Dawson had prepared and brought it to Valentine’s lips. The spicy scent of pepper stimulated his appetite. Valentine opened his mouth like a baby bird receiving food. Starting with the gratin, bite after bite of sole meunière baked with high-quality butter and parsley for flavor, and veal stewed in tomato sauce until tender, entered Valentine’s mouth without pause.

“I heard it’s important to eat vegetables too.”

Reynard proudly showed off the knowledge he had gained from the Grand Duke’s family doctor as he speared some green beans sautéed in olive oil with a fork.

The Grand Duke’s family doctor in Eldon.

The elderly doctor had been the most idle among the Grand Duke’s household staff until recently. People bearing the Dennox name rarely came to the capital, and they were robust people who never got sick their whole lives. Thanks to this, he had been living as a doctor in name only.

But these days he was busier than ever. This was because Reynard had been badgering him to obtain as much information as possible about pregnant omegas. To study more about pregnant omegas and relay it to Reynard, the Grand Duke’s family doctor was experiencing the busiest period of his working life.

“Is it edible?”

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad. It pains me to see you so thin.”

“I haven’t been able to eat much lately.”

“Oh dear… I really must never leave again.”

His tone of speaking as if he regretted it while knowing everything was glib.

“But I’ve received a lot of pheromones today, so I think I can hold out for more than a full day.”

Valentine spoke as if Reynard didn’t need to come tomorrow. Seeing that relieved expression, Reynard raised one eyebrow. It was a ‘You see?’ kind of look.

“We need to meet every day.”

It was a declaration driving in nails, as if saying he wouldn’t leave it be if they didn’t do so.

“Why?”

“Because I’m planning to hold the wedding as soon as possible.”

“Ah…”

Reynard watched with a relaxed smile as Valentine’s eyes widened slightly in surprise before slowly nodding.

He wiped the tomato sauce that had spread on Valentine’s mouth with a napkin.

“It would be best to have a wedding as soon as possible before your belly starts to show, right?”

“Yes…”

He still didn’t seem to have fully realized the reality since earlier. Gently soothing such a Valentine, Reynard continued speaking.

“Listen.”

A string of words close to enticement and persuasion came out, aimed at quickly satisfying his own greed. Though in reality he had used forceful means like power and money, he was persuading as if it had naturally happened by good fortune.

“Fortunately, the opportunity aligned well and almost all other preparations are finished. Let’s go get fitted for wedding clothes tomorrow.”

“Wedding clothes?”

“Yes. Madame Delacroix said everything else could be done without you, but it would be best for you to come in person for the clothes fitting.”

Reynard mentioned the name of the owner of the clothing shop Valentine usually used.

“That’s true. My size may have changed…”

“But Valentine, she said it won’t take long since we only need to fit yours.”

Reynard spoke while recalling the wedding preparation report Shane had busily written up, his eyebrows flying. As if he had personally gone around on his own two feet.

“Then what about Reynard’s clothes?”

Valentine’s head tilted in confusion.

“I plan to wear my naval uniform. It’s a family tradition. So we only need to fit yours.”

Of course, a more splendid and luxurious version was already being made at the tailor’s to replace the existing formal dress uniform, but Reynard briefly explained as if he would be wearing what he already had. The implication was “I’m working hard like this to rush our wedding.”

“We should hold the ceremony as soon as possible before your belly gets big, for your comfort. And we need to have the wedding quickly so people won’t be suspicious when the child is born. That’s what you were worried about, right?”

“That’s right…”

It was the reason the Wiche family members were going along with the rushed wedding without complaint.

A rigid society that hushed up premarital pregnancies. Valentine nodded slightly as he recalled this. It was like the cat thinking of the mouse, but the naive omega failed to notice.

“I’ve already told them in advance, so we just need to choose the specific design and fabric when we go tomorrow.”

Reynard was naturally stealing the credit of his aide, as if he had gone and conveyed it himself.

“So we’ll go out together tomorrow. I’ll come pick you up by carriage in the afternoon.”

“Alright.”

