Kiss the Stranger

I had held my breath out of habit and my body trembled, but Asgile passed by without even sparing me a glance. Today he was wearing a suit. I vaguely remembered hearing that he was meeting someone from abroad. Maybe that was why he looked unusually tired. He loosened his tie and tossed it onto the sofa, then shrugged off his jacket in the same careless way and headed toward the bed. He would call me soon. I swallowed, but my mouth was so dry that only my Adam’s apple moved uselessly.

Asgile paused beside the bed and shot me a sideways glance, as if asking what I was doing. I forced myself to move and crawled toward him.
Since that day, I had never stood or walked in front of him. My legs no longer had any strength, and I simply didn’t have the energy. He watched me crawl on all fours with a cool, detached gaze. When I finally reached within a few steps of him, Asgile tore his eyes away from me. That was when I found my voice.
“Your Highness.”

I managed to make a sound, but my voice was so cracked and hoarse that even I was startled. As expected, Asgile frowned at the unpleasant sound and turned back to me. Anxiety and fear washed over me again at the thought of displeasing him. Then urgency unexpectedly overtook my fear. I felt a desperate need to speak before the chance slipped away.
“Pl… please let me go to the laboratory. There is… someone I must definitely meet there…”
My throat was so dry I couldn’t finish the sentence. I coughed until a sharp pain crept through my body. As the skin that had begun to heal cracked anew, a wave of dizziness overtook me and my vision went black. I thought I saw Asgile’s surprised expression one last time, but I couldn’t be sure.

Ah, haah, ha, ah….
Silent moans escaped my lips. The wounds still stung and burned. My fingers twitched on their own, as if the pain compelled my nerves to jerk the muscles. I, who had been exhaling in a jumble of breaths, broke out in a cold sweat and forced my eyes open.
How many more times would I have to endure this?

I thought fleetingly that there would come a day when I couldn’t open my eyes anymore. At the edge of my blurry vision, a familiar face appeared. The moment I recognized him, I froze in fright again. In my wide-open view, the cool features of the man twisted into a frown.
“You’re awake at last.”
Only then did I realize I was lying face down on his bed. Seeing Asgile sitting on the chair by the tea table waiting for me to regain consciousness, I thought belatedly that he must have stayed until I woke. Why? What did he plan to say?
I heard the clattering of chattering teeth. That was the sound of me trembling. It wasn’t only fear. I was freezing. I faintly heard rain pattering outside. Asgile’s eyes narrowed.

“What’s this reason you want to go to the lab? Is it for a man?”
Taken aback by the sudden question, I stared dumbly. As I just stared, Asgile continued.
“You looked so desperate to go there… you must have a good reason. Did you sneak off to meet a man other than Steward?”

He let out a short, bitter laugh and added, “I heard from Haham that you probably went there to sell your body.”
I wanted to shake my head, but I couldn’t move. As I barely managed to move my lips, Asgile said indifferently, “It stirs a queer pity in me that some man would pay for an omega as pitiful and inept in bed as you.”
It wasn’t that I had nothing to say—I had so much to say that my tongue wouldn’t work. He went on, “Strange thing is, I could smell your pheromones before, your traits screamed omega, but now I detect no scent at all.”

That struck me as odd too. Ever ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ since my first time with Kamar, I’d always sensed my own scent. There were a few exceptions, but they all had one thing in common: each time, Prince Asgile was nearby. The first time was in the garden when I ran into him, and afterward, ever since he whipped me, the scent vanished. Was it, as Meisa said, merely a result of my instincts? Had I unknowingly hidden my pheromones to protect myself?
As I reached that thought, Asgile spoke again. “It would be best to get rid of that foul iron smell first. I can’t detect any other scent—my nose feels numb.”
He twisted his face in disgust. Had he poured so much pheromone to mask the smell of my blood? The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth, when suddenly, someone knocked on the door. After a moment, the chamberlain entered, bowed to Asgile, then leaned in to whisper something quietly. Throughout their exchange, Asgile’s gaze remained fixed on me. I could only watch, unable to guess what they were discussing. When the chamberlain finished speaking, he stepped back. Asgile parted his tightly pressed lips and spoke.

“The man you mentioned isn’t at the palace. You don’t mean to suggest there’s some secret passage I don’t know about?”
“…A man?”
I asked in bewilderment. Thankfully, my breath returned, and my voice, though still hoarse, escaped. Asgile narrowed his eyes and looked at me with complete disbelief.

