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“Your Highness,”
“Who is it?”
Ben frowned at the voice outside the door. He kept all the courtiers away while Etienne had a heat cycle. To enter without the permission of Ben, the chief attendant, meant that he was not a member of the Prince’s Palace.
“Her Majesty, the Empress is calling you.”
Sure enough. The owner of the voice was a maid who served the Empress. The uninvited guest, who suddenly came, delivered the Empress’s words without Ben having time to say anything.
“Her Majesty, the Empress?”
“Yeah. Please go straight to the palace.”
“Ha!”
When Ben heard that the Empress was looking for Etienne, Ben looked suprised. While Etienne was unconscious, she didn’t show her face even once, but as soon as he woke up, he wondered why she was looking for him.
“It’s all right.”
Etienne stopped Ben from saying anything. It was he who got into trouble when Ben had a trouble with this maid here.
“I need to wash up before I go.”
She told him to come right away, but if he goes without washing, she will get sarcastic and dissatisfaction would fall again. Etienne ordered, with a calm face.
“Get the bath ready.”
“…I understand.”
Ben bit his lips and swallowed a sigh as if dissatisfied with something. While Ben went to the bathroom, Etienne stood up using the bedpost as a support. He didn’t even have strength for just this much movement.
“I’ll go, if I find enough strength….”
Etienne murmured in a subdued voice. There was a fear on his face that he couldn’t hide.
* * *
“Greetings to the Star of the Empire.”
A knight guarding the Empress Palace greeted Etienne with a modest gesture.
“Where is Her Majesty the Empress?”
“She is in the reception room.”
At the knight’s answer, Etienne hardened his expression. Being in the reception room meant meeting someone. He couldn’t resist the instant irritation and clicked his tongue.
“Tch.”
Etienne resisted the urge to turn around immediately and went inside. As he entered the hallway, about a dozen courtiers bowed in unison. He stepped forward, ignoring their greetings. The faint scent of the Empress’s palace that wafted in the lobby grew stronger as Etienne got closer to the reception room. It was such an alluring scent.
“Whoo…!”
Etienne consciously inhaled and exhaled. Otherwise, he felt suffocated by the Empress’s pheromone.
“Are you here, Your Highness?”
When he reached the reception room at the end of the hallway, a maid greeted Etienne with a polite attitude. At that moment, Etienne felt goosebumps all over his body.The overwhelming scent that pierces the tip of the nose and several scents intertwined as if longing for it. The pheromones he felt through the closed door were more than one or two.
“Your Majesty, His Majesty the Crown Prince is here.”
“Let him in.”
When the maid-in-waiting announced that Etienne had arrived, a seductive voice came from within. Etienne gulped and swallowed his breath at the scent of pheromone, which had sprung through the silent opening door.
“Come on in, Your Highness,”
When Etienne stood there with a stiff face, the maid-in-waiting said in a little stern voice. Annoyance erupted in an instant at the subtle disregard, but there was nothing she could do.
“Mother.”
Is this how a prisoner who is being taken to prison feels?
Etienne, taking a small deep breath, called the Empress and entered the reception room.
“Have you come?”
The view of the reception room was spectacular. Etienne narrowed his eyebrows as he watched the queen half lying on the sofa and the people moaning under her.
“Ah Ah…”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Empress…”
All those who pleaded with the Empress were Alphas. Etienne looked down at the Empress’s lovers with bored eyes.
The aristocrats, the core members of the aristocracy, the knights who were praised as heroes in the past, and the children of famous noble families were also slaves who gave in to desire for this moment.
“Your Majesty, please….”
The lovers possessed by the Empress’s pheromone did not care whether Etienne came in or not. Their gaze was fixed only on the Empress.
The Empress, half-naked, looked at the lovers longing for her affection with a happy expression. They were loyal dogs who lusted after her.
“Your Majesty,”
The one closest to the Empress called her with a desperate voice. The Empress was willing to scatter pheromones for the begging lovers. Like a flower in full bloom, the scent of the Empress spread in all directions.
“…Hgh.”
Etienne gasped as he felt nauseous. He couldn’t get his mind off of the Empress’s pheromone filling the reception room.
“Is it painful?”
Etienne, who barely moved his lips, shut his mouth again at the alpha pheromone emitted by the excited lovers. He tried to endure it somehow, but it was too much. It hasn’t been long since the heat cycle ended. His body weakened to the point where he lost consciousness for three consecutive days. He couldn’t withstand the pheromone emitted by several alpha at the same time.
“No, hgh,”
Eventually, Etienne’s body collapsed. Sitting on the floor, he kept throwing up. His stomach was upset and his head was splitting.
“Tch.”
The Empress clicked her tongue at Etienne, who was shaking like a wounded beast. She was angry to see him fall because he couldn’t stand the alpha pheromones.
“Everyone, get out of here now.”
“Your… Your Majesty,”
“What…?”
The lovers looked up at the Empress with a blank face at the sudden guest request.
“I’ve lost my excitement.”
The Empress, who had obtained the pheromones, closed her eyes with a look of boredom. Even though the scent that paralyzed reason disappeared, the lovers could not come to their senses.
“Maid, see the guests off.”
“Will follow your order, your Majesty.”
The Empress called the maidservant and ordered her to show them out, as if she was no longer interested in the lovers who looked at her with a blank face.
Before long, only the Empress and Etienne were left in the reception room. There was a heavy atmosphere between them.
“Stupid.”
It was a sharp rebuke that broke the silence. Etienne bit his lower lip at the sharp voice of the Empress.
“What are you going to do with the way you react to pheromones? They were possessed by my pheromones, and were out of their minds or else you would have almost been caught. Do you really want everyone to know that you’re an Omega just like that?”
“….No.”
If she was so worried that he might be found out that he was an omega, wouldn’t it have been better to send out the lovers in advance or not release the pheromone in front of them?Etienne barely swallowed the words that filled his throat.
“Of course, Betas also feel the powerful pheromones emitted by dominant alphas and dominant omega to some extent. You can’t just smell the scent, but you can feel the energy.”
The Empress added, glaring at her son, who was staggering up.
“…I’m sorry.”
“For how long on this earth do I have to say this? Huh? Do I always have to be this stressed because of you?”
Etienne’s head was gradually lowered by the constant rebuke.
It wasn’t only a day or two that the Empress tormented him in this way, but it was especially tight today.
“It’s very strange,”
The Empress crumpled her forehead as Etienne lowered his head without a word. She muttered as if she really didn’t understand.
“How could such a thing come out of my womb?”
He got choked up and felt sick at the words that were meant to hurt him. Etienne bit the flesh inside his mouth hard, feeling his solar plexus heating up. He wondered where the blood was coming from, and there was a coppery taste in his mouth.
“Everything would have been easier if you weren’t an Omega….”
The Empress did not care whether Etienne was hurt or not. Rather, she lamented outright. She looked at Etienne with eyes full of irritation.
He was her son who inherited her appearance as it is. Anyone can tell that they were mother and son, but they were not affectionate at all.
[Translator’s note: Hey reader’s, so I figured out that Etienne is not actually Crown Prince. I mentioned the Crown Prince’s palace at the end of the last chapter. I’ll edit it soon. Sorry for the confusion! Enjoy reading. </3 P.S. The Empress seems evil. Don’t be mean to my Etienne cutie.]