“Duke Ulpaz. I’m prepared to give up everything to love Clyne. I have nothing and will not be greedy for anything. I will simply live as Calcus Tacan and only have Clyne.”

The lion cub spouted nonsense.

This bastard hadn’t given up everything. He never had anything to begin with. One who has nothing has nothing to give up.

Nevertheless, the words that came out of that guy’s mouth were causing a fierce whirlwind in Hugrey’s mind.

Love, he says. How dare a mere lion, dare to love Clyne!

That guy was coveting what belonged to him. His possession, Clyne Liden.

An impulse he had never experienced before spread throughout his body from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. It was the predatory instinct towards a natural enemy, the urge to transform into a wolf due to the desire to kill. This was a wolf’s instinct, different from the emotion felt when fighting as a human with a sword.

“A lion, cub, wants to, engage in, sodomy?”

Along with the words, the boiling killing intent leaked through his teeth.

“What’s wrong with sodomy if I really love him? I’m different from you, a wolf, and an alpha at that, who can’t handle a man like Clyne.”

Trascan retorted without backing down.

Alpha, man, sodomy…

Hugrey Ulpaz engages in sodomy. The partner for sodomy is Clyne Liden.

Hugrey Ulpaz, the alpha of the wolf beastmen, with the male Clyne Liden…

For a moment, it felt like all the blood drained from his head, which was spinning with a dizzying whirlwind. That was not allowed. Not unless he gave up being a wolf and an alpha. Even if the partner was Clyne…

The blood that had drained from his brain all rushed to his heart, violently swirling and constricting it. The pain felt like it was squeezing his heart.

“I…”

No answer came out. He couldn’t answer.

“That’s right, it’s impossible for you. You’re the leader responsible for your race. I heard the alpha’s sense of responsibility is the greatest among all beastmen leaders. Are you willing to give up even that responsibility? If you have no intention of doing so, stop spouting nonsense like ‘I have no intention of quitting’ or ‘I’ll keep him by my side’!”

Now Trascan was mocking him. With every word, he was putting on the shackles of ‘responsibility’ that Hugrey couldn’t easily throw off.

Calcus Trascan’s words drove the lion’s fangs into Hugrey’s heart, which was already feeling intense pain.

Born as the child of an alpha and raised to be an alpha, the sense of responsibility towards his race that he had carried all his life like fate was now almost instinct, or destiny. How could he put that down?

But, still, Clyne Liden… Clyne…

Hugrey thought of Clyne. That small, weak, unprepossessing fellow.

The responsibility towards his race and his feelings for that fellow. This comparison shouldn’t have made sense. It shouldn’t have been something that could be placed equally on both sides of a scale. He shouldn’t even think of comparing them… It should have been clear…

At that moment of contemplation, the door flung open.

“Ah, I looked all around but there was nothing. Are you sure you heard something?”

Clyne entered the house, grumbling in a sulky voice. Still with his bangs covering half his face, wearing thick and blurry glasses, and fluttering in ill-fitting loose clothes, that unsightly little fellow Clyne Liden.

Ah…! Damn it! Goddammit!

He felt the scale tipping to one side.

I… I’m an alpha, but that fellow…? It’s absolutely, absolutely impossible. And yet I…

“Calcus, are you sure you heard correctly?”

Clyne’s gaze turned towards the lion cub.

Don’t look at that bastard!

“Ah, did I hear wrong? I was sure…”

As the lion cub continued to mumble something, Clyne frowned.

The small wrinkles on your nose bridge as you grumble and frown slightly. Your small and white face, barely visible under your bangs and glasses. Even with that shaggy and stuffy-looking brown hair, that small, round, cute head underneath that I keep wanting to ruffle.

Your voice that always sounds uneasy, mixing an awkward tone with both immature and husky notes. Even those blue eyes of yours that look at me with a sulky face as you walk over hesitantly.

Ah… I adore you. I love everything about you just as you are. To the extent that my heart pounds every moment I see you. To the extent that my chest aches from that pounding. To the extent that your human blood, your gender, nothing matters.

I ‘love’ you just as you are.

