Chapter 38
After the doctor left, Edith abandoned Clyde and came out of the reception room first. She had decided to suspend her personal errands for a while, so all she needed to do was carry out the crown prince’s official duties. There was no reason to stay glued to him twenty-four hours a day.
She was about to head anywhere just to get some fresh air when she heard footsteps chasing after her.
“Edith.”
She pretended not to hear and started down the stairs leading outside.
On the landing, a firm hand caught her elbow. Her body spun halfway around.
“What.”
“Where are you going?”
“Our external schedule is over for today, isn’t it? Doesn’t that mean it’s free time now?”
Clyde’s neat, composed eyes crumpled slightly. He looked as if he’d been caught off guard. For a moment, his lips—pressed flat—didn’t move as he stared at her intently.
Serves you right. Edith deliberately stood crookedly, trying to provoke him.
Even that wasn’t enough. If possible, she wanted to get even more revenge.
“It’s true that Edith can use her time freely, but…”
“Then could you let go of my arm?”
But their intertwined arms didn’t loosen. Since her gaze drifted away, Clyde changed positions on his own, stepping into her line of sight and bending at the waist to peer at her face.
“Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
His fingertips tapped lightly against her puffed-out cheek. The way he lowered his eyes, looking genuinely clueless, weakened her resolve.
She had planned to enter a cold war with him for a while, but even sulking wasn’t easy. When the most handsome man in the novel’s world leaned in and asked her like this, even staying silent took serious effort.
“Edith, if I did something wrong, give me a chance to apologize.”
He truly seemed flustered, studying her stubborn glare as if searching for an answer.
“Your Highness…”
“You said you’d call me Clyde.”
“…Clyde.”
His golden eyes shone brilliantly. Edith swallowed hard, trying not to be swayed.
“I’d been feeling uneasy about it for a while and was going to let it slide, but this time I couldn’t.”
“What is it?”
“If you noticed something strange about my condition, shouldn’t you have told me properly?”
Edith continued calmly.
“You hinted at it once, but it was so vague. How was I supposed to figure it out from that? You say I’m your close aide, that you favor me, but when it comes to something important about my body, you knew it alone and kept it hidden.”
“So that’s why you were upset. I’m sorry. It wasn’t that I meant to hide it—I just wasn’t certain.”
“I appreciate that you noticed my condition more accurately than I did. But whispering with the doctor behind my back wasn’t right. You should have told me.”
“You’re right. If that’s how Edith felt, then it’s all my fault.”
He apologized far too easily.
She had pressed him a bit, but she hadn’t expected him to bow his head so honestly. As crown prince, he probably rarely admitted fault to anyone. His attitude was genuinely surprising.
Instead, Edith blinked in confusion. She had expected at least a little excuse.
He could have said it was thanks to him she found out in the first place, or that he was the one who arranged the doctor, and so on. He had plenty he could argue.
But the way he acknowledged his mistake without resentment was unexpected.
“Telling my personal physician beforehand wasn’t a big deal. The main point was that Edith had never been officially diagnosed as a Beta by a doctor.”
“Ah… that part…”
Her words trailed off. In the middle of receiving an apology, she realized his consideration.
The reason she’d never gone to a doctor was to save money. With the almost nonexistent allowance she had during school, after buying notebooks and ink, she was often broke.
She had never explained that in detail to Clyde, but somehow he must have found out. If she’d been questioned in front of a whole crowd of doctors and assistants about why she hadn’t sought medical attention earlier, her pride would have been seriously hurt.
“And I told him I wanted to help trigger your Omega manifestation with my own body. If you need an Alpha, I’d like to be the one, if possible.”
He was also unnecessarily honest about that.
He didn’t hide the desire contained within his composed body. Even with only her elbow lightly held, his entire being leaned toward her with intense intent.
“But…”
“I’ll wait. You can use me.”
It meant that if she allowed it, he was ready to release Alpha pheromones at any time.
There was no way to misunderstand his request.
His piercing gaze and the heat rising from his body pressed in close. When he inhaled sharply, his straight chest expanded.
Overwhelmed by the force of it, she unconsciously stepped back.
The landing wasn’t wide—only a few steps across. With her back against the wall, cornered, she darted her eyes around helplessly, looking for somewhere to escape.
She had retreated on her own, yet Clyde hadn’t done anything. Still, her imagination ran ahead of itself and she grew frightened.
A breeze from the window brushed against her right elbow. The large window to one side was fully open, letting the bright weather into the palace.
