Chapter 43

"..."

Helio blinked blankly.

"An aphrodisiac?"

"Yes..."

This was why the prince had said to come here. This mansion was where he confined himself whenever his rut hit. Everything needed to get through a rut was prepared here.

The prince asked in a cracked voice.

"There are suppressants in the drawer. Could you get them for me?"

Helio still didn't seem to fully understand the situation, but he followed the prince's order out of habit.

When he opened the drawer of the bedside table, pills in glass bottles and syringes appeared. They were all suppressants to subdue alpha traits.

Helio handed over the medicine bottle.

"Ah."

However, the prince's trembling hands couldn't grip the bottle properly and dropped it. Helio caught the bottle before it fell to the floor, opened the lid, and poured a few pills into his palm.

"Your Highness, please open your mouth."

The prince opened his mouth without resistance. Helio carefully placed the pills into the unusually red mouth.

Crunch. The prince chewed and swallowed the pills as if they were candy. Even though they must have been very bitter just from the smell, he didn't frown at all. It was something he had gotten used to since awakening as a dominant alpha.

A moment later, he shook his head.

"It's not working."

His pheromones were raging out of control. It was a precursor symptom seen just before a rut started.

In this state, even suppressants wouldn't work. His traits were too strong for the suppressants to have their proper effect.

"I suppose it's fortunate you're a beta at least..."

The prince muttered in a cracked voice. If Helio had been an omega, he couldn't have received help, and above all, something terrible might have happened due to his pheromones.

He wiped away the cold sweat that had run down to his eyes and said:

"For now... I need to stay here for a while. So Helio, don't cause any trouble... and stay nearby."

With those words, the prince pulled the blanket over himself.

In fact, he had been in a swollen state down below, painful enough since earlier.

He didn't want to show such an embarrassing appearance. Especially because he would have to do even more embarrassing things soon, he hoped Helio would quickly go outside.

Several years had passed since he had awakened as a trait-bearer. Over the past few years, experiencing ruts several times, he knew how much it could turn a person into a beast.

He didn't want to show such an appearance, at least not in front of Helio. That was why he had kept the existence of this mansion a secret from Helio. Though he ended up finding out like this in the end.

Just then, the blanket was suddenly lifted.

"...What are you doing?"

The prince asked in disbelief at the face looking down at him.

Soon came a serious answer.

"Your Highness, I've heard that an alpha's rut is difficult to endure without an omega. That it's very painful."

"Y-yes, and?"

"I may not be an omega, but please use me to ease Your Highness's suffering."

Helio's expression was very serious and his eyes loyal. However, the content of what he was saying was not at all like that, so the prince's expression hardened visibly.

"...Do you know what you're saying?"

"Yes."

Helio climbed onto the bed. The bed creaked as if struggling to bear his weight.

"I know, Your Highness."

"You really... Stop joking. This isn't the time for that!"

"I'm not joking, Your Highness."

Of course it wasn't a joke. Helio wasn't the type to make such frivolous jokes. That made it all the more devastating.

How in the world had things come to this?

A father who fed his son aphrodisiacs to obtain dominant trait-bearing offspring, and the princess who cooperated in this plot, were utterly horrifying beings. However, the most horrifying thing right now was himself. If he couldn't overcome his pheromones like this, he would end up raping this loyal knight.

Fortunately, the prince had stronger self-control than others, so he hadn't lost his reason yet. However, even he couldn't escape the influence of his traits.

"I told you to leave. It's an order!"

"I refuse."

"What?"

"Punish me for disobedience later. I'll accept it gladly."

The prince was dumbfounded, but in fact, this was something he had brought upon himself. After all, it was none other than he who had made Helio who he was now.

The prince hadn't raised Helio to be a loyal knight who would even pretend to die at his command. He had always asked for Helio's opinion and made sure not to do things Helio disliked. And now he was facing the backlash of that.

"...Did I raise you to be a whore instead of a knight?"

The prince deliberately spoke cruelly. He hoped Helio would be hurt by his words and leave this place.

However, Helio didn't even flinch. Just as he knew his knight well, Helio also knew his counterpart well.

"Your Highness, as you know, I'm a lowly person who doesn't understand things like a knight's honor."

"..."

"However, I think a whore who eases their master's pain is more honorable than a knight who turns a blind eye to their master's suffering."

What nonsense! The prince tried to say that, but he couldn't open his mouth. Because at that very moment, Helio took off his upper garment.

As the torso tightly packed with bulging muscles was revealed, the prince couldn't help but close his eyes tightly and shout.

"D-don't take off your clothes!"

"If you dislike seeing my unsightly body, you can keep your eyes closed."

Kinaine wanted to run away right then, but he couldn't help but open his eyes at those words.

His black eyes, filled with heat, took in the knight's form.

"...I've told you many times. You're not unsightly."

"..."

"I've never thought that. Rather..."

Instead of continuing his words, the prince bit his lip with his white teeth. Then rough fingers gently parted his lips.

"Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself."

The low, gentle voice stuck to his ears like honey. Even the heat touching his lips felt like an intense stimulation.

He took back his words about being fortunate that Helio was a beta. If he had been an omega, the prince could have subdued him with pheromones. He wanted to prevent what was about to happen, even if it meant knocking him unconscious with pheromones. However, the prince's pheromones had no effect on Helio, who was a beta.

At this moment, the prince knew he couldn't stop his knight.

No, perhaps he didn't want to stop him. His brain, engulfed by pheromones, strongly desired the body before him. Even though Helio wasn't an omega...

Then wasn't this his own desire?

A small doubt flashed through his mind, but he had no leisure to think that far now.

"You foolish one. You... don't know what will happen to you."

A dominant alpha's rut is violent. If Helio had been an omega, it might have been possible to give pleasure through pheromones. But Helio was a beta. In other words, he would have to endure a dominant alpha's rut with a completely clear mind.

That would undoubtedly hurt Helio.

'I don't want that.'

The prince's strength was his quick decision-making.

He immediately nodded.

"The last drawer, open it."

Helio obediently followed the prince's words and opened the drawer. Soon, his golden eyes widened at what was inside.

"Your Highness, this is..."

What was in the drawer were iron shackles that would only be used on criminals or beasts.

A dominant alpha's rut is accompanied by violence. These were tools the prince had used to restrain himself every rut, just in case. Without a moment's hesitation, the prince ordered:

"Use those to tie my arms to the bedpost."

Helio's eyes shook greatly at the unexpected words. His lips, which were about to utter words of disobedience, were sealed again by the prince's urging.

"Don't look at me like that. I use these every time a rut comes. Hurry up and do it!"

Helio finally shackled both his hands with trembling hands and tied them to the bedpost.

The prince shook his wrists to confirm they were securely fastened, then stared at Helio with bloodshot eyes.

"You brought this on yourself... understand?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Helio nodded, unable to hide his tension. The prince exhaled hot breath.

"Good. Now I'll tell you what you need to do."

"Yes, Your High-"

Helio couldn't finish his words and trembled. It was because the prince had firmly pressed his groin with his bare foot.

"Y-Your Highness?"

Black eyes, languid with heat, took in Helio. Though it didn't show outwardly, by this point his reason had already half-burned away like paper in flames.

"Make this stand..."

"..."

"And put it inside me."