He could not sleep.
The dark and dim room made Lucian shudder, he walked slowly out of the room, down the quiet hallway until he finally got to the place he wanted to go to— the library.
Sometimes if he could not sleep, he would pick up a book and read it, but the reason why he was quietly tiptoeing, trying his best not to make a sound was because his father was very strict about bedtime. If he saw him here, his father would scold him furiously.
Tiny hands reaching for his favorite book, a book that was always read by his personal butler Rogan, about a man of royal blood who decided to leave the palace and go to enjoy an adventurous life, traveling around other countries, learning about the culture and traditions of the areas he visited, experiencing various kinds of unique and interesting moments on each of his journeys, at the end of the story the man found his fate mate and they mark each other.
A pure alpha and omega relationship, a bond that no one would break, but this book seemed to be continuing, Lucian was curious about the continuation of the story of the two, but he could not find a sequel of this in the mansion's library.
Rogan said it would be better if he did not read the rest, and when Lucian asked why Rogan just kept quiet and said that Lucian would not like it because the writing was bad.
Still, he was curious, maybe he would look for the book in the market and buy it, read it alone, not with Rogan.
The light that flickered, slowly getting closer to where he was standing made Lucian flinch, then reflexively turning back, he was immediately filled with fear, but when he caught that someone standing at the entrance of the library was his butler, not father, Lucian breathed a sigh of relief.
"Young master why are you here so late? And why have not you slept yet."
Lucian put his index finger to his lips, he whispered softly even though there were only the two of them in the room, "I can't sleep."
Rogan's eyes dropped down, caught the book that was being hugged by Lucian, he smiled a little then walked over to him, "Didn't you read that book yesterday? Hmm, do you want me to read that book until you fall asleep?"
Lucian's face reddened with embarrassment, he remembered his father's words that he was now 10 years old, it was time for him not to behave like a child anymore, he had always liked to sleep accompanied by Rogan who read books to him until he fell asleep, but his father did not like the idea. Rogan was sometimes scolded by his father for spoiling Lucian, and that was why recently he stopped asking Rogan to read him bedtime books.
Lucian shook his head, he did not want to see his father snap at Rogan.
Rogan, who probably knew what Lucian was worried about, smiled faintly. He stroked Lucian's hair, and said in a low voice, "Then let's go back to your room, you don't want your father to see you here do you?"
They walked back to Lucian's room, luckily the mansion was quiet because it was bedtime, and maybe his father was busy with work tonight so the two of them got to the room safely.
He got on the bed, as Rogan put the lantern on the table, and sat right beside Lucian who was about to lie down, Lucian gave him a confused look, wondering why Rogan did not leave and instead stayed. Rogan chuckled when he saw Lucian's confused face, he then stroked Lucian's hair then whispered softly.
"Give me the book, let me read it to you, this room isn't too bright so it's not good for your eyes."
"But father said you can't read me bedtime stories anymore."
"It's okay, your father won't know if we can keep quiet, because maybe he's already asleep ... Ah, or maybe he's in his office."
Hesitated, but Lucian found it hard to refuse this offer, he always slept well when Rogan read a book to him, so he nodded slowly pulling the blanket over half of his face, Rogan laughed softly as he took the book that Lucian put beside his pillow, then opened the first page.
It was the same story he had heard many times, about a young man who was a potential successor to his father's throne but decided to run away when he learned that he would be betrothed to someone he did not love, so the young man traveled around many countries. At one moment when he was injured after fighting with a barbarian, there was an omega man who treated his wound and they both fell in love, both of them decided to tie their bond and marked each other.
Marking. Where alpha and omega mark each other, and only fate mate could give permanent marking.
In the book, the author explained that after the two of them marked each other, their markings turned out to be permanent, and that was a rare thing to happen to an alpha-omega pair, indicating that they were fate mate, meaning they would always be together until the end of their lives.
That sounded really romantic.
"Rogan, do markings really exist?"
Lucian was sleepy so his way of speaking was a bit slurring, he had often asked this question, but Rogan's answer would still be the same.
"Dunno it's very rare, maybe it exists, but we don't see it."
"Yes, I know it's very rare, marking can only be done by fate mate, is fate mate real?"
"Young master, this book is just fiction, marking isn't a physical thing so we can't know it directly."
It was new information for him, Rogan never talked about this in detail, he always answered only with 'maybe' or 'I don't know' so Lucian was even more curious, he wanted to hear more.
"Not physical? So not a bite?"
