<Episode 30>
Eveline wanted to see the entire island.
She didn’t plan to climb to the top, but she thought she should go in a different direction from where she had climbed last time.
Not to the place where she first met Abellard at the waterfall, nor to the place where the temple of Yurias, the goddess, was.
This time, she climbed up towards the dense forest without hearing the sound of water.
She hoped Elkais and Abellard would become friendlier this time, and she could distance herself from this group.
That’s what she thought.
She didn’t want to be sandwiched between betas and alphas.
* * *
“Which of the two men will the Lady choose?”
“Who?”
“Elkais and Abellard.”
“Oh.”
Eveline couldn’t understand why he was asking such a question.
“They both seem fine to me.”
“Hahaha!”
She was startled by his sudden loud laughter.
Seeing that his hearty laughter didn’t seem fake, she stared at him, and he stopped laughing and said:
“Do you not know you’re an omega, Lady?”
“I’m a beta.”
“No. A beta wouldn’t emit such a scent.”
Eveline found his words extremely annoying.
There had been times when she, as Lady Eveline Wilden, had hoped for a miracle to happen and for her to become an alpha or an omega.
The Duke Wilden took blood from her every year on her birthday. At first, she had hoped that he was doing it out of expectation and would come himself for the examination, but he only sent someone, as if he didn’t expect her to age or change.
Pouring blood into a large vessel as if performing bloodletting had given her false hope.
At first, Eveline also harbored hope that things would change as he hoped.
But that hope was dashed every time, and she had to feel the fact that she was a beta every year, even on her most blessed birthday.
Not letting the Lady go outside the ducal palace was her best option. To prevent anyone from hating her or blaming her.
It wasn’t easy for her to accept Rubellite’s words.
“You must be mistaken.”
“Lady knows too. Omegas find each other’s scents difficult to handle.”
“…”
“I find the scent of peaches from you too overwhelming, Lady. Don’t you find my scent overwhelming?”
Eveline didn’t want to acknowledge it, but Abellard’s , as Abellard called it, difficult to endure, like “rotten fish,”.
Of course, his scent might be as refreshing as the sea breeze to alphas.
One reason she felt twice as tired climbing the mountain with him was because of that.
“Maybe I’ve become a beta who’s good at sniffing pheromones.”
“I couldn’t sense alpha pheromones at all.”
“What?”
“Even Duke Elkais,and Abellard, seemed unable to control their pheromones. They still do. If they hadn’t taken suppressants, they’d be tangled up until they passed out.”
Eveline looked at Rubellite without understanding his words.
No, she actually didn’t want to understand.
“It’s not a joke.”
“…”
Then she remembered what Elkais had said to her.
<Eveline…? Why did you… Where’s Abellard?>
<I didn’t come to find Lady Eveline. I came because I could smell Abellard’s pheromones from outside.>
<I can’t smell Abellard’s pheromones from outside. It feels like they’re in this cabin.>
“That’s impossible.”
“You think it’s impossible even when you see it?”
Come to think of it, Abellard was originally an omega. But hadn’t he become an alpha again when she saw him?
Then, couldn’t it be possible for me to become an omega from a beta too?
‘Now it makes sense.’
Eveline stared at Rubellite’s voice.
Come to think of it, there was a greater miracle than a change in constitution right before her eyes.
On the day when all omegas died, Duke Rubellite Croppers died too. But wasn’t he in front of her now?
She thought it was because time flowed differently between the Croppers Empire and here. But now, even this seemed like a kind of miracle.
“So.”
“…”
“Whom will you choose?”
Eveline saw her reality in those words.
If I became an omega, even more so.
It was a more despairing thing.
If she were a beta, there would be no imprinting with an alpha. But if she became an omega, during the love shared with an alpha, they would imprint on each other if one bit the other’s neck.
She unconsciously touched her neck, recalling the day Abellard had tried to bite her when he first saw her.
Only traces of Abellard’s bite remained on Eveline’s neck. Elkais’s marks were erased by Abellard while she slept.
