Ash couldn’t hold it in and screamed.
“What? Are you crazy!”
“Do you think I want to marry you? It’s a condition to carry on the family line,” Owen said, almost spat out. Ash reflexively resisted.
“You have to follow the orders.”
“No”
“Ashton.”
Owen grabbed Ash by the chin.
His rough grip forced Ash’s gaze to be fixed on Owen.
“Think before you speak. I could make things even harder for you. You should know that I am being considerate right now.”
Owen stared at Ash with his jet-black eyes.
His low, quiet voice was terrifying.
As Ash trembled slightly, Owen released him and stood up.
The sound of his footsteps gradually faded. Ash couldn’t say anything until he left.
The door slammed shut.
Ash was left alone in the room.
He felt dizzy.
‘Is this real?’
He couldn’t believe it.
His hangover was pounding, and his head felt like it was about to explode.
The surroundings spun around before finding their place again.
Ash lowered his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and then opened them again.
It was as if the alcohol had finally worn off.
So, his father had passed away, and he had been dragged to his room while trying to attend the funeral.
He had heard that he had to marry Owen… Is this real?
Could this be happening?
The fear of losing his only family and being left alone.
The realization that his fate now depended on that bastard, Owen…
“Don’t make me laugh.”
As the cruel reality sank in, Ash threw the pillow.
The feathers inside scattered in all directions.
No, this was impossible.
He shouldn’t be treated like this.
More than anything… marrying that bastard?
That couldn’t happen!
For Omegas, marriage meant subordination.
The moment they consummated the marriage, the Omega was branded by the Alpha.
Afterward, the Omega would become desperately attached to the Alpha, and Ash knew exactly how miserable it could be.
His mother had gone through it.
Ash hesitated for a moment but decided to try opening the door.
It didn’t budge.
He pounded the door with his fists.
Bang! Bang!
“Open this door! Don’t you dare not open it!”
“I’m sorry, young master. There’s an order from the elder young master…”
“Who’s the elder young master? I’m the only young master of this mansion! I’m my father’s only son! Who’s this outsider… with no background… claiming to be the young master…”
“Oh, please, don’t say that. If the older young master hears it, there will be a problem.”
“Hey! Which family’s soldiers are you from? If it’s my father’s order, you’d be dismissed immediately… How dare you treat me like this? My father… my father…”
Ash, panting, slammed his head into the door and collapsed.
His father had passed away.
His protector was gone.
When the cruel reality hit him, tears fell from his eyes.
His skull felt like it was going to crack, and his hands were numb and trembling.
He had been raised as a young master, always pampered, even treated for the smallest injuries, but now he was left alone in a room without a single servant.
Could this really be happening?
“I said my hand hurts… my head hurts, bring me honey water. I want to get some fresh air. Let me out. I have to attend my father’s funeral, don’t I? Bring me my mourning clothes, hurry up, I need to change and go out. Where’s my maid? Tell her to come quickly. I’ll apologize if I have to, I’ll say I’m sorry.”
Ash sniffled, speaking to the door.
A hesitant reply came back after a short pause.
“Uhm… I’m really sorry, Young Master. The Eldest Young Master ordered that this door must not be opened under any circumstances.”
“I’m at my father’s funeral!”
Ash couldn’t believe it.
“My father has passed away. It’s my father’s funeral. It’s not someone else who died! Duke, my father… He must’ve wanted to see me the most before he died…”
“I’m sorry, Young Master… really sorry…”
Ash shook his head.
He shook his head faster and faster, and then, unable to control his anger, he started kicking the door.
“You won’t open it?! Bring that bastard Owen here! Whether he takes over the family or not, why can’t I even go to my father’s funeral? Bastard! You evil bastard! Not coming?!”
He had never felt such anger in his life.
Born as the heir to the Duke’s family, he had grown up without any shortages.
His mother had passed away early, but as the only son of the family and with a lenient father, all the resources were abundantly provided.
Everyone always listened to his words.
He was treated like a precious heir, as if he could fly away or break like a fragile object.
Whatever he wanted was immediately in his hands, except for the succession of the family.
He had never experienced such disrespect.
Ash had cried and gotten angry before.
He had threatened the soldiers and tried coaxing them.
It didn’t work.
The soldiers were Owen’s people. Perhaps even the servants.
