IRTRHP 04

Episode 4. The Dominant Alpha’s Mate

‘Good.’

Ethan looked at the Grand Duke.

‘Grand Duke Rihast is a dominant Alpha.’

After saying that, Ethan paused briefly before turning back to Aileen.

‘I’ll be fine. But you, Aileen—I want you to marry someone you love. Now that no one will ever look down on our family again, you should choose and love whoever you truly want. All right?’

“Are we not there yet?”

A hint of irritation seeped into the face of the waiting Grand Duke Rihast.
“Just a moment!” Ethan called back, then pulled Aileen into one last embrace before letting her go.

As he turned away with a farewell, Aileen reached toward her brother’s retreating back.

“…No.”

Aileen shook her head fiercely.

“No, it’s not okay. Brother, no.”

You’ll die. Brother, you’re going to die.

He won’t look back.

You’ll never be happy with that man.

“Sob… Don’t go… please.”

Aileen’s voice broke into sobs. She waited for news from the Grand Duke’s estate and met her brother only a few times after that. Then, one day, she suddenly lost him—without ever learning the reason for the shadow that had fallen over his face.

“No… no!”

Aileen screamed, her voice raw with despair.

“Hah. What is this now?”

A cold, incredulous voice tugged her back to consciousness.

“Quite the noisy dream you’re having.”

The voice came from above her head. Aileen blinked through her daze and lifted her eyes.

Whose voice was that?
Why did her chest ache so much?
Where was Ethan?
Who was responsible for his death?

Her thoughts tangled into a storm of confusion.

“Should I slap you awake?”

The calm, almost lazy threat brought her focus back.

He looked like a man painted into a perfect portrait—so beautiful he seemed unreal, and yet his beauty carried cruelty.

“You bastard… fucking dominant Alpha…”

Her voice came out half-breath, half-curse.

Loyd’s eyebrows twitched.

Fully awake now, Aileen covered her face, mortified by the Grand Duke Rihast’s icy gaze. She desperately hoped he hadn’t heard her call him a bastard—but that look said otherwise.

‘Why is he the only dominant Alpha around?’

Across the entire continent, dominant Alphas could be counted on one hand—and in the Empire, Rihast was the only one. If she’d only muttered “Alpha,” she might have pretended she meant someone else—but no, she had to go with that.

Aileen decided her only chance was to act like she hadn’t said anything at all. She wiped at the corner of her mouth as if cleaning away drool and covered her face.

“The carriage was too comfortable. I must’ve dozed off.”

Avoiding his gaze, she lifted her hand to her lips and murmured under her breath,

‘If I’d had just one more day, I wouldn’t have fallen asleep. Why did I have to wake up today, of all days—when he came?’

If she’d had even a few more days, she could’ve prepared properly to receive the Grand Duke Rihast. But she hadn’t. And she hadn’t managed to hide her brother Ethan somewhere safe either. The anxiety had been unbearable.

She couldn’t tell him any of that, of course, so she tried to speak in roundabout ways—but the Grand Duke offered no response.

“Your Grace?”

“Shall I have a room prepared here for you, then?”

The sarcasm in his tone made Aileen reluctantly climb out of the carriage. Then she glanced up—and froze.

Behind Rihast stood a mansion so vast that it was more a fortress than a house. It made the Claudia estate look like a cottage. Towering spires reached skyward; the sharply pointed rooftops and the sheer size of the building took her breath away.

“It’s… enormous.”

It wasn’t her first time seeing it, but its scale amazed her every time. A thousand people could probably each have their own room. She was busy doing that simple math when she caught sight of strange expressions on the servants’ faces.

Some tilted their heads. Others whispered to one another.

‘They’ve noticed my secondary gender.’

When Aileen, not Ethan, stepped down from the carriage, the attendants looked puzzled. She had volunteered to come to a place she shouldn’t have—and now all she could do was keep her mouth shut. If she said she’d go fetch her brother now, everything would fall apart.

