Ji Chenxi, who had been watching the other party’s expression the whole time, felt a bit of regret.
Faced directly with Wen Rui’s death, Lan Ruoxi had only been dazed for a brief moment, and even that daze seemed to come more from surprise than anything else.
His spiritual probe hadn’t even had time to dig a little deeper before it was forcibly cut off.
Watching Lan Ruoxi being escorted away by the military, Ji Chenxi fell into thought. In that instant, the only thing he had managed to catch from her spiritual sea was their first meeting a year ago—an omega with sweet dimples when she smiled, and a heroic female alpha saving the beauty. Even the way the omega girl had stared at her blankly was overly adorable. It all felt like the beginning of a typical love story.
Unfortunately, there was no so-called love story between them. Lan Ruoxi had even gone so far as to make the omega who liked her try to seduce him, just to set him up badly.
Everything about it was too insane, and too cold-blooded. Instead of starting from Lan Ruoxi, it might be better to choose Wen Rui, who had sacrificed for love.
As a key figure in this vicious incident, Wen Rui, of course, wasn’t dead.
An omega with nothing but spiritual strength yet a fragile body trying to commit suicide under military surveillance was nothing short of a joke. However, that seemingly delicate omega truly hadn’t said a single word. Whenever asked, she only claimed everything was her own idea—she wanted to use this chance to marry into the royal family.
Ji Chenxi scheduled a visit for half an hour later. Before he had even taken two steps, his communicator rang again.
He hadn’t touched his optical brain these past few days. His sudden disappearance had practically caused it to be bombarded with calls. After reviewing the information, Ji Chenxi first let his friends know he was safe. As for a certain old man, he didn’t return a single call.
The news of his appearance at the Royal Academy had likely already spread, and the old man finally couldn’t hold back and called again.
Ji Chenxi answered while driving his hover car toward the aerial prison.
The empire had two major prisons—an underground prison for commoners and an aerial prison for nobles. People often talked about fairness and equality, but in an empire where imperial power and strength reigned supreme, there were simply too many unfair things.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.” When the steady voice of the man came from the other side, Ji Chenxi greeted him with a smile.
Hearing his words, the other side fell silent for a moment. Just when Ji Chenxi thought he might have accidentally hung up and glanced at his optical brain, the voice spoke again, “Do you still feel any discomfort physically?”
“I’m fine, I guess,” Ji Chenxi replied with a smile.
“Xi’er, are you blaming me?”
Ji Chenxi, who was speeding toward the aerial prison, paused for a moment. He then realized that although he was smiling, his response had been too polite. Between father and son, such politeness inevitably carried a hint of perfunctoriness.
He added to his earlier reply, “I really am fine now. After all, I’ve already endured the worst part. People tend to forget pain subconsciously, so even when I think back on it now, it’s just the dry word ‘uncomfortable.’”
Whether he blamed him or not felt a bit laughable to Ji Chenxi, because he had long passed the age of craving parental care and affection.
The Emperor fell silent again. He probably realized that instead of maintaining a superficial warmth with Ji Chenxi, it was better to speak directly. After forcing him onto the path of fighting for the throne and placing spies around him, their father-son relationship had already become precarious.
“The day after tomorrow is your second sister’s birthday. Remember to come back for a family banquet.”
Ji Chenxi casually acknowledged it and waited to see if there was more.
“Child, every ruler who sits on the throne goes through hardships and struggle. I cannot place you in that position just because I favor you.”
Ji Chenxi’s finger, which had been about to press the hang-up button, withdrew. Continuing to drive, seeing that the other party seemed to want to chat, he asked casually, “Then did you love my mother?”
“Of course I did.”
“Then why did Your Majesty have other women besides my mother?”
“When you’re in a high position, there are always things you cannot control.”
Ji Chenxi let out a soft scoff. “Then did she like you?”
This time, the Emperor didn’t answer immediately.
Ji Chenxi had already known the answer, so he wasn’t surprised. “So you took her by force?”
“Xi’er, that’s not something a child like you should ask.”
Ji Chenxi laughed lightly and hung up the call without hesitation.
The hover car sped up again, racing through the air. A journey that should have taken nearly half an hour was cut down to just over ten minutes.
Ji Chenxi didn’t get out immediately but stayed in the car for quite a while.
