WCMBI - Chapter 212: Daily Sufferings (Patreon)

Ian's days were nothing short of infernal, each passing moment feeling like a painful trek over scorching stones, his suffering escalating day by day. He found himself inexplicably plagued with nervousness and irritability, or rather, an undeniable surge of emotions with distinct causes, leaving him and those around him in a state of desolation.

The attendants, who were by his side all day long, and even the servants they happened to encounter, now regarded him with profoundly impure gazes. Their glares resembled those cast upon a sinister being. When they praised him as an extreme alpha, they trembled and quivered as if facing a vile and fearsome demon, and at times, even screams escaped their lips.

The whole metamorphosis amused Ian, but he acted decisively and severed the wrists of the maidservant and manservant who had dared to lay hands on Melissa's belongings. He rendered them incapable of any further thievery with the intent to deter such notions forever.

Furthermore, the maids who had previously ignored Melissa and tormented her were exiled after having their tongues cut as part of the Imperial decree.

Though the household was under the Duke's family, there was some resistance, but Ian remained unwavering in his decision.

"It seems it can't go on like this," Ian spoke, his gaze fixed dully on the apparition of Melissa, moving as if she were alive, as he addressed Henry.

"Yes?" Henry's countenance wasn't as flawless as Ian's. Secretly bringing Ian back from the outbuilding every night had been mentally and physically exhausting.

"I must go and find her myself. I should have done so long ago..."

Ian concluded that he could no longer wait for news from the search team. All the while he waited, his Omega was gradually fading away, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing her.

Henry desperately struggled to hold Ian back, who showed signs of leaving at that very moment. They could conceal his presence within the mansion, but the moment he stepped outside, rumors would spread uncontrollably.

Not forgetting the words spoken by the former Duke, Henry suddenly began counting the days from when Lady Melissa disappeared. It had been approximately seven months since she vanished during the harsh winter. Two full seasons had passed, so it wasn't unreasonable for Ian to grow impatient.

If it were up to his emotions, Ian might have left to search for her long ago, but his lingering sense of responsibility for the sinners within the mansion held him back.

Henry thought he had to say something, and suddenly, a crucial fact occurred to him, wondering how he had managed to forget it until now.

"Master! When was the last rut cycle?"

Ian, who used to be right by his side, pensively writing, froze in his tracks at Henry's words.

"As a beta, I'm not entirely sure, but there's only been one rut cycle since then."

He recalled the time when Lady Melissa became pregnant. Until that point, she had regularly gone through rut cycles without any exceptions, and it was strangely fascinating how it ceased abruptly once she conceived. It was then that he first considered the enigmatic nature of the relationship between an alpha and an omega.

Though Henry had intended to calm Ian with his words, they had the opposite effect. Ian's mind was set ablaze, and he was eager to leave the mansion immediately.

It was understandable, as Ian had grasped the meaning concealed within Henry's words.

His omega had conceived his seed once again, and she was alive.