‘I just have to pretend I don’t know anything.’

“I’ll have a room prepared immediately. You should get some rest,” said the Grand Duke, as detached as ever.

He gestured to the butler, who approached and offered to escort her to her quarters. Aileen nodded faintly.

At least once she was out of his sight, everything that had just happened would stay buried in the past.

“Oh, that reminds me—since we’re speaking of sleep, I wanted to ask you something.”

But of course, the Grand Duke wasn’t going to let it go.

‘Of course not.’

He wouldn’t just overlook being called a bastard to his face.

At the sound of his low, resonant voice, Aileen clenched her skirt tightly. If he asked why she’d called him that, what was she supposed to say? Best to stick with denial. Pretend ignorance to the bitter end.

“What’s your name?”

“The bastard— I mean— Aileen. Aileen.”

That was as good as admitting guilt outright.

Aileen wanted to cry as she gave her name. Feeling wronged, she blurted out,

“Why did my name come to mind when you mentioned sleep, anyway?”

“When I tried to call you earlier, I realized I didn’t know it.”

“Oh…”

Aileen’s eyes silently asked,

So you proposed to a woman whose name you didn’t even know?

But Rihast didn’t seem to catch her meaning. He simply said,

“I’ll remember it.”

Those parting words lingered in her ears long after he turned away.

He meant he’d remember her name, right? Surely not… anything else.

Following the butler down the corridor, Aileen forced her thoughts in that direction—because the alternative was too terrifying.

The Grand Duke’s household held not only regular meetings but also emergency councils that could be convened by the Duke or a member of the Elder Council. This meant the elders’ influence was considerable. Attendance was mandatory for all qualified retainers of the ducal house.

As the meeting began, the first to address Loyd was his uncle, the youngest of the elders, Calix.

“Your Grace, may I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

Calix paused before carefully bringing up the earlier incident.

“The person you brought from House Claudia—could it be that she’s…”

“A Beta.”

“I thought I misheard, but it seems I didn’t.”

Even at Calix’s weary sigh, Loyd’s face remained impassive. He cared neither for their opinions nor for the fact that his new partner was a Beta.

“A Beta? But that family has a dominant Omega! Wasn’t he the one you went to bring?”

“The only requirement for my arranged marriage was that it be with a member of House Claudia. Nothing more.”

“…”

The room fell silent.

The betrothal between the Rihast and Claudia families had been arranged generations ago, by Calix’s father—the previous Grand Duke. At the time, many had protested, wondering why he’d bind unborn children in a marriage pact, but his only reasoning had been that the Claudia bloodline was “promising.”

Apparently, that shameless logic had passed down perfectly to his grandson.

‘Why does he take after Grandfather more than I do?’ Calix thought bitterly.

Even so, it was absurd. As a dominant Alpha, Loyd should have brought back an Omega partner—everyone knew that. Yet Loyd acted as though nothing was wrong.

Calix was about to try persuading him when another voice—calm, heavy, authoritative—spoke up. It was Alan, the head elder.

“A Beta presents an issue regarding succession.”

“She can still bear children.”

Alan’s serious statement was met with a light retort from Loyd. Calix barely held back a groan.

“That’s not the point, Your Grace.”

Alan continued, patient but firm.

“Even if a Beta bears an Alpha’s child, the chance of the offspring inheriting Alpha traits is exceedingly low.”

“Omegas don’t guarantee that either.”

Loyd’s unruffled counterargument deepened the gloom in the room. The Grand Duke was brilliant—but once he’d made up his mind, not even the heavens could change it.

“Ahem, Your Grace.”

At Calix’s address, all eyes turned to him, silently pleading for him to talk sense into his nephew.

“It’s unfortunate that the match from the previous generation failed due to incompatible traits,” Calix began carefully, “but this time, the perfect counterpart was born—a dominant Omega. Naturally, everyone assumed that was to be your partner. Why, then, did you bring back the other sister?”

At that, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of Loyd’s lips.