Rejected by Daughter’s Second Male Lead Chapter 66

The scent of oranges is similar to your pheromones?

Among those with traits, this was tantamount to flirting. Gillen quickly made an excuse.

“No, anyone can tell your pheromones smell like refreshing and sweet oranges or lemons. That’s why I just said it without thinking. It definitely doesn’t have any other meaning… I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Yuan simply replied with that and continued his meal.

Was I the only one who was overly conscious of it?

Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, Gillen cleared his throat with a dry cough. Because of this, he failed to see the tips of Yuan’s ears turning red and his body tensing up.

“Here, here, let’s have a toast.”

Gillen hurriedly raised his glass. When the atmosphere became awkwardly suspended like this, it was best to just smooth it over with a toast. Gillen clinked his glass against the one Yuan had picked up and downed the wine in one shot. From the side, he heard Yuan muttering, “Why are you drinking so fast?” but he ignored it.

It’s because I’m embarrassed, you brat.

But then, he saw a glass being set down next to him with a thud. It was empty. Yuan had followed Gillen’s lead and downed his in one go.

“Huh? Yuan, you can’t hold your liquor. Why did you drink it all at once?”

“It says in the book of noble etiquette that you should match the pace when drinking.”

As he said this, Yuan’s face was turning beet red in real time. The focus in his eyes also blurred slightly.

“Hey, Yu-Yuan. Don’t tell me you’re drunk right now, are you?”

“Drunk? Who’s drunk? You really must take me for a fool…”

“A fool? Look at this, you’re drunk!”

“I told you I’m not drunk! Don’t annoy me.”

Yuan shouted haughtily and then poured new wine into his empty glass. Gillen quickly snatched the wine bottle away.

“Wait! Stop! Stop drinking. Don’t drink any more wine, and eat some more of this. I’ll make you another one.”

Gillen placed another piece of bread on Yuan’s plate and moved some cheese onto it. But with a simple snap of his fingers, Yuan made the wine bottle float into the air. The sight of the bottle flying on its own and pouring wine into Yuan’s glass without spilling a single drop was jaw-dropping.

“Hey, what kind of magic are you using like this…?”

“It’s up to the magician how they use their magic. The Duke, no, as Gillen said, I’m an incredible genius magician.”

After that, Yuan once again drank the full glass of wine in one gulp. A guy who couldn’t even handle his drink had learned etiquette from a book, so in a way, it was only natural for him to be so inflexible. Gillen let out a sigh. What am I going to do with this rash young man?

“You’ll hurt your body doing that. Put the glass down.”

“Who do you think you are… always acting like such a geezer… How many years older than me are you anyway?”

“What? Ha! Ha! Ha! A twenty-year difference is more than enough!”

“That old geezer, the Tower Master, is almost over a hundred years older than me! And Marius, that son of a bitch, that bastard is, I don’t know, about fifty… Anyway… a twenty-year difference is nothing.”

“You really are drunk. No matter how you slice it, how can you compare me to such elderly people?”

“Exactly! Gillen, you’re not that old yet.”

Despite having previously jabbered on about how he was an old man, a mister, and a geezer with a head full of white hair. Still, it felt good to hear the words ‘you’re not that old yet’ from the mouth of a young man.

“Ahem… well, right. I’m still in my prime. But I am still an adult compared to you. Listen to your elder. No more wine for now.”

Gillen snatched Yuan’s wine glass and turned it upside down. He also grabbed the wine bottle that was floating in the air and stuck it under the trolley.

“What I mean is, stop acting like an adult only at times like this. You and I are both adults.”

Yuan said irritably, reaching out his arm to take the wine bottle back.

“Ah-ah!”

Gillen grabbed Yuan’s wrist. He gently massaged the wrist.

“If you’re an adult, you should act like one, Yuan.”

At those words, Yuan glared at Gillen defiantly. His blue eyes were looking at Gillen from very close. The pupils, which had a bluish hue within a silver-gray rim, looked like the jeweled eyes from legends. Gillen muttered without realizing it.

“God’s champion, Yuan…”

At that, the look in Yuan’s eyes changed.

“You know that story?”

“Is there anyone in the Moore Empire who doesn’t know that legend?”

Blake and Gallet were famous founding contributors, and while they had heroic achievements, they were all real people. On the other hand, ‘Yuan’, the champion of the gods, was a character from a legend who appeared as the biological son of the god Retina—in other words, a fictional character.

