CH 45

〈… The only thing that shimmered was his eyes. Belfry fumbled to grasp it within the unfathomable depths of darkness. Soon, long and sturdy fingers clasped around his own fingers. Ah, Belfry sighed as someone chuckled softly and pressed their lips to his fingers. They said, “You’ve finally become mine.” Numerous kisses soon descended upon his neck. “Such a delightful scent. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day.” Tears welled up in the corners of Belfry’s eyes as he smiled. “I feel the same way. Your Highness Adrian.”〉

“Gasp.”

I woke up abruptly, startled as the faint dawn began to break.

I can’t believe that now even the contents of the novel I haven’t read yet are appearing in my dreams.

It’s so absurd, really.

Unable to laugh or cry, I wrapped my head, sat on the edge of the bed, and then sluggishly got up and went outside.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

The wooden bowl that I intentionally left outside was filled with ice.

I poured the warm water that was placed on the fire on a basin and washed my face.

Only then did my mind fully wake up.

“It’s freezing outside, but it feels like midsummer in the room. I can’t even use magic stones.”

I grumbled for no reason.

Being able to stay warm like this in the middle of winter was a great blessing, but it was too much.

Even before, with my naturally warm body, I couldn’t sleep with an electric blanket on.

After becoming Carl Lindbergh, I tended to feel the cold more than the heat, which was probably due to my weakened stamina, but even with such a body, the effect of the 〈Burning Firewood〉 was significant enough to withstand the cold.

As I walked, I noticed that almost every house had their windows slightly open.

Through those gaps, a continuous stream of cold air flowed, creating a refreshing chill.

If this was electricity instead of magic, the energy efficiency would have been ridiculously poor.

I cooled down my overheated body with the cool air and returned inside.

Despite the fireplace having been extinguished for a long time, the house remained warm like a sauna.

The 〈Burning Firewood〉 was placed in every corner of the house.

I heard that you need to align them like magic circles for them to be effective, so I prepared at least four of them in each room.

There was a day when I saw a lady, who did not know anything, bought only two and came back to buy two more.

Hmm.

It feels like I have discovered a loophole in magic stones in an expected way.

What if, in addition to the 〈Burning Firewood〉, there were ones like 〈Autumn Breeze〉 or 〈Spring Air〉 engraved?

To prevent the house from becoming a sauna and avoid situations where I open the windows to face a gust of wind.

Moreover, since the necessary conditions to activate magic differ for each magic stone, instead of simply selling the magic stones, it would be better to place them on appropriately labeled boxes with colored paper and include an instruction manual or something similar.

If one is supplying magic stones that are convenient for commoners to use, shouldn’t they at least do that much?

As I was contemplating, I chuckled to myself.

It’s not like I’m personally inputting the formulas or have any knowledge on how it works.

It would be fortunate as long as it doesn’t end up like a failed science experiment that results in an explosion or something.

Besides, who else would I give the suggestion to?

One person came to mind in an instant.

Someone who would listen if I made a suggestion.

A person who is good at handling both magic and magic stones came to mind, but I pushed the thought away.

I was in no position to ask him for anything anymore.

As the snow started falling again and the wind tried to invade the house, I adjusted the storm window slightly and opened the window just a few fingers wide.

I sat back on the bed, listening to the sound of snow softly accumulating. Damn this original work. I wondered if it had even begun.

At that moment, I wished I had asked the prophet for more information.

I wondered if the point at which Belfry becomes an omega in the original work was at the beginning, the middle, or towards the end.

From the sporadic memories that came to mind, I recalled that it was quite some time after Jae-young started reading the novel that Carl Lindbergh died.

Since the queen had been consistently feeding him medication to change his pheromone scent, his heat cycle might have come later than my current state, or perhaps it hadn’t come at all.

So, the story would be that while Adrian and Belfry are in love, Carl Lindbergh, disappointed that he can’t have Adrian, constantly bothers him and eventually dies. That seems to be the extent of the story.

One part that I don’t quite understand is this: Carl Lindbergh’s ability to cause trouble would be limited to within the Lindbergh castle.

Considering he can’t freely move around inside or outside the castle, when and how would he have tormented Adrian?

The author probably left that aspect quite vague.

Or maybe, did he try to seduce Adrian with pheromones when there was some kind of contact?

It’s like trying to navigate a maze when thinking about it.

Regardless of what Jae-young sang, what’s important is that it was Belfry and Adrian’s affair.

When Belfry’s heat cycle comes, Adrian will surely embrace him just like in my dreams.

To calm my restless mind, I walked around the room again and again.

Thinking about the heat cycle brought back memories of that night.

