Chapter 56

Auston's gaze darkened at these words, but he flatly rejected Kyle's suggestion: “There's no need to try. I know my own condition when I have an episode. Unless there's an Omega in this world with a 100% Pheromone Matching Rate with me, what use is even a 95% rate?”

“When I have an episode, I can't even control myself. He's so useless and fragile; killing him would be a matter of an instant...”

For an Omega as delicate and fragile as Ruan Tang, Auston had never even considered telling him about his condition, letting him put himself in danger to save him.

Kyle knew Auston didn't want to hear it, but he still didn't give up persuading: “I can see that the duchess is very fond of you, sir. So why don't you mark her and make her your Omega?”

The Pheromone Matching Rate between an Alpha and an Omega can also increase by a certain probability after they mark each other.

The matching rate between Ruan Tang and Auston is already 95%. He could see that Ruan Tang liked Auston, and Auston also liked Ruan Tang. So, even if Auston didn't want to put Ruan Tang in danger, why not give it a try?

“What if such a high rate could really increase a bit more?”

“Kyle, you should know that I have never wanted to mark any Omega.”

Auston disliked the beastly Heat Period between Alphas and Omegas, and detested how pheromones could drive normally decent people to become like animals in heat, losing all reason and only wanting to mate... Even if the Alpha occupied the dominant, aggressive, and predatory role in the AO relationship, Auston still loathed it just as much...

The act of marking, of branding one person with another's imprint, made Auston feel sick to his stomach; he had no good feelings toward it at all.

Therefore, in all his life, he had never thought of uniting with an Omega, marking each other.

“But the duchess really likes you...” Kyle didn't know how to say it.

Auston's face darkened: “So what if he likes me?”

Did he think he was an Alpha so easily obtained?

“Perhaps you could try not to see the duchess as an Omega, but simply as someone who likes you, someone who wants to become your partner...” As Auston's trusted man, Kyle understood the worries in his heart and the disgust towards the entanglement of Alpha-Omega pheromones, stemming from his childhood trauma.

But he still wanted to persuade Auston, because he could see that Ruan Tang was truly special to Auston.

Auston was silent for a long while before speaking: “How can I think of a family when the great task is not yet accomplished? Before our victory arrives, I have never considered such personal matters.”

Whether he liked Ruan Tang or not, it didn't matter.

Before achieving his own ideals, Auston never planned to think about this aspect, let alone engage in romantic relationships.

Kyle frowned deeply, wanting to say something more.

“Besides, a person like me, in such a condition, why should I drag him down?” Auston, before Kyle could speak, looked at the wheelchair beneath him and gave a self-deprecating smile: “I don't even know if I can succeed, or how long I can live even if I do.”

A Permanent Mark between an Alpha and an Omega accompanies the Omega for life. For a permanently marked Omega, whether undergoing surgery to remove the mark or the death of their Alpha, they would suffer extremely severe spiritual and physical shock and pain.

Auston knew that he was walking the most dangerous path in the world, a difficult road with an uncertain end. And his body had such irreversible defects, with his Spirit Sea disorder having no Omega with a 100% Pheromone Matching Rate. He didn't know how much longer he could live, how much time he had.

But Ruan Tang was like the rising sun; everything in his life was full of hope and continuously improving. Without him, he would be even better.

Even if he was his nominal spouse, Auston did not want to drag him into this muddy water, to make him walk the most difficult path with him.

Whether Ruan Tang's feelings for him were real or just a misconception.

Auston felt that from the moment his body became like this, he was destined to be merely a fleeting visitor in this Omega's long life.

“Sir...” Kyle was taken aback, looking deeply at Auston but unable to speak.

Auston looked away but turned on the air purification system, clearing the lingering scent of Ruan Tang's pheromones from the air in his room: “You don't need to say such things anymore. I don't want to hear them either.”

His will could not be swayed by anyone.

...

After that day, although Auston and Ruan Tang were both in the duke's manor, Auston suddenly vanished from Ruan Tang's life. He no longer sniffed Ruan Tang on schedule, no longer had breakfast with Ruan Tang, and even when Ruan Tang proactively went to Auston's room at night looking for him, he couldn't find him.

And when asking the servants, no matter who he asked, the only answer he got was “I don't know.”

Ruan Tang had previously rejected many people who had feelings for him but he didn't reciprocate, so he wasn't very surprised by Auston's determination to avoid him.

