Rejected by Daughter’s Second Male Lead Chapter 112

‘He was definitely breaking out in a cold sweat…’

Gillen was deeply worried about Yuan’s condition. After Yuan disappeared like that, Gillen barely listened to anything Hexion said, and he often gave absentminded replies to Cecilia as well.

“Father, are you really alright? You look a bit tired.”

“He doesn’t look tired, he looks sick.”

Cecilia had put it mildly, but Hexion added seriously from the side. Gillen touched his own gaunt face and forced a smile.

“I’m not sick, but… I don’t think my physical condition is very good. If you’ll excuse me, would it be alright if I took my leave first today, Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Of course, Duke. The Duke is the only guest who can come visit here anytime. Since you are the beloved father of Cecil, I mean, the Crown Princess-to-be, you are my father as well. From now on, think of me as your son, Duke.”

What son talks like that, Gillen grumbled inwardly as he stood up. Cecilia stood up to follow Gillen, her face full of worry.

“Father… are you really alright? Did you by any chance fight with Yuan? That’s why—”

“It’s not like that, my dear.”

Gillen kissed Cecilia’s cheek and continued speaking warmly.

“The next time we meet, it will be as Her Highness the Crown Princess and Duke Blake. We won’t be able to show such intimate affection unless we are alone. But I am content as long as you are happy. You know that well, don’t you? So there is no need to be sad.”

“Father…”

Tears welled up in Cecilia’s eyes. But soon, she nodded her head vigorously.

“I know. I know better than anyone how hard-won this reality is. I, too, am content as long as Father is happy and healthy.”

As someone who knew Cecilia was a regressor, Gillen could guess the immeasurable pain and weight her words carried. Because Gillen had watched from the sidelines how much this young child had suffered since she was three years old, and how she had strived day and night to change the future.

“Cecil, you deserve to be happy. You are the protagonist of your life.”

The protagonist of your life, not the original story’s protagonist. Gillen, as the only person who now knew the original story had completely changed, offered those words.

“Don’t be too anxious or too scared. His Highness the Crown Prince is by your side now, and as always, I am behind you. You know that, right?”

In the end, tears streamed from Cecilia’s eyes. She threw herself into Gillen’s arms.

“Father, I love you.”

“I love you too, Cecilia.”

The sound of the imperial palace ladies-in-waiting, who were standing behind them, occasionally sniffling could be heard. Even Hexion was holding back tears.

After creating such a sea of tears, Gillen boarded the Blake family’s carriage. He waved his hand at the Cecil-Hexion couple—the protagonist couple of this original story—who were seeing him off while hugging each other affectionately, and Gillen leaned his back against the carriage seat.

“Hoo…”

It was true that he was not feeling well. But what worried him more than his own body was Yuan. The image of Yuan hastily disappearing with a noticeably pale complexion kept replaying in his mind. He had seen Yuan use countless spells with a flourish as if to show off, but he had never once seen him break into a cold sweat or seem overwhelmed. Something must have been wrong with him.

“Homer!”

Gillen knocked on the carriage wall to call the coachman.

“Yes, Your Grace!”

The coachman answered loudly from the front.

“Let’s go to the Hampton estate!”

“…Yes, I understand!”

The coachman turned the horses without a word, following the Duke’s command. Probably thinking that the lovers’ quarrel between His Grace the Duke and the Marquis must have ended.

But, how could this be.

“I am sorry, Your Grace. The Marquis has stated that he will not meet with anyone. It has already been two weeks since he locked the doors of the Hampton Marquisate.”

The familiar robot aide, Ricardo, came out and bowed 90 degrees at the carriage window with an apologetic expression. The coachman shouted as if he was dumbfounded.

“Now, how can this be! His Grace the Duke has come, and you’ve locked the doors! Would he refuse to meet even His Majesty the Emperor if he came? Of course not!”

“Homer, calm down.”

Gillen spoke calmly and then got out of the carriage. Ricardo reflexively stepped aside and bowed respectfully.

“Ricardo. Is Yuan perhaps sick? Is that why he has secluded himself?”

“That… I cannot say. This is something I cannot answer even if His Majesty the Emperor were to come and ask. My only master is the Marquis Hampton.”

Perhaps because he was a robot aide, his loyalty was indescribably high. It seemed he was designed for loyalty to take precedence over fear or guilt.

