'I'm so screwed… And I definitely cannot stay here.'
James' condition made him hyper-aware of the dangers awaiting him the moment he would step a foot out of this room.
Arthur's mother, Aunt Teresa, had always been a bitch about everything James said and did—because she wanted to arrange a marriage between Arthur and his cousin.
In this society, marrying your cousin wasn't considered incest. And many people used that to keep the purity of their magical power and develop their own trademark magic.
'Since she got the chance, Aunt Teresa is probably having a field day spreading all sorts of rumors about me and how I cheated on her son.'
Taking a shaky breath, James forced himself to calm down and lay back on the bed. Sweat covered his body before he could realize it, but that was the least of James' worries.
Between his ex-mother-in-law who was now busy tarnishing his reputation and the neighbors who would be treating him as a useless, easy slut, a little bit of stinky sweat couldn't be noticeable.
James felt his world falling apart.
»»-----------¤-----------««
"And all is great! You and the baby are both healthy now and can leave back to your house."
In less than three days, James was healthy enough to leave the hospital.
"Thank you for taking care of me." he bowed his head lightly to the head nurse.
"Oh dearie," the head nurse gave an exaggerated sigh, "Don't even mention it. How could I not take care of you when you're pregnant and your mate treated you that way…"
'Ouch, thank you, but you accidentally rubbed salt on my wounds.'
Giving a fake smile, James shook his head.
"Regardless, it's surprising to see a beta or an alpha who would care for an omega like me."
The old head nurse nodded lightly and held his hand.
"This world is unfair against children like you, you are barely eighteen and all of this happened…"
James was getting more and more embarrassed as the old lady started to rant about how age had its factor and how many things she had seen in her life.
However, just as he thought he may explode, he heard something important to him.
"...even the Demonic Empress herself treats omegas well, you know? The mistreatment of omegas doesn't happen at all in the Demonic Empire. And the same could be said for the Vampire Empire."
"Really?"
Finally catching James' attention, the old lady didn't hesitate to tell him everything he wanted to hear.
It was the first time for James to hear anything about other kingdoms' and empires' treatment of their omegas. It was omitted in every book he had read—and he could easily understand why.
The old lady's tales seemed to be out of fantasy books, everywhere treated omegas better than what humans did, it was bizarre to hear about.
After hearing everything from the head nurse, James bid her goodbye and left the hospital.
When he reached his neighborhood, James wished he never left the hospital. Everything started.
"Did you see him?"
"He was so happy with his pregnancy but it turned out the father wasn't even his mate!"
"Scandalous slut…"
"Pfft. Should we pay him a visit? Maybe he'd happily open those legs."
"He's pretty, why not give it a shot?"
Gulping thickly, James felt a lump in his throat. He wanted to run toward his house, but that was going to attract so much attention to him.
A type of attention that was going to be his doom.
Thus, despite feeling nauseous from their words, he rested a hand on his stomach and walked confidently through the streets.
Since it was the afternoon, the traffic was insane and he would rather walk instead of getting caught in it—even if he had to bleed out his ears from all the garbage people said about him.
Finally he reached his apartment, only to find the landlord standing before his door.
"Sir…?"
A bad feeling rose in his stomach, and it was unfortunately justified.
The landlord looked at James with a look full of disgust and extended his opened palm to him.
"Please give me the key. My place won't accommodate someone with a bad reputation like yours."
James froze in shock. His mouth went dry immediately as he tried to explain himself, "I understand where you're coming from, sir, but I assure you-"
"Assure me?" the landlord barked a laugh and grabbed James by his hand harshly. "You have one day to take your shit from my apartment and leave! Everything is known to everyone, you better search for another place."
The landlord's harsh words were exactly what James expected while laying down in the hospital, but facing it first handedly was still too much for him.
Gritting his teeth, James blinked away his tears and stepped on his dignity. He fell to his knees and begged.
"Sir, please you already know how no one would give me a place."
"Why not? You are already filthy, there are places that'll accept you."
"What…?"
"Brothels, or maybe try climbing into some rich people's beds pfft."
The landlord laughed it off and left, but of course he didn't forget to throw another threat at James.
"A day is too much for you! Leave the house before night."
James leaned back against his door and buried his face into his hands. The passerby people laughed and ridiculed him, believing he was crying.
However, James-
'I'm so tired. This shit is fucking me up.'
–was having a different type of breakdown.
Living in this alpha-dominated society, he shaped his persona to live according to their expectations, but his real self was slipping more frequently after what happened with Arthur.
'Screw those fucked up humans. They got nothing but stupid magic on their heads.'
He roughly wiped his face and stood up on his feet before entering his house and slamming the door behind him.
'Staying here would only fuck me up more. And I have a baby now, so I can't do anything.'
Theoretically speaking, James could easily find a sugar daddy with his appearance, however, he was sick of humanity and couldn't stand them.
Even the hated demons were treating omegas like him better than them!
James packed his things and decided to leave.
»»-----------¤-----------««
"Phew…"
James tied his hair with a rubber band and grabbed a light bag packed with necessities only and left Emerald, the human Mages Kingdom.
Although he wasn't used to this kind of activity, James found himself deep into the forest before he knew it. According to his phone maps, the nearest place was the Demonic Empire—Dement.
But James decided to skip that place. After what happened with Arthur, James didn't want to be involved with alphas for a while. And demons could feel their little spawns even when they are yet to be born as long as they were near.
"What's the chances that I'll accidentally meet her? Considering my horrible luck lately, I would rather not risk it."
James mumbled to himself while passing through the mountain. The rocks under him were uneven, forcing him to use his hands to steady himself every so often by grabbing anything close.
After half a day, his hands were already a mess and he thought it was time to take a break. He didn't consider 'climbing gloves' to be a necessity, but who would have done that?
His next destination after deciding to skim Dement was the Vampire Empire—Arsadias.
James took his final step toward the top of the mountain and grabbed the nearby branch to steady himself, but he overestimated his limits.
His injured hands were too injured to do that part anymore.
Before he knew it, James' foot slipped and he went rolling down the mountain.
"Oh fuck—!"
*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*