Deep shadows fell across his face.
The side touched by light was radiant. The opposite side was dark, like a sinister villain.
With his tall nose as the boundary between two contrasting images, he whispered:
“If you dislike my rudeness…”
His voice was so full of emotion it made her ears twitch.
“…then you come to me.”
Even the hand on her elbow was released. He raised that lost hand and braced it against the corner of the wall.
His long body leaned toward her. His tightly set jaw rose higher than her forehead, and his long arms curved around her like a halo. His shadow fell darkly over her rigid, punished-looking posture.
“Edith, I released a bit of my pheromones just now. Can you feel it?”
She took a deep breath. They said pheromones could be sensed not only by smell but physically as well, yet she felt no change at all.
“Not at all.”
“Then how about touching me?”
He stayed very still, extremely close.
Close enough to touch if she reached out, yet he did nothing—only watched her. Even though she felt like she might be burned by the crackling golden fire in his eyes, he merely stared.
“Touch me.”
She was flustered. What was she supposed to do?
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
They said pheromones were temptation itself. She couldn’t feel Alpha pheromones at all, but just from how bewitched she felt, it was obvious what Clyde was trying to convey.
It wasn’t a physical change she sensed.
His behavior and the atmosphere around him were enough to shake her.
The idea that she could touch him was tempting. A very tempting offer.
To be able to touch his smooth nose bridge and deep-set eyes. If she could feel pheromones through touch, great. If not, that was fine too. She could have contact with Clyde without owing him emotionally.
But would that really be okay?
A hesitation lingered.
Could she use pheromones as an excuse to touch him?
“Edith, it’s fine. This is for treatment.”
As if he had read her thoughts, he murmured softly, giving voice to the excuse she wanted.
“Then…”
She answered casually, pretending to be unfazed, and raised her hand.
But her body couldn’t lie.
Her pale hand trembled violently.
He saw it all—her chest rising quickly with her breath, her tense fingertips hovering uncertainly.
At last, she lifted her hand higher and grasped his collar. Just grabbing his clothes wouldn’t help much, but somehow it felt different.
Was the heat rising at the back of her neck because of pheromones? Or because of Clyde’s dense, inescapable presence pulling her in like quicksand?
Her fingertips moved higher.
She gently traced the sharp line of his jaw with her knuckles.
His golden eyes flashed as if he might devour her.
“More.”
As if enchanted, Edith cupped his cheek, lightly sliding her index finger along the bridge of his nose.
From afar he looked like a sculpture, but touching him revealed the difference.
This sculpture had warmth.
When she placed her palm on his warm neck, she felt his pulse pounding fast.
She brushed her thumb over his slightly parted lips.
His full lips moved, opening a little wider as if inviting her in.
Overcome by impulse, she pressed down on his lower lip.
“More.”
The sensation she’d been indulging in startled her, jumping violently—she was too tense.
She passed over his moist mouth and stroked his nostrils. She slid her finger into the hollow at the inner corner of his eye; he forgot even to blink.
She felt captured by his unmoving gaze.
Carefully, she traced the skin beneath his eye. Then an absurd thought crossed her mind—if she touched his eyeball, would he not even flinch?
He seemed so ready to surrender himself that she briefly wondered.
But she didn’t try. When she brushed his eyebrows upward one by one, his razor-sharp gaze threw her heart into chaos.
When she finally calmed her drifting emotions and lowered her hand, he looked at her with yellow eyes gleaming like a beast targeting prey larger than her fingers.
Clyde clenched the hand braced against the wall so tightly it made a sound.
“Ha… damn.”
“Why?”
“I messed up. I let out too many pheromones at once. How about you, Edith?”
That dizzy feeling of standing on a cliff’s edge—was it because of the pheromones, this illusion that Clyde was the only person in the world?
“I’m not sure.”
“Then you still can’t feel it. I can clearly smell your Omega scent, though.”
“My scent?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed along the line of his long neck. The way he swallowed made his voice sound strangely heated.
“It’s incredibly… sweet. And tempting.”
After enduring it, holding back, he finally lowered his head.
“So much that I can’t stand it. So much I can’t control myself.”
A deep shadow filled her vision. The sunlight leaking in behind him was sharp, almost stabbing.
He didn’t embrace her, but the heat of his body pressed close. Just standing face to face like this, she could clearly feel how aroused he was.
Was she the same?
Even if she tried to hide her trembling wrists, would it matter?
