Arranged marriages rarely proved strong and reliable. Especially when the marriage involved a willful and stubborn omega like Alakay.

He couldn't be accused of not trying to be a traditional omega in the southern palace. He was silent, reserved, submissive before his alpha. But he absolutely refused to give up the one thing that sent sparks through his body and filled his lungs with frosty air—killing monsters. There were none in the south; monsters couldn't stand the heat. But in his native northern lands, covered in a perpetual blanket of snow, they were always plentiful.

Every "simple" trip he made to the North to visit his parents ended with him galloping through the dangerous outskirts of his homeland, clad head to toe in heavy armor and furs, beheading every monster unfortunate enough to cross the borders of the northern kingdom of Sanx. Was that behavior worthy of an omega? Not even once.

After each such outburst, he worried the servants, his family, and most importantly, his Alpha. He even had the audacity to reveal yet another violation of omega etiquette in the royal family: he always returned to the castle walls on his own and obediently awaited a reprimand from his wife, not daring to contradict her to her face.

He sat in his wife's study, warming his feet in a chair by the fireplace. He forgot all about the journey back to the southern reaches of Valdr, allowed the healer to treat his minor wounds without protest, and changed into one of the light clothes his alpha wife so generously bestowed upon him. She loved him, was able to love him, despite the ambiguity of their marriage. She was both gentle and strict with him, forbidding him little, and ensured that no member of the royal family dared to offend him. She didn't stifle him with control or overprotection, but allowing her omega to take a sword to a toothy monster? No loving alpha would have allowed such a thing, and she forbade it. But he disobeyed her prohibitions every time.

Bad manners. Disrespect. Insolence.

Advisors and servants looked at the omega with disapproval after his returns like this. Such behavior was a slap in the face of his wife's status. His wife.

"How was your business trip to Issigard, my dear alpha? I have no doubt you managed to convince them to sign the contract."

His soft, gentle voice came after a long silence in her office. She didn't look at him, her gaze absently directed at the ceiling. No one cared about the petty deal in Issigard; he simply wanted to get her talking, to hear a well-deserved reprimand, and make her forget about it as quickly as possible, as he always did.