He suddenly recalled that there was only one servant who came to inform him about his father’s funeral.
While Ash was out playing, this castle had been taken over by Owen.
‘How could this happen… How could this…’
The shock he felt when he first met Owen resurfaced.
No matter how much Ash begged, Owen hadn’t been kicked out of the castle.
That feeling of powerlessness, how terrifying it had been for young Ash.
That fear was revived.
Ash, exhausted from crying, collapsed and crawled back onto the bed.
He threw the blanket over himself, then quickly pulled it down again.
The stifling blanket felt like his future.
But even pulling his face out of the blanket didn’t make him feel any better.|
The small room already felt like a prison.
‘Do I have to stay in this small room, waiting for that bastard and my wedding?’
Was he destined to end up like his mother?
Ash was using a room the size of a wealthy commoner’s mansion as his personal space, but such luxury didn’t make him feel free at all.
If he couldn’t leave, wasn’t that a prison?
Wait, was there any guarantee that after the wedding, Owen would let him out of this room?
‘No, probably not.’
Ash bit his lip.
Owen was someone who understood how reputation was formed in noble society.
He wouldn’t risk the scandal of locking his spouse in a room.
But what would that bastard Owen do after taking over the family, having deceived his father with his innocent face?
Ash could already foresee his future.
A life with no freedom, completely controlled by Owen.
He might even need Owen’s permission to breathe.
It was a horrifying thought.
That ‘married life.’
‘A life with Owen…’
It was a combination of words that shouldn’t exist.
Owen was the one person Ash hated more than anyone else.
And Owen probably felt the same way.
Even though he didn’t want to think about it, the thought of ‘their first night’ came to his mind.
Everything that would happen after that.
His mother, dying like a dried-up leaf…
Ash bit his lip until it bled, contemplating.
It seemed like there was only one way out.
‘Escape.’
Sneak out of this room and run far away.
Marriage to Owen?
That was the worst future Ash could imagine.
Ash was a free-spirited omega.
He had enjoyed free love until now and intended to continue that way.
Marriage was a duty for the nobility, something that would eventually have to happen.
But Owen was not the one.
Ash had already set his criteria for a suitable partner.
He preferred someone from a lower noble background, someone he could bring in as a son-in-law.
The person’s character should be indecisive and easy to control—someone who couldn’t possibly impose “the duties of an omega” on Ash.
The ideal partner would be someone who wouldn’t care who Ash dated or had children with.
Owen was the complete opposite.
Ash constantly insulted Owen, calling him “someone whose origins are unknown” or “a man with no roots.”
But no matter where Owen came from, he was an alpha through and through—noble to the core—and would follow the proper procedures, no matter who he married.
He would insist on performing the “first night” ritual with his omega.
He would impose the omega’s duties…
If Ash’s father had wanted to protect him, he should have left a proper will.
For example, “The person who marries Ashton will inherit the family.”
Or more definitively, “Ashton will inherit the family.”
But Ash knew better.
His father had never believed in his abilities.
No matter how much Ash insisted, “I will become the heir of the family,” his father just laughed and said, “That’s impossible for you.”
He was an alpha supremacist.
The idea of a non-alpha child inheriting the family was unimaginable to him.
“Wait, but could he have left a will like that?”
Didn’t Owen also say that only by marrying him could Ash inherit the family?
“Wait a minute…”
This gave Ash a glimmer of hope.
Owen had subtly implied that he, as a lowly viscount, would inherit the family, but wasn’t it possible?
He had announced his intention to marry Ash.
He wasn’t even eager to do it himself.
And that meant the will might not have explicitly said, “The title of Duke will pass to Owen Mills.”
Ash’s mind lit up.
“Let’s check my father’s will first.”
He had to escape from this room, check the will, and then…
“I’ll get back my name and my lands.”
Those lands weren’t just his father’s.
They were combined with the vast dowry his mother had brought with her, which formed the great Mills Duchy.
His mother, who had waited for his father on her deathbed, had passed away alone.
His father loved him, but that was all.
To reclaim his lost rights, these lands rightfully belonged to him.
“The world won’t just go the way you want it, will it?”
No, it wouldn’t.
Ash slammed his fist into the mattress, solidifying his resolve.
He imagined this mattress was Owen Mills.