D’Élysée immediately recognized the memory his dream was showing him. It was the day he first noticed his brother’s pheromones after he presented himself as an Alpha.

On an unbearably hot summer day, the two of them lived practically half-naked inside their home. Even wearing loose tank tops and underwear, it was the kind of weather that made them sweat constantly.

His brother would dress him in relatively clean tank tops. Meanwhile, he wore shirts with stretched-out necklines that he’d picked up from somewhere. The baggy sides bore stubborn sweat stains that wouldn’t come out no matter how many times they were hand-washed.

“J-just wait a moment, D’Élysée!”

It happened one day. Returning from work as usual, his brother unexpectedly arrived with a rubber basin balanced on his head.

“What’s that, brother?”

“Wait and see!”

Egru flashed a bright smile and diligently carried water from the stream. As the cool water gradually filled the rubber basin, D’Élysée couldn’t hide his amazement.

“Wow!”

It was the moment they got their very own swimming pool inside the house.

D’Élysée, bubbling with excitement, stomped his feet happily.

They both climbed into the rubber basin together. This was only possible because they were much smaller than other children their age.

After playing in the water to their hearts’ content until sunset, they went to bed happy.

“Good night, brother.”

“You too, D’Élysée.”

Egru and D’Élysée fell asleep at opposite ends of the bed. They usually slept pressed against each other, but the merciless summer heat was the one exception.

What’s this?

That night, D’Élysée presented as an Alpha.

At first, he thought someone was cooking outside the window. The sweet fragrance—something he’d never smelled before—was strong enough to wake him from deep sleep.

No one else lives in this area except us…

When he opened his eyes, he saw his brother sleeping with his green ears drooping. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off the skin visible through the worn fabric. His stomach felt strangely hot. It was a different sensation from hunger.

Restless from this unfamiliar feeling, D’Élysée debated whether to wake his brother.

No, if he’s tired tomorrow because of me…

His brother mainly took on dangerous jobs, and an accident from drowsiness could be serious. D’Élysée eventually forced himself to close his eyes again. The first day passed like that.

“Shit, what the hell is all this…?”

The next morning.

Seeing the flooded house, Levian grabbed Egru as he was about to leave for work and scolded him harshly. After making him cry his eyes out, he went outside and brought back a box. He then put Egru in it, calling it the “Reflection Box.”

“Going to work? Like hell. Today’s your punishment day.”

[I am a bad child. I flooded the house owned by the Milfia Guild Master.]

He even made a sign with those words and hung it around his brother’s neck.

Seeing his brother crouched in the box, sniffling, Levian laughed until he was breathless, while D’Élysée hit Levian repeatedly, telling him to stop tormenting his brother.

It was a day like any other. If D’Élysée hadn’t presented as an Alpha, perhaps these days would have continued.

“Levian, are you s-staying over tonight?”

“Why are you suddenly asking?”

“D-D’Élysée’s forehead is very hot. I think he needs to go to bed soon…”

Outside the window, the sunset glow was already fading. Levian glanced at D’Élysée in Egru’s arms and said:

“Then you’ll sleep on the floor with me. If you share the bed with him, you might catch his cold or whatever it is.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t usually g-get sick.”

“Clueless bastard…”

After grumbling for a while, Levian roughly spread a blanket on the floor beside the bed and lay down.

“Brother…”

“It’s okay, D’Élysée. You’ll feel b-better after a night’s sleep. I’ll buy medicine for you tomorrow.”

Egru carefully laid D’Élysée down and placed a wet towel on his forehead. Then he patted his stomach until he fell asleep.

D’Élysée slowly closed his feverish eyelids. He drifted off to sleep, comforted by the rough palm stroking his cheek, never leaving his side.

“Hey, wake up, you fucker!”

He suddenly opened his eyes at Levian’s shout.

D’Élysée immediately looked for his brother. Somehow pulled down from the bed, Egru was rolling on the floor in a half-asleep state.

