Content Warning: Sexual Harassment
Please be advised that the following chapters contain depictions of sexual harassment, including verbal and physical misconduct, that may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
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When Niall turned six, the troupe leader threw another three-year-old child to Romana. Already burdened with two children, Romana went to confront the troupe leader, but she returned with a big, blue bruise around one eye, and the child in tow. Although Romana grumbled about it for quite a while, her naturally kind nature eventually led her to take good care of the child. The child’s name was Louis, and Louis cried all day long for his mother.
“He never asks for his father. He must be an illegitimate child,” Romana said. Niall didn’t care whether the child was legitimate or not. He just wished the child would stop crying for his mother and be quiet.
‘It’s lucky I don’t even remember my mother,’ Niall thought, irritated by Louis’s constant crying, as he buried his head under a pillow. ‘If you don’t know your mother, you can’t cry for her like that.’
“You cried a lot too when you first got here,” Shera shattered Niall’s thoughts instantly.
“I cried like that even though I didn’t know who my mother was?”
“Of course. Babies instinctively know that they’ve been forcibly separated from the person who would love them the most in this world.”
“I didn’t!”
“You did. I remember. You cried much worse than him. So be kind to him.” Shera replied in a tone that left no room for argument and turned away. Left alone, Niall fumed. Shera was four years older than Niall, so when she spoke about his baby days, he couldn’t argue back.
“Niall, there’s no tonic today. Go brew some,” Romana called out from outside the tent. Romana was a fortune teller and an apothecary. She knew how to make medicine for fevers, ointments for wounds, and syrups for coughs. Unlike her dubious fortune telling, these medicines actually worked and could be sold at a decent price.
Of course, there were also more secretive potions. Potions to whiten the skin, turn hair blonde, make someone fall in love, or improve intelligence. Romana sold these saying they’d take effect in a month, then left for another city before the month was up.
Niall knew very well that these potions were just sour water boiled with weeds, because making them was his job. ‘When will I get to learn how to tell fortunes?’ At around ten years old, this was Niall’s biggest concern.
A child raised by a clown became a clown, and a child raised by a singer became a singer. That was the rule of the traveling troupe. Naturally, Niall was supposed to follow Romana and become a fortune teller, but Romana never let Niall near the crystal ball. She taught Shera how to read fortunes instead.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Pr la yfmjerf P’w cba sbeg gfji mtliv?” Rljii jrxfv bcf vjs. Snfc atbeut obgaecf-afiilcu kjr boafc j rtjw, ab ibbx mbcnlcmlcu, bcf cffvfv ab xcbk tbk ab gfjv mjgvr jcv lcafgqgfa atf rajgr. Sjufg ab qeii tlr kfluta, Rljii kjr ogeragjafv ys Ebwjcj’r gfoerji ab afjmt tlw.
Vlcmf Ebwjcj vlvc’a afjmt tlw, Rljii rfmgfais ifjgcfv atf rxliir bo batfg qfgobgwfgr. Ds atf alwf tf kjr afc, Rljii mbeiv peuuif ilxf j mibkc jcv jma ilxf jc jmabg. Zbgfbnfg, tf mbeiv rdeffhf tlr ybvs atgbeut j rwjii klcvbk, rqlc afc alwfr lc bcf rqba, jcv milwy j yjgf qbif klat tlr tjcvr. Dea Rljii vlvc’a kjca ab yf j mibkc; tf kjcafv ab yf j obgaecf afiifg. Lf kjcafv ab yfmbwf j obgaecf afiifg ab qjs boo Ebwjcj’r vfya, ktlmt kjr j rtjmxif bc tfg ogff rqlgla lwqbrfv ys atf agbeqf ifjvfg.
“If we work together, we can earn more money and pay off the debt faster,” Niall reasoned. The children bought by the troupe leader carried debts equal to their purchase price. Niall also had a debt, and it accumulated interest steadily. The troupe leader even charged them for the food they ate and the clothes they wore, adding to their debt if they missed a day’s work. Performers didn’t hesitate to resort to prostitution to earn money, but no one ever fully repaid their debt.
Romana had taken on Shera’s and Niall’s debts too. As the debt grew daily, Niall was desperate to free Romana from its clutches. Yet whenever he pleaded, Romana would only smile sadly at him.
“You’re a clever child. If you became a fortune teller, you’d deceive people brilliantly. But your destiny isn’t to be a fortune teller. Your fate lies somewhere farther away,” Romana would say cryptically, as if she could genuinely see the future.
