Yun Chuji told herself not to appear too eager. She had to act as if visiting her cousin was merely an excuse she had concocted to get close to the Third Princess.
She regulated her breathing and slowed her pace.
The Third Princess wasn’t truly a fool; she was just arrogant and cruel. People like her didn’t instinctively suspect others, but by the same token, they were exceptionally brutal when faced with deception and betrayal.
She had been preparing for this meeting for days. Yun Chuji finally managed to control herself and arrived on the balcony, calm and composed.
The balcony overlooked a model starship outside. A black-haired male omega sat upright in a wooden armchair. His back looked different from what Yun Chuji had seen on the StarNet; the most obvious difference was the shoulder-length hair that fell over his shoulders.
Yun Chuji offered a greeting.
Yun Xuan shifted his gaze from the starship model. He stood up and looked at the person who was, in this world, both the most familiar and the most foreign to him.
“Chuniang.”
Yun Xuan’s voice was incredibly gentle, as if he were still that dashing young scholar in a white robe, the young man who had passed the provincial exams and was destined to lead the Yun family.
But his ruined glands and his body, covered in scars, spoke of a fate that had gone astray.
Yun Chuji’s eyes widened, staring at the red marks that covered Yun Xuan’s body everywhere but his face. Some of the marks had turned blue and purple with time, crisscrossing each other like an abstract oil painting.
Tears fell from Yun Chuji’s eyes.
She covered her mouth, a distinct hatred surging in her heart for the first time.
Even toward those bandits, she had only felt disgust.
But Lucia… how could she do this to her Elder Brother?
This was the elder brother she had looked up to her entire life.
Yun Xuan still watched her gently, carefully mouthing the word “shh.”
Yun Chuji fought to keep herself from crying out loud, or from letting her pheromones erupt and picking a fierce fight with Lucia.
None of that would help.
She had to get her Elder Brother out of here.
Yun Chuji stemmed her tears. After wiping her face clean, she opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
It felt as if anything she could say would be wrong, that even her own existence was wrong.
Because she had become an alpha, while her elder brother, who had been a man, had become an omega.
If there truly was a god who arranged people’s fates, Yun Chuji felt they must have treated her and her brother as a practical joke.
In the end, it was Yun Xuan who broke the stalemate. “When did you arrive?”
“Three months ago,” Yun Chuji answered with difficulty.
Yun Xuan seemed dazed for a moment. His eyelids half-lowered, his black lashes casting a shadow over his black eyes. He said in an unnaturally calm tone, “Then it seems we arrived around the same time.”
He picked up the teapot, poured Yun Chuji a cup of flower tea, and added with a touch of emotion, “Your luck is much better than mine.”
“I…” Yun Chuji was desperate to defend herself, to find some misfortune that had befallen her, anything to make Yun Xuan’s situation seem less tragic in comparison.
But she racked her brain and couldn’t find a thing.
She really had been lucky.
Everything she had encountered had worked in her favor. She had a teacher, a lover, a family, and friends.
And her Elder Brother had only an instrument of torture named Lucia.
“I’m sorry.” In the end, these were the only words she could say.
Yun Xuan let out a small laugh, the kind one forces out to be polite after hearing a bad joke.
“It’s not like you did it on purpose.”
His voice was low and mellow, like a deep, quiet stream flowing over a large stone on the bank.
“Elder Brother, I will get you out.”
“I will protect you.”
Yun Chuji’s voice was sincere and urgent. She knew this was the only thing she could do for him.
No matter how her Elder Brother wanted to live in this world from now on, she would help him achieve his wish. It wasn’t just because he was the only witness and relative she had left from that world, but also because the extreme reversal of their fates made Yun Chuji feel guilty for her own good fortune.
It was as if her luck had been obtained by exploiting her brother’s misfortune.
Yun Xuan didn’t reply. He just looked at her gently, as he always had—the reassuring gaze of an older brother.
“Drink your tea,” he said.
They sat for another ten minutes, the atmosphere calm yet oppressive. Then Yun Chuji took her leave, arranging a time for her next visit with the Third Princess. This time, however, it was under the pretext of visiting the princess herself. Lucia readily accepted. Having just suffered the greatest failure of her life, she needed some refreshing flattery to soothe her soul, especially when the flatterer was her mortal enemy’s bedmate. The thought of this instantly made the comfort more potent.
However, Lucia scrutinized this seemingly harmless alpha and asked casually, “Will Tang Jianxi agree to you seeing me?”
This time, she had used seeing Yun Xuan as a cover.
But from Yun Chuji’s tone, it seemed she planned to come openly next time as well.
Not that being secretive was necessary. After all, Yun Chuji didn’t possess any intelligence worthy of the great Third Princess’s clandestine attention.
“I told her I was coming to save my cousin.”
“You know Tang Jianxi can’t stand to see an omega suffer. As long as I use that reason, not only will she not suspect me, she’ll even agree to some of my requests.”
Lucia raised an eyebrow in surprise. She hadn’t expected this outwardly honest alpha to use her honest face for such two-faced schemes. It seemed she was already quite skilled at it. Perhaps that was how she had managed to win over that freak omega, Tang Jianxi.
