After returning to Imperial Star, Chi Zhuo quickly noticed something was off. Those old men who always looked down on others were giving him strange looks. Not the bold kind, but subtle and weird, like they were looking at something rare and unusual.
When he revealed his strength and helped Ji Chenxi take the throne, those same old men didn’t look at him like this. So what was going on now?
Chi Zhuo calmly accepted all those gazes. Only when there was no one around him did he speak into the darkness, “Go check it carefully.”
A shadow flickered and quickly disappeared.
Chi Zhuo frowned as he checked the recent movements of those nobles.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Not only were those old men acting strange, even Ji Chenxi was acting strange too.
After coming back, Ji Chenxi had been unusually busy, and even told Chi Zhuo to bother him less lately. Chi Zhuo could understand that part—after all, they had been outside playing for nearly two months, so it made sense Ji Chenxi had a lot to deal with.
But what didn’t make sense was why Ji Chenxi told him not to look for him.
It was like he was hiding something from him.
Had those old men finally lost patience because they had been away from Imperial Star for too long?
Once that suspicion formed, something inside Chi Zhuo started to break through, and a faint killing intent appeared in his eyes.
He had already warned those old men once before. And now they still dared to make moves?
After checking all the nobles’ movements, he found that most of the activity came from the Minister of Finance’s side. Chi Zhuo’s eyes darkened slightly, but he didn’t act rashly. He waited for more information, planning to strike only once—clean and fatal.
Before he even got the investigation results, Bai Han brought him two experimental potions she had developed.
“Master, the experiment succeeded. I made two types of potions that can ease and remove the banned drug effects in your body.”
“Two?” Chi Zhuo asked.
Bai Han carefully explained the two potions. In simple terms, one could fully remove the side effects of the banned drug. The other could keep Chi Zhuo’s glands sensitive to Ji Chenxi’s pheromones while also fixing the chaos caused by the drug.
Two vials—one blue, one red. Clearly different colors, and though they looked similar in function, they actually had very different effects.
Chi Zhuo lowered his eyes and chose the one that completely removed the side effects, the one that would also stop his body from being obsessed with Ji Chenxi’s scent.
After choosing, he immediately injected the potion into his body.
Bai Han was slightly stunned.
As a subordinate, she shouldn’t guess her master’s thoughts. But when she made these two potions, she had assumed something—Chi Zhuo liked Ji Chenxi, so he would never choose to erase his body’s dependence on Ji Chenxi’s pheromones. Yet he picked the exact opposite one.
“Surprised?” Chi Zhuo noticed her look and asked.
“Yes, a little,” Bai Han didn’t hide it.
“Sometimes pheromone attraction isn’t a good thing. It can blur the line of what you really feel,” Chi Zhuo said lightly.
“Master is not someone who can’t tell his feelings apart,” Bai Han replied, a bit unconvinced.
Chi Zhuo chuckled softly but didn’t respond.
“Master, is there still something bothering you?”
“Those people are getting restless again. My warning doesn’t seem to scare them anymore. Maybe I should just clean out the ones who don’t listen,” Chi Zhuo said, his eyes lowered, darkness filling them.
Seeing the killing intent, Bai Han hesitated.
“It seems Bai Han knows something,” Chi Zhuo said.
Bai Han didn’t deny it. She nodded. “I did hear some rumors, but it involves that person, so I can’t investigate further.”
Chi Zhuo’s expression deepened, but he didn’t comment.
Before leaving, Bai Han still tried to comfort him.
“Maybe that person is preparing a surprise for you?”
Chi Zhuo laughed softly. That did sound like something his little rose would do.
Chi Zhuo became suspicious again when he noticed Bai Anran entering and leaving the palace many times. An Alpha and Omega meeting privately would normally look suspicious, but based on everything between Chi Zhuo and Ji Chenxi, he shouldn’t doubt Ji Chenxi at all. Ji Chenxi had once endured a high-matching Omega’s heat without giving in—so how could he possibly have anything with Bai Anran, someone he had known for years?
