The marble floor of the Crown Prince's private office felt cold beneath Kyon's slippers, a familiar, sterile chill that mirrored the environment of his childhood. The victory over the immediate threat, securing Lorcan and planning the counter-move against Arion and Cassian brought no warmth. Only calculation.
He dismissed the guards and the physician, leaving him alone with the remnants of his carefully constructed world. He glanced at the Jade Heart nestled against his collarbone, the beautiful green stone radiating a faint, stabilizing energy. It was a tool, a necessary part of the lie, but it was also the last tangible piece of his mother, Queen Celine.
Kyon leaned back, the image of Arion in a guard's uniform flashing in his mind, quickly followed by the vision of the small, dark-haired boy who carried his eyes. Aiden.his right eye throbbed.
But The revelation of his son's survival, and Arion's inability to discard him, was a significant variable. It wasn't sentiment that stirred Kyon; it was the sharp, bitter memory of his own inhuman childhood, shaped entirely by the volatile genius and tragic rejection of Queen Celine.
My mother, Kyon mused, was never meant for the gilded cage of royalty. Her scent, the rare and intoxicating blend of ozone and wild jasmine, was as UNSTABLE as her MIND. She wasn't merely a lover of science; she was a pioneer, a forbidden fusion of academic genius and inherited elemental magic.
Celine had been the second queen, married to the King after the first Queen's death. Cassian's mother, a woman who brought stability and traditional alpha lineage. Celine, however, brought innovation and a terrifying, unstable power.
Kyon closed his eyes, the memory of his fifth birthday flooding back. Not the lavish celebration, but the aftermath. I remembered the laboratory that had once been my mother's sanctuary a high-domed room filled with shimmering vials and whispering scrolls, smelling of scorched chemicals and ozone. It was there that she conducted her life's work: understanding and manipulating secondary gender chemistry and the limits of elemental magic.
The King, my father, initially tolerated her brilliance, seeing her as a fascinating oddity. But he was a man of tradition, order, and predictable power. He never understood the volatile nature of her gifts.
And then come another incident, I recalled with a shudder.when i was six. My mother had been experimenting with a rare stabilizing agent . the precursor to the suppressants i now relied on. It was meant to equalize the unpredictable energy flows of her magic and her scent. But the reaction went wrong. I still remembered a blinding flash of emerald light, the sound of glass shattering, and my mother's screams as the magic, untamed, lashed out.
The King had walked in to find Celine standing amidst the ruins of her lab, her eyes glowing with unnatural green light, her scent suddenly overpowering—not the intoxicating jasmine, but a raw, uncontrolled wave of burning ozone and fear.
That was the day the King's love curdled into revulsion.
He didn't see his wife; he saw a monster, a creature of unstable power that threatened the controlled lineage of the Crown. And he saw the same unsettling genius reflected in his young son. Who was well, haha, me!
"He refused to touch me after that," Kyon whispered to the empty room. "He refused to acknowledge that I carried her genes."
My own alpha nature, rare and potent, was amplified by my mother's unstable chemistry. The King, fearing the unpredictable power of both mother and son, the king did not execute Celine. He simply locked her away in a remote tower, labeling her "mad" and her magic "aberrant." He then did the most politically shrewd thing: he forced me , his genetically unstable son, into the rigid, controllable mold of a dominant Omega.
"The chemicals," Kyon murmured, tracing the Jade Heart again. "My mother gave me the foundation for them. She was working on the Omega Pheromone Amplifier to protect herself from the King's dismissive Alpha dominance. I simply perfected her work, turning it into a tool of absolute control."
My childhood became a regime of inhuman testing. Valeria , the royal physician, was merely carrying on the King's mandate: tame the Alpha, stabilize the Omega, control the lineage. I endured daily injections, chemical baths, and agonizing scent adjustments to ensure my white tea façade was impenetrable. I was taught to be angelic, beautiful, and utterly compliant, while secretly being trained in combat to ensure I could still defend the throne, just in case my brother fails.
This was the source of my detachment , and calculating nature. I wasn't raised with affection; i was raised as a chemical experiment designed to secure the crown. I learned that vulnerability was a weakness, and true power lay in deception and controlled instability.
Aiden. The thought of my son brought a cold, sharp understanding. Arion thought he was protecting the boy from the shame of being called Kyon's bastard. But I knew the real danger. The boy was alive, carrying my potent, chemically altered Alpha genetics. I wasn't just planning to use the boy; i was planning to stabilize him. I would not allow my son to endure the same painful, unstable childhood I had suffered.
"Let Cassian play with his toy," Kyon finally said, a cold, frightening smile returning to his lips. "Let them believe the Jade Heart is my Achilles' heel. They hunt a vulnerable Omega, but they will find the Serpent King, fortified by the very science that condemned my mother. And I will ensure my son never has to fear the genius that runs in his blood."
Years later, I learn that a man name Arion had defeated the tiger of the north on his own. Then come the dragon rumor. Who, of course, was true. By then i knew that Arion would been the perfect candidate for the test of my new medicine. And it work .
But unfortunately, only fifty percent took place . His alpha gene was stronger than I thought. " I thought he'll abort the child! Tsk! That make it more hard!"
Heels click on the marble floor . Those heels could only belong to one person.
" prince kyon. I request to talk with you. " Soft calm voice, followed by a sweet strawberry scent .
" queen liora," I grabbed a book, and turn to face her. " what can I help you with? Queen liora?" A slow smile appeared on my lips.
" KYON! You are ruining everything! My son life may be in danger, because of you! Do you think . lorcan is safe by going back and forth to your brother's place!"
I heard her yap again and again, I know they avoid trouble. But it not my fault, if lorcan is interested to Aiden .
A sudden pain made kyon groan , his right eyes crimson red, veins draw around his eyes.
"Queen liora , I'll excuse myself first" .
She watched him go. her hand close in a tight fist . Kyon wobbled while walking away , his vision blurry , I have to retrieve the injections.
he start hearing Arion's voice. " he might be talking with cassian again huh! UGH! I know how I'll bring him back to me!" He growl, a low sounds coming from his throats. He come to a stop and stood in the hallway. A hand place on the wall for support, his breathing shallow and heart racing.
*****
Back in his room kyon injected himself in the neck, calming his immediate lose of control.
With a snap of his finger . Let me get back what mine.