However, to maintain her leaderly demeanor, Lucia offered a light piece of advice. “Miss Yun, you can blend into a warren of rabbits by pretending to be one, but don’t you ever forget your true identity and your hunting skills.”
“Your Highness, I will always remember that I am an alpha,” Yun Chuji said steadily, lifting her eyes.
Satisfied, Lucia waved her away.
Honestly, if Tang Jianxi weren’t always stuck to Yun Chuji, they could have communicated more conveniently via their optical computers instead of having to scheme just to have a proper conversation.
The Third Princess watched the female alpha’s departing figure and suddenly understood why this person was so popular on the StarNet. Even knowing she was a two-faced person, Lucia was still won over by her trustworthy aura.
She even subconsciously believed that she was the one Yun Chuji was truly loyal to.
But, from a practical standpoint, what use was Yun Chuji’s loyalty anyway? She herself was now a discarded pawn, Glory was a discarded pawn, so Yun Chuji was naturally a discarded pawn too. Her only use was to serve as a close-up view of that mad dog, Tang Jianxi.
None of them had a future now.
Lucia turned around, her gaze landing meaningfully on the person by the balcony. Still, she had to admit, Yun Chuji’s seemingly genuine innocence had moved her. At least when talking with her, Lucia felt like she still had hope.
Heh, what a likable person.
In that case, the princess stretched and thought magnanimously, she might as well be a little nicer to her cousin. After all, having an omega relative tormented like this was a huge loss of face for an alpha.
Tang Jianxi picked up Yun Chuji, but it was a silent Yun Chuji.
A dark cloud of self-suffocation hung over her. Tang Jianxi could almost hear the thunder and lightning raging in the mind of the person beside her.
So, that really was her brother.
And the situation was extremely bad.
Tang Jianxi tried to calculate the possibility of storming the Third Princess’s home and snatching him away.
Extremely low.
But not impossible. It would just require very detailed planning and giving some things up.
Boom—another clap of thunder must have sounded in her mind, because she suddenly shuddered, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.
Tang Jianxi sighed, used her optical computer to park the car, then took out the handkerchief Yun Chuji had embroidered for her. She wiped the tears from her face and asked seriously, “Do you want to go snatch him?”
“I can call a lot of people.”
It was just that she might have to join the military to lay low for a while. If so, their wedding would be postponed indefinitely.
She had planned to marry Yun Chuji right after she graduated.
But there was no need to confess all that. The important thing was what Yun Chuji had just discussed with her brother, and whether they could ensure Yun Xuan would cooperate with their rescue.
Yun Chuji’s tears were still flowing, but she seemed unaware of it, not even noticing the feel of the handkerchief on her cheek. She said in a tone that was strangely calm for the situation, “No.”
“It would be too dangerous.”
“And, and…” At this point, Yun Chuji’s suppressed strength crumbled. She said, confused and terrified, “My brother… he’s pregnant.”
Tang Jianxi sucked in a sharp breath. “Does the Third Princess know?”
“Ah, no, whether she knows or not isn’t important. What’s important is what your brother thinks. Is he going to stay by her side for a child?”
Yun Chuji shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. He just told me to visit him more often.”
He hadn’t even reacted to her declaration that she would save him, just kept smiling gently, exuding an almost maternal aura.
Hearing this, Tang Jianxi pressed her lips together and glanced worriedly at Yun Chuji, who had sunk back into that oppressive atmosphere. Yun Chuji only had a partial understanding of this world, but Tang Jianxi was different.
If Tang Jianxi’s information was correct, the child in Yun Xuan’s belly would be the Third Princess’s only child. And in an Empire that cared so much about reproduction and pheromones, the existence of illegitimate children had always been severely despised.
So, what exactly was Yun Chuji’s brother planning to do?
The black hovercar rose into the air again, disappearing silently into the pale white sky.
On the balcony, during those ten minutes, Yun Xuan hadn’t said much. Most of the time, he listened to Yun Chuji’s incoherent promises that she would make sure he lived a very, very good life.
Ah, two “verys.” It seems she’s quite determined.
This younger sister of his had been sheltered so thoroughly at home, ignorant of the world since childhood. She didn’t have to support the Yun family, didn’t have to study relentlessly for the imperial examinations, and didn’t have to watch the person she loved die before her eyes—well, liked, at least, but Huan Jie’er’s death had been too tragic, and all because he hadn’t been on time for his studies.
All she had to do was embroider and play the zither every day, to be a quiet and presentable ornament. She had plenty of time to daydream.
She had no freedom, but she also had no pain.
And now, he had neither freedom nor anything but pain.
Yun Xuan drained the tea from his cup, chewed the flowers inside, and swallowed them. Then he told her in a gentle voice, “Chuniang, I’m pregnant.”
Yun Chuji fell silent.
Her wide eyes remained open for a long time.
“How… how could this be?”
Yun Xuan smiled. “I’m an omega now.”
This sentence cut a wound in Yun Chuji’s heart like a knife. Her face instantly turned pale.
“Are you going to have it?”
“Of course. It’s my child.”
“But, Chuniang, I’m very lonely here. You must remember to visit me more often.”
“Elder Brother… you… aren’t you leaving?”
Yun Xuan turned his head to look at the starship model in the courtyard, not answering.
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