“Yes, the man you cried over wanting to see. Whether he’s a guest or a lover, I don’t know.”
Though his words dripped with mockery, I remained stunned. I only blinked, until I suddenly remembered the name I had been on the tip of my tongue before I passed out.
“…Rikal?”

When I asked hesitantly, he stared at me instead of answering, as if warning me he wouldn’t forgive another lie. I felt hollow, my mind blank.
“…That… that is a cat.”
Asgile did not reply. After several seconds of silence, he furrowed his brow and asked, “What did you say?”
After that, I went through a full day of drifting in and out of sleep. Meisa and the nurse took turns giving me injections and applying medicine to my wounds, watching over me. Strangely, I had been lying on Prince Asgile’s bed the whole time, but Meisa’s warning that moving might reopen my wounds weighed heavily on him.

“Even so, it’s the first time His Highness has offered his own bed to someone else.”
When the nurse said that, Meisa tossed her a glance, then continued unfazed. “Right? Even when Rut comes, the prince insists on sleeping alone. He can’t sleep when there’s someone around. And lately, he hasn’t sought out any other omegas, no matter how much they insist. Could there be something special about Yohan?”
It sounded as if she were asking me, but Meisa answered instead. “He isn’t looking for any other omega because this one is still alive. And if Yohan were truly special, he wouldn’t have been left in this state. At least he went to attend his duties just now, but at night he’ll have to endure more harsh treatment…”

She sighed as though the outcome was obvious. I had no reply, so I buried my face in the pillow.
My drifting consciousness was jolted awake by another knock. I blinked sleepily and looked up as the door opened and someone entered. I flinched in surprise, then swallowed my breath. The hand that had stroked me in comfort drifted away. Then a voice I had heard before spoke.
“Hello. I’m Zahara, I used to handle odd jobs in the lab…”

At her words, my trembling eased slightly. When I managed to look at her, I saw a familiar face. Zahara caught sight of me and gasped softly.
“My goodness…”
Her exclamation startled me for just a moment. But the instant I saw the cat in her arms, all the pain slipped away.

“Rikal?”
I cried out before I realized it. At that, the cat in Zahara’s arms wriggled free and darted across the room at astonishing speed. In mere seconds, he reached his destination and leapt onto the bed.
“Rikal!”

I wanted to scoop him up, but I couldn’t lift myself. I could only call his name as he rushed to me, then threw himself against my face and body, rubbing everywhere and crying. I raised a shaky hand and stroked his fur. The feel against my palm was achingly real. This wasn’t a dream, I thought. Rikal, you’ve been all right. Tears welled up, and I began to sob quietly.
“What happened? That cat…”
Meisa asked, and Zahara answered. “He’s the cat Yohan raised since childhood. He came with you, but when you ended up like this… thankfully, he used to wander into the kitchen all the time, so everyone knew. At night he’d return to the lab and by day he’d get food in the kitchen.”

No wonder Rikal looked healthier than when he lived with me. A mix of relief and sorrow made me laugh through my tears.
“…Thank you, Zahara.”
When I managed to speak, she looked away awkwardly. “I didn’t really do much.”

Just then, Rikal pressed his face against my cheek with a mew. I weakly turned my head and kissed the bridge of his nose. Tears streamed down my face again.
After a long time of crying, the nurse checking my vitals raised an eyebrow. “Is your body temperature usually this low?”
I said I didn’t know, and Meisa seemed to think for a moment before administering a sleeping injection.

“Get some sleep. I’ll have them raise the room temperature. You won’t be able to keep anything over you in this state.”
With that, my consciousness slipped away completely, and I fell into a deep, long sleep for the first time in ages. Rikal’s warmth and weight covering my neck and shoulders comforted me.
It was a sudden sigh that brought me back again.

“So it really was a cat.”
Along with that, a sweet scent drifted to my nose, and I opened my eyes once more. Straining to lift my gaze, I saw Asgile standing beside the bed, frowning as though displeased. He looked larger than ever, his dark shadow cast over me by the chandelier’s light behind him. I trembled violently as I drew in a rough breath. The Rikal who had been draped across my neck reacted abruptly.
A low growl rumbled from him. My heart sank at the sight of the cat’s bristling fur and the tail flicking against the bed.

“Rikal, no…!”
I cried out desperately as Rikal let out a sharp yowl and leapt toward Asgile.