Watching Clyne Liden grumbling as he walked over and sat across from him, Hugrey realized painfully and desperately. That this wasn’t a matter of choice or comparison. That he had become eternally subordinate to Clyne Liden. That he already belonged to Clyne Liden, and Clyne was his master.

Perhaps he really is a mutant, a wolf that can imprint on an unknown woman and then imprint on another person, a man at that. Because this emotion is hard to explain if it’s not imprinting.

So even if he has to give up being a wolf beastman and an alpha, it can’t be helped. Because even his sense of responsibility as an alpha loses its power in front of that fellow. Because even if he were to die in extreme pain without finding a mate, it would be less painful than the fear of death he feels he would experience if he were to separate from that fellow now.

In fact, his body had known this clear fact before his mind did. His body had been constantly shouting at his mind. That he had already fallen for that fellow. That he could never escape.

When that lion cub said he loved Clyne, the reason he felt the urge to transform into a wolf to attack an enemy for the first time in his life was because his instincts already knew. Like a natural physiological response, his body was subordinate to Clyne.

His mind, which had resisted the body’s cries to the end, now finally accepted this fact.

“What were you two talking about?”

Clyne asked, looking back and forth between him and Trascan.

“Ah, Clyne. It seems the conversation with the Duke will be a bit long.”

Trascan said, fixing his gaze on Hugrey.

“What could you two have to talk about for so long…”

“So I was thinking of going into town with the Duke and staying there tonight. It seems it will be harder to talk here. And I don’t think the Duke will leave this house alone unless he finishes talking with me. Isn’t that right, Your Grace?”

It probably wasn’t a suggestion to go out and fight with no chance of winning. Trascan seemed to intend to leave this house himself rather than let Hugrey stay here overnight.

But that’s inconvenient now, lion cub. Because while talking with you, I’ve already awakened. To who the master of my body and heart is.

I don’t care what happens to the imprinting with some unknown woman now. Because I’m a wolf with genetic abnormalities, a wolf who has given up being an alpha. And now that I’ve awakened, I have no intention of separating from my master even for a moment.

“The two of you together?”

Clyne’s eyes widened. Cute eyes.

“No, I have no intention of leaving you alone in this house. What if someone kidnaps you?”

I can’t leave that small fellow alone in this forest. He said his younger sister and mother were attacked then too.

I felt Trascan glaring at me, his pupils dilating at my words. Is that all the stupid lion can do? Fighting isn’t done with eyes.

“Huh?”

Clyne asked incredulously.

“There are many beasts, aren’t there? I really can’t leave you alone.”

“Don’t worry. Clyne is not that weak.”

Trascan interjected.

Come to think of it, isn’t this lion guy worried if he ‘loves’ Clyne? He said everything, but in reality, all he could give up was probably just his bloodline.

How could a lion intend to engage in sodomy? Is he a mutant like me? Well, it doesn’t matter. That guy is just a promiscuous lion cub anyway.

“Yes, Duke. I’m not that weak. This is my home after all. And the mountain isn’t that dangerous a place. Don’t worry.”

The fellow who can only run boasted with confidence.

Your home is dangerous. More dangerous than anywhere else.

With a promiscuous mutant lion cub here, it was the most dangerous place in the world as far as he knew.

“Which way is your mother’s room? Is it that way?”

I had secretly hoped that Calcus would take the Duke down the mountain, but it seemed the Duke had no such intention. He insisted on staying overnight. What kind of vacation is this, really?

“Duke Ulpaz!”

Calcus once again lost his fear and raised his voice at the Duke,

“Your Grace, please reconsider.”

Chloe also tried to dissuade him again, but the Duke ignored them and was getting up from the sofa.

Ah! No!

“Just, I’ll! I’ll show you the room!”

Chloe hurriedly stood up and changed her attitude. She herself found it ridiculous, but she had no choice but to guide the Duke to her mother’s room.

Because the room the Duke was pointing at and moving towards wasn’t her mother’s room, but her own room!

She had to drag him into her mother’s room before the Duke entered her room with those ridiculously long legs in just a few steps.