By Zephyria 
My bold behavior was, in truth, half-sincere and half-joking. Joo Min-hyeok likes physical touch more than I thought. I’m not sure if that’s limited to the Grand Imperial Concubine or if he’s like that with everyone, but since I’ve never witnessed him holding someone else’s hand, touching their arm, or wrapping his hand around their waist, I decided to believe for now that he’s only like this with me.
But there’s something funny about it. When I pretend not to notice, he fusses and touches me endlessly; however, the moment I become conscious of it, he stops his actions and feigns indifference as if nothing happened, or often cowers if I push back harder.
I don’t know the reason why. Perhaps he snaps back to his senses and realizes the nature of our relationship through my touch, or maybe he’s an inexperienced novice who becomes fearful, or perhaps my proactive attitude kills the mood… regardless, this is his mysterious pattern. So, I thought it would be the same this time.
As I brought my hand near a place that no one—let alone Han Hee-sung—had ever touched, I wondered for a moment if I had gone too far or if it was too suggestive. Usually, he stopped what he was doing when I acted like this, so I was certain he would be startled and pull his hand away this time too. But that wasn’t the case.
“Here? You’re saying he actually touched here?”
“Huh? Y-Your Majesty, wait—”
“What do you mean, wait? I’m asking if he really touched here. Answer me straight. Did Han Hee-sung touch you?”
His hand, which had been moving upward without hesitation, stopped precariously just before touching my chest. I was so startled I thought my heart was going to jump out of my mouth. My god, what a shock. I really thought he was going to touch me. The novice wasn’t Joo Min-hyeok; it was me. Right. Pranks like this aren’t for everyone.
I laughed awkwardly and tried to overlap my hand over his to push it down to end the joke. However, Joo Min-hyeok’s hand, which held mine tightly and remained around my chest, didn’t budge an inch, like a heavy stone. My pitiful chest, trapped between Joo Min-hyeok’s long fingers, was at risk of being invaded with just a slight flick of his wrist, and I swallowed hard in anxiety.
Then, one of Joo Min-hyeok’s hands slid down slowly and stroked my lower abdomen. Goosebumps rose at that ticklish sensation. While continuing to touch my stomach, Joo Min-hyeok asked once more.
“…I’m asking if Han Hee-sung touched you. Think carefully and answer truthfully. Grand Imperial Concubine, a single word from you could wipe out an entire clan.”
Is it my delusion to feel that those cringeworthy, boastful, middle-school-syndrome-like words are sincere? No. This man was more than capable of actually doing it. Therefore, I had to show a reaction that he could understand immediately. I shook my head with a motion so large I worried about my cervical disc.
“No. He did not.”
My tone might have sounded a bit servile, but sincerity is the most important thing in an apology, so let’s not think about anything else. Cha Hae-joo, what does pride matter?
“Then why provoke me with useless words?”
“I-I’m sorry…”
But before my apology could even finish, Joo Min-hyeok’s pheromones suddenly surged, filling the entire room. This wasn’t at a level of ‘Ah, it smells nice’; it was such a massive amount that I felt a sense of crisis, as if I might suffocate from the pheromones.
No, why is he so bad at controlling the amount of pheromones today? Joo Min-hyeok is usually so thorough with pheromone management that he’s beyond fastidious—he’s the epitome of sensitivity—so I couldn’t understand this situation. Why is he scattering pheromones everywhere…
His behavior is strange today. Why is he clinging to me so excessively? He’s never been this blatant before. He was a man who could be sly without being greasy, but the way Joo Min-hyeok is currently perched on my back feels excessively clingy and sticky.
“Ah! Your Majesty, why the ear…?”
“What about the ear?”
What do you mean, what! Why are you rubbing your mouth against my ear? No, this is really strange. The sound of his breathing echoing in my ear is also too rough and fast. Moreover, perhaps influenced by Joo Min-hyeok’s pheromones, my body began to grow hot and increasingly sensitive. Recognizing the changing state of my body, I became certain that Joo Min-hyeok’s condition was different from usual.
And now, this. The excessively heavy presence I felt at my waist made me realize exactly what situation I was in. Damn it, it’s a rut. Joo Min-hyeok has entered his rut.
