“Duke.”
The Duke’s cheek twitched slightly when Niall called him. Niall smiled as innocuously as possible.
“Touch me. I am an instrument prepared for you.”
Ha, the Duke scoffed and turned his head. The tip of his chin was so tense that it even trembled. The Duke, after staring somewhere in the air for a long time in that state, looked back at Niall. Now his gaze was filled with disgust and hostility.
It occurred to Niall that the Duke might perhaps hit him. That was how much the Duke was appalled at the sight of his naked body. The Duke could strike Niall, or he could just yell and call for a knight. But he didn’t. The Duke did not take his eyes off Niall even though he was tormented by disgust.
‘I want to get better.’ Niall caught that emotion in the Duke’s gestures.
The Duke wanted to get better. He wanted to be free of this mental illness, and he wanted to seize this opportunity.
As the first step, the Duke stared at Niall’s naked body without blinking. He did not turn his eyes away from Niall, even though he had a hard time doing so.
Suddenly, he thought that this icy man had blood circulating around his body and a beating heart. He looked like a young man who had just come of age, not the Grand Duke of Shiralund, Lord of the North.
Up until this moment, he was so perfect that Niall couldn’t even dare to associate him with the word ‘erection’, but now, the Duke, who stood still against his body’s will to run away with his chin trembling and endured the disgust he was feeling, was quite human. Even if it was because of the hate towards him.
“Do you hate me?”
Niall mustered up the courage to take a step forward. The Duke clenched both hands into fists. The tendons stood out on the back of his hands.
“Am I repulsive, Duke? Please do not do that. I came here to help you.”
“Duke,” Niall called the Duke gently. As he took a step closer, the Duke moved like an animal whose hind legs were caught in a trap. He realized his legs were caught when he tried to run away, so he stopped there and stared anxiously at the hunter.
There was now a gap of about three steps left between them. The distance was such that Niall could reach him if he stretched out his hand.
The Duke’s red lips quivered. He glared at Niall and spat out.
“Lowly thing.”
“……”
“You are like a filthy male prostitute.”
“Duke.”
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.
“Tbe rtjwfifrr bwfuj!”
“P ilxf sbe, Gexf.”
Ktf revvfc mbcofrrlbc ifoa atf Gexf rqffmtifrr obg j wbwfca.
“Uifjrf ilrafc, Gexf. P klii qgfafcv ab ilxf sbe ogbw cbk bc.”
Rljii mgbrrfv tlr tjcvr bc tlr mtfra jcv mbcalcefv ab rqfjx ribkis.
“P klii rqfjx jcv jma jr lo sbe jgf atf wbra qgfmlber atlcu lc atf kbgiv. P klii rwlif ktfc P rff sbe, jcv P klii ags ab rqfjx ab sbe wbgf fnfc lo la lr pera bcf wbgf kbgv. P jw vjglcu ab lwqibgf sbe, Gexf. Uifjrf agfja wf ilxf atja ogbw cbk bc abb, Gexf. Uifjrf qgfafcv atja sbe ilxf wf.”
“Pretend to…… like?”
“Yes, Duke.”, Niall smiled. Even though he stood naked in front of the Grand Duke, clad in jewels and velvet, he was not afraid at all. The Duke, one head taller than him, did not look as tall as before. It was quite strange.
The pale Duke’s dark eyes moved around. He was flustered and confused about what had happened to him for the first time in his life.
“Please consider me endearing.”
Niall whispered in the sweetest voice he could let out.
“Please pretend that you like me and treat me like you mean it. Please do not see me as something to subdue, but as someone to love, as a lover. Even if it is a lie, if you think and treat me like that, there will come a day when you will not find me detestable anymore. It will be difficult… but please do so. With me.”
“……”
“Please date me, Duke.”
The coals in the stone fireplace roared and burned loudly. Hot flames spread over the roaring demons and the crest of House Shiralund hung on every wall, then turned into suffocating shadows and slithered downward.
“…… Did you say that you will like me from now on?”
The Duke questioned in a dark voice. Niall nodded. Yes.
“You. Would that work?”
Yes. Niall nodded again.
Gerard told him. ‘It is fine to do it your way. The way you sleep with omegas. It is fine to treat him the way you would treat an omega.’
Niall recalled the omegas who were once his lovers in the past. All of those romances were as sweet as figs boiled in honey. Niall was known as a beta, and the omegas’ goal was to become the concubine of aristocratic alphas, so Niall and the omegas only needed to enjoy the best parts of their relationship.
