The message that Chi Zhuo hadn’t replied to earlier—he finally typed out a line and hit send.
“Bai Han,” Chi Zhuo called.
The quiet, gentle-looking female beta appeared without a sound, standing by and waiting for orders.
“I want to know who’s behind that account. Also, what forces that omega in the photo is tied to… and—” Chi Zhuo’s voice dropped, turning cold, “who she’s been meeting lately.”
There was no way those intimate photos of Ji Chenxi with a female omega were meant for him—unless the person behind it knew about his relationship with Ji Chenxi. So where had it leaked? Or rather… who exactly was bold enough to play this game right in front of him?
The sender waited and waited, not getting a reply, and felt a bit disappointed. But he knew Chi Zhuo had already seen the photo. Guess the bond between them wasn’t strong enough after all. Still, sending the photo had never been their only goal.
Time ticked by. He’d already accepted that no reply would come—when suddenly, the account he thought would stay silent sent a message back. Just a few simple words, but they made the man break into a grin.
“You think this would work on me?”
Arrogant. Completely arrogant.
The woman monitoring things beside him frowned. “He doesn’t care at all… what do we do?”
The man glanced at her, the smile on his lips turning even stranger. “Doesn’t care? If the mamba really didn’t care, he wouldn’t have replied. Alphas are all the same—obsessive, possessive monsters. This photo is just a seed. Once doubt is planted, everything we do next will be much easier. Don’t be fooled by how normal the mamba looks—he’s suspicious by nature, cruel, and loves killing. You really think his dear father’s death was an accident?”
The woman felt a chill run down her spine. “N-no way… he was so young back then…”
Just as they were talking, their equipment suddenly blared an alarm.
The man reacted first. “Quick—they’re tracking our location!”
*
Ji Chenxi moved carefully, keeping a low profile. He didn’t return to the dorm. Instead, he went back to another residence of his, then the next day, showed up as usual to meet with people from the student council.
These kinds of gatherings, full of status and benefits, were honestly boring. Ji Chenxi had planned to sit by the window, finish a book, and leave—but of course, someone just had to ignore the hint. Despite his clear “don’t talk to me” vibe, they still came over and sat right across from him.
A faint strawberry-and-cream scent drifted over, light and sweet, almost like the girl’s natural body fragrance.
Ji Chenxi knew exactly who was sitting across from him—but he had no intention of talking to her.
He simply kept turning the pages of his book.
These days, not many people read physical books anymore. Because of that, every printed copy was expensive. For most people, they were just overpriced and useless. The girl clearly wasn’t someone who could appreciate their charm, but trying to get closer, she put on a curious look. After being ignored for quite a while, she finally took the initiative.
“This book looks really interesting… what’s it about?” she asked.
Ji Chenxi lifted his eyes and glanced at her, his tone calm and distant. “It’s about a young man who, after an accident, ends up in a foreign land. He’s saved by a pair of twin sisters. Both sisters fall in love with him—and he falls for the older one.”
The girl instantly got it—two girls fighting over one guy. She’d read plenty of romance stories like that. Just as she was about to show off her “experience,” Ji Chenxi continued—
“Later, the older sister drowns while trying to save her younger sister. But the truth is, the younger sister did it on purpose. She wanted to take her sister’s place and be with that handsome young man. Since she knew her sister best, she copied the way she dressed and spoke, and successfully fooled him. She followed him back to his family. But his family didn’t accept her—they didn’t want a common girl. And that’s when she found out he already had a fiancee, ten years younger than him.”
“And… what happens in the end?” the girl asked.
“The younger sister doesn’t live happily in his family. Thinking back on how her sister used to protect her, she starts to regret it. The man had already figured out she wasn’t the older sister. The girl he loved had a pure, angel-like smile—she shouldn’t have acted so worldly for selfish things. In the end, he kills the younger sister. He does it cleanly… but still gets caught. He’s sent to prison.”
Ji Chenxi’s tone stayed flat as he went on.
“His family pulls strings for him, so in the end, it’s ruled as manslaughter. He serves five years and gets out. When he does, his fiancee comes to pick him up. She’s beautiful, her smile pure—like the morning sun, like a flower just about to bloom. She looks exactly like the girl he saw in that small town seven years ago. And that’s when he realizes… the one he loved was never the older sister. What he loved was that same purity and innocence she had back then.”
By now, the pretty girl’s face had scrunched up.
She really didn’t expect the noble Third Prince to be reading something like this.
The man in the story was obviously trash… and that younger sister wasn’t any better.
“So… what exactly does Your Highness like about this book?” she asked, unable to hide her curiosity.
She had always thought someone like the Third Prince would read illustrated works, poetry, or classics—anything but a story like this.