He let out a soft chuckle, mocking his own lapse in composure, and even more so mocking the mutual torment of those two.
He casually brushed back his messy hair, then let it fall naturally again. Closing his eyes, he let out a slow breath. By the time he stepped out of the car, that faint, elegant smile had already returned to his lips.
The environment of the aerial prison was quite nice. The area where high-ranking noble omegas were held was even designed like a small garden, to avoid harming their fragile nerves. But for omegas who dared to commit serious crimes, would they really care about a slightly worse environment?
When Ji Chenxi saw Wen Rui, she was reading in a glass-built sunlit garden. The book she was reading happened to be the one Ji Chenxi had once told her about.
Ji Chenxi didn’t disturb her. Only after Wen Rui had read several pages and poured herself some water from a small kettle did he smile and say, “Miss Wen, long time no see.”
Wen Rui looked at Ji Chenxi in a daze. Her spiritual state wasn’t very good—her face pale, dark circles obvious—but it didn’t stop her from showing a faint smile when she saw him. “Your Highness, I’m reading the book you mentioned. I think I’m finally starting to see some art in it.”
“Art comes from interpretation. If you just look at the story itself, it’s not really a good one. If you like reading, I can recommend something else.”
“Actually, when Your Highness told me this story back then, I wanted to ask—did the young man in the book end up with his fiancee?”
“Did you read the ending?”
The girl showed a bit of distress. “I did. But like Your Highness said, the ending only shows the fiancee coming to pick up the young man from prison. It’s hard for me to know whether the future is what I hoped for.”
“So it’s an open ending. But in my opinion, the young man and his fiancee wouldn’t end up together. The young man is exhausted, while the fiancee is still young and naive. The reason they didn’t break off the engagement earlier was only because of the deep entanglement of their families’ interests. After so many years, can a tainted family still compare to one that once stood on equal footing? Now it’s either they marry and the fiancee’s family gradually swallows his family whole, or her family breaks off the engagement and finds her a better match. Judging from the ending, the former is more likely.”
“I saw it as a love story, Your Highness,” Wen Rui reminded, not thinking that deeply.
“The young man made one wrong step and is about to destroy his family. What about you, Miss Wen? Would you abandon your family and your parents for your love? Old Master Wen is already quite old, yet he’s still running around begging for help for his granddaughter. It’s pitiful. A man who once had countless connections has faced many closed doors this time. For someone so particular, it’s not easy.”
Wen Rui’s hands trembled slightly as she held the book, her face turning even paler.
Ji Chenxi continued, “Miss Wen, guess what the punishment is for deliberately harming an imperial prince? And how many of your family members will be implicated? Using your heat and sensitive period to induce someone else’s is a serious crime.”
Wen Rui’s fingers tightened around the book as she defended herself, “I—I didn’t know. I didn’t know my heat would come.”
“For your situation, saying you didn’t know your heat was coming is meaningless. Do you really think that when you approached me with ill intent, I wouldn’t have even a micro camera on me? Your behavior back then clearly looked intentional. Why do you think the military took you into custody?”
Ji Chenxi wasn’t a kind person either. Back when he followed Chi Zhuo to his house, he had already reported Wen Rui’s actions. As for himself, he simply said he was going somewhere alone to get through his sensitive period, then disappeared offline.
Wen Rui naturally knew what she had done. Now she was truly panicking, her eyes reddening as her body trembled. “Everything was done by me. If anything is to be done, come at me. Don’t make things hard for my family.”
“Silly girl, how could it only be directed at you? Imperial authority cannot be offended, especially when you did this right under the Emperor’s nose. If they want to make an example, you—or your entire family—will be the first to suffer. So tell me, is your great love more important, or your parents and family?”
“You—you know?!”
Ji Chenxi’s few words successfully shook the girl to her core. And this was exactly the moment he wanted. When someone’s mind was unstable, it was easiest to glimpse their secrets. Taking advantage of this, Ji Chenxi quickly probed her memories, but the result disappointed him a little.
Almost everything was about how to deal with him.
As for the person behind Lan Ruoxi, the only clue was a fleeting glance—a memory of Lan Ruoxi talking to someone. But that memory was extremely blurry. When it became clear again, it was only the figure leaving, and Lan Ruoxi patting the girl’s shoulder, snapping her back to her senses.
