Chapter 30: The Breaking Point

Perhaps it was because he had been kept awake until late the previous night, or perhaps the sudden release of tension had finally taken its toll. Anok closed and opened his eyes with a faint grimace, clearly fighting off a wave of dizziness.

Yeo Jae-won quickly scanned their surroundings. The wedding guests who had visited the estate had long since moved to the private dining rooms prepared for them. Now that the chaotic bustle of the ceremony had faded, a profound quiet settled over the grounds.

“Are you alright?”

“……Yes.”

Anok’s voice dragged a bit more than usual. As Jae-won stepped a pace closer, he caught a sudden, clear trace of that crisp, pure fragrance he had noted once before.

For any realized Sub-gender, controlling one’s pheromones was the absolute baseline of decorum. When Jae-won had first met Anok, the scent had never been this starkly palpable.

Something was amiss. However, having never encountered an Omega on the precipice of their cycle, Jae-won didn’t look any deeper into it. He simply assumed Anok was exhausted, entirely unaware that his own features had hardened out of sheer worry.

“It would be best for you to rest until sunset. I have no desire to hold a funeral on my own wedding day.”

Jae-won spoke with such curt finality that he cut off any chance of a rebuttal. Reading the room, the palace attendants quickly stepped forward and escorted Anok away.

Jae-won stood motionless, watching Anok’s retreating figure until he completely vanished from sight. Only then did he return to his own chambers to change out of his heavy ceremonial robes.

Dressed in casual attire, he visited the private halls to offer his formal respects to the senior members of the royal family and his maternal relatives. Afterward, he moved to a separate, quieter room, where the Dowager Princess of Jeong-an and young Yeo Song were waiting.

Anxious that the young child might commit some breach of etiquette before the elders, the Princess kept Yeo Song close to her side, patiently cutting the dishes on the table into small bites and placing them before him.

“Seeing the two of you standing together today, you truly make a well-matched couple.”

Following their initial congratulations, a private tea service was brought in. Sitting across from the Princess, Jae-won watched his young nephew struggle with all his might to feed himself. A gentle smile touched Jae-won’s face before he looked up.

“Is that so?”

Though he considered it nothing more than a conventional blessing, hearing that they looked well-suited together didn’t displease him.

“Indeed. Even from a distance, the Grand Consort possesses such a remarkably fine and handsome countenance.”

Jae-won offered a slow nod, not inclined to dispute her praise. Unlike before, when there had been a lingering sense that he was merely forcing himself to accept an arranged marriage dictated by the Emperor, now that the vows had actually been exchanged, he didn’t seem to mind it at all.

Noticing this subtle, gentler shift in her normally rigid brother-in-law, the Princess felt a wave of relief wash over her.

“Once some time has passed, I will bring the Prince Consort to pay you a proper visit.”

“You are welcome anytime, so please come whenever it pleases you.”

Jae-won actually needed a private audience with her regarding the prescription left by Imperial Physician Kim Myeong-hyeon. However, with young Yeo Song present, it was hardly the right environment to broach such a delicate subject.

Hearing his intention to visit soon, the Princess seemed to sense that he had something specific to discuss. Understanding his silent cue to leave things unsaid for now, she simply smiled and nodded.

After lifting and embracing Yeo Song, who was exceptionally fond of his uncle, Jae-won stepped back outside. He engaged in brief conversations with a few key court officials, including Hyeon Sang-eun, before finally returning to the main estate.

Before entering the bridal chamber, he washed thoroughly and changed his attire once more. While he was draping a deep blue robe over his thin white undergarments, Court Lady Lee stood by his side, nervously murmuring that he must not be too harsh on his bride during their first night.

Anok was seven years younger than him, an youth who had barely passed his coming-of-age ceremony. Such aggressive thoughts had never even crossed Jae-won’s mind, causing his brow to furrow deeply as he turned a sharp glare toward the attendant.

“The Consort is an Omega regardless.”

“But, Your Highness……”

Court Lady Lee’s voice trailed off, losing its strength. She knew intimately just how deeply the Prince despised Omegas, and she understood the tragic reasons behind it well enough to know she shouldn’t press further.

By the time Jae-won finally made his way toward the inner quarters, the last remnants of twilight had completely surrendered to a thick, unyielding darkness.

His heart, which had remained perfectly steady all day, began to strike a rapid, abnormal rhythm only when Eunuch Seok announced his arrival and slid the doors open. He stepped across the threshold, and the very moment the panels snapped shut behind him, a wave of pure, concentrated fragrance rushed forward. It hit his senses with such absolute force that his mind reeled, momentarily paralyzed.

This was on an entirely different scale compared to what he had caught during the robe fittings or the ceremony itself. It didn’t just brush past him; it felt as though he was being thoroughly drenched in the scent, his ankles caught in a heavy, inescapable mire.

An Omega’s pheromones were inherently designed to beguile their biological opposite, the Alpha. It was a natural law, engineered for that exact purpose.

Yet, having openly declared his hatred for Omegas, Jae-won refused to allow himself to succumb to it. To stop his rising instincts from shattering his reason and running wild, he forced his steps to slow to a deliberate crawl as he approached Anok.

