Chapter 7
Edith made plans to meet Adrian, using a small connection as her excuse.
First, she sent a letter expressing her wish to visit his residence. Since they were academy alumni who had each gained a certain degree of fame, it seemed like a sufficient pretext to show her face. Fortunately, a reply arrived quickly.
But the moment she tore open the thin envelope and unfolded Adrian’s stationery, the paper began to glow on its own, letters floating up into view.
It was the original novel—appearing clearly before her eyes in neatly written Korean.
[In a world where Alphas and Omegas exist, there are two ways to have a child.]
It was the passage explaining the Omegaverse setting.
She had no idea why this was suddenly fluttering before her eyes.
The text continued.
[First, by using one’s secondary gender. If one receives an Alpha’s seed, an Omega or a Beta can become pregnant regardless of biological sex.]
[Second, by using biological sex. Even between Omegas, if they are male and female, the woman can conceive by receiving the man’s sperm.]
It was obvious, common-sense information.
Because Alphas and Omegas were few in number, if they failed to find marriage partners, they would inevitably be weeded out. Thus, pregnancy was possible through secondary gender, but just like in the real world, children could also be conceived through biological sex.
In a society where Betas made up 70–80% of the total population, the practical way to form a family was almost always through the union of a man and a woman.
Why show me something I already know?
It was frightening for no reason at all.
As the light faded, Adrian’s reply appeared on the paper—polite yet warmly welcoming. He wrote that he wanted to meet as soon as possible and that he was even free later today.
While changing into her outdoor clothes, Edith couldn’t calm her restless heart.
She kept pondering why she had been shown the Omegaverse setting passage right before going to meet Adrian, the novel’s main omega lead.
The Raymond Count’s estate, where Adrian lived, was far grander and more beautifully decorated than Edith’s home. Though his title was lower than her family’s, his financial standing was solid.
She didn’t need to seek out rumors about his success in the lucrative manufacturing industry; the surrounding chatter was so loud and incessant that it reached her ears naturally.
As she stepped into the lavish reception room, she encountered Adrian to the sound of cheerful piano music.
But he wasn’t alone.
Several Alphas surrounded him, gazing at him endlessly like sunflowers facing the sun, desperate to catch his attention.
It was a familiar composition and atmosphere. At the academy, scenes focused on Adrian were always like this.
The protagonist sat in the middle of a long bench, flanked on both sides by handsome young men. Other Alphas dragged single chairs closer, crowding around him.
So many Alphas clustered around Adrian that even the table beside them looked awkwardly in the way.
Since it was a BL genre, everyone courting him was male—and all of them were at least decent-looking.
Edith bent her knees and greeted him politely.
“Long time no see, Lord Raymond. Have you been well?”
The sunflower-like Alphas shot her displeased looks, as though a new rival had appeared.
Of course, Edith knew she wasn’t their competitor. Since the top Alpha, Clyde, was already destined as Adrian’s mate, she wanted to advise these pointlessly hostile Alphas to conserve their energy and go look for other Omegas.
Smiling brightly on the surface, Edith focused on Adrian, who had invited her.
With his long, shimmering violet hair neatly tied back, he looked just as pure and beautiful as he had at the academy.
His slender, elegant neckline—reminiscent of a single iris—was especially striking.
The moment he saw her, his face lit up. His delicate features were pale and refined.
His not-too-dark lips formed soft shapes as they moved, and a pleasant voice that slipped easily into the ears spilled out.
“Edith, that’s too much. Why call me ‘Lord Raymond’ like we’re strangers?”
It was an enthusiastic welcome, considering they had barely ever managed a proper conversation during their school days.
When he rose lightly from his seat, the Alphas surrounding him scattered like falling petals.
She was grateful for the welcome, but his sudden familiarity made things awkward instead. Edith couldn’t step closer and lingered at a distance in the reception room.
“Adrian…”
After his father passed away, he had left the academy with only his final semester remaining. Now, he stood as the head of the Raymond household.
These days, he was probably called Lord Raymond more often, yet with her alone, he was especially warm.
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard you say my full name. Since we’re friends, will you call me Arti?”
The corners of his eyes curved softly like a crescent moon, pretty enough to tickle the heart of anyone looking at him. It was the first time she had seen his smiling eyes up close, and her heart thumped for no reason.
But Adrian was merely expressing the sort of goodwill a classmate might show.
From what she had heard of his character, he was a warm-hearted person. When he encountered someone who seemed pitiful, he couldn’t just pass them by and would always help. He also had trouble refusing requests, often getting swept into unexpected situations.
Still, because he received attention from so many people, he seemed to have learned how to distinguish between those who genuinely needed help and those who were merely pestering him. As a result, he managed to escape dirty schemes surprisingly easily.