"Haha," Rogan laughed for a while, he looked at Lucian with narrowed eyes, "This book is just the imagination of the author, but how to find out that alpha-omega is fate mate sounds more impossible than what this writer explained. Fate mate can only be known by those who feel it, it is invisible to the eye but can be felt, not something physical but more troublesome than that."
"Impossible? So fate mate exists or not?"
This time Rogan closed the book, putting it on the table, Lucian closed his eyes, sleepiness was getting heavier, Rogan did not say anything, until then—
"Every time you ask me about this I always answer that it does not exist, but actually fate mate does exist, it's just that ... it's too fast for you to understand this because you're still small, so just sleep, young master."
He fixed Lucian's blanket, then brushed his hair for a moment, Lucian cleared his throat. Hearing the answer from the butler that changed— because usually Rogan would say that 'fate mate is so rare that no one even knows if it really exists', suddenly saying that it existed, made Lucian open his eyes again, though it was quite difficult.
"Rogan."
Rogan, who was straightening his body to stand up, stopped, he raised his eyebrows waiting for Lucian to continue speaking.
"If it does exist. Isn't that a good thing? You won't doubt your lover's feelings because once you put a mark, the mark will be permanent so you'll feel relieved knowing your partner will always like you until the end of their lives."
"... It's scary."
Lucian thought he heard wrongly because the sound was as low as a breeze, so he raised his head to look directly at Rogan, but Rogan's expression looked normal so Lucian lay back down, Rogan rubbed his head again, "Sleep, it's not good if your father finds out you're still awake in this hour."
After saying that, Lucian hurriedly grabbed the blanket, Rogan walked slowly outside, closing the door tightly. Lucian fell asleep, again dreaming of himself adventuring, exploring other beautiful lands created by his imagination, he wanted to be like the alpha male in the book. Free from the title and mandatory duties of nobility, then end up living happily with a partner who would accompany you until the end of your life.
Happy ending.
But apparently the book was not over yet, there was still a story for them in the second volume of the book. Lucian never read the continuation of the book which was published separately.
And he was very curious.
When morning came and his father entered into the room with the door squeaking open, Lucian who was still lying down immediately opened his eyes, the father stood expressionless in the middle of the room seeing that Lucian had a bad feeling about this, this scenario happened often, it was rare for his father to meet him, his father would only come to Lucian if there was something important or when he was caught doing something wrong. So Lucian sat silently, hands squeezing the blanket.
His eyes dropped down to the book beside his bed, and Lucian immediately knew what his father was going to say.
"When did you get the book from the library?"
Lucian's lips trembled, his father gave him a sharp look, he forgot to hide the book, this was bad.
His father was very big and tall, Lucian would never be brave enough to see him face to face even though this man was his own father, he walked slowly towards him like a hideous giant approaching a child. Lucian's body suddenly jerked when he saw a hand raised, closing his eyes tightly but the hand that he thought was going to hit him was now above his head, stroking his hair gently. Lucian, who was still trembling, opened his eyes to catch his father's dark brown eyes staring at him coldly, sending chills down his spine.
The hand stopped stroking his hair, father took a deep breath. "You never want to obey, maybe because you're an omega, I wish I had an alpha child. Useless."
Useless.
His father always said that. He never tried to hide his hatred for Lucian who was born as an omega. Lucian paused, he lowered his gaze. The hand on top of his head was pulled back, he heard a click of the tongue, then his father stepped towards the exit, Lucian was bewildered because it was unusual for his father to just leave him without giving Lucian any punishment, but apparently his guessed was wrong, before the man left the room, he opened his mouth, an eerie cold tone made Lucian's eyes tremble.
"If this happens again I will kick Rogan out of this place. This is my last warning and I will not hesitate to do that, no matter how long this man has been working here"
The moment the threat left his mouth, Lucian immediately climbed down the bed, "It was my fault, I asked Rogan to—"
"I know. Because of your mistakes, others will suffer. Remember that, Lucian."
BAM, the father closed the door with a loud bang, Lucian stared blankly at the sturdy wooden door, it would be better if his father punished him, because Rogan didn't do anything wrong.
Right after that incident whenever Lucian disobeyed, his father would no longer beat Lucian, it was someone else who would receive punishment from his father for the mistakes he made. And it was absorbed deep into Lucian's mind, until he grew older.
Lucian promised not to make any more mistakes, and also promised to listen to all of his father's orders.
A fate that he would never expect would happen in his life.
The beginning of sin.