KTS 58

Huh?

Feeling a strange atmosphere, Winston looked around in bewilderment. The servants going back and forth in the main residence seemed somehow flustered and uneasy. Tilting his head, he suddenly felt a pang of fear. Could this all be because of Yu-jin? The ominous timing made him feel uneasy. Just then, Winston saw the Butler passing by and stopped him to ask why.

“What’s going on?”The Butler paused, looked down at Winston, and replied with his usual expressionless face.

“No, there isn’t.”

Of course, Winston wasn’t fooled by that. But the Butler didn’t give him a chance to press further, suddenly frowning and asking.

“Are you perhaps unwell? Your face is very red. And your breathing is heavy.”

“Ah, no. I’m fine!”

Winston immediately stepped back, avoiding the hand that reached out to touch his forehead, and surrendered for now.

“I’m alright. You seem busy, so go on, sorry for stopping you.”

He tried his best to sound nonchalant and even smiled, but the Butler still didn’t move, his brow furrowed. If it really was an infectious disease, Yu-jin would be in trouble. Winston hurriedly turned and headed for his room, not wanting to give him any more reason to worry.

Walking straight ahead, he glanced back from the landing and saw the Butler’s retreating figure in the distance. Whew, barely relieved, Winston moved his now lighter steps and went upstairs.

He spotted his eldest brother, Gordon, almost at the top of the stairs. Seeing him leaning against the railing, looking down with an excited expression, Winston hesitated for a moment. Normally, he would have ignored him and walked away, but today he couldn’t.

Maybe Gordon knows.

“It’s very chaotic in the house today.”

He feigned ignorance and spoke casually, and Gordon glanced at him and smirked.

“Why? Curious?”

Knowing Gordon’s bad temper well, Winston was in a bit of a dilemma. Of all people, Gordon was the only one who could tell him.

Then, a forgotten memory suddenly came to mind. The moment when everyone had kept their mouths shut. Something that everyone except Winston knew.

I forgot to ask Yu-jin.

He realized it only now, but it was already too late. What was more important now was how to navigate this situation. Winston looked down with an indifferent expression and opened his mouth.

“It’s the first time it’s been this noisy because of the Separate Residence/Annex.”

At the nonchalant tone, Gordon paused and looked at him. If Gordon asked what he was talking about, he was planning to pretend he was just guessing and back down. Unless it was about Yu-jin, there was no need to hear more.

But unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It was Yu-jin’s doing after all. Hiding his anxiously beating heart, Winston stood a few steps away from Gordon and leaned against the railing. Gordon glanced at him and then looked down at the servants in the same posture.

“I’m going to have dinner in my room today. There’s no point in being seen by Mother.”

“Should I do that too?”

As soon as he casually chimed in, Gordon took the bait.

“You too? Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way Mother would say anything to you.”

“You never know, it’s about the Separate Residence/Annex. I can’t be an exception.”

Just a little more and he would spill. Winston feigned ignorance and frowned. Then Gordon, as if feeling a sense of camaraderie, relaxed his expression and asked with an excited look.

“It’s a real big deal that he’s having his Awakening, isn’t it?”

Awakening? Yu-jin?

Yu-jin was the only one in the Separate Residence/Annex. His heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, was now beating as if it would burst through his ribs. Why didn’t I think of that? He realized belatedly. That scent was the pheromone scent that came out during an Awakening. Yu-jin’s feverish appearance and the various circumstances could only be explained by an Awakening.

“Are you sure? The doctor confirmed it?”

He asked in as low a voice as possible to keep his voice from trembling, and Gordon replied in an excited voice.

“Of course. That’s why it’s such a mess right now.”

To him, what was happening now seemed like just another event. Winston wanted to run to Yu-jin right away, but he knew he couldn’t. Instead, he gripped the railing tightly, trying not to be noticed by Gordon, and opened his mouth.

“Mother must be feeling terrible right now.”

Gordon immediately took the bait he had casually thrown.

“Of course. I heard she collapsed onto the sofa right after Cain reported it.”

There was no need to push him any further. He was excited and chattering away.

“Father bringing his first love’s child into the Separate Residence/Annex was already annoying, but now he’s even having his Awakening. Up until now, she might have turned a blind eye because he was just a child, but if he grows up more, he might become Father’s pheromone partner, how could she feel comfortable? It’s okay for Father to go to pheromone parties because they’re temporary partners, but if he has a permanent partner, and right in front of Mother’s eyes.”

Gordon added with a smirk.

“Mother will never forgive that.”

Winston listened to all his words with a mask-like expressionless face. He was so shocked that he couldn’t react at all. Only then did all the questions get answered. Mother’s cold reaction, and Yu-jin’s situation of having to live alone in the Separate Residence/Annex all along.

And even what will happen in the future.

As the ominous future unfolded before his eyes like reality, he could no longer maintain his composure. Father and Yu-jin? No, that can’t happen. Father has plenty of people to release his pheromones on. He wouldn’t do that to Yu-jin.

Yu-jin with someone other than me…

Suddenly, an unfamiliar scent wafted by. Winston frowned and turned his head to check his surroundings.

“…Don’t you smell something?”

At Winston’s question, Gordon sniffed and then replied casually.

“It’s Father’s pheromone scent.”

Harold, like other extreme alphas, was constantly releasing his pheromones. Because of this, his unique sweet pheromone scent always lingered around him, and the same scent was embedded throughout the house. As if an animal was marking its territory.

But the scent he was smelling now was different.

“No, there’s a different scent…”

It was also a sweet scent, but it was different from his father’s. Just as he was about to inhale the scent more deeply, he suddenly felt dizzy.

“Winston?”

Gordon called his name in surprise. But Winston couldn’t answer. Suddenly, he was short of breath and couldn’t control his body. Haa, haa, he sat down on the spot, gasping for breath. His vision turned red and he couldn’t think straight. What’s wrong? Why is this happening all of a sudden?

“Hey, get a grip! Winston! Hey, uh, over here! Someone come here! Winston is acting strange!”

Gordon kept shouting, making his ears ring. Shut up, shut up! Winston gritted his teeth and shouted, but it only echoed in his mouth.

“Winston!”

Gordon shouted again. But he couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed to the floor. Heat spread throughout his body and his skin burned. The strange sweet scent that had been lingering around him quickly intensified, further confusing his mind. The voices of people shouting came from afar.

“Gordon, get out of the way! Get out of here right now!”

Amidst the murmuring people, his mother kept shouting.

“Call the family doctor! Cain, what are you doing? Move Winston to his room, quickly!”

Gasping for breath and slumped over, his memories were being cut off in pieces. In his intermittent consciousness, he heard his mother’s voice.

“As expected, Winston, I knew you could do it. I believed you would become an extreme alpha like Harold…!”

With her voice sounding almost moved, Winston completely lost consciousness. And when he opened his eyes several days later, the first thing he realized was that he had had his Awakening. He couldn’t believe it even when he directly confirmed his purple eyes, like his father’s.

But that wasn’t the end of it. His life changed drastically because of his Awakening.

“I’ve found a good school.”

His mother said with a bright smile. It was the high school his father had graduated from, and unfortunately, the boarding school was located in England. He strongly refused, but it was no use. While he was deeply asleep after finishing his Awakening, his mother had already put her son on a jet and brought him to England.

And four years have passed since then.