Chapter 08
I cautiously opened my mouth.
“…Y-Yes. He went outside just a moment ago.”
It was hard to speak, and I had to take a deep breath.
Cassius waved his hand, and the waiting holy knights rushed over and knelt.
“Escort the Grand Duke and remind him of the rudeness that disrupted the Grand Assembly.”
“Understood!”
The knights, following the command of the Sovereign, quickly moved toward the direction the Grand Duke had left.
The large garden was now left with just me and Cassius.
I was suddenly struggling to breathe, gasping for air.
Cassius, who had been looking at me quietly, spoke.
“I apologize. I was disturbed by the scent of another Alpha, and… I didn’t mean to attack you.”
It seemed he had used divine power. Once he finished explaining, it became easier to breathe again.
Cassius gently brushed his thumb across my cheek.
It was where Schwartz had touched me, wiping away the cookie crumbs from my cheek.
“You must have been very frightened. I won’t allow an Omega like you to be alone with an Alpha again.”
“…What? No, I’m not an Omega.”
I was just a peculiar Beta that smelled like an Omega.
“You reacted to my pheromones earlier, didn’t you?”
I blinked in surprise several times.
“The scent of rain?”
“Exactly.”
So the scent that resembled rain was Cassius’s pheromone?
Not divine power?
That couldn’t be true.
As a Beta, I shouldn’t be able to smell the pheromones of Alphas or Omegas. Even Lancelot, who had the scent of an Omega, didn’t react to an Alpha’s pheromones.
The cool water scent must have been Cassius’s divine power related to water.
It had to be.
He slowly scanned me up and down.
Despite his scrutiny, there was no outward sign of me being an Omega.
To be sure, one would have to sleep with an Omega.
He came closer.
Hey, that’s too close. I don’t have that kind of self-consciousness!
His handsome face filled my vision, and my heart raced for a different reason. I backed away.
“Ah!”
I tripped on the long chair’s leg and stumbled.
Cassius caught me around the waist, pulling me into his arms.
A different scent from the cool water filled the air—his own unique body scent.
Unlike the aggressive water scent, it was soft.
I unintentionally took a deep breath, drawn in by the pleasant, cool fragrance.
Cassius’s hand tightened around my waist.
“With such a lovely scent, you’re not an Omega?”
Lancelot, who also smelled like an Omega, wasn’t actually an Omega either.
“I’ve told you several times, I’m a Beta. I’ve never had the Omega heat.”
He guided me to a chair and sat beside me.
“Sonia is definitely an Omega.”
Please stop saying such dangerous things.
Lancelot, who only smelled like an Omega, ended up in unwanted situations.
If I were a true Omega, the obsession of the holy knights would be even worse.
Just thinking about it was horrifying.
“That can’t be true.”
“Shall we confirm it? To see whose words are true?”
At those words, I suddenly stiffened.
Confirm it? How?
Though I tried to avoid it, I knew what method he would use to confirm.
It was the same method the holy knights used in The Territory of the Predators—Alpha and Omega sleeping together.
Cassius was scary, but I couldn’t even think of running away.
No matter how rare his healing divine power was, with one gesture, I’d be trapped in water and unable to move.
“I’ll use pheromones. Not divine power.”
Contrary to my worries, instead of undressing, he seemed to be planning to use another method.
He pulled me in even closer, holding me tightly. I didn’t know exactly what he did, but I felt as if I were standing in the middle of a torrential downpour.
Shshshhhh─.
It sounded like rain, but no rain was visible. I felt a strange tingling sensation in my chest.
My body reacted to the scent of rain, pulling me toward it. Then I heard his voice.
His whispers to calm down continued, but Cassius’s lips were firmly closed.
Confused, I frowned. Then Cassius spoke.
“I’ll use it more strongly.”
Suddenly, it felt like a massive wave, not just a downpour, was crashing over me.
The intense water scent filled the air, but my clothes remained completely dry. Just as he said, the water scent was not divine power—it was his pheromones.
“…Ah!”
It was then that I realized what was happening.
A pheromone shower—when an Alpha or Omega covers the other in their pheromones, making them smell like the other person.
My body reacted to Cassius’s Alpha pheromones.
My heart raced, and my breathing quickened.
