The Affairs of Those Noble Brothers Chapter 19

The reason that memory suddenly came to mind was probably because the face smiling so happily back then resembled the one now. With that thought, he opened his eyes and startled in surprise. Just like that day in his memory, Tibane was staring at his face. The angle was a bit—well, a lot—different.

Realizing he was lying on Tibane’s arm, Irodel tried to spring up. If his body had been in normal condition, he might have succeeded, but to an onlooker, it was a pathetic struggle. Tibane patted Irodel’s chest as he wriggled like a caterpillar.

“Stay lying down. It’s the weekend anyway, so the Academy’s off, right?”

“Y-you, what did you do to me.”

“What.”

“At the end…”

Bringing up something too horrible to recall, he cautiously felt his belly. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have burst. Still not reassured, he tried to sit up and check properly, but Tibane patted his chest again. There was a bit more force in his hand this time. This was patting in name only—he was pressing down.

“I told you. When alphas are into it, that happens. I’d only heard about it, and it was my first time experiencing it, but…”

“…”

Irodel glared at Tibane, who was smiling sheepishly. Then he casually brushed away the hand that was stealthily stroking his chest and sat up. At first, his legs and back were as heavy as stones and wouldn’t move at all, but now he could at least sit up. Tibane leaned against the headboard and peered at Irodel, who was gasping for breath.

“Need anything? I’ve already cleaned up and washed you down. Want some water? Ah, hungry? I should have them bring a meal.”

Irodel watched Tibane fussing by himself and let out a small sigh. He wished he could have lost his memory, but as soon as he came to his senses, everything came back to him. He knew that when alphas and omegas lived under the same roof, this kind of thing could happen, but he never imagined it would happen to him, who was neither alpha nor omega.

His mind was complicated with this and that… but what was done was done, and regretting it wouldn’t take him back to the past. More importantly, he had to deal with what had happened. Honestly, he wasn’t confident about handling it either, but he had to do it. Especially since it was a family matter—if ever there was something that required proper handling, it was that.

“Tibane.”

“What? What can I do for you?”

“Before, I said that day was an accident, not even a mistake.”

Tibane blinked slowly. He was trying to recall what that was about.

“I’m sorry I didn’t understand then.”

“…”

“I know what it means now. So…”

“So what. Was yesterday an accident too?”

Only then realizing what he was trying to say, Tibane snarled savagely. It was at times like this that Irodel felt this bastard was like a beast. Just when it seemed like they were connecting emotionally, the moment things went slightly awry, he’d bare his teeth. Fatigue surged up abruptly, but Irodel faced Tibane squarely.

“It was an accident.”

Until now, if Tibane acted like a dog, Irodel had just treated him like one and that was the end of it. But what happened yesterday wasn’t between a beast and a human—it was between brothers. Turning away and avoiding it wouldn’t solve anything.

“The glass bottle you threw… I don’t know exactly what it was, but whatever was inside was probably the cause. Both you and me—we started acting strange after it broke.”

When he thought about it, it was terrifying. If the contents of that bottle had been a deadly poison, both Tibane and he might have had yesterday as their last day. Of course, an Academy student wasn’t a terrorist and wouldn’t carry around something that dangerous, but in effect, it had been dangerous enough for the two of them, and the problem it caused had already occurred. He should have been more careful. He shouldn’t have touched someone else’s things in the first place. Regret was always too late.

“You’re probably shocked too, but so am I. Still, luckily I’m not a body that can get pregnant, so let’s just leave it at that. I know you feel bad about it too, but let’s just forget it.”

Even as he said that, it didn’t seem like it would be easily forgotten. The aching body from a strenuous workout and the faint foreign sensation lingering below would fade with time. But the memory of crying, pleading, and moaning before his twin brother would probably never disappear. And precisely because he’d been raised as a noble, shielded his whole life from having to feel much shame, it was all the more so.

“Forget?”

Tibane ground his teeth and repeated Irodel’s words. The face that had smiled so widely—almost oppressively—before sleep now trembled with anger.

“You call me a dog, a dog, and now you’re saying you feel like you were bitten by one?”

Failed resolution. He felt a sigh coming on and turned his head away. He hoped Tibane would just throw a punch to vent his anger and be done with it, but wishes were just wishes. Strong hands grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back onto the sheets. His hips were lifted, and it was only after seeing Tibane settled between his legs that he realized he was completely naked.

“Don’t, stop!”

“How do you know what I’m going to do to tell me to stop? If, as you say, I thought yesterday was an unfortunate accident, I wouldn’t do that again to you, would I? Don’t you agree?”

Struck speechless, Irodel hesitated for a moment, and in that gap, Tibane roughly threw himself on top. Irodel’s eyes flew wide open. The lips he had parted to resist were swallowed up by scorching heat, and vanished.

∞ ∞ ∞

When he lost consciousness and opened his eyes again, it was evening. A whole day had vanished. He felt deflated, but what could he do about it. The world would keep turning even without one utterly useless beta who only got mounted by his younger brother. Still, he couldn’t just lie in bed like a corpse, so he forced himself up—and that was the moment. Irodel’s face went pale. Something was dripping from below. After reducing him to this state, Tibane hadn’t even cleaned him up. What a son of a bitch.

On his way out after forcing himself to wash up in the annex’s bathroom, he habitually reached for the scented oil, then stopped. Let’s not put anything on my body for a while. Let’s not go near anything that looks like a glass bottle. And let’s not go near Tibane either. Back in his room, he looked for something to wear, but the clothes he’d been wearing were crumpled in a corner like a rag, and the wardrobe was empty. Left with no choice, he wrapped himself in the fresh white sheets Tibane had put on the bed. More than anything else, looking like this right now was the most miserable part.

He seriously thought he might need to consider moving out for real. His attempt to persuade his mother had failed absurdly, so this time maybe he could try sweet-talking his father. Though since he was a man it was hard to even get a face-to-face meeting with, that alone was a challenge.

Tibane, who had rampaged like a mad beast, had pushed him until he passed out and then disappeared somewhere. It wasn’t just talk—he’d kept checking to see if Irodel had actually passed out or not. For some reason, Irodel felt like he couldn’t let himself lose consciousness, so he fought desperately to stay awake, but the moment he went blank for a second, Tibane slapped his cheek to wake him up and then drove him all the way to the end. Son of a bitch, barbarian bastard.

He’d passed out in the end, so he didn’t know when or where Tibane had gone, but it seemed like he hadn’t been gone long. The steam rising from the soup on the table was still warm, but he had no appetite, so he passed it by. He didn’t want to stay in the annex long. He was already afraid Tibane might come back.

He should go to the main building. The servants were on standby there at all times, so even if something dangerous happened, it couldn’t actually happen. Irodel turned the doorknob at the entrance, which had been cleaned up as if yesterday’s rampage had been a dream.

“…”

It felt like it was turning uselessly, so he tried again. It wouldn’t open. He pushed with his shoulder, but the thick iron door didn’t budge. Was it broken? Standing there dumbfounded, he remembered the doorbell the servant had shown him last time. It was supposed to be next to the door… and there it was. Or rather, the pitiful wreckage of something that looked like it had been torn off.

He hurriedly checked to see if there was a secret door or a pet door somewhere, but of course there wasn’t. He crawled around the floor wondering if there might be a door to the basement, and then checked every window one by one. The bedroom, the bathroom, the small study, the reception room—he went through them all in turn. He couldn’t reach the ones on the ceiling, so he didn’t know about those, but every single one within reach wouldn’t open. Then he pushed hard on a ventilation window in a corner of the reception room, and it opened. Judging by the thud, something that had been securing it shut from the outside had fallen off.