Chapter 83: Where Loyalty Wavers

When someone suddenly changes….

“Yap! Aaang!”

“Tsk! Get down.”

“Grrrr…!”

“Will you be quiet. Where do you think you’re baring your teeth.”

It was noisy.

I had been enjoying a long, peaceful sleep for the first time in a while, but I woke up to the sound of a standoff between a person and a beast right next to me.

“Are you guys… asking to get scolded?”

My voice came out thick with sleep.

I couldn’t remember clearly, but I think I’d been having a pleasant dream.

Anyone would be annoyed at having such rare, deep sleep disturbed.

“You’re awake…? Sleep a bit more, hyung.”

“How am I supposed to sleep when you’re making that much noise.”

“Yap! Yap!”

After realizing I was awake, Poppy climbed onto my chest and started licking my face, forcefully shaking off even the last traces of drowsiness.

“…Guess I don’t need to wash my face, thanks to you, Poppy….”

“You spoil him too much, that’s why his habits are getting worse.”

“He just tried to bite me, you know.”

Jaeyul must have been awake for a while already, because he was sitting on the bed and complaining to me.

“They said Poppy was bored being home alone.”

“I came by in between to feed him, but imagine how bored he must’ve been, all alone in such a big house.”

“Right, Poppy?”

“Yap!”

See.

That’s what he said.

I freely petted Poppy as he showed off his charms.

This creature, who didn’t cause trouble and guarded the house quietly, was a hundred times better than people.

Well, he isn’t exactly an animal, but still.

“Hyung, do you actually understand him?”

“…You don’t?”

“I thought you two were having full conversations.”

“What kind of joke is that, saying it so seriously.”

“There’s no way you can talk to a monster.”

…I’ve never really thought deeply about it before, but do I actually communicate with Poppy?

Or is it just my own delusion?

Judging by the vacant look in Poppy’s eyes as he stared at me… it’s probably the latter.

Well, whatever.

He’s kind and cute, so who cares.

“Haa… I slept well for the first time in a while.”

“Should we eat breakfast?”

“No.”

“I’m going to sleep a bit more.”

Just as I was about to sit up, a massive weight assaulted my body, and my back ended up touching the bed again.

“…You’re the one who wants to sleep, so why are you pinning me down.”

“I think I sleep better when you’re next to me, hyung.”

“So just lie here with me for a bit.”

Seon Jaeyul wrapped his arms around my torso and waist, trapping me against his body like someone hugging a sleep doll.

Because of the difference in our builds, I couldn’t move an inch.

But well, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

I was still a bit tired anyway, so sleeping a little longer seemed fine.

Warmth that wrapped around my body just right.

Skin brushing against skin where clothes didn’t cover, grazing softly.

The sensation of fingers crawling over my back as if tickling it.

And then…

An unfamiliar scent that began to stimulate my sense of smell.

A scent like dawn heavy with fog.

Or perhaps the smell of a dense forest after soft rain has fallen.

The moment I began to recognize that unfamiliar scent, my heart started pounding much faster than usual.

As my breathing quickened, the body pressed against Jaeyul’s began to thud so loudly it felt like it was shaking.

Even my senses seemed to sharpen.

The warmth enveloping my body felt far hotter than before, and the texture of skin brushing against mine felt excessively vivid.

My mind kept threatening to blur.

Unable to endure the heat, I forcefully pushed Jaeyul away and abruptly sat up.

“Ha… haa, this is….”

I tried to explain the strange sensation to Jaeyul, but when I saw the face looking up at me, it seemed unnecessary.

“…Hyung.”

There was no doubt that Jaeyul had felt something similar.

His gaze, somehow far more dangerous than usual, was fixed on me.

His eyes looked as though they were filled with the heat that had been warming my body.

That look was just like…

That night.

The night Jaeyul awakened.

Before I knew it, the unfamiliar scent seemed to have filled the entire room.

Even though I’d pulled away from Jaeyul, my head was growing hazy again.

An impulse surged.

If I crawled back into Jaeyul’s arms, I would surely be able to feel that pleasant scent and warmth again.

It wouldn’t be difficult.

All I had to do was lean back onto the bed.

“Yap! Grrr… yap!”

But the sharp sound piercing my ears snapped my mind back into clarity.

Poppy had wedged himself between me and Jaeyul, growling at Jaeyul.

As if frightened, he pressed his rear tightly against my body, his small frame trembling.

Even so, he didn’t stop barking fiercely.

Only then did my reason return.

“Ah, right!”

