(BL) Rejected by daughter's second male lead-Chapter 42

Upon discovering the identity of the robed man, Viscountess Iple was so shocked she could barely breathe. The owner and other customers who were watching from nearby also covered their mouths, letting out gasps like "Oh my goodness!", "Heavens!", and "It’s Marquis Hampton!"

Among everyone in the teahouse, only Gillon calmly stood up, gave a slight nod, and greeted him.

"Yuan. It’s been a while."

"Your Grace the Duke. It seems you already knew I was sitting behind you."

"Hahaha! Your pheromone scent is so strong, you see. I thought you were putting on a demonstration, trying to get me to notice."

Gillon threw a barbed joke. However, Yuan responded with a displeased tone.

"I am keeping my pheromones perfectly in check. On the contrary, Your Grace, you are the one who is leaking pheromones all over the place, making it impossible for me to just pass by. Your Grace’s pheromones were piercing my nose too."

This was Yuan’s own way of implying something. Conscious of the others, he was indirectly stating the hypothesis that ’we seem to have become strongly responsive to each other’s pheromones since we had sex,’ and kindly informing him that they needed to talk more.

Fortunately, Gillon quickly understood the meaning embedded in Yuan’s words. A brief look of bewilderment flickered across his face.

"I-It seems what was in the newspaper was true after all. Perhaps because you are both dominant alphas, you have a severe rejection reaction to each other’s pheromones. I-I shall be going now, Your Grace the Duke. And you too, Marquis."

Viscountess Iple gathered her handbag and parasol and rose from her seat.

"Just a moment, Viscountess! We haven’t finished our conversation—"

"I have said all I have to say, Your Grace the Duke. My position has not changed. I’m sorry."

With that, Viscountess Iple glanced at Yuan’s beautiful face, blushed, and then fled as if running away. Gillon let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead with one hand. Yuan confidently picked up his coffee cup and went to sit in the seat Viscountess Iple had just vacated.

"What are you worried about? I said I would fill in for Viscountess Apple, didn’t I? A Marquis is much higher than a Viscountess, so isn’t that a gain for you?"

Yuan, who had deliberately misspoken Viscountess Iple’s name, took a sip of his coffee. His attitude was extremely brazen. Gillon sat down again. He asked in a slightly grumpy tone.

"Why on earth are you here? We promised not to run into each other, so what are you doing coming in here just because you saw me? You should have just passed by."

"Your Grace was the one who was sending all sorts of signals to me first."

"...I was?"

"This."

Yuan threw a crumpled letter from inside his coat. Gillon took it and read it.

"This is the rejection letter I sent."

"It’s no use pretending you didn’t now. My extraordinary brain has already deciphered the hidden code in that letter."

"Code? What code?"

Gillon reread the letter with a look of someone hearing it for the first time. Even though he had written it himself, his expression showed he had no idea what kind of code it was supposed to contain.

What a great actor.

Yuan said with a sneer.

"Save me. You hid those words in an irregular way. Of course, because of that, I couldn’t recognize it at first, but I eventually figured it out."

"...I did?"

"Yes, Your Grace. You did."

Yuan downed the rest of his coffee and set the cup down. Clink. The sound of the porcelain cup hitting the saucer was loud.

"I asked Cecil, and she said nothing out of the ordinary happened. In that case, there’s only one conclusion to be drawn. That you secretly expressed your feelings of wanting to see me so badly you could die. Well, am I wrong?"

"Yes, you’re wrong. I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"That’s what you would say, Your Grace."

No, seriously, what is he talking about? What kind of bullshit is this?

Gillon suppressed the urge to say that, folded the letter neatly, and pushed it toward Yuan.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Well, when have I ever understood a word you’ve said. Anyway, I’m verrry fine, so you don’t need to worry about this letter. The promise is still valid. Then I’ll be the one to get up and leave quickly."

Gillon quickly straightened himself and stood up. He wanted to get away from this narcissistic bullshit-spouter as fast as possible, even if just for a second. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to see him after a long time, and strangely, Yuan’s pheromone scent felt sweet, but Gillon truly didn’t want to get involved with Yuan anymore.

"Wait."

Yuan called out to stop Gillon. Gillon forced the corners of his mouth up as high as they would go and looked down at Yuan.

"What is it?"

"...So, that..."

"Yes?"

"I mean... are you okay?"

Yuan asked brusquely, looking out the window. Judging by his face, one would think he had just swallowed a moldy cake. So Gillon paused for a moment. Did I hear that right?

"Are you... asking if I’m... okay... right now?"