At the same time, his mind raced to analyze the situation. Even if an Omega were to intentionally release their scent to provoke someone, it could never be this potent. That left only one logical conclusion.

A heat cycle.

The moment his mind confirmed that the Omega standing before him was completely consumed by his cycle, his body attempted to trigger an instinctual response. Jae-won fought back brutally, curling his hands into tight fists, his neatly trimmed nails biting so deeply into his palms that it felt as though they would pierce the skin. By the time he mastered himself, his expression had turned utterly ice-cold.

He brought his steps to a halt, maintaining a deliberate distance between them. In that heavy silence, Anok confessed.

“Did I not tell you that I am an Omega? ……What Your Highness is thinking is correct. My heat has indeed begun.”

In that split second, Jae-won felt something snap. He could no longer hold back—neither his instincts nor his rising fury.

During their very first encounter, Anok had spoken as if he already knew Jae-won despised Omegas. Despite possessing that data, he had deliberately withheld the fact that his heat was imminent. Was this a calculated test? Or was he intentionally weaponizing the exact trait Jae-won loathed just to provoke him?

Ah. Did he think that because I hate Omegas, seeing him in his heat would fill me with such disgust that I would instantly throw him out?

In an instant, the chaotic noise in Jae-won’s mind froze over, leaving his reason brutally clear. Of course, the flesh of his palms was already split from the pressure of his fists, thin lines of blood welling up where his nails dug in.

On a sudden impulse, Jae-won intentionally released his own Alpha pheromones. It wasn’t to play along with Anok’s perceived provocation. Rather, he suddenly recalled a piece of medical lore he had learned long ago: when an Omega or an Alpha undergoes their cycle, the presence of the opposing gender’s scent could help stabilize them.

He had unlocked his scent purely to grant Anok some measure of relief, entirely failing to consider that if the volume exceeded a safe threshold, it would only act as a more devastating stimulant.

Deep down, his intellect knew exactly what the correct strategic move was. He should turn around right this second, exit the chamber, command the servants to brew a specialized suppression medicine, and abandon the sector entirely.

Yet, trapped in a feverish grip where his instincts continuously clawed at the edges of his logic, Jae-won proved unable to conquer the urge. He closed the remaining distance, stepping directly into Anok’s space. The moment he did, he felt Anok reach out as if drawn by an invisible force, his pale palms rising to softly cradle Jae-won’s cheek.

It was almost absurd. To pull a stunt like this while knowing full well how much he loathed Omegas—and then to reach out with a touch so full of tender, aching longing, as if greeting a cherished lover—felt like a cruel joke. A hollow, bitter laugh escaped Jae-won’s throat.

He knew his heat was coming, and he deliberately stood here waiting for me to arrive.

Was his true objective really to force an immediate exile? Judging by Anok’s earlier composed statements, this state of affairs was clearly not an unmapped accident. Had he truly wished to avoid this, he would have dispatched a servant to warn Jae-won before he ever set foot in the bridal chamber.

Did he not care that, by staying, he risked being taken by force right here on the floorboards? Jae-won reached up, firmly grasping Anok’s hands and pulling them away from his face.

“You truly are…… utterly reckless, Your Highness.”

Driven by the rising fever, Anok’s eyes began to glaze over with moisture. Jae-won felt his forcefully suppressed impulses surging toward their breaking point once again.

He felt an intense wave of self-loathing wash over him. To find himself reacting so violently to the scent of an Omega—the very entity he despised above all else—felt hypocritical and entirely sickening.

“I am certain I made myself perfectly clear.”

Realizing that Anok looked as though he might collapse at any moment, Jae-won slowly pressed him backward, seeking a safe place to settle him. As he advanced, he muttered the words aloud, as if repeating a mantra to steady his own mind.

“I told you that I hate Omegas.”

“…….”

“And yet, you stand there and calmly tell me your heat has arrived without a single care……”

He guided Anok down until his frame met the edge of the bridal bed, then reached up to carefully lift the heavy gold ceremonial crown from his head, setting it aside.

Suddenly, the fragments of their conversation from the previous night’s walk drifted back into his thoughts. Anok’s flat, unmodulated voice—carelessly telling Jae-won to cast him aside as if it meant nothing—remained vividly etched into his mind.

“What exactly is running through that small head of yours? Are you truly begging me to cast you out?”

At those words, Anok clamped his jaw shut, his teeth grinding together as if Jae-won’s strike had landed directly on target.

Perhaps Anok’s earlier suggestion to bring alternate consorts into the estate hadn’t been made for Jae-won’s benefit at all. Perhaps it was a calculated play for his own sake—because he had left a cherished lover behind in his homeland.

Ah.

In that precise microsecond, Jae-won’s heart suffered a freezing, absolute drop.

He truly has zero intention of ever allocating a single shred of affection to my profile. No matter what strategy I deploy, I will never possess his heart. He…… already belongs to someone else.

The moment that realization solidified, the emotional weight became entirely unbearable.

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