The distorted behavior stemming from such desire was addictive. Afterward, he would do things like finding a hammer in the empty basement to strike his own arm, or deliberately extend his arm during sparring to cause injuries.

Broken legs, broken arms, a body suffering from high fever. Limbs cut by swords.

All these could capture Cecil’s attention. Cyrus couldn’t stop this addiction himself, and the behavior that had become habitual began creating scars on his body.

After Cecil grew older, Cyrus restrained these behaviors because Cecil might notice, but seeing the tender expression Cecil made when looking at his remaining scars made him want to cut his arm again.

These self-harming behaviors stopped for a while but resumed after that day when he had a fight with Cecil.

Mating season.

The mating season that Cecil believed was a phenomenon arising from being a hybrid of human and beast. What Cecil believed to be the mating season was something Cyrus had deliberately created. That night, he went alone to the forest.

Summer, a forest of snakes in their mating season.

The night was quiet. No intruders ever came this deep into the forest. Cyrus shed his human skin alone in that forest. He crawled on his belly across the dirt floor, searching for what he needed. It had to be somewhere. Summer was that kind of season.

How long had he been searching? His sensitive nose caught a scent. The smell of beasts and lust. Following that smell, he saw beasts mating in the distance. Cyrus approached them and began crawling over the snakes.

The female snake, in the middle of mating, looked at Cyrus with her vertically elongated pupils showing unusual colors. The creature wriggled, trying to shake off the male snake pressing down on her. She acted without concern, though she must have felt pain.

The female snake scattered her mating scent wildly, trying to seduce Cyrus. At that smell, snakes hidden throughout the forest began to crawl out, writhing.

Among them, female snakes frantically climbed up Cyrus’s body, rubbing their foreheads against him and smearing their mating scent on him. It was a distortion of natural law. Cyrus sneered at the disgusting sight but left alone the female snakes trying to mark him with their scent. He had something else in mind.

Eventually, a massive ball of female snakes formed, and Cyrus was being pickled in their mating scent inside it. For humans, this would act as a kind of aphrodisiac.

With human blood mixed in, he didn’t go into heat like beasts. So he couldn’t make Cecil go into heat by ordinary methods. That’s why he chose this approach. The snakes were essentially living aphrodisiacs, and by covering his body with their scent, he could force himself into heat, similar to a person taking an aphrodisiac.

This was exactly what he wanted. So he left the snakes climbing his body alone, and after some time had passed, he slowly transformed back into his human form.

But the female snakes, intoxicated by the strong male snake scent, carelessly crawled toward Cyrus in his human form. Cyrus looked down coldly at a snake that had crawled up to his wrist and emotionlessly threw it into the grass. There was a thud, but he didn’t care. These mere beasts weren’t the objects of his concern.

Would this induce a forced mating season? That was the issue Cyrus cared about. Dressed neatly, he returned to his dormitory room following the moonlight, seemingly nothing had happened. And he waited for Cecil to arrive.

His body was already growing hot. The living aphrodisiacs seemed to be working properly. He waited for his brother to appear with a sinister smile, and just then, Cecil opened the door and entered.

Since his body was completely covered in his own scent, Cecil didn’t seem to detect anything unusual. Rather, smelling Cyrus’s scent, he too entered a forced mating season, breaking into a cold sweat and desperately gripping his brother’s shoulders.

He explored his brother’s body, hiding his smile from Cecil at the successful induced heat. It was a perfect night. After that day, Cecil began to open his heart and accepted Cyrus.

The days that followed were nothing short of flawless. Cecil, though shy, didn’t hide his love for Cyrus and no longer felt guilty.

Such was Cyrus’s love. He had to possess Cecil by any means necessary, and it was no different from life itself to him. He believed Cecil felt the same. Though perhaps not as fiercely burning as his own love, he thought it was a love that had become part of his body, inseparable.

But he had been abandoned again. He could understand Cecil’s thinking. Like in their childhood when they first realized the sin of incest, Alesia’s words must have reawakened his sense of guilt. The guilt of committing an evil that shouldn’t be done wasn’t something humans could easily endure.

But nevertheless…

“Even though he loved me.”

Cyrus muttered emptily. Even though he loved me. How could he abandon me so easily when he clearly loved me? A meaningless snicker escaped him. What was he thinking when he left and abandoned him? Some petty sense of responsibility to protect the family? A moral sense that they could no longer continue their twisted relationship? None of it mattered. Cyrus had to get Cecil back.

The clothes and belongings were still arranged in the room. He must have left in a hurry. He wouldn’t have gone home, and if so, there was only one place he could be.

