CHAPTER 08…………………………………….
I carefully opened my mouth.
“…Y-yes. He left just a moment ago.”
Even speaking felt difficult, and I gasped for breath.
At Cassius’s gesture, the knights waiting nearby rushed over and knelt.
“Escort the Grand Duke—but make sure he fully understands the discourtesy he has shown by disrupting the Grand Assembly.”
“Understood!”
The knights receiving the Holy One’s order quickly headed in the direction the Grand Duke had gone.
Only Cassius and I remained in the wide garden.
I found it strangely hard to breathe and panted lightly.
Cassius, gazing steadily at me, finally spoke.
“My apologies. I became… displeased by another Alpha’s scent lingering on you. I had no intention of attacking you.”
So he had used his holy power. The moment he explained, my breathing returned to normal.
Cassius brushed my cheek lightly with his thumb.
It was the same spot where Schwarz’s fingers had grazed me when he removed the cookie crumbs.
“You must have been frightened. I will never again let an Omega like you be alone with an Alpha.”
“…Sorry? No, I’m telling you, I’m not an Omega.”
Just a peculiar Beta who happened to smell like one.
“You reacted to my pheromones earlier.”
I blinked several times, startled.
“That scent like rain?”
“Correct.”
So that refreshing, rain-like scent had been his pheromones?
Not his holy power?
Impossible.
I was a Beta—I shouldn’t be able to smell pheromones used by Alphas or Omegas. Even Lancelot, who carried an Omega-like scent, never reacted to Alpha pheromones.
That refreshing watery smell must have been Cassius’s water-attribute holy power.
It had to be.
He slowly looked me over.
But no matter how much he checked, he wouldn’t find anything on the surface showing I was an Omega.
To know for sure, he would need to have an Omega share a bed with him.
Cassius stepped close.
Excuse me? Too close. I have no immunity to handsome men.
His beautiful face suddenly filled my entire field of view, and for a completely different reason my heart lurched—I stumbled backward.
“Ah!”
My heel caught on the leg of the long bench, and I slipped.
Cassius grabbed my waist, pulling me into his arms.
A scent different from the cool raindrop smell drifted from him—his natural body scent.
Unlike the sharp watery smell, it was gentle.
I unknowingly took a deep breath, drawn in by the pleasant, cool fragrance.
Cassius tightened the arm around my waist.
“With such a lovely scent… and you claim you’re not an Omega?”
Lancelot, despite having been entangled with three Dominant Alphas, had merely smelled like an Omega. He wasn’t a real one.
“No matter how many times I say it, I’m a Beta. I’ve never had Omega manifestation fever.”
He guided me to sit on the bench and sat beside me.
“You are definitely an Omega, Sonia.”
He’s really out here saying dangerous things.
Lancelot nearly rolled through hell simply because he smelled like an Omega.
But I? A real Omega? The obsession of Dominant Alphas would be even worse.
The very thought was horrifying.
“That’s impossible.”
“Then shall we check? And see which of us is correct.”
My entire body froze.
Check? How? In what way?
I didn’t want to think about it, but I already knew.
The method the Dominant Alphas used in Predators’ Territory: sharing a bed with an Alpha.
I was terrified of Cassius, but the idea of running didn’t even occur to me.
What good was rare healing holy power? At his gesture alone I’d be trapped in a sphere of water like a fly.
“I will use pheromones. Not holy power.”
Instead of stripping—much to my relief—he seemed intent on a different method.
Still holding me firmly so I couldn’t escape, he did something. I couldn’t tell exactly what, but suddenly it felt as if I were standing in the middle of a torrential downpour.
Swoooosh—
I heard the phantom sound of rain, though not a single drop touched me. A ticklish sensation stirred deep in my chest.
My body reacted instinctively to the scent of rain, pulling me toward him. And then I heard his voice.
Calming whispers brushed my ears, yet Cassius’s lips remained closed.
Puzzled, I frowned. Then he spoke.
“I’ll use it a bit stronger.”
Then it wasn’t a rain shower—it felt like a massive tidal wave crashed over me.
The watery scent thickened far beyond rain. Yet my clothes remained bone dry. So it truly wasn’t holy power—it was pheromones, just as he’d said.
“…Ah!”
Only then did I understand what he was doing.