Valentine nodded and answered, feeling very relaxed and drowsy after a comfortable and filling meal for the first time in a while. Seeing this, a deep curve formed on Reynard’s lips.

Everything was going smoothly.

Everything was according to plan.

Pheromones

“What on earth is this smell?”

Dalton said with a deep frown as he entered the room after Reynard had left.

It was nearly an hour after he had departed.

Thanks to the pheromones and the large meal he had eaten, Valentine was wrapped in all kinds of satiety for the first time in a long while. He was sitting askew basking in the sunlight, half-asleep reading a philosophy book about life. But he was startled by Dalton’s words as soon as he suddenly came in.

“Oof.”

Dalton covered his nose with his hand as he walked to the center of the room.

Though he simply called it a smell, pheromones couldn’t just be a smell or scent. It was an unbearably intense pheromone that was simultaneously frightening and seemed to press down on one’s entire body. The room was filled with a chemical substance that choked like acrid smoke and seemed to stab the brain. So covering his nose didn’t mean he couldn’t sense it. It was clearly felt through the skin of his entire body.

“What? Are you alright, Dalton?”

And Valentine, breathing comfortably in the midst of that suffocating thick pheromone, asked back with a calm face. Rather, he was worried as he looked at Dalton’s deeply furrowed face.

Amidst the incomprehensible gazes of the two, Dalton’s interrogation began.

“Did that person intimidate you?”

Such a terribly threatening pheromone. Dalton thought that if he was this affected by the residual pheromones, Valentine, who had been directly exposed, couldn’t possibly be normal.

His furrowed face gradually showed anger.

Even if the proposal had been accepted, he had no intention of allowing marriage to a thug who threatened his nephew. In Dalton’s mind, the image of Valentine as a pitifully crying omega who had been intimidated and beaten had already flashed by.

Unable to even imagine or anticipate that thought, Valentine could only ask with a bewildered expression.

“Intimidate? Why on earth?”

Question marks passed over both their heads.

“Are you asking because you don’t know? If not that, then why are the pheromones like this?”

“No, really, why are the pheromones what?”

Dalton looked at Valentine closely again with an incomprehensible expression. It wasn’t the face of someone who had endured threats or unpleasantness.

Dalton suffered from a strange feeling as if he had become abnormal.

He walked quickly over to Valentine and examined him closely. He scrutinized while enduring the strong pheromones in the midst of it, but his nephew’s face was utterly innocent. This wasn’t the face of someone forcibly enduring something uncomfortable or lying. Only after carefully examining and confirming this did Dalton cautiously ask:

“…These are the Marquis of Valkyries’ pheromones, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. He released a lot before leaving so that I wouldn’t suffer.”

His nephew’s cheeks turned slightly pink as he spoke, avoiding eye contact.

Dalton barely resisted the urge to press his forehead. Just what did the two of them do in this room… He was beginning to regret having left them alone, even though they were engaged and expecting. He was even starting to consider whether they should have a tutor present when with the fiancé from now on, as other noble families do. It seemed these two needed a chaperone.

“Don’t tell me this feels good to you…?”

It was unbearably embarrassing to even discuss another alpha’s pheromones. Dalton vaguely referred to it as “this” while pointing his index finger in the air. Even at that ambiguous expression, Valentine nodded vigorously and blushed again.

“This person’s pheromones are really good, aren’t they?”

He even says they’re good. Dalton felt like he might faint.

“Are you sure? You like it?”

“Yes. I like it. From when we first met, I was attracted to his pheromones second only to his appearance. They’re really masculine. If I were an alpha, I would have wanted pheromones like this.”

No… that’s absolutely not the case… Dalton shook his head, not knowing where to begin correcting Valentine’s misunderstanding, before coming to his senses. He liked this from the beginning?

“It’s not that it feels good because you’re pregnant?”

“No. I liked it from when we first met! That hasn’t changed from then till now…”

Dalton pressed his forehead as he watched Valentine still tilting his head with an innocent face. This was clearly a problem. No! The problem was serious.

“Dawson!”

Forgetting he was in front of his pregnant nephew, Dalton shouted loudly, causing Dawson to come running in surprise.