IDMWE 23

Chapter 23

“So, ‘Omegaverse’… can be understood as the constellations’ term for something like ‘human perfume syndrome.'”

Rigan, having finally coaxed the constellations into explaining their current condition, came to that conclusion.

A genius was a genius—even with his mind burning with fever, he systematically dissected the core of the ‘Omegaverse.’

“In that case, I’ll translate Omega as ‘walking perfume’ for now. Hmm… and Alpha as ‘scent-obsession patient’?”

Rigan thought he should include this content in his ongoing thesis, *Research on the Lifestyle and Culture of Other Dimensions—Focusing on Utterance Data from 456 Constellations*.

Rigan kept muttering to himself.

“Hmm. Not a bad expression. But maybe ‘nape-obsession patient’ would work better than that.”

—

「[Dongin-Not-Seoin]: Rigan, please stop analyzing it so seriously…

[Handful-Group]: Right, it was just made to boost the dimensional population…

[Fallen-Power-Warrior]: Aaagh, the secondhand embarrassment is hitting me all of a sudden…!」

—

The constellations howled in protest.

And whether Rigan muttered to himself or not, Leona had no interest whatsoever.

There was only one thing she was curious about.

Leona opened her mouth and asked the constellations what had been on her mind all this time.

“If you catch that Omega-something disease, is it true that even men can get pregnant?”

—

「[Scene-Crafting-Master]: Uh… it’s not a disease, but well, that is the kind of world-building it’s based on…」

—

The constellations, who had expected her to be put off, were startled by her next reaction.

Leona was beaming.

“Amazing! Such a wonderful thing exists!”

Then she shouted toward Rigan, who was still bound to the bed muttering to himself.

“Rigan, just go ahead and be the Omega or the Squid or whatever it is!”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

A shout immediately flew back from Rigan, who had been diligently thinking of material for his thesis.

“Aw, come on. Be a man and you take it!”

—

「[Tooth-Decay-King]: Guys, you don’t just *decide* to be Alpha or Omega lol

[High-Performance-Juicer]: Just leave them. As long as it’s tasty, who cares?」

—

“Rigan, you like efficiency, don’t you? This is totally efficient, right?”

“What kind of new nonsense is that?”

“I’m a swordsman, so I have to run around, but mages can cast while standing still, right? So it’s more efficient for *you* to get pregnant!”

“Good heavens, am I currently talking to a gorilla instead of a human?”

Rigan’s sarcasm was thick, but right now, nothing was reaching Leona’s ears.

“Oh wait, pregnant women have to sit down! Rigan, I’ll carry a chair around for you every day, so you can just sit comfortably and cast magic. How about that?”

Leona’s happy circuits were already spinning at full speed in her head.

“She’s completely lost it.”

“Hehehe.”

Leona let out a lecherous laugh.

Only then did Rigan realize the gravity of the situation, and the blood drained from his face.

“Crazy! Don’t come near me!”

“Aw, you say that, but your body seems honest.”

“Die, seriously. Just try touching me!”

“You look like you’re struggling. Let me help you out comfortably.”

Leona, wearing a broad smile, slowly sat on the edge of Rigan’s bed and leaned in.

Her face was now close enough that he could feel her breath.

On top of that, the sweet scent emanating from her made it impossible for him to keep his wits about him.

Thanks to the constellations’ explanations, he now knew the cause—yet he was helplessly falling into it anyway.

“Ugh…”

Rigan squeezed his eyes shut.

It was a little better now that he couldn’t see Leona’s face.

With superhuman effort, he barely managed to force out a single word.

“…No, don’t!”

And just as a cry—whether it was rejection or permission, even he wasn’t sure—escaped his lips…

“…Pfft.”

Suddenly, laughter filled the room.

“Khh, hey. Were you really that scared?”

Rigan cautiously opened his tightly shut eyes.

In front of him, Leona was doubled over laughing.

“Ahahah, you’re hilarious. Pfft.”

Leona wiped the tears from her eyes from laughing too hard and said,

“Phew. I always thought you were just an insufferable jerk, but that just now was kind of cute? Ah, is this what the constellations meant by an Alpha’s attachment to their Omega?”

“Wh-Who said I’m your Omega! Don’t be ridiculous, just get off me already!”

Rigan, his ears burning red, shouted angrily.

With his tall frame thrashing about, the bed Leona was sitting on shook violently.

“Ah, I really did mean it when I said I wanted to help because you looked like you were suffering.”

“Damn it, stop messing around and just get lost—”

Rigan, about to reflexively curse, couldn’t finish his sentence.

Because Leona had raised her fist high into the air.

Rigan’s blue eyes trembled violently.

“…What?”

“Alpha or Omega, either way, we’re in this mess because of that pheromone scent, right? Then it’s solved if we can’t smell it!”

Leona declared in an utterly confident voice.

“…And what does that have to do with you raising your fist right now?”

“Huh? If you don’t have a nose, you can’t smell things—that’s obvious, isn’t it!”

Obvious… it’s obvious…

Leona’s bright, cheerful cry echoed throughout the healing room.

