“The Fox Lady is here. What should we do?”

“Tell her I’m not in the mansion.”

Sitting in his study at the Snake Duke’s castle, Aslan frowned with annoyance.

He couldn’t understand why the Fox Lady kept visiting and bothering him. And to come so early in the morning… It was truly rude.

He had no relationship with the Fox Lady. After breaking off his engagement with the Rabbit Lady, he had merely received a recommendation to consider her as his next potential fiancée.

However, that information had become distorted, and somehow the Fox Lady was now being treated as his next fiancée, and she was acting the part.

In some circles, there were even rumors that she had received invitations and special treatment, or that they enjoyed dates together. Judging from these rumors, it was clear the Fox Lady was spreading false information.

Despite being turned away at the door every time, she kept coming back. Her persistence struck him as incredibly shameless.

Through the window, Aslan watched the Fox Lady fuming and yelling at his butler.

Such a prickly and willful woman…

When he first received the recommendation, he hadn’t thought much about it, but now Aslan realized. The suggestion had been made out of spite. It was no surprise since the person who recommended her was one of his collateral relatives.

“Miss Mori never bothered me like this.”

The moment he turned his gaze away from the window, the Rabbit Lady came to mind.

Since their engagement, she had never bothered him, never complained about his cold treatment… Comparing her to the Fox Lady, he regretted breaking off their engagement.

Of course, all that convenience was possible because she had no interest in him either, so it would have been nice to keep using her as a shield a little longer.

“Even I think Miss Mori was a loss, but since you weren’t going to marry her anyway, I believe Your Grace made the right choice.”

Having apparently overheard Aslan’s muttering, his vassal Count Herbert entered the room and responded to his comment.

“I know.”

He knew, but it’s still a shame.

Aslan’s gaze returned to the Fox Lady outside the window. Her continued tantrum was an eyesore.

The fact that she still hadn’t left was truly bothersome.

For someone who detested annoyances, that woman was completely unsuitable. Just thinking about how much more she would act up if they actually got engaged made his irritation rise.

At this rate, there was no need to continue discussions about an engagement with her.

With a stiff expression, Aslan said to Count Herbert:

“Consider the engagement talk with the Fox Lady canceled.”

“Understood. I will send a letter immediately.”

There would be nagging to follow, but he decided to stop looking for a new fiancée for the time being.

The reason Aslan still held lingering attachments to his engagement with Violet was due to the marriage pressure from the Snake clan.

Even now, after driving away the Fox Lady without letting her inside, his vassals and collateral relatives barged into his study.

“When will you produce an heir?”

“It’s already late. Don’t just get engaged, you need to get married.”

Their nagging typically started this early in the morning.

Because there were no rumors of him bringing women to his bed at night, and he kept no women by his side, they anxiously pressed him about producing an heir.

Of course, some of them actually preferred that he didn’t marry, so their prying served another purpose. If he failed to leave descendants, Aslan’s position and wealth would be inherited by one of their children.

“I will soon welcome a new fiancée and produce the heir you desire, so there’s no need to worry.”

Aslan lied to them, but having received the answer they wanted, his vassals and collateral relatives once again filed out of his study.

Watching them leave, Aslan wore a sneer on his lips.

Produce an heir, nonsense! What good was having functioning equipment if he couldn’t use it?

Aslan believed he suffered from an illness that prevented him from mating.

The men of the Snake clan were rumored to be sexually vigorous, which applied to him as well, but with a difference. Aslan found the pheromones of the opposite s*x repulsive.

Regardless of species, the moment he smelled a female’s pheromones, his previously firm p*nis would immediately go limp.

Pheromone compatibility did exist. When smelling incompatible pheromones, one might feel disgusted, similar to what he experienced. However, no one rejected all pheromones like he did. Since a Snake man unable to mate was considered shameful, Aslan had to pretend he slept with women.

Despite this, rumors that he might be impotent had subtly spread throughout the clan, which was why Aslan had no choice but to make Violet, who had not yet experienced her heat cycle, his fiancée.