Passionate and intense.

Even though the world may not see it, at that time I was desperately clinging to that one person right in front of me, feeling parched.

I continued to fear that I wasn’t being true to myself, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but long for that person’s warmth.

Upon deep reflection.

I realized that it wasn’t just physical desire; it felt like something was filling the empty spaces in my once-hollow heart.

The hole in my heart was small but deep.

After my parents passed away and with no close relatives I frequently interacted with, I had no choice but to entrust Jae-young to distant relatives who were no different from strangers.

And those days when I ran without even a moment to look back at the crying Jae-young, I had no time to spare.

The youth, who was so deprived that he couldn’t distinguish what he liked from what he hated, burst into tears and broke down little by little.

However, entering into the world of the novel had its advantages.

The ability to dream.

To freely imagine and believe in being able to do what I wanted.

Sharing my dreams and getting advice from good people.

That I had someone to lean on, even if it was half a contract.

That someone is actively helping me.

That such a person wanted me so badly.

“Why am I being like this?”

Tears welled up in my eyes.

I tried to hide under the blanket, but as I felt suffocated, I pulled it off and thought about removing one of the magic stones.

No, if I did it wrong, I might end up being discovered as a lifeless body.

In the end, I opened the window a bit more and slowly crawled under the blanket.

The snow would probably stain the floor, but the owner of the house wasn’t the type to fuss about such things.

“What do you want me to do?”

Just say it straightforwardly. When Adrian said he liked me, and if someone were to ask me if I disliked it because he was a man, that wasn’t the case.

It wasn’t so much because he was a man that I disliked him, but rather because I had two conflicting instincts within this body.

As an Omega, my instincts were screaming for him, but as Jeon Woo-young, the twenty-seven-year-old who was discharged from the military, warned me that if I embraced him, I might lose something important as a man.

And the weight that came with sitting next to him was no joke either.

Overall, it was a burden.

And the original work that was ruined because of me, I hope I can somehow make up for it.

Ah, wait.

“If, for some reason, Belfry isn’t an Omega, what would happen to Adrian?”

I’m going crazy. Why did I have this thought now?

By the time I sought help from Heineken, the original work had already been ruined, and if that is somehow connected to Belfry not being an Omega, does it mean Adrian would have to suffer his whole life?

Constantly battling through agonizing estrus?

That would truly be a huge problem.

What if, due to my clumsy meddling without knowing the original work, he couldn’t find a mate until the day I die?

He might become enraged and suddenly try to erase Lindbergh from the map.

“Aaah.”

What should I do? Should I go near the palace right now and wait for 5 minutes, pretending to say, ‘If Belfry isn’t an Omega, I’ll take his place’?

Ah, that would hurt my pride a bit.

No, is pride the issue here?

How did Adrian help me?

Thanks to him, Leia escaped from those terrible parents, and even Carl Lindbergh avoided a fatal ending.

The price he requested was me.

A dominant Omega.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

While I was pacing around and acting out the drama in my head, the sun had already risen this high.

Knock, knock.

The knocking sound came again.

“Who is it?”

Could it be the houseowner?

He should be asleep at this hour.

The saying that old people don’t need much sleep doesn’t seem to apply to everyone, because the landlord would play cards until late at night and only wake up around lunchtime.

“Uh, it’s Mahle from the lower village.”

Ah, it’s the young man who sells milk.

To my delight, I opened the door and there stood a young man, as innocent as a bear1Represents a person who is often too honest or not very intuitive in general. The opposite of a fox., carrying a pail of milk.

“What brings you here? Coming all the way to my house. Come on in first.”

Despite my urging, the young man hesitated and couldn’t easily come inside the room.

“Well, you see. You’ve always been the first to buy milk. But today, since the sun hasn’t risen yet in the sky….”

He trailed off and scratched his head.

Has that much time already passed? Oh my.

“I’m sorry. You see, today I overslept a bit.”

Hahaha, I awkwardly laughed, and the young man followed suit.

“I was worried, so I came to check on you. Is there anything wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“It’s nothing like that. Please come inside.”

“It’s okay…”

“Since you came all the way here, I can’t let you go back empty-handed.”

Ah, I see.

The young man placed the bucket of milk on the floor.

There was a thud sound as if the floor was about to give way.

The bucket of milk was about 20 liters in size, and combined with its weight, it was quite hefty.

Carrying that up the hill was considered heavy labor by my standards. There’s even snow on the ground, so it’s not heavy labor, it’s boot camp training.

“Since you’ve given me your time, I thought I’d put my skills to work.”

When I rolled up my sleeves, Mahle nodded.

With a very faint blush on both cheeks.