Heavy Rain Chapter 45

Haejin’s pheromones, which had been surrounding Lyle unknowingly for a while now, were carrying a faint trace of negative emotion. That sensation felt as coarse as a massive sheet of sandpaper, so he had to choose his words carefully.

“Your physical condition is a mess. Since it is my responsibility, focus on recovering here for the time being. I will provide you with unstinting support.”

Yes. It was because he had to take responsibility for the mistake he committed. Haejin was an unprecedented victim of this mansion. Therefore, didn’t Lyle have sufficient reason to be concerned about such a person’s health?

The image of Haejin walking in the rain with his back turned kept haunting his mind, even though the boy was now sitting quietly right in front of him.

However, at the response he managed to squeeze out, Haejin tilted his head slightly. His diagonal gaze reached the tip of Lyle’s chin.

“Are we… in a relationship where we should privately care about such things?”

‘Are we in a relationship where we talk privately like this?’

The auditory hallucination he had already heard several times now flowed from Haejin’s lips.

That tone, composed of pure questioning, contained no emotion. Just as he had wondered once before upon seeing a shaken Lyle, it was a voice from which expectations had been thoroughly excluded.

Realizing this, Lyle reflexively looked down at his own hand. He felt a pain on the back of his hand where it had briefly touched Haejin’s pheromones. That sensation, which had been rough like sandpaper, was now uncontrollably harsh, making it feel as though his skin had been scraped away.

Would it have been better if Haejin’s words contained a sense of sarcasm instead?

“…I couldn’t block all the articles.”

“Articles?”

“Yes.”

Lyle, who had been blankly staring at the back of his hand, recalled the excuse the secretary had given him. Haejin’s pheromones, which he had been implicitly inhaling for a while, began to flow through his entire body, starting from his lungs and causing a tingling sensation. It felt as if thousands of ants were rummaging through his insides, so he had to clench his fists tightly.

To prevent any more strange things from crawling into his core.

“Right now, the Vermouth family is suffering from rumors that we are persecuting an anonymous Omega.”

“…”

Seeing the light in Haejin’s eyes gradually dying out into darkness, his own insides were also disturbed like muddy water. Ignoring all those sensations, Lyle channeled his will into one most important thing.

He had to hold on.

“Coincidentally, it is the truth. I need your cooperation even if just to quiet this scandal.”

“What is it you want from me?”

“I’m not telling you to fulfill the previous contract. …Recover in this mansion until the rumors die down, then walk out in a healthy state. That is what is needed.”

“…”

It was only to take responsibility.

And if he could quiet this scandal at the same time, it would be for the best. Haejin was acting very cooperatively, and Lyle didn’t ask for more than this—as long as the boy remained in this mansion.

“You can just think of it as staying for the remainder of the contract period. Then the compensation that was stipulated will follow.”

Even that dark, dead gaze slid downward. Between them, only documents that had blackly spun out hollow promises lay scattered meaninglessly.

Lyle, working his parched and tight throat with effort, drove the point home, thinking strangely that it was better to face even a hollow gaze than nothing at all.

“I am simply trying to take responsibility.”

“…”

Reading the letters on the documents vacantly, Haejin fell into thought. Since it had been repeated several times, there was no way he wouldn’t know. Lyle was, certainly, strange.

In particular, the fact that he had performed knotting twice was an abnormal reaction beyond any doubt. No matter how ignorant Haejin was regarding these traits, he knew well that knotting was not common.

Setting aside the possibility of pregnancy, how could an act involving an Alpha’s will happen twice by mistake?

He didn’t think for a moment that Lyle actually had the will to knot him. The Lyle he had seen was not an Alpha who would have such an obsession. Therefore, something had gone wrong with his body.

Recalling Lyle, who had burst into the lodging where he had been staying late at night, Haejin had to watch his own heart die out in real time.

For some reason, it felt as though Lyle would not let him go.

“Mr. Vermouth.”

“…Speak.”

“What is happening with… the search for another Omega?”

“What?”

At the sudden question, Lyle was momentarily flustered. Another Omega, all of a sudden.

However, things he had buried in the back of his memory soon came to mind. When he brought Haejin back, Lyle had certainly made a resolution. Suspecting that pheromones might have some sort of binding force, he had planned to contract with another Omega to erase the afterimage of Haejin.

He had also contemplated setting a short contract period after that. It would be troublesome if anything more became a nuisance to his body.

But since when, exactly, had he stopped thinking about that?

“You clearly said… that things would change from now on.”

“…Yes.”

It felt as though his throat were burning. Lyle couldn’t understand how he was even speaking out loud right now.

In Haejin’s pheromones, which sank to the floor with a fine tremble, a deep resignation was dissolved. It was an emotion that had been layered and solidified firmly over a long period.

As if he had been crafting such heavy emotions alone in this mansion all this time.

“I have no further place to fall now.”

“…”

As if he were talking about someone else’s story, there was no strength in Haejin’s tone. It was so weak that it seemed he wouldn’t be able to resist even if Lyle ignored him and trampled over him.

Nevertheless, Lyle simply couldn’t ignore it. He couldn’t possibly take these words, which felt like an ultimatum, lightly.

“So, I hope that the statement saying the contract period is three months will be strictly kept.”

The eyes of the two met directly. Because of that, Lyle could not give any answer.

The doctor who had been caring for Haejin sought out Lyle before leaving. Since the aftermath of the body aches and the heat cycle had passed, he was leaving the mansion for good.

“I recommended psychiatric treatment several times, but he refused all of them.”

“…Did he say why?”

It was a matter Lyle had already been keeping in mind. If he continued to have such fits over even a single needle, things would become difficult in the future. It was also problematic because he couldn’t go to the hospital if he needed further treatment for his leg.

“That is… He said it is enough as long as he appears fine on the outside, so I was wondering if you might have any idea why.”

“…”

To take the words “walk out healthily” as “isn’t it enough to just look fine.” Lyle felt his chest so tight that even his clothes felt uncomfortable.

“For now, repeatedly forcing psychiatric treatment can also be a stress factor. Especially with his current physical condition. I judge that physical recovery is a more important period for now.”

“I see.”

“However, since it is not my specialty, I recommend you consult a psychiatrist.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Leaving a greeting, the doctor walked out with a light step. It was understandable. He was leaving behind a patient who required an exceptional amount of attention while carrying the massive medical fees Lyle had handed over.

Unlike the doctor, Lyle fell into serious contemplation with a furrowed brow. He needed to recover his body first before any further treatment could happen, but Haejin showed no signs of regaining his energy. He heard that his food intake was still pathetic.

Every time he checked, he heard nothing but bad news. Feeling dejected, Lyle irritably loosened his tie, which felt only suffocating, while suppressing a headache.

Why did the statement that he would be waiting for the end of the contract bother him so much?

If he had to go, he had to let him go. Unless he was actually going to imprison the boy, wasn’t that only natural? He thought he had originally intended to bring him here temporarily and find another way, so how did things end up like this?

It had been about three weeks since he promised three months and brought Haejin back to the mansion. So now, only a little over two months remained.

Recalling that, he felt as if his windpipe were being constricted again. Lyle, who reflexively put his hand to his neck, reminded himself that he had just loosened his tie.

They were suffocating days in many ways.