We're in a Contract Marriage, But I've Imprinted - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Translator: Effe
Editor: Yonnee
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#00_Prologue
“Just as it was agreed in the contract, I am requesting a divorce.”
His voice, as cold as ever, sounded like a stranger’s at first.
That’s right. It was hard to believe that we’ve been married for three years.
“You have given birth to a dominant alpha, I will give you as much alimony as you want. Do you have an amount in mind?”
Seeing his rational and calm demeanor as if he were merely doing his duty, I felt like I had to answer something. Just out of habit.
But my open lips couldn’t utter a single word.
Because he was a man who chose a beta lover over me. I was his omega wife who had lived with him for three years, despite my wholehearted efforts.
I dared to imprint on him, so there was a clear sense of distance where I couldn’t even beg him not to abandon me.
But I had to speak. Thinking of our child, I had to muster up the courage to speak up for myself.
My hand trembled as I gripped my dress. It took quite a bit of courage to convey the fact that it was as good as a leash for me.
“…I imprinted on you.”
The words were short, but the content was not. There was a lot in it.
Ian’s hand paused as he was about to give me the divorce papers. But soon, his face returned to its nonchalant expression, as if nothing happened
He said, looking through the papers. His voice was extremely cold.
“Should I care about that?”
The denial that my imprinted alpha uttered made me feel suffocated. My breathing stopped and my chest ached terribly. My broken heart was beating erratically, as if it had lost its function.
Without being able to calm down my disturbed breathing, I went on to plead with him.
No, perhaps begging would be more correct.
“Can’t you consider it once again for the sake of our child?”
The child was hard-earned. Unfortunately, since I was a recessive omega, it was difficult to conceive because I did not receive the seed of a dominant alpha properly, making implantation difficult.
Leaving such a child behind, and leaving behind my imprinted alpha… It was tantamount to a death sentence to me.
I took a step with a desperate look. I begged again, pressing my body against the huge, antique desk separating us.
“Not yet… the child needs my pheromones. I heard that the child needs to smell the mother’s pheromones to grow up healthy, so—”
“Stop.”
He cut off my desperate words very easily. He handed over the divorce papers he was holding.
“According to the contract, you shouldn’t have imprinted on me… You didn’t forget, did you?”
“……”
This transaction, which was merely under the guise of marriage, also included a clause about imprinting.
[ —Do not imprint carelessly. ]
It is true that I violated the contract with its clearly written clause, even as the imprinting itself was not something I did of my own volition.
That was why I couldn’t bring it up until now.
The act of imprinting was almost the same as giving my life away, and it was no different than saying that it could block my future.
Still, I wanted to say it.
I love you enough that I’ve imprinted on you.
Even if the words I mustered up with courage to say would come back as daggers, I still wanted to say it.
Tears welled up in my eyes, but I held it back. If I showed any tears here, it felt like I would fall to the very bottom that was even worse than this.
Didn’t I see better than anyone else how omegas who imprinted on their alphas were treated? And what kind of miserable lives they lived?
Suddenly, I remembered what my mother had said.
‘My daughter, you resemble this mother of yours so much. But my dear Mel, you shouldn’t be like me…’
Like embracing something very pitiful, my mother endlessly caressed the young me.
Unlike my mother, who was a dominant omega, she must have been very worried about her daughter, who manifested as a recessive omega.
My pheromones were so light that I could neither be beta or omega.
Even if I wasn’t an illegitimate child, I was already that kind of an existence, too. That’s why Ian saw me that way as well.
He brought home something of no use. I dared to say that I had feelings for him without even knowing my place. Even if he cursed at me, I would have nothing to say.
Still, the insidious imprint urged me to take in the alpha’s cool and refreshing pheromone, even for the last time. So I put the pen to the divorce papers as he wished.
It seemed like he would only grant me this shameless favor if I gave him what he wanted.
It was hard to finish, but after finishing the signature, I brought out the words I had been holding back.
“…Can you give me some pheromones for the last time?”
Although he was a dominant alpha, he could perfectly control his pheromones and never showed them except in dire circumstances.
All the nobles of high society used to say that he was an ascetic, or a gentleman among gentlemen.
But nobody would have known.
In bed, he was neither a gentleman nor an ascetic. He was the one who towered on top, his golden eyes glowing even brighter—like an animal driven by instinct.
With his large hands, he gripped my thin ankles or wrists tightly and moved roughly, leaving my head blank in white space.
After I was enveloped in the hot breath and intense pheromones, I couldn’t even move properly for days. But even that felt so good.
I hoped that no one would know how sensual and decadent this man’s face was as he would not free me until he put his full weight down upon my whole body.
Now even his lover would know how hard and hot his pale, smooth body was as it was covered with sweat. How his black hair, which seems to be woven by the pitch-black night sky, would cling to his forehead.
No. She might already know.
I gasped as soon as I thought about it.
The fact that I had to give my alpha to another woman… It’s already driving me crazy.
But I didn’t want to show my ugly self in front of him anymore. Moreover, there was nothing I could do when I was mere minutes away from getting divorced.
He looked at me for a while at my request. He stared at me with rather distorted and displeased eyes.
It was not the same cold gaze as before.