97 – Cypress Mosaic

“No, ​it’s ​not ​that… ​I was simply ​doing ​my ​job ​as ​a counselor. If Mr. ​Lockhart ​has changed, it ​must be because ​he ​opened ​his ​heart ​while ​spending time with ​Lucas. ​The ​two of them ​have grown very close. ​That is ​likely the ​reason.”

Words poured ​out of ​her ​in ​an uncharacteristic ramble. ​Lorenz Lockhart ​had changed because of ​me. And he was ​continuing to change. ⎯ ​For some ​reason, ​that fact was hard to bear. ​It felt as if ​I ​had ​discovered ​an ​uncomfortable truth that ​should have ​remained ​hidden, and I ​wanted ​nothing more than to ignore ​it and ​look ​away.

“Lord Lorenz is ​a ​man ​of ​strong ​responsibility. I ​am ​sure he ​fulfilled his basic duties for Lucas’s sake. ​That is why ​he decided to ​hire a counselor in ​the first ​place. However, as ​far ​as I know, ​if it weren’t ​for you, ​Elian, ​he would ​never ​have allowed ​himself ​to dedicate ​thirty ​minutes ​every day to ​Lucas—let ​alone spending ​a ​full ​day ​with him at the villa on weekends.”

Standing before him, Margaret gently wrapped her hand around Elian’s arm.

“If it weren’t for you, Elian, he wouldn’t have been able to draw out affection from him, rather than mere a sense of duty.”

He didn’t know how to react. But one thing was certain: he could not admit that Lorenz was changing because of him. He had a feeling that if he did, things would become complicated. Elian tried to deny it in a crawling voice.

“That can’t be… There are many good counselors… Plenty of people far more skilled than I am…”

“I am not talking about skill, Elian.”

Margaret affectionately stroked Elian’s arm a couple of times.

“It is true that Lord Lorenz is unskilled at looking into and tending to his emotions. But that does not mean he has none. He simply keeps them covered; he is not a man whose very essence is cold beneath that veil.”

No, he is a man who is evil by nature, Elian wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. He, too, had clearly witnessed the softer sides of Lorenz—evidence that he was not entirely heartless.

“Please feel free to tell me if there is anything I can do to help. I am a person for both of you.”

A person for both of them.

He was grateful for Margaret’s words, but Elian knew all too well that she was Lorenz’s person, and could never be his. Furthermore, he and Lorenz were not on the same side. They were merely in a contractual relationship, maintained while holding guns to each other’s weaknesses…

By the time Margaret had left and he had finished about half a glass of wine, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.

Elian swallowed the remaining wine in one gulp. As if it were the only shield that could protect him.

Lorenz, who had passed through the dressing room instead of coming straight to the bedroom, was wearing only pajama pants. Elian discreetly averted his gaze stolen contentfrom Read on Read BL Novelshis bare upper body. [unauthorized copy]Glancing at Elian sitting on the sofa, Lorenz spoke as he walked toward the bed.

“I assume Margaret brought this?”

“The wine?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

With a smirk, Lorenz leaned over and took something out of the nightstand drawer. Because his back was turned, Elian couldn’t see exactly what he was doing. However, the beep that followed a small electronic sound felt strangely familiar. Elian searched his memory. He was sure he had heard it somewhere before…

Having closed the drawer, Lorenz had already approached the sofa. He had just come out of the shower and was in a semi-naked state, yet no scent emanated from him.

“You drank half a bottle by yourself.”

Picking up the wine bottle to check, he muttered from above.

“Are you that excited? For our first night together?”

“I didn’t know you were so good at joking.”

“Anyone jokes more when they’re in a good mood.”

Holding the bottle, Lorenz plopped down beside Elian. He had thought there was no scent, but now that they were this close, a cool scent of water wafted over.

“You’re in a good mood?”

Elian asked in a tone of disbelief. Lorenz replied as he poured wine into his own glass.

“Are you not, Elian?”

“……”

“You’ve finally been liberated from the medication, after all.”

Tilting the glass to check the aroma, Lorenz swirled the wine [stolen content]with practiced movements and brought his nose close to the glass once more. It was clear Read on Read BL Novelsthat the side effects of the stabilizers were not as severe for him as they were for Elian.

“Your sense of smell is a mess again, isn’t it?”

Elian affirmed with silence.