“You.”
“…”
“I’m a beta.”
Eveline said so and ignored his words, then climbed up the mountain. Rubellite shrugged and followed her.
He expected Eveline to be shocked.
He had never seen a change in constitution in his life, but the intense alpha pheromone emanating from Abellard. It wasn’t just any high-ranking alpha.
It was a pheromone with the refreshing scent of a royal alpha.
It was so strong and powerful that walking became difficult every time he spoke. It emitted the most desired scent of an omega.
“This couldn’t be possible.”
She said it as if she were convincing herself, but in her mind, she was accepting and calculating the situation.
She had to get away from this group.
Even if Abellard saved her, and Elkais followed her, would the alphas be crazy enough to let a good omega become prey?
She couldn’t feel reassured just because she had a gun.
After resolving to escape, the first thing that came to Eveline’s mind was shelter.
Even if she had to abandon the cabin, she had to ensure they couldn’t track her.
“Pheromones.”
“It seems you’re coming to your senses now.”
“Yes.”
“Thank goodness.”
Duke Rubellite Croppers winced in pain, but when she looked back, he quickly smiled.
“Is there no way to control the pheromones?”
“Originally, you could control them instinctively. But it hasn’t worked since we came to this island. It’s like a tracking device that lets them know I’m here.”
Eveline seemed to pale.
Imprinting with someone she didn’t love.
While living as a beta, she realized she had been too casual about the lives of alphas and omegas.
She didn’t want to imprint with someone devoid of affection.
“What’s my rank?”
“Unpleasant as it is, you seem to have a higher rank than me.”
“…”
“The intensity of your scent is almost identical to what I felt when I first saw Lord Abellard.”
“…”
“It’s a bit strange.”
“What do you mean?”
Eveline stopped walking. Then, as if thinking of something, she turned completely towards the Duke, who was puckering his lips in thought.
“Even though royal omega pheromones are usually strong, this is beyond normal.”
“…”
“It’s as intense as a female anaconda calling out to males.”
Eveline’s face turned pale.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“There is no reason for me to lie to you, we could be cousins.”
Duke Croppers looked at Eveline with a meaningful smile. Then, he slowly approached her.
Unbeknownst to herself, Eveline was stepping back.
“You have Elkais. In return, I’ll have your brother.”
Eveline felt even more uneasy at his words, which seemed like a plea for cooperation. There was no reason for her to follow that request.
“What if I don’t want either of them?”
“Is there something you dislike? Where else can you find an alpha with such a scent?”
For some reason, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to communicate with this omega.
So, it seemed somewhat understandable why Elkais resented the alphas.
Alphas and omegas who thought physicality was everything clearly wouldn’t understand her sense of boundaries and aversion.
“Don’t you have the desire to sow the seeds of alphas? It’s natural for an omega.”
Eveline felt like she shouldn’t retreat further.
She had climbed up the mountain to overlook the entire island. She had avoided the cliff where the waterfall was, as it seemed dangerous, and had climbed in a different direction.
But suddenly, the terrain changed.
Behind her, the slope turned into a steep cliff, and jagged rocks boasted a precarious height.
Certainly, just a blink ago, she could see the slope of the mountain…
It felt like falling from here would be akin to falling somewhere in the Grand Canyon.
“Or I could take both.”
“What?”
She looked down the slope beneath her heel, then looked up in surprise at what he said.
“Goodbye, Lady. It was a pleasant conversation.”
In that moment, she was pushed backward by a force on her shoulders.
As she fell, what she saw was the unfamiliar figure of a stranger with a body turned entirely black, its long mouth grinning as it fell.
TL/N: This is the LAST OF UNEDITED CHAPTER!! Sorry about that from now on there will be edited chaps and these old chaps will be edited. Thank you so much for your patience guys and Im soo sorry.
Whaatttt?? He wasn’t real? Was he? The real one has to be dead😱
@Bree, thank you so much for your work. The story is so intriguing ♡^▽^♡