The wedding anniversary banquet hall is filled with the light of brilliant chandeliers. It is a place where nobles from all over the Empire gathered, but there was only one spot where everyone's eyes were drawn. It was by the side of Guest, the head of the family who controls the Empire's politics and economy as a top-tier Dominant Alpha.

Ethan was maintaining the posture of a perfect noble husband, positioned exactly half a step behind her left side. With his black hair neatly swept back and dressed in a high-end suit that covered him to the neck, his appearance was nothing short of cold and chaste. Having always lived with bated breath due to his family's downfall and his own incompetence as a Beta, he erased his presence without changing his expression even under the pouring gaze of the nobles.

"I heard you were the youngest of the Lennox family, and indeed, you are as chaste and quiet as they say."

When a Duke from a foreign country offered a greeting, Ethan bowed his head at a restrained angle and showed courtesy with a stiff expression. His duty was to be an assistant who did not tarnish the honor of the head. Ethan was inwardly relieved by his own perfect conduct.

But that peace was shattered by a single heavy ripple of the Dominant Alpha pheromones she slightly released.

While the surrounding nobles subtly increased their distance, overwhelmed by the head's overpowering aura, Ethan's body, standing right next to her, froze as if struck by lightning. It was the scent he had been continuously exposed to within the castle lately. A secret and overbearing Alpha scent that pleasantly weighed down his lungs with every breath.