My face flushed hot, and I felt a strange power moving in my neck that wasn’t divine power.
If I stayed exposed to his pheromones, I felt like something new inside me would be released.
I struggled and managed to break free from his arms.
“U-Um… I’ll go now!”
I fled back to my room, feeling like I had no choice but to escape.
I leaned against the door and slid down to the floor, pulling my knees to my chest, still unable to calm my racing heart.
Slowly, I focused on my body and noticed a faint scent of lily in the valley.
The scent of an Omega’s pheromones.
“What is this…?”
I hadn’t sprayed any flower perfume.
Moreover, my body had reacted to Cassius’s pheromones.
I had no choice but to accept it—I was an Omega.
The shock was overwhelming.
I thought I was just a peculiar Beta who smelled like an Omega.
But it turned out… I was actually an Omega!
‘What the heck? How did this happen?’
I had no idea when or how I had manifested as an Omega.
But one thing was clear: the fact that I was even standing here was a miracle.
I had survived the Omega fever, which had a 100% fatality rate.
The cause of the miracle seemed obvious.
‘It must be because I became a priest.’
I had a rare healing attribute among divine powers.
Healing divine power can not only heal others but also quickly recover those who are strong from any minor ailments.
The lingering heat from the Omega fever must have faded quickly.
The manifestation heat likely settled the same way.
‘Come to think of it, the original Sonia was in poor health…’
She was always coughing whenever she appeared.
The original Sonia never chose the path of the priest.
She didn’t have divine power, so she must have been sick often and weak.
Thinking about it, I was glad I had chosen the path of a priest.
I had inherited my strong body and strength from my knight father.
‘No, it’s a good thing, right…? Me?’
A weak person wouldn’t manifest as an Omega or Alpha. The body would reject the transformation.
So if I hadn’t become a priest and had stayed as a noble lady, I would never have become an Omega.
I didn’t know what to think anymore.
Living with a weak body and dying at the hands of Alphas targeting Lancelot, or becoming a healthy Omega and being targeted by terrifying Alphas—what would be worse?
My mind was a mess, and I collapsed onto the bed.
A new, unexpected truth had emerged, and no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what to do.
To think I had become the world’s only Omega, it was too big of a secret to bear alone.
‘Healing powers don’t mean anything.’
Now I was holding an even bigger secret.
I spent the whole night pondering what to do, and by the time the sun rose, I fell asleep as if I had fainted.
“Sonia! Sonia─!”
“Uh… yeah? Mmm?”
“Get up, the morning prayer time is already over!”
I was startled awake and immediately sat up. The sun outside the window was at its highest point.
It was already lunchtime.
I must have slept in because I had stayed up all night, weighed down by worries.
This wasn’t like me. The fact that I was the only surviving Omega must have shocked me more than I realized.
I had thought about a lot of things, but I still couldn’t come to a conclusion.
I still couldn’t believe that I was an Omega.
sigh… What should I do from now on?
I needed more time to think.
“I’ll clean the bell tower today.”
There was no better place to be alone with my thoughts than the bell tower. Ellie, who hated cleaning, happily agreed, and I slowly made my way up to the bell tower.
‘What should I do?’
As I climbed the stairs, I thought about what was to come.
Lancelot went through a lot just because he smelled like an Omega. And here I was—an actual Omega. I didn’t even want to imagine what kind of trouble I’d be in.
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the management room.
“Ugh…”
I sighed deeply as I unlocked the latch and opened the window. It was a view I loved, but it couldn’t calm the storm in my heart.
I sat in the chair by the window and absentmindedly stared outside.
Looking at the refreshing landscape of the kingdom, I suddenly felt like flying away.
Would that make my heart feel a little lighter?
I stared outside for a long time before muttering, almost as if throwing up the words.
sigh… Should I just give up on everything?
I would quit being a priest, and write my resignation letter. Then, I’d take Lancelot and use a trip as an excuse to get as far away as possible from the capital, hiding somewhere.
Lancelot wouldn’t willingly follow me, but I had this overwhelming feeling that I had to do something, anything.
Yes, let’s escape.
Just as I reached that conclusion…
“Sonia.”
I stood up at the sound of my name.
“Your Grace.”
Just as I had decided to run away, he appeared, and my heart raced, like an innocent child caught in a lie.