So Niall’s romantic relationships were enjoyable and fun. There was no need to force the parts that didn’t fit together, and there was no need to fight.
The relationships were short-lived, but Niall liked them all. At the very least, it was sincere whilst it lasted. ‘I like you. You are so pretty. Do contact me later when you become a widower with a child.’ When he whispered such words, the omegas giggled and returned the kiss to Niall. That was the kind of romantic relationship he had.
Niall’s preference was a Midlander beauty with blonde hair and blue eyes. In comparison, the Duke was a classy Northern handsome man. He was tall and had wider shoulders than him, his hair was cool and his eyes were dark. He didn’t fit his ideal type at all.
But the Duke was too beautiful for Niall to care about his taste. To be honest, he was worried that he would get an erection whilst standing so close to the Duke. It was quite novel. To feel attracted to a man who hated him so much. Not to mention, the man was also an alpha.
“Please like me.”
Niall appealed with a sad sigh. He stretched out his hands that had been gathered around his chest and extended them to the Duke.
“I like you, Duke. From now on, I will act upon the point that I like you.”
At that moment, the staff tore Niall’s cheek. Niall was suddenly struck at an unexpected moment and fell to the floor.
“You are an omega indeed.”
The Duke spoke in a voice so full of anger that it had even consumed his other emotions. Niall groaned and stroked his cheek. The lips and cheek were torn together. There was a taste of blood in his mouth.
“You people are like that. Beings who casually change words and beg for affection. Lowly things.”
Things?
Niall thought as he wiped away the dripping blood.
“Get lost.”
The Duke angrily pointed to the door.
“Get out this instant. Before I kill you! Now!”
Seems like this is it for today. Niall lowered his head and picked up clothes scattered on the floor. He stepped back and hesitated as he pondered whether he should bow, then quickly opened the door.
When he came out, the majordomo was standing there. He was not surprised at all when Niall appeared naked and bloodied. Rather, he helped Niall get dressed quickly.
“I shall take you to your room.”
As Niall followed the majordomo, he finally let out an “Ow ow” as the torn inner cheek began to hurt. He didn’t think it would be easy. Even though he thought it would be truly difficult. Still, it really wasn’t easy at all.
This is tough.
Niall smiled bitterly as he applied the ointment given by the majordomo on his cheek and lips.
After all, nothing that starts with Gerard Galen ends well for him.
∞ ∞ ∞
Before coming to the North, Niall had visited Count Nuberi. It was because the Count Nuberi demanded a contract for the promissory note he had written. In the end, he was in a situation where he had to pay off the old debt by taking out new debt.
“Magnus must have a child at any cost.”
Count Nuberi was a Northerner but lived in the Midlands. He belonged to the Privy Council as the Emperor’s inner sanctum administrative official, a kind of ambassador. This is because although it was in the same country, unlike the Midlands and the South, the North was so far away that it could be considered a different country.
“A son. And that son must be an alpha with the Shiralund characteristic silver-blue hair.”
Niall stood awkwardly and listened to Count Nuberi. Count Nuberi looked at Niall with his sharp eyes as he sipped his rose-scented tea. This man was also an alpha. Niall could feel the alpha pheromones subtly spreading in the closed space.
“He is my nephew, but in fact, I have no familial affection for him. We are more like political partners.”
“Is that so?”
Niall added filler words with a smile on his face. Count Nuberi sighed.
“In a way, I feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for that child who was consumed by political strife from birth, lost his parents, and froze cold like that after countless sacrifices. Aside from the political component, he needs a good wife. Of course, the omega needs to come from a strong family that will solidify his position as well as our kin, and warmly melt his frozen heart. Simply an omega who would evoke the words ‘the light of my eyes’.”
The light of my eyes. It was a classic metaphorical phrase used among the aristocrats. You are as precious as the light of my eyes, and if I lose you, I will never see the light of day again. Niall always thought that those words were too romantic.
The relationship between alpha and omega was nothing like light. It was more of a relationship in which the stronger one forced the other as needed because of pheromones and instincts.
“I have high expectations of you.”
Saying that, Count Nuberi presented the contract. Niall politely accepted the contract.
When Niall looked around to find a spot to sign the contract on, only then did the Count tell Niall to sit down. Until this moment, the Count had not even told him to sit down. He meant to remind him to be useful, but not to forget his purpose.
“Make sure you get my nephew back to normal.”
Being unnecessarily wild eh? alrighty