—

「[Female-Char-Simp]: Leona declares she’ll remove the nose that smells the scent, since the scent is the problem!

[Tooth-Decay-King]: Holy shit… this is true madness.」

—

“No, wait!”

Rigan shouted, even more shocked than when Leona had pretended to pounce on him earlier.

—

「[Fallen-Power-Warrior]: Holy crap, first time seeing a female lead who breaks the cliché by breaking the male lead’s nose bridge…」

—

Exactly.

At this point, Rigan was starting to think it might be better to just surrender his body.

‘No, no. What am I thinking.’

Rigan reined in his almost-wavering resolve.

For some reason, whenever Leona was involved, he always ended up being the one thrown off balance.

This really wasn’t good.

In the end, Rigan had no choice but to pull out his final trump card, the last bastion he’d been saving.

With his feverish body, he barely scraped together enough ether, which transformed into cold air. The chilling energy, woven like ropes, enveloped Leona in an instant. The ropes wrapped around her wrists and ankles respectively, fixing her limbs to the wall.

Leona, who had been too focused on teasing Rigan, found herself bound in the blink of an eye.

“Ah, that’s cold!”

Leona’s body trembled from the cold emanating from the intangible ropes.

It was a spell infused with Rigan’s consideration—to cool her head down since she was caught anyway.

“Hey, Rigan! What kind of insane person attacks for real just because I was joking around a little?”

“Your eyes didn’t look like they were joking.”

“Ugh.”

Leona, who had actually intended to at least give him a nosebleed even if she wasn’t going to break his nose, felt a pang of guilt.

“Ah, no… Anyway, if your nose bleeds, the smell of blood would dull your sense of smell, right…”

Leona gave an awkward laugh, but Rigan ignored her completely.

Instead, he cast the final spell he’d been holding in reserve.

*Click—*

Rigan’s specialty—silent casting—activated, and simultaneously, the handcuffs restraining him came undone.

Rigan slowly rotated his stiff wrists and shoulders, then spoke.

“Well now. Who’s the one in trouble now?”

Rigan looked down at Leona.

Leona, whose limbs were fixed to the wall by his black ether, thoroughly disheveled…

…was, surprisingly, exactly Rigan’s type.

‘This is why I was trying to stay quietly bound.’

It wasn’t that Rigan was an idiot who couldn’t undo the handcuffs right away.

Unfamiliar holy magic patterns just took a little time—given enough time, there was no magic Rigan couldn’t reverse-engineer.

He’d merely been holding himself back because he was already overstimulated by the gods’ pranks.

And yet she provoked him like this. It was all Leona’s fault.

Leona couldn’t process the suddenly reversed atmosphere.

And the constellations—far from being flustered—were absolutely thrilled.

「[High-Performance-Juicer]: Insane! It’s the cliché of being done in after provoking someone!!

[Tooth-Decay-King]: Delicious!!!

[Rolling-Rolling-Roulette]: I totally gave up on romance after the nose-breaking declaration, but this twist! This time it’ll work! It’ll really work!」

—

The chat window flashed brightly, but neither Rigan nor Leona had the spare attention to look at it.

Both of them were enveloped in the strange tension that filled the room.

‘I didn’t know I had a taste for this.’

Rigan slowly took step after step toward Leona.

Rigan decided to willingly acknowledge that he had this preference.

In truth, it was all the pheromones’ influence, but Rigan, half out of his mind, failed to realize it.

‘Yeah, I’ve been the only one losing up until now.’

A panorama of past events flashed through Rigan’s mind.

‘The day my hand got stuck, only I was conscious of it, the tentacles were shitty, and even the Vampire Lord misunderstood my sexual preferences!’

So now, it was time for a counterattack.

Rigan wanted to see Leona flustered before him.

Rigan’s rivalrous desire to defeat Leona began spiraling in a very strange direction.

Whether as a reflection of that unconscious drive, Rigan’s magic binding Leona grew even stronger.

“Ugh, ah, that hurts…”

—

「[Handful-Group]: Omegaverse suddenly turns into S&M play? Hey teachers, the pacing is way too fast lol

[Trash-Can-Commander]: Kyaa, a virgin guy suddenly goes into dominant mode. This is why I only watch the romance channel on dimensional streaming!

[Scene-Crafting-Master]: Right, male leads are just built with that stuff pre-installed. Anyway, moving on.」

—

The constellations whispered among themselves so as not to disturb the two.

Rigan had stopped right in front of Leona.

Just as Leona had done to Rigan earlier, this time Rigan slowly leaned his body toward Leona.

His slender, long fingers delicately lifted Leona’s chin.

Their gazes met in the air.

*Gulp.*

The sound of Leona swallowing was deafeningly loud.

Rigan’s lips slowly parted, and a low voice flowed out.

“Beg for forgiveness.”

At his unexpected words, Leona’s pupils shook violently.

“Hm? Leona. If you cry prettily, I might just go easy on you.”

It was the moment when Rigan’s innate dominant nature—obscured until now by countless humiliating incidents—finally shone through.