Thanks to that, he had preserved his pure sensibility and was a fantastic Omega—more than worthy of being the main lead.
Edith murmured softly, “Arti…”
His sky-colored eyes narrowed just a fraction.
She thought that if he smiled like this, women all over the world would drop dead—then reminded herself that this wasn’t reality. In this world, it wasn’t rare for male Omegas to be more beautiful than women.
Even among them, Adrian’s delicate beauty was overwhelming, stirring a protective instinct even in Edith.
His slender body carried him closer, thin legs closing the distance between them.
Edith stood frozen, as if her feet were glued to the ground.
“I didn’t know you had a gathering. Maybe I should have chosen another day.”
At that moment, she understood why those Alphas followed him so devotedly.
“No, we were just about to break up anyway. Shall we move somewhere else?”
After exchanging courteous but clearly bounded farewells with the others, he led the way outside.
Compared to Edith’s large but bleak and echoing home, this place felt cozier—slightly smaller but charming, befitting a count’s household. Passing through the central corridor, they arrived at a terrace shaded by a canopy in the latest style. The view opening onto the inner courtyard was refined enough to rival the palace gardens.
“I was really surprised when I got your letter, Edith.”
He addressed the awkwardness of her reaching out right away.
Edith decided to be blunt about how distant they actually were.
“It was a bit sudden, wasn’t it?”
Yet Adrian seemed oddly excited. As he gestured for her to sit beneath the canopy, his hand lingered on the chair back for a long time. Even after she sat down, he remained standing.
“To be honest, I thought you disliked me.”
Adrian’s light beige coat moved back and forth beside her seated figure.
It felt awkward to look up at him.
She was nervous and uncomfortable.
The voice that had sounded distant crept closer.
Perhaps because she was so tense, she noticed him bending at the waist, bringing his lips near her ear.
“It was hard to approach you… so when you said you wanted to meet like this, I think I was the only one feeling hurt.”
“Disliked you?”
There hadn’t been any real point of contact that would justify that.
“Ah… I guess you don’t remember…”
A hint of disappointment colored his offhand sigh.
She had never expected Adrian—who lived constantly in the spotlight—to show this side of himself.
He was always surrounded by friends eager to give everything for him, or Alphas confessing their love. There had been no opening for Edith to approach him—and she hadn’t intended to anyway.
She had assumed he remembered her only as a fellow academy student, but now that they were talking, the feeling was very different.
That said, Adrian wasn’t clinging to her or making her uncomfortable. His actions and tone never crossed the line of simple kindness.
It would be troublesome to misunderstand him as approaching her romantically. Edith had seen countless Alphas around him indulging in delusions of that sort.
“We even took The History of the Lagrande Empire together. And in our first and second years, we shared even more classes.”
“Uh… right.”
He even remembered the courses.
That was unexpected. So she wasn’t the only one paying attention.
“Do you remember when I once sat next to you in class?”
Edith quietly shook her head. In truth, she remembered—it had been an uncomfortable experience.
They sat at long desks meant for several people, and Adrian had suddenly come and sat beside her. Having a self-luminous, stunning Omega less than a step away had been unbearably distracting.
Feigning ignorance, she subtly turned her gaze toward him.
She immediately met his blue eyes staring straight at her.
“I kept thinking about how to start a conversation with you. I worked up my courage and sat next to you on purpose, but you went to the restroom.”
Once their gazes tangled, she couldn’t look away.
Trying to gauge the mood discreetly, she’d walked straight into his snare.
“Did I…?”
Outwardly, she played dumb.
“When you came back, you changed seats. You sat right at the front—the seat no one ever takes, the one so close the professor’s spit practically flies.”
She hoped her act of tilting her head and searching her memory didn’t look too awkward.
He looked embarrassed, like a boy who’d been turned down.
“So after that, I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge you anymore.”
It was hard to push away this unexpected friendliness.
Having just insisted that she hadn’t avoided him before, it was even harder to keep emotional distance now—especially since she had come here of her own accord today.
“I really don’t remember. If I did that, I’m sorry. It was probably just a coincidence.”
“Guess I was the only one paying attention,” Adrian said, rubbing behind his ear sheepishly. “I tried a few more times to talk to you, but I failed every time…”
He went on to recount those unsuccessful moments.
The time they crossed paths at the school festival and passed each other without incident.
The moment he appeared in a quiet library aisle just as she finished choosing her books.
She was surprised by how many details he remembered.
It was true that Edith had done her best to avoid the main omega, but she couldn’t recall all the memories he mentioned. Adrian remembered her far more than she remembered him.
Perhaps it was due to his thoughtful, attentive nature. The fact that only one of them held onto these shared pasts quietly touched her heart.