God’s champion, Yuan, was an exceedingly beautiful man with light purple hair and jeweled eyes. He could command dragons at will and could create or destroy continents with a single gesture of his hand.

He was so captivating that he enthralled countless humans. Instead of the god Retina, who did not reveal himself directly, followers of God’s champion, Yuan, began to spring up like mushrooms after a rain, and even a religion called Yuanism was born.

Yuan, who had been enjoying his life in the human world, was shocked and gathered people to show them a vision of himself slitting his own throat. As his blood splattered, the ground split and water rose to fill it. That was how the current four continents were formed, and the largest southern continent, where he had stayed, was where Moore, Blake, Gallet, and Winston settled and laid the foundations, becoming the present-day Moore Empire.

To commemorate the sacrifice of God’s champion, Yuan, made to serve his mother and absolute god, Retina, people decided to always attach the epithet ‘God’s champion’ when speaking his name.

However, in truth, God’s champion, Yuan, had only feigned death with magic; he had actually returned to his mother in the heavens and reportedly whined, “Humans are so annoying! I’m never going down to the human world again.”

This was a legend that served as a lesson, demonstrating how sacred and powerful the bloodline of a god was, while also teaching that great trouble would befall those who served any god other than Retina. No one believed this story to be true. However, it was also a story that everyone in Moore grew up hearing from a young age.

“My name was taken from that.”

When Yuan said this, Gillen accepted it without much surprise.

“Yes, at first I thought it couldn’t be, but… I had a feeling you would be the type to have taken your name from that story.”

Just as commoners could not use names like Retina, Moore, Blake, Gallet, or Winston, Yuan was also a name to be avoided when naming a child. That was only natural. How could a mere commoner dare to use such a sacred name?

Even nobles generally did not use the name ‘Yuan’. It was obvious that a protest from the temple would follow.

However, Yuan was openly Yuan. Yet, the reason no criticism arose about his name was because—although he did not have light purple hair and jeweled eyes—he too was beautiful, possessed outstanding magical skills, and was a hero who had destroyed an empire.

“Your parents must have had high expectations for you. To give you such a remarkable name.”

At Gillen’s words, Yuan snorted.

“I lived without a name until I was five. I gave myself that name. What expectations…”

Perhaps because he was drunk, words that he would not normally say came pouring out of Yuan’s mouth.

“I was nothing more than property. Do you know what I was called? A gold nugget. Not as a term of endearment, but literally a gold nugget. A gold nugget that would be worth money when sold later.”

“Umm…”

Is this something I should be hearing right now? Isn’t this related to some dark past? If so, it’s difficult to hear it from someone this drunk.

Gillen slowly rubbed Yuan’s back. He lowered his voice and soothed him gently.

“Is that so? But you’re Yuan now. You also got the surname Hampton. You’re not a simple object or property. You’re a living person. A hero of this empire. And a very fine gentleman.”

“Hmph, I know that too. Still… I shouldn’t have used the name Yuan. It’s unlucky. Maybe that old geezer Marius even set his sights on me because of my name. That’s why I kept… kept regretting it…”

Yuan’s voice grew softer and softer, and then his body suddenly slumped forward.

“Whoops.”

Gillen quickly caught Yuan’s body and leaned him against the back of the sofa. Yuan pouted his moist lips and let out a sound like a sigh, “Phew…”

“He passed out after two glasses.”

I knew he was overdoing it.

“Just what kind of past did you have, Yuan? For someone who looks so delicate…”

Gillen looked at Yuan with pity. Then again, to do the kind of twisted things the original character did, having a dark past was probably a must.

“Still, you grew up well, all things considered.”

He was praising Yuan, who was already deep in a drunken sleep. Suddenly, whoosh, a thick pheromone scent pierced his nose. No, it felt like it was digging into him, attacking every single one of his cells.

“Ugh!”

Gillen covered his nose and mouth with one hand. It was Yuan’s pheromones. It seemed he couldn’t control his pheromones because he was too drunk. Or perhaps the pheromones were overflowing, stimulated by the alcohol that didn’t agree with him.

“Ugh, Yuan! Get a hold of yourself, wait a moment…!”

The pheromones, which could always be faintly felt even when hidden, were now flowing out without any restraint, to the point that his skin tingled. In an instant, Gillen’s pheromones also began to gush out in surges.