“Truth and kindness, evil and desire, innocence and sin—they’re all tangled together, forming a ridiculous story. The young man in the book seems to love the older sister, yet he couldn’t even tell when she was no longer herself. The sisters grew up depending on each other, yet the younger one could kill her own sister for personal gain. The fiancee is pure and beautiful, but that same purity means she can’t escape her family’s control—she’s bound to end up with a criminal. One wrong thought, and everything changes. If there weren’t so many dark thoughts, this could’ve been a story as beautiful as a fairy tale.”
The girl’s expression stiffened a little. Somehow, it felt like Ji Chenxi’s words were aimed at her.
Ji Chenxi didn’t close the book. He flipped another page, clearly planning to keep reading.
The conversation stalling like this wasn’t what the girl wanted. Following his line of thought, she said, “But if those ‘wrong thoughts’ didn’t exist, wouldn’t the story feel kind of fake?”
Ji Chenxi looked up at her.
She really was beautiful—fair, smooth skin, big bright eyes, and when she smiled, there were sweet little dimples on her cheeks. But unfortunately, this sweet-looking girl was also doing the very thing he had just talked about… making that one wrong choice.
After a moment, he said, “Some things can be avoided. The younger sister didn’t have to kill the older one. And the young man didn’t have to kill her after finding out the truth.”
Meeting his gaze, the girl felt even more uneasy. The more she thought about it, the more it felt like he was hinting at her.
Then, as if she suddenly realized something, her expression lit up again. “Wait, that’s not right—you haven’t even read half the book yet.”
Ji Chenxi stayed calm. “Or maybe… I’ve read it before.”
The girl, who had just perked up, instantly fell silent again.
Between alphas and omegas, it was rare for the omega to take the lead like this. She was used to being the one chased and flattered, so now she couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed. She looked at Ji Chenxi with a hint of complaint—he really had no sense of romance.
It wasn’t that Ji Chenxi didn’t understand romance.
He just didn’t want to entertain this omega.
Seeing that she had nothing more to say, he simply ignored her and went back to his book.
But the more he ignored her, the more restless she became. She tried several times to start a conversation, yet couldn’t find the right words.
Even if Ji Chenxi didn’t like someone, he didn’t want to see a lady so embarrassed. So he gently suggested, “You could go get some dessert. There are a few omegas over on the left—you could go chat with them. I think you’d have more to talk about with them than with me.”
“But I only want to talk to you right now. Is the Third Prince always this cold?”
Ji Chenxi showed a restrained yet distant smile, then stopped paying her any attention.
In the days that followed, that female omega stuck to him like glue. Even the faint strawberry-and-cream scent that used to be subtle became more and more obvious, almost deliberate.
From the moment he felt like he was being secretly photographed, Ji Chenxi already knew someone was setting him up. When he had been digging traps for his older brother and second sister, it only made sense that they would strike back at him. The only question was—which force was behind this?
Looking at the girl’s family alone, they were upper-class, neutral, decent but nothing outstanding. They couldn’t compare to the Lu family of the Twelfth Fair Star, and they were far from the powerful military clans—but they were still respectable. As for the girl herself, she was an omega with S-level spiritual strength and B-level physical ability. That alone made her a valuable piece. Using an S-level omega as bait… the only thing they could be aiming for was a position by his side.
The scheme was almost too obvious—anyone could see through it at a glance.
And yet, Ji Chenxi couldn’t relax. Precisely because it was so obvious, it made him feel like things weren’t that simple.
Right now, he only had two choices—step into the trap himself, or stay out of it completely.
The plan he had set up for his “dear” sister was still in motion. And to make the other side lower their guard, he found himself with no choice but to take the first option.
At first, Ji Chenxi thought their goal was simple—push a highly compatible omega toward him, ruin his chances of marrying into the Lu family, and then saddle him with a fiancee who looked suitable for his status but was actually useless.
But who would’ve thought their methods could be even more disgusting?
What they wanted wasn’t just to block his marriage alliance.
They wanted to completely cut off his path to succession.
Everyone knew that with high compatibility, an omega’s pheromones during their heat could trigger an alpha’s forced sensitive period—turning them into something driven purely by instinct, almost like a beast ruled by desire.
Ji Chenxi didn’t expect something like that to happen… on what seemed like just another afternoon of the girl clinging to him.
At the same time, on the other side of the Imperial Star, Chi Zhuo received another message from a virtual account.
【Sun-Moon Lake. There’s a surprise.】
Chi Zhuo stared at the message for a long moment, then slowly curled his lips into a cold smile.
Sun-Moon Lake—
the place where Ji Chenxi had gone to sketch.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