Gillen sighed and nodded.

“Yes, I cannot put you in a difficult position just to satisfy my curiosity. I will return then. If Yuan happens to change his mind, let me know. You can do that, can’t you?”

“Of course, Your Grace.”

Gillen got back into the carriage. The coachman, who had been glaring fearsomely at Ricardo for rejecting his master, turned the carriage around.

And Yuan was watching the entire scene from beginning to end using a magic telescope. He was standing by the window of his laboratory.

“Why did he come here? After he was the one who said we should end it. Pretending to be worried when he never even liked me…”

Yuan cursed Gillen out loud, then hurt himself with his own words and fell silent. He watched the outside through the telescope until the carriage disappeared, then sat down.

His physical condition was certainly not good. The cold sweat had already broken out once earlier, leaving his whole body cold, but his forehead was burning with a fever. His vision was dizzy, and he felt nauseous. And Yuan knew exactly what these symptoms were.

“Fuck…”

Ever since he had manifested as a dominant alpha, he had researched pheromones, and after meeting Gillen, he had studied even more diligently. The symptoms he was experiencing now were those that appeared when imprinted individuals were separated for a long time. They would ail and grow weaker until they eventually died.

It was not a mutual imprinting. He had pushed himself to go to the imperial palace today just in case Gillen was also experiencing the same symptoms as him, but though he had lost a little weight, he did not look like an individual who had lost his mate. It was probably just that he was overworking his body out of guilt toward Yuan.

That was a relief, but… Yuan’s body was getting worse in real time. He now quickly lost his energy even when using simple magic, and sometimes his vision would turn black. His eyesight was weakening as well.

According to the books, the majority of cases of alphas or omegas who lost their imprinted mates involved those who lost their partners to death and, shortly after, developed visual or auditory impairments and died within a month.

“How embarrassing, an alpha unilaterally imprinting on an alpha…”

Yuan muttered in a hoarse voice and lay down on the sofa. Lying on his side at least lessened the nausea a little.

“Marquis, it is Sebastian. May I enter?”

“Yeah.”

Sebastian, who knocked and entered from outside, offered him a medicine on a silver tray.

“It is time for your medicine.”

“Just put it in my mouth.”

“…Yes.”

The purple potion entered the mouth of Yuan, who had turned to face upward on the sofa. To avoid spilling a single drop, Sebastian carefully tilted the vial and put the medicine in his master’s mouth. The red tongue visible between the pale lips hit the roof of his mouth as he swallowed the potion, and each time, Sebastian’s mechanical face twitched.

This potion was developed by Yuan after he realized his symptoms; it was a kind of restorative that boosted the body’s immunity. It could not ultimately cure the symptoms of pheromone deficiency from an imprinted mate, but it could slow the path to death.

“Marquis… perhaps if you just told His Grace the Duke the truth and simply met with him regularly—”

“I told you no. Get out.”

“But Marquis, if something really were to happen to you…!”

“I said get out.”

“Get out! Get out!”

The parrot, which had been sleeping quietly in the corner, woke up and pecked at Sebastian’s head. Sebastian snatched the parrot in one hand, gave Yuan a polite bow, and left.

Finally, the laboratory became quiet. Yuan slowly closed his eyes. He recalled Gillen, who had sat next to him for a short while today. The scent of the longed-for pheromones that heated his body, the sharper line of his profile, the gentle voice, the worried look in his eyes…

“Hoo…”

Even while in pain, the thought of Gillen made his lower body grow stiff. Not that he had enough energy to masturbate, but in his mind, the desire was so intense that if Gillen were in front of him right now, he could lose his reason and pound his asshole with his cock.

“I can’t die, I just can’t die…”

Yuan muttered. It was absurd for him, the treasure of the empire who appears once in a thousand years, a man close to a god, the greatest magician, to die an early death at twenty-five. But he did not want to torment Gillen either.

‘Yuan, do you remember when I first told you I didn’t like you?’

‘I hated that you were going to marry Cecil.’

‘The reason I kept you by my side was… because I didn’t want you to go near Cecil.’

How could Yuan go back to a man who had suffered, forcing him to stay by his side because even the thought of him ending up with his daughter was terrible? He did not want to make Gillen miserable again.