A pheromone bath—when an Alpha or Omega drenches the other in their pheromones so their scent lingers.
My body responded to Cassius’s Alpha pheromones.
My heart pounded wildly, breath quickening.
Heat surged into my face, and from somewhere near my neck, I felt a strange force stirring that was not holy power.
If I stayed exposed to his pheromones, something new inside me would awaken.
Panicking, I struggled and tore myself free from his arms.
“Um… I-I’m going now!”
I fled and ran straight to my room.
Leaning against the door, I slid down to the floor, pulling my knees close as my heart thrashed like crazy, refusing to calm.
As I focused on myself, a faint lily-of-the-valley fragrance drifted from my skin.
Omega pheromones smelled like lilies of the valley.
“What is this…”
I hadn’t worn perfume.
And my body had clearly reacted to Cassius’s pheromones.
There was no denying it anymore—I really was an Omega.
Shock after shock.
I’d thought I was simply a peculiar Beta with an Omega-like scent.
But it turned out I was the real thing!
What the hell—how did this even happen?
I couldn’t begin to guess when or how I’d manifested as an Omega.
Whatever the case, the fact that I was even alive was practically a miracle.
I had survived the Omega fever—known for its 100% fatality rate.
And I had a guess as to why.
“Becoming a priest… must be the reason.”
I possessed healing-attribute holy power—one of the rarest kinds.
Healing holy power not only cures others but rapidly recovers even minor ailments in the user.
The early symptoms of Omega fever—the lingering heat—were probably smothered quickly.
The manifestation fever, too.
Come to think of it… Sonia in the original novel was always sickly.
She coughed every time she appeared.
Because she never became a priest, her holy power never bloomed, leaving her frail and prone to illness.
I suddenly felt relieved I chose the priesthood.
Thanks to inheriting my knight father’s blood, my body was strong and healthy now.
“…Wait. Is that even a good thing?”
Weak people rarely manifest as Omegas or Alphas—the body can’t withstand the transformation.
So if I hadn’t become a priest and remained a noble lady, I never would have become an Omega.
I didn’t know anymore.
Which was worse?
Remaining weak and getting killed by Alphas targeting Lancelot…
or staying healthy but becoming an Omega targeted by terrifying Alphas?
My head grew muddled, and I collapsed onto the bed.
This was completely unexpected.
I thought about it the entire night, but found no answer.
Becoming the only Omega in this world was a secret far too big to shoulder alone.
Healing holy power felt like nothing compared to this.
A greater secret now lay within me.
After agonizing all night, I finally passed out near sunrise.
“SONIA! Sonia—!”
“Huh…? Mmm?”
“Wake up! Morning prayer time passed ages ago!”
I jolted upright. The sun outside the window already hung high overhead.
It was already noon.
I’d stayed awake all night and overslept.
I’d never done this before. It showed just how shocking it was to discover I was the sole surviving Omega.
I’d thought and thought, but still no answer.
I still couldn’t believe it.
Haah… What do I do now?
I needed more time.
“I’ll clean the bell tower today.”
The bell tower was the best place to think alone. Ellie, who hated cleaning, agreed readily, and I slowly climbed the tower.
What should I do…
As I walked up the stairs, I mulled over the future.
Lancelot suffered endlessly simply for having an Omega-like scent.
And I was a real Omega. I dreaded even imagining what awaited me.
Before long, I reached the maintenance room.
“Sigh…”
I unlatched the window and opened it. I really loved the view here, but today it brought no comfort to my tangled thoughts.
I sat in the chair by the window and stared blankly outside.
The crisp scenery of the Holy Nation spread out before me, and for a moment I wished I could simply fly away between those distant clouds.
Would that give me peace?
After staring into space for a long while, I muttered under my breath:
“…Should I just quit everything.”
First step: submit my resignation. Then take Lancelot and run, using travel as an excuse, hiding somewhere as far from the capital as possible.
Lancelot wouldn’t follow easily, but I felt cornered enough to want to do something—anything.
Yes, I would run away.
Just as I reached that decision—
“Sonia.”
A voice called my name.
I stood up at once.
“Your Holiness.”
Of course he would show up the moment I decided to逃—flee.
No wonder my heart pounded like a child caught doing something wrong.