“During that week when you could smell, honestly, didn’t it feel like you were finally living?”

He remained silent. If looking only at the fact that he could smell, Lorenz was right.

“Now, even a wine like this is useless. Isn’t it just alcohol that makes the tongue astringent?”

It was an accurate description. When the olfactory function was diminished, no matter how expensive the wine, it was nothing more than a liquid that burned the throat and intoxicated the mind.

“I don’t know about you, Elian, but I liked that week when the Pheromone effect lasted.”

“……”

“Since I didn’t have a headache all day, it really felt like I was living.”

It was similar for Elian. While the headaches were unrelated to him, the happiness of being able to detect every scent was immense. Even the stench rising from a roadside trash can had been welcome. It was as if color and sound had been added to a world that had been like a black-and-white silent film, enriching every moment. It was a time when he poignantly realized that the things taken most for granted are the most precious blessings for a human being.

Watching Lorenz’s profile as he drank the wine, Elian swallowed hard before speaking.

“Lorenz… when were you diagnosed with Pheromone Dependency Syndrome?”

He asked the question cautiously.

A sliver of hope still remained in a corner of his heart. Perhaps Lorenz’s illness had developed recently. If the onset was after his mother’s death—or at least before the North River Biomedical Clinical Trial—the possibility that Lorenz was the mastermind behind that trial would decrease again. Lorenz and Joshua would once again have the same level of probability.

His heart raced violently as he waited for the answer.

After being lost in thought for a moment, Lorenz spoke heavily.

“The definitive diagnosis was when I was fourteen.”

“……”

For a moment, Elian’s body flinched. He had to grip the wine glass tightly to avoid showing his shock. His gaze, fixed on the wine bottle on the table, trembled violently.

“As I said, in my case, the side effects of the stabilizers weren’t as strong as they were for you, Elian. Instead, I lived with constant headaches. In the bedroom, the car, the school lockers, and of course, in the office after I started working… I had to have headache medication available everywhere. But starting a few months ago, strangely, the days I felt in good condition became more frequent.”

Elian slowly turned his head to look at him.

“Was it… because of me?”

Lorenz nodded.

“Why didn’t you have a Pheromone Partner all this time? For someone like you, Lorenz… finding a partner wouldn’t have been very difficult.”

Stroking his jaw, Lorenz tilted his head. Then, making direct eye contact with Elian, he gave a faint, bitter smile.

“I wonder. Perhaps I was waiting for you, Elian?”

He was certainly joking a lot today.

Having finished the rest of his wine, Lorenz set the glass down on the table. Then he looked at Elian. Elian had the illusion that Lorenz’s eyes had become damp during the shower. Perhaps it was because of the soft orange lighting of the bedroom.

“For today, let’s just try a Saliva Exchange as a test.”

“……”

“To see how much of an effect it has. Dr. Carver advised that as well. Is that alright?”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer. He could neither nod nor shake his head.

The two of them had coordinated the Pheromone Exchange plan under Dr. Carver’s medical consultation. The priority for now was to accurately determine the influence of each other’s Pheromones.

Dr. Carver had suggested a method of increasing the intensity of the Pheromone Exchange in stages.

The first stage was Saliva Exchange.

It was a way to obtain Pheromones that were more concentrated than those found in daily emissions.

The second was Sexual Fluid Exchange.

Bodily fluids secreted from the genitals—such as pre-cum, semen, or an Omega’s love juice—contain Pheromones several times more concentrated than saliva. This involved secreting fluids through masturbation and then ingesting them orally, making it far more explicit and direct than the first stage.

The final stage was exchange through intercourse.

This was the method guaranteed to have the most powerful and longest-lasting effect. Since the effect of intercourse during Heat and Rut had lasted for a week, Dr. Carver predicted that the effect of intercourse in a normal state would last at least 3 to 5 days.

Additionally, since Pheromones are released from the skin’s glands whenever one is sexually aroused, that effect would be included regardless of the stage.

Lorenz shifted his body while sitting. Creak. The leather sofa groaned softly at his movement.

Hurriedly averting his gaze, Elian quickly drained the remaining alcohol and immediately reached for the bottle.

“……”

Lorenz grabbed Elian’s wrist.

“You’ve already had quite a bit.”

“I’m still fine.”

“When you can’t even taste it. Stop drinking.”