The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 16

But even if he said it, he thought he would be seen as a madman, so Doeon swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of his throat.

“…S-Sometimes.”

“Do you think you need medication?”

“Y-Yes? Yes….”

“I’ll prescribe it for you.”

A beep sounded from the measurement device, which had been in hold status, signaling that the measurement was complete. Dr. Kang, peering intently at the screen of the pheromone measurement device, opened his mouth. At the same time, Doeon’s heart tightened.

“It was your heat cycle period.”

“Y-Yes? Yes….”

“But your pheromones are quite stable. They’re drawing a steady curve. It seems you’ve been taking the suppressant without forgetting. There don’t appear to be any particular problems.”

“Ah….”

“I’ll prescribe the suppressant in the same dosage as last time.”

Doeon quietly drew in a breath. It seemed that rather than the suppressant, receiving Doha’s seed had calmed his heat cycle.

His feelings were complicated, but that was not what was important right now. He needed to get a prescription for the post-coital contraceptive. Doeon wiped the clammy cold sweat pooling in his palms onto his thighs.

“Um… Doctor….”

“Yes?”

A gaze devoid of luster touched Doeon, as if asking what the matter was. Doeon, looking even paler under the fluorescent lights, murmured quietly in the silent examination room, even though there was no one to hear.

“…Could I also get a prescription for the post-coital contraceptive?”

“A post-coital contraceptive?”

Dr. Kang raised his thick eyelids in surprise. Doeon felt like he wanted to die right then and there. A recessive omega son asking for a post-coital contraceptive less than a week after holding his mother’s funeral— he couldn’t even lift his face in front of Dr. Kang.

“Yes….”

“I see. I’ll prescribe it along with the rest.”

“Th-Thank you….”

Dr. Kang, who asked nothing at all, felt like a benefactor sent from heaven. The seat, which had felt like sitting on a bed of nails, became a little less uncomfortable.

“This is just this once. Next time, I’ll need a guardian consent form to prescribe it.”

“M-Mom passed away….”

“If your mother is no longer with us, then at least a relative’s consent form will be required. That’s the law.”

“…….”

“I’ll see you at your next appointment.”

Dr. Kang’s stern face seemed to be blaming Doeon. Under that indifferent gaze that said to go out and get the prescription, he felt utterly crushed and on the verge of death.

It was only after getting water from the pharmacy’s water cooler and taking the prescribed post-coital contraceptive that his mind settled a bit. What happened yesterday was an unavoidable accident. It was definitely an accident… an accident…. Doeon repeated it to himself over and over.

Vowing that such a thing would never happen again, Doeon left the pharmacy. But he didn’t want to go straight home. He felt uncomfortable seeing Doha’s face.

He wandered aimlessly through the bustling downtown crowded with people. Signs of various colors and names, all sorts of street vendors, people walking the streets with their heads held high, laughing and chatting as if they had destinations set. Amid all that, he walked without direction and kept walking.

When he grew tired of walking, he entered a cafe, ordered coffee, and sat there for a long time. As he watched the crosswalk lights change from red to blue dozens of times and people-watched until it became tedious, the scenery had somehow turned into the familiar mansion.

The mansion that smelled of the seductive aroma of fir trees. The large arched window where light shattered. The small stream crossing the garden. The shimmering ripples where sunlight broke along the water’s flow. Yellow irises in the stream. Magpies slicing through the sky. His mother sitting on the second-floor terrace….

He had told his mother to sell it, but in reality, it was he who could not live without the shell called the mansion. The place where he should be was not here, but the mansion. In an instant, he missed the mansion terribly. Moisture gathered in his pale eyes. He wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand for no reason. With no one else to meet or anywhere else to go, the only place where he could live comfortably was home. His own mansion alone.

Let’s go to the mansion. As if entranced, Doeon stood up from his seat and left the cafe.

But when it came to actually standing in front of the front door, it required a great deal of courage. After agonizing for a long time, Doeon decided to enter through the back door to avoid running into Doha.

The back door, which was not in use now but had been used by the servants when his maternal grandfather was alive, was still there as it was. He planned to use that door to sneak into his room on the second floor.

Pressing his body close to the mansion’s wall, he headed toward the back door. The small, rusted door, which one might mistake for a shed, was locked with a latch. He slid it sideways to unlock the latch and quietly opened the door to go inside.

“…….”

The back door connected to the kitchen pantry. It was a door made so that servants could easily come and go to the kitchen.

When his maternal grandfather was alive, it must have been stocked full of all sorts of foodstuffs, but now only a few cans past their expiration date remained. With a bitter heart, as he opened the frosted glass door and stepped out into the kitchen, it happened.

“I wondered what kind of rat it was.”

“……!”

Doha stood leaning against the sink with his arms crossed. He had thought it possible that Doha might have woken up by now, but he hadn’t expected to run into him right away like this. Doeon, frozen, forcibly dragged out his voice.

“Wh-When did you wake up?”