We’re in trouble. What do I do? I should have known when Joo Min-hyeok’s rut days were. Why am I only thinking about such an important matter now?
“Ugh…”
But I couldn’t even think of attempting anything. It was because I was pinned down by a Joo Min-hyeok who had lost his reason, unable to move. H-he’s heavy. He’s heavy, and I was reeling from the presence of the weight I felt on my back.
His lips passed over my ears and neck countless times, and my chest was already trapped within his palms, being toyed with. Every time those large, hot, and slightly calloused rough palms stimulated my chest, I shuddered involuntarily. The feeling is too strange. It’s strange, definitely strange, but my body is limp as if I’m drunk, and it doesn’t feel bad.
Before I knew it, intoxicated by Joo Min-hyeok’s touch and pheromones, I was panting and releasing a large amount of pheromones. I didn’t even realize when such thick pheromones had started coming out.
My own physical state was also changing. My mind was becoming distantly hazy, but strangely, my body became excessively sensitive as if every cell in my body were coming alive, reacting as if I were going crazy at his every gesture. What on earth is this sensation? It’s a pleasure I’ve felt for the first time in my life.
The sensitive pleasure, making it feel as if my entire body had become an erogenous zone, was almost frightening. As an Omega, I responded to Joo Min-hyeok’s body, accepting the Alpha’s rut pheromones as if I had been waiting for them without even knowing it. Those unknown sensations were too agonizing. It’s agonizing. My body has become so sensitive that it’s painful and difficult.
“Uuu, Your Majesty… it’s strange.”
Intoxicated by the rut and my pheromones, Joo Min-hyeok was preoccupied with kissing me. He’s not like the Joo Min-hyeok I knew. Do I also lose my mind to pheromones like that when my Heat is triggered? No! I can overcome something like Heat with willpower. With willpower!
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
But that was a miscalculation. Ah… willpower isn’t enough. Joo Min-hyeok’s sweet words and pheromones conquered the reason that was shouting for willpower. Joo Min-hyeok touched me more boldly, and as he kneaded my body while layered over my back, he suddenly flipped me over. Then, I saw a face of Joo Min-hyeok I had never seen before.
The look in Joo Min-hyeok’s eyes as he looked at me was that of an Alpha just before devouring an Omega. I was genuinely terrified. Because it felt like I was actually going to be eaten. Joo Min-hyeok’s face, with his cheeks, neck, and even ears turned bright red, was filled with a desire I had never seen.
It was a moment where I instantly understood the contents of the books that explained why an Alpha who is not a mate is dangerous to an Omega. Although I am legally married to Joo Min-hyeok, we are not mates, so I couldn’t control him.
It was obvious that I couldn’t beat Joo Min-hyeok with strength no matter what method I used, and it seemed impossible for him, already intoxicated by the rut, to snap out of it. Moreover, I think my Heat has arrived as well. I could tell instinctively. The ticklishness, the heat, and the desire to have Joo Min-hyeok. Damn it, I’ve gone into Heat because of you. What do we do now…
“What are we going to do now that we’ve both become like this, Your Majesty? Ugh.”
“…What do you mean, what are we going to do? Is there anything else besides one?”
One? I didn’t need him to say it to know what that ‘one’ was. Ha, as if that’s possible. After making me take contraceptives for so long, he asks if there’s anything else besides one?
Joo Min-hyeok, who repeatedly sucked and bit my cheek with all his might, continued his words while kissing the tip of my nose, my lips, and my chin.
“My baby. Hae-joo, you must have my baby. Hae-joo, you must give birth to my heir. You will, right?”
Give birth to what? As if I could even conceive? I’ve taken contraceptives for so long. And yet, ‘must’? He said ‘must’? He’s really lost it. An Alpha in rut develops a strong obsession with their own bloodline.
Joo Min-hyeok, whose eyes were flipped by the rut, was also faithful to the instincts of a Dominant Alpha. All while forgetting that he himself had made me take contraceptives for several years.
A Dominant Alpha’s rut does not end in a day or two. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to endure it, but looking at his eyes filled with desire, I knew for certain that our first night together was about to begin.