But the problem was—this person was Bai Anran.
When Chi Zhuo heard Bai Anran’s name, he immediately thought of that book.
In the book, Ji Chenxi liked Bai Anran and even did many things for him. Chi Zhuo had only flipped through it quickly back then, not paying attention to details. He had just been curious why Ji Chenxi even had such a strange book.
But once he connected Ji Chenxi’s past with his own first meeting… it was obvious. Ji Chenxi probably read that book and went to that banquet because of it.
Their first meeting started from that book. So what exactly was that story supposed to mean?
Chi Zhuo didn’t want to care at first, but the more he tried not to think about it, the more it bothered him.
That night, Chi Zhuo even had a dream.
In the dream, Bai Anran walked step by step through a rainy night. His clothes were half transparent from the rain, his hair stuck together in wet strands. The Omega looked fragile and exhausted, but still carried a strange toughness like grass bending in the wind.
Not far behind him, there was a beautiful Alpha wearing fancy clothes, a silver half-cape, and ice-like decorations on his body. His beauty was almost blinding, but the sharpness in his eyes made it clear he wasn’t an Omega.
The Alpha didn’t speak. He just held an umbrella and followed behind the Omega. Cold, distant. He didn’t look like a lover—more like a stranger passing by who just didn’t want to see someone get hurt.
But Chi Zhuo knew Ji Chenxi too well.
That outfit alone already showed he had dressed carefully. Even his usual glass bead earrings were replaced with ice-like ones matching his clothes. And the fact that he kept following like that… it already meant something.
In the dream, Ji Chenxi even tried to hand the umbrella forward, but hesitated. In the end, he let himself get half soaked by the rain too.
Ji Chenxi hated getting wet the most, but in the dream he didn’t seem to care at all.
Finally, he held the black umbrella over Bai Anran and said coldly, “The umbrella is too heavy. Help me hold it.”
“Your Highness, you don’t have to care about me,” Bai Anran said.
“Who said I care about you? I just said it’s heavy. And since you look so pitiful, I’ll share it with you,” Ji Chenxi replied.
“Your Highness, if you act like this, you won’t be able to find an Omega in the future,” Bai Anran said.
“Then I won’t find one,” Ji Chenxi answered.
Bai Anran didn’t react much. He just sighed and took the umbrella, pulling himself out of his pain for a moment.
Chi Zhuo knew Ji Chenxi too well. This was clearly his awkward way of comforting someone.
The next morning, Chi Zhuo took out that black-covered book again. This time he didn’t flip through it casually. He read it carefully from beginning to end.
He found the scenes he had forgotten. He also saw everyone’s ending.
It was a book mainly from Bai Anran’s perspective. Many things were only briefly mentioned, but one thing was clear and impossible to hide—Ji Chenxi died by Chi Zhuo’s hand in the end.
Chi Zhuo only read it once, then put it back and left Rose Manor.
Coincidentally—or maybe not—he ran into Bai Anran on his way there.
Bai Anran was a bit surprised to see Chi Zhuo, but quickly returned to polite calm and greeted him.
Chi Zhuo originally didn’t plan to respond. But when he was about one meter away from passing him, he stopped.
“You and Ji Chenxi…”
“Hmm?” Bai Anran quickly turned back.
Chi Zhuo then walked forward again, leaving only one sentence behind.
“Nothing.”
Chi Zhuo felt a little ridiculous.
He was uneasy. Afraid Ji Chenxi would, like in the book, fall for Bai Anran again.
He wanted to ask, “You and Ji Chenxi have known each other for many years?” But there was no need. If he wanted to know, he could already find out everything.
The people he sent earlier finally brought back the most accurate news—the palace was preparing a wedding.
When the subordinate said this, he even looked at Chi Zhuo carefully. Everyone knew their master was in a relationship with the young emperor.
“Not bad,” Chi Zhuo only said two words.