“Just now. Where have you been?”

“J-Just for a bit, I had some business outside….”

Doha’s sharp eyes turned to the medicine bag Doeon was holding.

“What’s that?”

“Huh?”

Doeon, flustered and frozen, clumsily hid the medicine bag he had brought behind his back with an awkward gesture.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, why hide it.”

“You don’t need to know!”

Doha’s gaze was fixed on Doeon’s waist from behind. Doeon pretended as if it were nothing and tried to pass by him. Doha quickly snatched the medicine bag from Doeon. Doeon let out a shrill voice.

“Give it here!”

“What’s this that you’re hiding?”

Doha held the medicine bag up high. Even if Doeon stood on his tiptoes, the height difference meant he couldn’t reach Doha’s hand. Doeon shouted so loudly that his Adam’s apple protruded.

“I said it’s nothing!”

“Kang General Clinic? You went to the hospital?”

Doha read the medicine bag nonchalantly. Doeon twisted his eyebrows in dismay. Seeing Doeon’s face turn pale and distressed, Doha asked.

“No way, because of last night….”

“N-No…!”

Doeon hurriedly shook his head. Even as he said no, Doha read the embarrassed expression on his face and raised an eyebrow.

“If it’s not, then I can throw it away?”

“Wh-What are you saying…!”

“You said it’s nothing.”

Leaving Doeon standing there with a bewildered face, Doha went to the sink, turned on the water, took out the medicine bottle from the bag, opened the cap, and poured the pills down the drain.

“What the hell are you doing!”

Doeon, who had been dazed from the shock, soon came to his senses and tried to snatch the medicine bottle from Doha’s hand. But it was no ordinary grip strength, and it was hard to take it away.

Panting and giving up, Doeon struck Doha’s back hard with his reddened face.

“You bastard! It’s my medicine! My medicine, I said!”

“So why can’t you explain what kind of medicine it is.”

“……A-A suppressant!”

Doeon couldn’t bring himself to say that the bag also contained treatments for narcolepsy and sleepwalking. If he mentioned having narcolepsy and sleepwalking on top of everything, he knew exactly how he would be treated.

He would be treated like a cripple with a recessive omega and an incurable disease.

Thinking that if he hadn’t taken the post-coital contraceptive in advance at the pharmacy, it would have been taken by Doha along with the rest and he wouldn’t even have been able to prevent pregnancy, a chill ran down his spine.

“A suppressant?”

After a brief silence, Doha asked dryly in return. Doeon steadied his breathing and nodded his head.

“Yeah… a suppressant! The suppressants ran out, and yesterday with you…!”

“With me what.”

“Ha… forget it. Now it’s all useless…. Let’s just stop….”

Doeon stared vacantly at the cleanly emptied sink. He couldn’t go back to the hospital to get another prescription. Suppressants could only be prescribed once a month to prevent drug misuse among recessive omegas.

He could get them prescribed privately through back channels for a fee, but the cost was too high. He had no way to afford that much money.

His situation felt so wretched. His head throbbed. With a deeply sunken expression, he looked at Doha. His brown eyes shook with resentment.

“You wouldn’t understand since you’re a dominant alpha… but I need my medicine… you know that?”

“…….”

It wasn’t just the suppressant, but if he didn’t take the medicine to control his narcolepsy and sleepwalking, he didn’t know what might happen. He was afraid. Of the changes in his body. Of Doha standing in his way. Doha, gauging the subdued brown eyes, opened his mouth.

“I have a way.”

Doha suddenly grabbed both of Doeon’s hands. A gray gleam flashed in Doha’s eyes as he intertwined their fingers strand by strand. Doeon made a frightened expression.

“Wh-What way? Let go…!”

“It’s not anything weird.”

Doha continued, reassuring him.

“You probably know that normal alpha pheromones are only used to excite omegas, but they have other effects too.”

“……?”

“If you’re steadily exposed to a dominant alpha’s pheromones, it can actually stabilize an omega’s heat cycle period.”

“D-Don’t talk nonsense….”

“It’s true. You know that omegas who are frequently exposed to dominant alpha pheromones can, if they’re lucky, undergo a trait conversion to beta or alpha?”

“…….”

It was something he was hearing for the first time. At that moment, Doha gently closed his eyes. A thick wooden scent seeped into his nasal passages. His palms felt hot, and then a wave of warmth spread through his entire body.

Thump, thump, thump— his rapidly beating heart found a steady rhythm, and the chaotic mess in his head felt like it was calming down. It even felt like his mind was clearing up. Doha slowly lifted his eyelids.

“See?”

Doeon, who had been holding hands in a daze, subtly nodded his head. The undeniable effect was felt in his heart, his head, his palms— truly throughout his entire body. Alpha pheromones really were amazing.

In fact, he had felt it somewhat while being intimate with Doha yesterday. His body, which had felt like it was about to burst, had calmed down without the suppressant once they mingled bodies. And at the hospital, hadn’t they said his pheromones were stable?