This segment of memory had been deliberately blurred, even set with a “key.” The moment someone tried to inspect it, it triggered a self-destruct mode. Ji Chenxi’s consciousness was abruptly forced out. His expression darkened as he saw the girl suddenly scream. He immediately used his spiritual power to stabilize her collapsing spiritual sea.
Staff who had been monitoring the situation quickly operated the control panel, releasing a large amount of sedative into her space.
The girl, who had just lost control—sweeping everything off the table and clawing at her hair—was finally forced to calm down. She collapsed onto the ground and eventually fell completely unconscious.
With such a sudden disturbance, a tall alpha rushed over with a group of people to check the situation, surrounding Ji Chenxi completely as if afraid he might be harmed.
Ji Chenxi apologized slightly, saying he had accidentally stimulated Miss Wen, and hoped the military could continue investigating to see if there was anyone else behind it.
After finishing those polite words, Ji Chenxi took his leave. Before leaving, he even arranged for a doctor for Wen Rui. Someone who would rather damage her spiritual sea just to hide things—clearly, that person was the real mastermind behind Lan Ruoxi.
Ji Chenxi kept reconstructing that blurry figure in his mind. Judging by the build, it was likely a man. As for gender, it was impossible to tell, but based on the girl’s emotions—more curiosity than anything else—the likelihood of the person being an alpha was higher.
A male alpha, around 185 cm tall—such a common description that it was almost impossible to trace.
It was as if the other party had expected someone to investigate, arrogantly leaving behind a bit of evidence, but not too much—just enough to prove such a person existed. Arrogant and overconfident, fitting the most basic traits of an alpha.
Ji Chenxi frowned slightly. As he left the aerial prison, he began hacking into the Imperial Royal Academy’s system. As the empire’s top institution, its system wasn’t easy to breach. If Ji Chenxi weren’t a student there, it would indeed be harder. But as a student, he had already planted several anchor points within the internal network, so breaking in wasn’t difficult. Besides, all he needed was to check the surveillance footage.
After returning home, Ji Chenxi began rapidly reviewing the footage. Based on the time of day and various scenes, he estimated the timeframe and checked for several days straight. In the end, he discovered that the segment most similar to the girl’s memory had been replaced with remarkable precision.
In other words, there was no footage at all of Lan Ruoxi talking to anyone.
“Good, very good.”
Ji Chenxi was almost laughing from anger. No matter who the mastermind was, Ji Chenxi could clearly feel that the other party was toying with him.
That feeling—like you’re about to catch a mouse, only to be toyed with by it—was truly infuriating.
Ji Chenxi had been extremely busy these past two days, entirely focused on investigating the mastermind.
It was precisely because everything had been handled so cleanly that Ji Chenxi became even more certain that this person was the real culprit—and that they were from the Imperial Royal Academy. Entry into the academy was strict. To completely evade surveillance and alter it so flawlessly, the person either had expertise in electronics or an accomplice who did. And secondly, they had to be someone from the academy.
A student, or a teacher?
At this point, Ji Chenxi could have asked Chen Xing, who was also at the academy. But the person had successfully stirred his competitive spirit—he wanted to catch them himself.
Just as Ji Chenxi was getting deeply absorbed in tracking them down, his door was knocked on again. This time, the old butler wasn’t reminding him to eat or sleep, but about the annual family banquet held at this time.
It was rather amusing—three people who didn’t get along still had to gather on each other’s birthdays, maintaining a facade of harmony.
Ji Chenxi spent two hours getting himself ready. Aside from the slight dark circles under his eyes, it was hard to associate him with the person who had been obsessively reviewing footage.
The long dining table was filled with all kinds of exquisite dishes. After arriving, Ji Chenxi exchanged simple greetings with the others and was about to sit down when his second sister spoke.
“Looks like little brother hasn’t been doing well these past few days. Your complexion is terrible.”
Ji Chenxi glanced at Ji Anze, who was still followed by equipment and hooked up to an IV behind him. “Compared to big brother, I think my complexion is pretty good. Though it still can’t compare to second sister’s.”
The elegant female alpha smiled. “I heard that not long ago, little brother was induced into heat. I wonder which omega you spent it with in the end?”
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)