"Are you context-blind? Would I be asking if that Viscountess Apple or Waffle or whatever is okay? I’m asking if there’s anything wrong with you, Your Grace. Are you okay?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Yuan shot Gillon a prim look and fired off a rapid stream of words in an aggressive tone. But the content itself was surprisingly... gentle.

"Ah, yes, haha... I’m fine. Of course, I’m fine."

Gillon answered awkwardly.

"Hmph, then that’s settled."

Yuan lifted his chin and stood up. Now at a similar height to Gillon, Yuan gave a firm warning.

"Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not getting up to leave with you, Your Grace. I’m getting up because I finished my coffee. I, too, want to get away from Your Grace as soon as possible. I came here because I was curious about the code in the letter. As you know, I have an extraordinary passion for learning and a spirit of inquiry."

A moment ago he said he came in because the pheromone scent was so bad, and now he says he came because he was curious about the code in the letter. Gillon, who had been quietly watching Yuan, the owner of an extraordinary brain, talk nonsense and contradict himself, burst out laughing.

"Pfft, heuha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Gillon’s hearty laughter rang throughout the teahouse. The gazes of the owner and customers were once again drawn to Gillon. With a smile still on his face, Gillon gestured apologetically to the people. Yuan had already left the teahouse with an annoyed expression from the moment Gillon said "Pfft."

Gillon continued to laugh, ha ha ha, as he left the teahouse. As expected, Yuan hadn’t gone far and was standing in front of the teahouse with his arms crossed. Contrary to his words, it seemed he was waiting for Gillon.

"Why are you laughing? A man who is a Duke has absolutely no dignity."

"Hahaha! I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw you."

"Haa... Now it’s a confession every chance you get. I’m so sick of it. The first thing you do after we meet for the first time in two weeks is another love confession. Please, get a grip."

"Ah, has it been two weeks since we last saw each other?"

"To be precise, it’s been 15 days, 7 hours, and 40 minutes. I didn’t specifically count it; my biological clock just automatically remembers, so I know."

"You’re truly amazing."

"Such admiration is just as tiresome as your confessions."

However, contrary to his words about being tired of it, Yuan’s expression was more relaxed than before. He even looked somewhat satisfied. In fact, Gillon had felt a moment ago that Yuan’s on-edge pheromones had calmed down to some extent.

’Somehow, I feel like I can sense Yuan’s pheromones more subtly than before...’

Gillon briefly wondered about it, but he soon forgot about it due to a loud voice.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is arriving! Everyone, show your respects!"

In the distance, a large golden carriage was slowly approaching, radiating majesty. It was escorted by Royal Guards on horseback in front and behind, and following them was a line of knights in the uniform of the Crown Prince’s personal guard, marching in neat rows and columns.

"What brings His Highness the Crown Prince all the way to the city?"

"Aah, does anyone have a hand mirror?"

"Go get Anais! His Highness the Crown Prince is here, where is she and what is she doing?"

Everyone, regardless of age, gender, or secondary gender, excitedly prepared to welcome the Crown Prince.

If Duke Gillen Blake was the dream man mentioned as a prospective husband for some older women and a few young women, Crown Prince Hexion Moore was the prey of all young, unmarried noblewomen, a man like a golden lifeline.

Hexion was a charmingly handsome man with honey-blond hair and innocent eyes, the future emperor who would inherit this empire, and was popular for his outgoing personality that allowed him to get along with everyone. On top of that, he had the traits of a royal. He was a perfect unmarried man with nothing lacking.

Of course, as the Crown Prince, he would likely form a connection with an omega from a prominent family, but still, any noble who owned even a small piece of land was eyeing the position of Crown Princess in recent noble society.

Because in this world, there existed the ultimate cheat code, something called "pheromones."

’In fact, the previous emperor’s predecessor, on his way back from a victory in war, stopped by a small barony in the countryside, spent a rut with the daughter of the house, and married her right away.’

With a history like that, it was understandable that all the nobles with omega daughters went into battle mode whenever they saw Hexion.

Heh heh, but of course Hexion is my son-in-law. Gillon smiled a smile of victory inwardly. The handsome but clueless Crown Prince would become his future son-in-law. It was already decided that way in the original story.

Gillon took a step forward to greet the Crown Prince when he got out of the carriage. But right at that moment.

"Dad? Is that you, Dad! Dad, are you okay?"

The voice of his lovely daughter came from behind. Gillon reflexively turned around, then froze as he realized the situation.

Wait wait wait, are Cecil, Hexion, and Yuan all going to meet in the same place? Just a moment!!!