“Hey, I don’t think I took my meds!”

“You take yours too, hurry…!”

Holding Poppy, I fled the room as if escaping.

That’s right.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t taken my pheromone suppressants yesterday or today.

I didn’t expect that skipping them for just a day and a half would make me feel Jaeyul’s pheromones this strongly….

“Thank you, Poppy.”

“If it weren’t for you, that really could’ve been… bad.”

I hurriedly poured the pheromone suppressants into my mouth and praised Poppy for his great deed.

My startled heart still hadn’t fully calmed down.

Those pleasant sensations that wrapped around my whole body.

Jaeyul’s face as he looked at me with eyes filled with heat….

Smack!

“You crazy bastard…!”

“Go to hell….”

I slapped my own cheek hard to drive away the strange images that kept resurfacing in my head.

I also gulped down the cold water left in the cup.

That really… could’ve been a disaster.

“Why are you staring like that.”

“…I guess I’m just realizing now that our Jaeyul has really grown up.”

Even while eating a simple breakfast, I couldn’t shake off what had happened on the bed earlier.

And I came to acknowledge something anew.

After reuniting four years later, I already knew Jaeyul had changed a lot.

But what I was feeling now was something a bit more definite than that.

“What are you… talking about.”

He had become a man.

No, he had become a mature Alpha.

A perfect Alpha, to whom the word “child” could no longer apply.

Thinking that way and examining Jaeyul again, I understood why he sometimes felt like a stranger.

Most of the Jaeyul I remembered was the kid from before his Alpha awakening.

But now…

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was a completely different person.

“Make sure you take your pheromone suppressants properly.”

“I forgot too, but still… our traits are, well, you know….”

I spoke in a roundabout way about the awkward situation from the bed that morning.

Feeling strange emotions toward Jaeyul was incredibly embarrassing, but for trait users, this was a perfectly natural part of life.

Being unwillingly drawn to someone else’s pheromones was fairly common.

How many people were there who fought like mortal enemies at the center over their parents’ deaths, only to suddenly lock eyes and get married.

It was probably all because of pheromone abnormalities.

“What are you talking about.”

“I’ve been taking my suppressants properly.”

“It might not be that issue, you know.”

“Then…?”

“Well.”

“What exactly… was it like?”

“…….”

What was it like?

It felt like a lewd demon had possessed my body.

There was no way I could say that to Jaeyul.

The sensation of that large hand holding a fork stroking my back.

The muscular arm wrapping around my body.

That feeling was just….

Ah, I must be losing my mind.

My gaze drifted somewhere strange again.

“Just eat.”

I deliberately averted my eyes, bowing my head so low it nearly buried into the plate as I continued eating.

I couldn’t even tell if the food was going into my mouth or my nose.

“Hyung.”

“But don’t we have something we need to talk about.”

“I want you to rest comfortably on your day off, but we should clear things up before moving on.”

After finishing the meal and sitting on the sofa with coffee for a bit, Jaeyul spoke first.

I’d been waiting for the right moment to bring it up too.

“…Sorry.”

“I should’ve trusted you and waited, but I couldn’t hold back.”

It was an apology for visiting Irihyeon’s hospital room.

I had gone to see Irihyeon despite Jaeyul telling me not to worry and stay put.

In hindsight, if I hadn’t gone to see him, things might have been resolved a bit more cleanly.

After all, Jaeyul had brought in the mana stability testing device.

If that alone had exposed Irihyeon’s lie, things would have ended on a smoother note.

Instead, because I couldn’t control my anger and nearly killed Irihyeon before healing him again, things became somewhat chaotic.

“You did well.”

“I told you there’s no need to endure everything.”

“That’s why I just pretended not to know.”

“In the end, Irihyeon didn’t get hurt anyway.”

“Honestly, I was curious.”

“Why did you cover for Irihyeon at the end?”

“What.”

“Do you think I covered for him because he’s cute.”

“I just thought it was right for you to be the one to choose.”

“…So what are you going to do.”

“Hmm….”

Jaeyul fell into thought with a very serious expression.

I thought the answer would come easily, so it was unexpected.

“Irihyeon was definitely in the wrong.”

“He wasn’t even certain, yet he almost conclusively blamed guiding from inside the gate.”

“And to some extent, he probably was faking it.”

Something about the nuance of Jaeyul’s words felt… strange.

“…But?”

“I don’t think Irihyeon did it on purpose.”

“He’s… not that kind of person.”

He spoke with a voice full of conviction, defending Irihyeon.

Not that kind of person…?