Just before Felix could swallow the champagne, Lowell managed to reach him and stopped his hand. Felix's icy gaze fell on him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Felix swatted Lowell's hand away and raised an eyebrow before lifting the glass to his lips again. It looked like his pride had been pricked.
'Ah.... children.'
Lowell stopped Felix's hand again. This time, Felix's brows twitched, and he pushed Lowell's hand away more forcefully.
"Don't touch me without permission."
The atmosphere around them grew tense. Most would've flinched under a glare like that, but Lowell, who had already written Felix off as a kid in a need of counseling, saw it more like a puffed-up black cat baring its fur.
"Then I won't touch you. But please, don't drink that."
"And why should I?"
Lowell leaned in and whispered just loud enough to be drowned out by the music.
"Because it's drugged."
"I don't believe you. How do you plan to prove that? And how would you even know?"
Felix's voice was sharp and cold with suspicion. The kind of eyes that had never known genuine help or kindness from others.
"So you're really going to drink it anyway?"
"I don't see why not."
A throb pounded through Lowell's skull.
'He's just a tall child.'
Kids like him didn't respond to reason until you earned their trust first. But Lowell didn't have time for that now.
"Then will you believe me if I drink it? But if I start acting weird, you have to stop me—and get me the antidote immediately."
Felix looked at him like he'd lost his mind, clearly unable to comprehend why anyone would go that far. Taking advantage of that moment of confusion, Lowell tipped the glass back and downed it all at once. He wasn't acting reckless —he had his calculations.
From what he remembered, this body had no magical ability. He was terrible with swords and had no talent for magic either. So he assumed he wouldn't react like Felix did and wouldn't suffer a magical outburst.
'Even if I do freak out a little, Felix will stop me.'
The flaw in his reasoning, however, was that the drug wasn't designed to cause magical outbursts. That was only a side effect in those with overwhelming mana.
"See? Nothing's happening. Looks like you were just being paranoid."
Felix had barely finished speaking when the air began to fill with a slow, sweet honey scent. There was no mistaking it—it was the scent of an Omega's pheromones. Both Felix and Lowell's faces contorted at once.
'This isn't a magic booster at all, is it?'
A heavy, hot pulse welled up from Lowell's lower abdomen.
'Shit. I'm screwed.'
His entired body felt feverish—almost scalding. Even he could tell that the sweetness in the air was too thick, almost suffocating. The instruments that had been producing beautiful melodies slowly faded into silence, and all eyes in the hall turned to him.
'Still....better me than Felix going berserk.'
Even as things veered sharply toward disaster, the first thought that came to Lowell's mind was relief. He told himself he had to cling to that kind of positive thinking—otherwise, the heat would devour him whole.
"Are you all right?"
Felix's face had gone Pale like it'd been drained of all color. He looked like he was blaming himself for not trusting Lowell and letting things spiral this far. Lowell took that opening and gestured toward him. Slightly cowed by the guilt, Felix didn't resist and bent closer to hear what he had to say.
"If I start doing anything.... weird.... you said you'd stop me, right?"
Even his breathing was heavy with heat. His honeyed voice melted into Felix's ear like syrup.
"There should be... an empty room nearby. Lock me in and bring me the antidote..."
Lowell's pants were already damp. If someone stripped him down right now, it'd be a full-blown mess. If it weren't for his extraordinary self-restraint, he wouldn't even be able to hold a coherent conversation in this state.
"Understood."
Beads of sweat formed along Felix's brow. Being this close to an Omega whose heat had been forcibly triggered—it made his heart hammer as if it were about to burst. He looked around for a Beta servant to call over, but all he met were cold, indifferent stares. No one moved to help. That instinctive revulsion made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
To him, humans—especially the ones at this party—were not to be trusted. And now he was supposed to leave this sweet-faced Omega, whose voice was as lovely as a songbird's, in someone else's care? That would be a disaster waiting to happen.
"Haah..."
Taking a deep breath, he gently pulled Lowell into his arms and loosened his robe to wrap it around him—hiding the boy's face from the crowd.
"Put your arms around my neck."
Felix didn't really intend to let go, but he said it anyway, as if to steady himself. Soft white arms looped around his neck. Every place Lowell's fingers touched, even his hair, felt hypersensitive. It unsettled Felix. He told himself it was just the Omega pheromones.
"My apologies for the disturbance. May be excused from the event?"
"There's no need to ask for permission. Go."
The Crown Prince waved him off indifferently. Then he scanned the room with his chilly stare, as if trying to figure out who orchestrated this fiasco. He clearly wasn't particularly interested in his cousin—but it was evident that he didn't appreciate any sort of disruption at his event.
Repelled by that inhuman indifference, Felix moved quickly, eager to leave this suffocating place. The Lowell in his arms was growing hotter by the second, and his pheromones were thickening in a desperate attempt to entice the Alpha holding him. Once they slipped into an empty corridor, the tension ebbed, and a faint smoky apple scent drifted from Felix's body—a scent he himself loathed.
"Hhh..."
But to Lowell, it was something entirely different. He buried his nose into Felix's neck and inhale deeply, as if it were a scent of life itself.
"You smell good."