During their engagement, no one would pressure him to marry, so she served as a kind of shield. If her heat cycle ever came, he could break off the engagement claiming their pheromones were incompatible.

He knew it was disrespectful to the other party, but he had no choice.

He thought he could compensate with money. Since he never touched her during their engagement, she could still meet another good man even after the broken engagement.

“Still a bunch of terrible people.”

Count Herbert, who had not joined the conversation earlier, finally spoke while looking at the closed door.

“Indeed. I wondered why my uncle recommended the Fox Lady. He must have been trying to tarnish my image somehow.”

Aslan clicked his tongue.

“Since you’ll be without a fiancée for a while, we should find a solution to cure your condition as soon as possible, shouldn’t we?”

“We must.”

If Aslan, the leader of the Snake clan, couldn’t have children, he would inevitably lose power to the collateral relatives eyeing his position.

Therefore, Aslan couldn’t treat his physical condition as a personal matter and was working through Count Herbert to find a cure for his illness.

He had taken medicine, tried folk remedies, and attempted all sorts of methods. Lately, he had been sleeping completely n*ked.

The reason was that sleeping without clothes improved ventilation, reducing stress levels and decreasing pheromone sensitivity.

Also, he needed to sleep deeply, burning incense prescribed by his doctor that served both as a sleep inducer and psychological stabilizer.

It might trigger heat in some people, but fortunately, it didn’t have that effect on Aslan, so he could use it.

Though he had followed the doctor’s instructions, there had been no effect, so he was starting to think about trying different methods…

But recently, there was a certain pheromone scent lingering in his mind.

He wasn’t sure when it started, but Aslan had been having strange dreams, and the scent of an unknown pheromone kept staying in his memory.

‘Ahh. Haah. Aah.’

In those dreams, a woman’s moans stimulated his ears, and a sweet scent tickled his nose. It was the first time a strongly emitted pheromone had smelled pleasant to him.

His body would heat up in the dream, giving him an ecstatic feeling, which was hard for him to believe.

Moreover, Aslan had experienced a wet dream for the first time in a long while.

‘Damn it.’

When he opened his eyes in the morning, he cursed while removing his wet pajama bottoms and throwing them in the trash.

Pretending nothing had happened, he washed himself and came to his study, but the contents of the dream still scattered through his mind.

Even now, despite his considerable self-restraint, just recalling that pheromone scent caused his member to stand tall. Pre-ej*culate was leaking out even though he hadn’t done anything.

Where could he have smelled it before?

The more he recalled it, the more delicious the scent seemed. His lust boiled to the point where he wanted to devour it in one gulp. If he had been in his right mind, he might have rushed to the woman and imprinted on her like someone possessed.

The problem was that although he wanted to find the scent from his memory, he couldn’t remember where he had smelled it.

Despite not having close contact with any woman recently, the lingering scent in his mind meant it must belong to one of the women he had passed by.

At first, Aslan thought it might be the scent of a maid he had passed in the castle.

Unfortunately, after lining up all the working maids and checking their scents, he couldn’t find the one he was looking for.

If not in the castle, then where?

Unable to find the owner of the pheromone scent, Aslan’s mind grew increasingly complicated. Seeing his expression harden, Count Herbert asked:

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, I had that dream again this morning.”

“I’m truly curious too. What kind of pheromone could it be that Your Grace doesn’t feel any aversion to it?”

Having already told Count Herbert about it, he was also curious about the identity of the pheromone.

“The problem is there’s no way to find it.”

Even the same scent could be perceived differently by each beastkin, so he couldn’t get help from others, making it difficult to find that scent.

In that case, what choice did he have? He would have to attend social gatherings and search one by one.

Until now, Aslan had rarely attended parties because he felt aversion to close contact, but he had no choice.

“I’ll be attending social gatherings from now on, so make note of it.”

“Yes. I hope you find the pheromone scent you desire.”