Ji Chenxi getting married meant the other person could only be him. Even if this secretly prepared wedding made him feel like an outsider.
After returning and being busy for half a month, Ji Chenxi finally came to find Chi Zhuo.
As soon as Chi Zhuo entered the palace, he could tell everything inside had been quickly decorated. The luxurious palace now carried a faint sense of joy.
He walked slowly and arrived at Ji Chenxi’s palace.
Ji Chenxi was wearing a gorgeous robe. When he saw Chi Zhuo, he smiled brightly, walked over, hugged him, and kissed him.
“Surprised?”
“Very. It hasn’t been long, and Your Highness is already secretly getting married,” Chi Zhuo said.
Ji Chenxi smiled with curved eyes. “It’s not secret. I was very open about it. If you came even once, you would’ve known. But someone was so heartless and didn’t come at all.”
Chi Zhuo pulled him into his arms and kissed him several times.
“I didn’t avoid you. I just didn’t want to disturb you, and I wanted to give you space.”
Chi Zhuo didn’t really have love mentors. Hua Yao could barely count as one. He once told Chi Zhuo that loving someone was like holding sand—too tight and it slips, too loose and it also slips. You had to give space.
Ji Chenxi smiled while listening. “If I didn’t know you sent people to investigate me and even went to my manor to read my book, I would’ve thought you really didn’t care at all.”
Chi Zhuo frowned slightly, but before he could say anything, he met Ji Chenxi’s smiling eyes.
Chi Zhuo sighed. “I actually understand that book of yours.”
Ji Chenxi wasn’t too surprised. He leaned in and kissed him lightly.
“That’s just a book. Even if someone should worry, it should be me. In the book, you and him are the couple, and I’m just an unimportant passerby,” Ji Chenxi said.
Chi Zhuo understood immediately.
Ji Chenxi had used Bai Anran entering the palace as a test—to see if he understood the book.
“This is my confession. I first came close to you because of that book,” Ji Chenxi said.
“Confessing this before the wedding… you’re not afraid I run away?”
Ji Chenxi smiled. “Because I know you won’t.”
“I don’t care why you came to me at first. I only care about the future. Once we’re married, you can’t run. My possessiveness is stronger than you think.”
“Then let me see it.”
“I really want to eat you up, my little rose,” Chi Zhuo said, tapping his forehead.
“How?” Ji Chenxi asked, messing with his hair. “Anyway, tomorrow will be busy. The wedding is just a formal process. Why don’t we celebrate our wedding night early?”
When Ji Chenxi said it, he meant it. And he played quite wildly too. At first Chi Zhuo thought it was ridiculous, but seeing Ji Chenxi with cat ears and a cat tail, he completely lost control.
His dark eyes locked onto him as the fluffy ears twitched slightly.
Who could refuse a white-grey little cat with fluffy ears and a tail?
Chi Zhuo’s moment of weakness turned into soft moans, and Ji Chenxi’s playful voice kept calling, “Brother Chi Zhuo, look at my tail.”
They kept playing like this until dawn.
Chi Zhuo felt like he had just fallen asleep when he heard Ji Chenxi’s voice.
The boy probably hadn’t slept at all. He was pinching Chi Zhuo’s nose and said cheerfully after he woke up:
“My bride, it’s time to get up.”
“Bride?” Chi Zhuo’s voice was hoarse as he grabbed his messy hand, eyes slightly dangerous.
“Then…” Ji Chenxi tilted his head, cat ears swaying gently. “Husband?”
Chi Zhuo: “…”
He pulled him in and kissed him hard again. In the rough, storm-like kiss, he didn’t forget to pull him closer.
Ji Chenxi laughed until his body shook.
“Stop messing around or we’ll really be late.”
“Then let’s be late, my little wife.”
*
Author’s Note:
Hahaha little wife, okay I admit I have bad taste. This is really the end now. One more extra chapter and it’s officially over.
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)
