Chapter 2: The Awakening of Power
1073 Words
What does it mean for a Level 5S male to enter estrus?
Without the calming presence of a female, he would either lose control and kill everyone in the manor, or Su Beitang, as a healer, would have to abandon her escape plan to pacify Charles.
However, not knowing her own mental power level, Su Beitang wasn’t sure if she had the strength to calm a raging 5S male. One wrong move, and he could kill her.
As she wrestled with her options, Charles drew closer again, pulling her into his arms, his lips hungrily pressing against her flushed, trembling mouth.
Su Beitang tried to push him away, but his overwhelming mental pressure rendered her strength useless.
“Charles… try to regain control…”
She attempted to awaken his consciousness, but it was futile.
Charles was acting on pure, primal instinct.
Seizing a brief moment when he shifted, Su Beitang turned her head, trying to reach for the potion in her sleeve.
But her legs gave out, and she stumbled backward.
Charles followed, both of them tumbling into the field of Trogallia Blue Star blossoms.
Their breaths mingled, and with his needs unfulfilled, Charles’s movements grew more erratic.
As Su Beitang struggled to escape his grip once more, he gripped her neck and, with an animalistic instinct, bit down on the gland at the back of her neck.
“D*mn it!”
The moment the rose-scented pheromones entered her body, Su Beitang’s eyes grew misty.
She had been marked!
Though this world permitted females to have multiple partners, Su Beitang had never wanted to be marked—especially not by a Level 5S male.
His pheromones alone could drive lower-level females into an early estrus.
Su Beitang had always assumed her mental power was weak; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been imprisoned by Theosen for so many years.
Not even Dana, her maid, had ever experienced mental suppression in her presence, which only confirmed her fears.
Now, as the scent of roses filled her gland, her worst fears were realized.
An intense heat crawled over her skin like ants.
This sensation was all too familiar.
She was in estrus…
A faint orchid fragrance emanated from her gland. Charles, catching the scent, tore through her white dress.
Feeling her body’s transformation, Su Beitang refused to sit idly by.
So, I’ve been marked, she thought.
And so, I must calm him with my powers?
In this society, a male could have only one true mate.
If the Duke of Layston, with all his wealth and power, had delivered himself into her hands…
She’d be a fool to let him go!
Su Beitang pressed herself against Charles, wrapping her arms around his neck.
As he lowered his head to lick her gland, she parted her lips, baring her fangs, and bit down on his gland.
“Mmm…”
A husky breath escaped Charles’s throat, uncertain if from pain or pleasure.
As the orchid scent flowed, Su Beitang closed her eyes and released her mental energy.
A blind alchemist had once told her how to soothe a male.
Following the technique she remembered, Su Beitang focused, materializing her mental power and guiding it into Charles’s consciousness.
A small black cat with dark red eyes appeared, entering Charles’s mental realm.
The realm was awash in crimson flames.
The black cat explored the fiery expanse, eventually finding Charles’s mental projection—a majestic lion—slumbering behind a charred black rock.
The lion was unconscious, its golden fur scorched by fire.
The black cat extended a pink paw, resting it on the lion’s back, and activated its healing magic.
As Su Beitang’s soothing influence spread, Charles gradually calmed.
When she expended the last of her energy, the red veins in his eyes began to recede, and his gaze cleared.
Tasting blood in his mouth, Charles abruptly pulled back.
Exhausted, Su Beitang looked up at the sky.
Then she glanced over at Charles, watching his expression of disbelief as he staggered back.
“The Duke thinks he can just use me and then discard me?” Su Beitang sneered, pushing herself up, indifferent as her tattered dress slid from her shoulders.
Seeing the bruises marring her porcelain skin, Charles’s pupils contracted.
Without thinking, he removed his shirt and draped it over her.
“I… I would never… do that,” he stammered, his face impassive but his voice and reddened ears betraying his embarrassment.
“Oh, you’d better not. Otherwise, I’ll take this to the Empire’s Court, even if it costs me everything,” Su Beitang threatened, glaring at him fiercely.
“I will…”
Before Charles could say, “take responsibility,” his butler arrived, accompanied by a group of elite mages.
Seeing his master unharmed, the butler, Jannie, sighed in relief.
“Your Grace, thank goodness you’re safe.”
With others present, Charles quickly stepped forward, lifting Su Beitang in a protective embrace, concealing her exposed skin.
“Your Grace, this is…” Jannie, as a commoner without a gland, couldn’t detect the lingering scent in the air, but several S-ranked males behind him could.
The scent triggered physical reactions in those with S-level mental power, especially the lower-ranked.
“Your Grace, have you been marked?” asked Exsede Joan, the commander of the Second Magical Corps.
His gaze fell upon the young woman nestled in Charles’s arms, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Whose daughter is she?”
The girl’s flawless skin and a red string with a rare Southland Mermaid’s Tear on her ankle suggested noble birth.
Indeed, Su Beitang had been of noble blood until tonight.
“No need to worry. I’ll personally investigate the events of this evening,” Charles said, referring to the drugging incident.
“But, Commander Joan, you’re only partially correct. I was the one who marked this young lady.”
Charles took all the responsibility upon himself.
Hiding her face from the curious crowd, Su Beitang froze upon hearing his words.
What Charles said could easily land him in trouble with the Imperial Female Protection Council…
The last thing she wanted was to lose her escape route, her mental energy, and her new, powerful ally.
So, she lightly tapped Charles’s abdomen.
“I’m exhausted. Could you take me to rest?” she murmured.
Feeling her touch, Charles’s body tensed, the residual warmth still simmering within him.
As her soft breath brushed against his chest, a familiar heat began to rekindle…
- Writer
