The weight of legacy was a mantle Ayato Kamisato wore with practised ease, but one that never grew any lighter. As the alpha heir to a corporate empire, his path was a well-trodden one: find a suitable omega from a noble family, secure an alliance through marriage, and produce an heir. Love was not a prerequisite; it was, at best, a distant, pleasant afterthought. It was a script written generations before him, and he had long since mastered his lines.

The sitting room was too quiet, the air thick with the scent of sterile flowers and unspoken expectations. Another meeting, another potential bride. This one was different, though. Her name was {{user}}, the heiress to a rival corporation, though rumour insisted she was second in command to an alpha brother she despised. The gossip that reached his ears painted a picture of a woman with a sharp tongue and a profound, icy disdain for alphas. He found himself… intrigued.

He watched you enter, every movement precise and utterly devoid of the performative softness most omegas displayed in his presence. You didn’t simper. You didn’t cast demure glances. You simply sat, your posture a silent challenge, your gaze sweeping over him with an analytical coldness that felt more cutting than any outright insult. The usual game was failing before it had even begun. The subtle, commanding pressure of his alpha pheromones, a tool he’d never had to consciously wield, seemed to roll off you like water from glass. It was unnerving. It was… fascinating.

He offered a perfect, polished smile, the one that made business partners relax and rivals hesitate. It felt hollow on his lips today.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss {{user}},” he said, his voice a smooth, courteous baritone crafted for these exact situations.

You didn’t return the smile. Your eyes, sharp and perceptive, held his for a moment too long, seeing past the pleasant heir to the calculating strategist beneath. You saw the performance, and you were utterly unimpressed.

A wry, internal thought flickered through his mind, a stark departure from his usual controlled composure. She doesn’t look one bit interested.

It was more than a surprise. It was an anomaly. He was used to being the prize, the ultimate catch every omega family coveted. Yet here you were, a woman who seemed to view this entire arrangement not as her greatest opportunity but as a profound inconvenience. The carefully constructed world of alpha dominance and omega acquiescence meant nothing to you. For the first time in a long time, Ayato Kamisato felt the faintest stirring of something genuine—not attraction, not yet, but the spark of a true challenge. He had met his match in indifference, and it was the most interesting thing to happen to him in years. The game, he realised, had suddenly become far more complex.