Alesia’s villa.

He must be there. Once his thoughts were organized, there was no reason to stay here. He slowly got up. He would run through the night if necessary to get Cecil back.

“Wait just a little, brother.”

Cyrus quietly walked out of the room.

*

The night was deep. The building shrouded in darkness was quiet and steeped in stillness. It was a night where even the sound of a pin dropping might produce a sharp noise.

Cyrus was walking that path. He had to find his lover. He could only breathe and live with him. His only thought was that he had to get him back. There was no luxury of packing clothes or preparing luggage.

His brother, his lover, had abandoned him again.

That thought alone circled in his mind. Along with the thought that even if he went to find him like this, he might be abandoned again. Nevertheless, Cyrus couldn’t stop his steps. When he finally reached the stable and was about to untie a horse, Alesia followed him briskly and pushed Cyrus against the wall, nearly tearing him away. It was tremendous force.

“Are you crazy? Where do you think you’re going!”

Alesia shouted in an agitated voice. Cyrus, his back hitting the wall, frowned and forcefully shook off the hand gripping his collar. It was a fierce demeanor he had never shown his sister before.

“Let go.”

“Please stop, please! Don’t you understand yet? You and Cecil can’t be together, from the beginning! Why don’t you get that!”

Alesia screamed with a voice trembling from anger. Rubbing her face in frustration, she struggled to control her breathing that seemed almost convulsive. She felt she might collapse at any moment if she didn’t keep her wits about her.

She had a duty. Her siblings, her family, were committing a wrong they should never commit, and it was her duty to stop it. But Cyrus refused to listen. Her chest felt ready to burst.

They were not beast-like beings. Although they were hybrids, they had learned human pride and lived human lives. So this couldn’t happen. This shouldn’t happen.

“Why not?”

“What?”

“Tell me why not. What exactly are we that makes this so wrong?”

But her brother seemed to think differently from her. He spoke to his sister in a calm tone, with sarcasm. He mocked the idea that they shouldn’t be together, instead questioning their very nature.

“Why, you ask…”

“I’ve never understood. Why are you so obsessed with humanity? Is it that important? Cecil was the same. He left me because he was hung up on such things.”

“Please stop talking nonsense. Come to your senses, even now. It’s not too late for us. Okay?”

Alesia pleaded desperately, taking both of Cyrus’s hands. Seeing his sister, who had never shown weakness before, pleading with tears, Cyrus felt uncomfortable. He took no pleasure or joy in hurting his family. But he had something more important to him.

“Sister, you should give up. Because I can’t.”

“Why are you doing this, why! Why!”

Finally unable to hold back, Alesia screamed. The horses, sensitive to sound, whinnied and stomped at her shout.

She couldn’t just stand by and watch her family go down the wrong path. But Cyrus maintained his silence. Alesia buried her face in his shoulder while still gripping his collar. The sound of sobbing seeped through.

The two remained there for a while in quiet stillness. It was a bright moonlit night. Cyrus, who had been staring somewhere, slowly parted his lips.

“When we were young…”

“…”

“When we were in the womb…”

“…”

“Cecil would push past me then. Sometimes he would laugh, and I still remember that.”

“…”

“While still in the womb, you know. I just liked that.”

“…”

“I came to love him because I liked it so much.”

“…”

“That’s what it means to have fallen in love before even being born.”

“…”

“So don’t interfere, sister.”

Cyrus, in a cold voice, removed Alesia’s fingers one by one. Her face, soaked with tears, was revealed under the darkness. She gripped the sleeve of his coat tightly.

“That… anyone could feel that way.”

“…”

“Anyone could be confused like that when they’re young.”

“…”

“So Cyrus, please—”

“No, I was never confused.”

Cyrus answered firmly, removing even her tightly gripped hand before striding away. From behind, he heard a voice calling his name. Nevertheless, he never looked back even once. His attitude was resolute, suggesting he had a destination he must reach.

He merely placed a saddle on the horse’s back and put on the bridle. There was no luggage. Alesia glared at Cyrus as he swiftly mounted the horse and shouted:

“You two will regret this.”

“That won’t happen.”

With those final words, Cyrus kicked the horse’s belly and rode off, cutting through the darkness. Left alone, Alesia let out a sigh and collapsed where she stood.

Where her brother had stood, only moonlight pooled, illuminating the ground. Alesia sat there for a while, blankly watching the moon wane.

*

The horse, galloping away from the academy with all its might, didn’t know how to slow down after its long-awaited run and dashed freely.