Beside Egru, who was barely opening his sleepy eyes, Levian clutched his bleeding hand. The marks where something had bitten him hard were clearly visible. At that moment, D’Élysée tasted something metallic in his mouth. Before his bewilderment could fade, he heard a low mutter.

“…that bastard is beyond help now.”

Even in the dim light, those sharp golden eyes fixed on D’Élysée. It was a quiet, threatening gaze like making eye contact with a predator hiding in the bushes.

D’Élysée, not understanding what was happening, glared back at Levian confrontationally. Levian had never been particularly friendly, but this was the first time D’Élysée had felt such a different level of hostility.

He didn’t know then, but looking back with experience, he understood.

It was the moment his first rut had come.

He had unconsciously tried to bite his brother but was stopped by Levian.

The next day, while his brother was at work, D’Élysée was forcibly taken for a secondary gender test.

“It’s confirmed, dominant Alpha.”

“What does that mean? Let me go!”

“Your life will be easy from now on.”

Levian smiled, tapping the results paper with his fingers.

“You don’t have to stay stuck in this worn-down house.”

D’Élysée was confused. He couldn’t understand what was happening.

But he vaguely realized that Levian saw him as a thorn in his side and was constantly scheming to separate him from his brother.

Brother is mine. He keeps trying to take him away.

D’Élysée wasn’t just passively accepting this situation.

When Levian hit him on the head that same day, he secretly banged his face against the wall to fake a serious injury. He carefully wiped away his blood from the wall. He’d formulated a plan to move away with his brother and was almost successful, but…

Levian was several moves ahead of the young D’Élysée.

“Your brother is going to set up house with me now. Would it work with you around? No, it wouldn’t.”

Growl…

As he watched himself being sent to an orphanage, the ground beneath D’Élysée crumbled. The image of his brother staying above with Levian rapidly faded away.

The dream transformed into complete darkness, and D’Élysée fell into burning rage.

He couldn’t suppress the seething fury that had been building. He wanted to find a clear answer to this maddening emotion. Doing so might somehow lessen the unpleasant taste lingering in his mouth.

Wait, what was I… doing?

The cause and effect in his mind became chaotically mixed up. Like how clock hands change position every time you look at them in a dream. It mockingly provoked emotions that weren’t immediately necessary.

All he could do was swing his sword through the air in anger.

Finally, the fall through darkness ended, and D’Élysée reached the light. The place where he firmly stood was the Papal office.

D’Élysée was wearing the Holy Knight Order uniform, and he saw his brother’s last appearance before his death. Small with green hair and a humble appearance.

“Brother…!”

D’Élysée breathed irregularly. Though still caught in the emotional whirlwind, he couldn’t hide his overwhelming joy.

“What?”

D’Élysée asked with a desperate expression. The moment he took a step forward, his brother took a step back. He looked somewhat frightened.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Brother, wait…!”

When he strode several more steps forward, his brother turned completely around to flee. It was just a moment, but D’Élysée couldn’t bear it. He grabbed Egru from behind in a tight embrace.

“Ahh…!”

He brought the struggling Egru to the sofa and forcibly laid him down.

“What’s wrong? Brother, don’t you like me?”

“L-let go! Why are you doing this? Why…!”

“This can’t be right. You always like me.”

Thud.

Something slipped from D’Élysée’s hand and fell onto the carpet.

A dagger. A blade he hadn’t even realized he was holding.

With blank eyes, D’Élysée checked his reflection in the mirror across the room. His neat uniform was soaked with someone’s blood. Since he was uninjured, it wasn’t his own blood.

His pale green eyes slowly moved to the side of the sofa.

Levian was lying on the red carpet. His pupils, surrounded by diluted amber, were widely dilated. As if he had just been butchered, the remaining blood gushed from his severed neck.

“Did I do this?”

D’Élysée couldn’t tell what expression he was wearing. His brother, still crying, couldn’t answer. D’Élysée unconsciously murmured.

“…good.”

His chaotic heartbeat stabilized to a regular rhythm.

Dreams sometimes revealed repressed impulses.

What D’Élysée had reached was the ugly desire residing at the very bottom of his subconscious.