He was certain that Auston had feelings for him, but he didn't know why Auston refused to be with him.

Therefore, even now, he hadn't given up on this idea.

Having declared his intention to pursue Auston but no longer being able to see him, Ruan Tang was not discouraged and did not give up his pursuit.

He had Auston's contact number, so he simply changed his approach, taking a roundabout way.

He started bombarding Auston with messages.

“Sir, are you afraid of me? Why are you hiding from me all of a sudden?”

“You, an Alpha, hiding from me, an Omega, as if I were a thug—don't you find that ridiculous?”

“Or is it that you actually know you like me but don't dare to admit it, so you refuse to face me and choose to flee without a fight? Don't you think you're a coward?”

“Not liking someone but treating them so well, intentionally giving them false hope, and then refusing to take responsibility after they've developed feelings—that's really mean and bitchy...”

“I feel like I've been toyed with by you.”

Ruan Tang sent a string of messages, along with several crying emojis, putting on a tone of a scorned lover questioning a heartbreaker.

But Auston, who usually exploded at the slightest provocation and was easily baited, this time seemed to have completely disappeared, not replying a single word no matter how Ruan Tang provoked him.

As a pursuer, despite being treated so coldly, Ruan Tang had expected it and remained remarkably composed.

Auston, on the other hand, who had remained silent, looked at the flurry of messages and the several crying emojis Ruan Tang had sent last, clenched his teeth, and it took great effort to restrain himself from replying.

Seeing the crying emoji Ruan Tang sent, he couldn't help but imagine that delicate and annoying Omega, after being given the cold shoulder, hiding in some corner, crying pitifully like he had been abandoned. Auston frowned, not knowing what to do.

Auston didn't want to reply to Ruan Tang, afraid that he would give him hope and the wrong signal, but he also couldn't bear to ignore him.

His expression darkened slightly, and he called for his chief secretary: “Vincent, how can Omegas be such trouble? You don't think he actually went somewhere to cry, do you?”

Auston showed the messages Ruan Tang had sent to his secretary Vincent, who was like his personal Omega-care expert.

“...Sir, the duchess is on a higher level than you.” Vincent took one look at how a few simple messages had made Auston so agitated, and immediately gave this assessment.

Auston rolled his eyes at him: “How is that possible? Do you even know how to read people? Are you really the Alpha who claims to be the world's foremost expert on Omegas?”

“I advise you to just give up and stop struggling. Go along with it.” Vincent didn't understand what was wrong with Auston for treating Ruan Tang so well but refusing to be with him, nor did he understand what he was holding out for when he already cared about Ruan Tang so much. He could only conclude that Auston was sick and would eventually give in.

Auston completely lost trust in him and threw a book at him: “Get out!”

“Yes, sir!”

Vincent outwardly replied dutifully, “Yes,” and rolled out, but inwardly he cursed: “Fuck you!”

His boss was indeed sick, and seriously at that...

After driving Vincent out, Auston calmed down considerably. He read through the messages Ruan Tang had sent again, analyzed them carefully, and could only detect an attempt to play pitiful and provoke him. He let out a cold laugh and minimized the chat window on his personal terminal to the side.

He wanted to see what other tricks Ruan Tang could pull.

However, Ruan Tang didn't continue playing pitiful with him. Instead, he started sharing some very trivial things from his daily life with Auston.

“This is my breakfast today. Without you eating with me, it didn't taste as good.”

“I ran into some problems at work today. I'm not sure how to solve them. No one is willing to teach me, and I don't know how to handle it.”

“I kind of miss Simba, but no one will take me to see him.”

Auston still didn't respond a single word to Ruan Tang, as if he had completely blocked him and couldn't see his messages.

But Ruan Tang discovered that the trivial troubles he had messaged to Auston were all resolved shortly after he sent them.

The problems he was struggling with were soon solved by people who came to him proactively.

When he returned home, the servant in charge of the fierce beasts came forward and said to Ruan Tang, “Duchess, would you like to go to the beast garden to see the lion? I'll take you, and I'll protect you.”

Ruan Tang replied softly, “Alright.”

The corners of his mouth curled up into a faint smile. He realized that although Auston hadn't replied a single word, his messages had not gone unnoticed; Auston had read them all.

Auston was still the Bluebeard duke who would give him whatever he wanted.