Niall mastered all the skills necessary to survive in the troupe. He could throw a knife and hit the center of a spinning wooden board, embroider beautifully, scale a sheer wall, and do the splits. Generally, Niall was happy. Though he didn’t know the exact definition of happiness, he wasn’t unhappy, so he considered himself happy. Though not related by blood, he had a mother, a sister, and a brother. Despite his debt, he enjoyed the freedom of a wandering life.
Niall was content being a performer. Traveling from the south to the west, from the west to the center, then back to the south and west again, he didn’t envy the nobility or desire a normal family. The wandering life was his identity.
Then, everything changed when he turned thirteen.
A fever consumed Niall from head to toe, making him faint repeatedly from the pain. No one had ever seen such a severe fever, and nothing could break it. Believing Niall to be fatally ill, the troupe leader wanted to abandon him, but Romana, Shera, and Louis defended him with their bodies. Louis even fainted from exhaustion, threatening to die if Niall was abandoned.
After ten days of intense fever, Niall finally recovered. Upon waking, he sensed something had fundamentally changed.
“What’s that smell?” Louis sniffed as he changed the wet cloth on Niall’s forehead.
“Smell? I don’t smell anything.”
“No, Niall has a nice scent. Like roses.”
“Only Louis can smell it? And it’s a rose scent? That sounds like some kind of pheromone.” Shera casually remarked, then covered her mouth. Romana quickly covered Niall with a thick blanket.
“How about now? Can you still smell it?” Romana asked. Louis shook his head.
“No, you can’t block it with a blanket.”
Niall, too, could smell the rose fragrance emanating from his body, like stepping into a greenhouse full of a hundred blooming roses. The scent was overwhelming.
“Don’t tell anyone about this,” Romana instructed the children. “Don’t mention that Niall has a scent. Understand?”
Terrified, Shera nodded, and Louis, though unsure of what it meant, nodded as well.
It seemed the matter was settled. There was no one who could recognize whether Niall was an Alpha or Omega. Fortunately, Niall gradually learned to control his pheromones, avoiding unwanted attention. Romana felt relieved.
That autumn, the troupe arrived in Galen, a port city in the central empire. As usual, Niall went to the market to perform a comical skit, drawing laughter and inviting people to visit the troupe, receiving applause in return.
“How much are you?”
As Niall was about to return, someone grabbed his wrist. A middle-aged man with stylish clothes and a short mustache asked. Niall responded in a clear voice.
“I’m not for sale.”
“There’s a traveling troupe that doesn’t do prostitution? Don’t lie, kid.”
“You can choose any man or woman you want, my lord. But not me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not for sale.”
“I want you.”
The man suddenly pulled Niall close, burying his face in Niall’s neck and inhaling deeply. Niall shuddered and struggled free from the man’s grasp.
“You’re an Omega, aren’t you?”
“…”
“I’ve never smelled such a pleasant scent before. Are you not in heat yet? Show me between your legs and I’ll give you ten silver coins.”
Without looking back, Niall ran away. He heard the man chasing him, but Niall moved swiftly through the crowd, escaping his pursuer.
“Niall, what happened?” Romana asked when she saw Niall, who was out of breath. Niall said it was nothing and ran to his room, pulling the blanket over his head. Romana followed him, slipping her hand under the blanket to feel his forehead.
“You have a fever. You must be scared. What happened outside?”
“I told you, it’s nothing.”
Niall turned his back on Romana’s touch and lay down.
“I’ll leave some medicine to reduce your fever. It’ll help you sleep well too.”
“…Thanks, Romana.”
Romana gently stroked Niall’s shoulder before quietly leaving the room. Niall took the medicine and pulled the blanket over his head again. Soon, the medicine took effect, and he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
In the early hours of the morning, after the last guest of the troupe had left, a commotion erupted. A man, who appeared to be a knight or a noble, was caught sneaking into a performer’s quarters. The man was found in Niall’s room and kept insisting, “That Omega seduced me,” before fleeing. The troupe leader of the troupe, deciding it wasn’t worth reporting to the authorities, dispersed the crowd and ended the situation.
“Is he really an Omega?”
Nothing changed, except the troupe leader now harbored suspicions about Niall.
NOOO wtf happened, fuck I hate it he got raped?? I hate this shit I knew he had some traumas and that’s why he genuinely wanted to be a Beta but still…
wait so does this mean he was SAd whilst asleep?