If this story were to be told as a fable, it would have to begin with a brother and sister from the Yun family of the Great Liang Dynasty.
The matriarch of the Yun family in Qingling County gave birth to a son and a daughter, both of whom fulfilled their parents’ every expectation for their children in that era.
The daughter was quiet and beautiful, obedient and well-behaved, yet also kind and innocent. She had taken the precepts for women to heart and was certain to uphold the Yun family’s reputation in the future.
The son was dashing, intelligent, and decisive. He understood both the arts of a gentleman and the ways of political strategy. With his status as a young provincial graduate and the Yun family’s generations-old reputation for integrity, he became the disciple of the second-in-command of the court’s Qingfeng Faction. As long as he passed the metropolitan and palace examinations, a smooth path lay before him.
Had no accidents occurred, it was foreseeable that the small Yun family would produce another figure to be recorded in the annals of history, or perhaps two—if Yun Chuji’s husband died prematurely, she would very likely be immortalized in the records of chaste widows.
But perhaps fate has a fondness for accidents, for this outstanding brother and sister arrived in the ABO era.
The sister was given a pair of wings; the brother was locked in a cell.
But they were still the same people they had always been.
The sister with wings went around saving people; the brother locked in a cell bribed the warden.
And this time, without a doubt, they would still leave their names in the pages of history.
Yun Xuan looked calmly at his warden. There was no longer any disgust or hatred in his eyes, nor was there anything like love—because what lay before him was a set of keys, not the imperial princess of a nation.
“I have proven my value to you, Your Highness.”
Lucia squinted, carefully scrutinizing this strange omega.
“What is it you truly want?” she asked.
“Just as we agreed, I will become your husband.”
Lucia shook her head. They were sitting in the study, speaking as equals for the first time. The air was filled with the scent of incense meant to soothe pregnant omegas. The soft leather sofa enveloped their bodies. The tea on the table remained untouched, and the usually popular wine was unopened. In this room inlaid with gold and silver, even the light seemed out of place.
“That is the agreement, not your intention. No one writes their intentions into an agreement.”
Yun Xuan gently raised his head. He was shorter than Lucia, both in his upper and lower body, so when he looked at her, he couldn’t help but adopt an upward gaze. He touched his stomach and said, “I have a child now, don’t I?”
Lucia had a sudden realization. Yes.
A child. How could she have forgotten? It was all because Yun Xuan had acted so unlike an omega these past few days that she had subconsciously avoided applying her experience with omegas to him.
No matter how much this man, Yun Xuan, rejected his reactions to pheromones, this child was, in the end, entirely his. Omegas would always do anything for their children.
Lucia softened her tone, almost to the point of gentleness. “Let’s wait until I’ve resolved this matter. It will take some time, after all. And I think marrying me after I’ve resolved it will be far more glorious than marrying me now.”
A faint smile appeared on Yun Xuan’s face, but it was enough to make his already gentle features even more approachable. “Of course, Your Highness.”
Lucia’s gaze flickered. She immediately pinched her palm, coughed, and said, “Focus on your pregnancy. I’ve arranged a car and four bodyguards for you. You can go anywhere you like on Golden Phoenix Star. If you want to see your parents, I can have them brought over.”
The smile on Yun Xuan’s face grew more pronounced. Lucia felt a strange unease. She stood up, clasped her hands behind her back, and strode out of the room.
Lucia had originally wanted to ask Yun Xuan a few more things—not crucial, but still worth asking. For instance, why hadn’t he warned his sister, even though he had clearly foreseen all of this? Yun Chuji had truly come close to death this time.
But that, too, could be explained. After all, she was just a cousin.
Still, Lucia wanted to hear Yun Xuan’s own explanation.
The secondary reason she had suddenly given up was that she found herself unable to adapt to her current dynamic with Yun Xuan. For the first time in her life, she felt somewhat constrained.
The primary reason, however, was that she needed to hurry up and deal with her brother, who had kicked her while she was down.
After Lucia left, Yun Xuan, still in the study, couldn’t help but recall the day he had made the bet with her—that was likely the first time Yun Xuan had tried to break free from his fate.
After Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi left Golden Phoenix Star, he had found Lucia and confessed his pregnancy. As expected, Lucia immediately told him to abort the child.
Yun Xuan knew this wasn’t the Great Liang Dynasty. Mistresses were not permitted here; in the Empire, the existence of an illegitimate child was enough to destroy even the most solid of families. Only children born to a married AO couple could gain the Empire’s recognition. After all, if illegitimate children weren’t strictly controlled, an alpha’s infidelity would have virtually no consequences, and the pheromone-based values of the ABO era would be trampled.
But Yun Xuan refused Lucia.
He said, “Marrying me is a better deal.”
Lucia responded with a sneer.
Yun Xuan paid no mind to this small insult. He had already suffered every imaginable humiliation at Lucia’s hands, and even some he couldn’t have imagined.
“The Sixth Prince will make a move against Yun Chuji this time,” Yun Xuan said calmly.
Lucia let out an even louder sneer. “Clarence is busy showing off his affection for that useless fiancée of his. If something happens to Yun Chuji, how is he going to end this act? Besides, Gu Yun and Chu Meng are not to be trifled with.”
“Oh? Then let’s make a bet.” Yun Xuan began to cast his bait. “I believe you have some people planted in Spartacus. This time, he will likely act through them. After all, John has a younger brother who is a loyal member of Spartacus. All it takes is fabricating a conspiracy for the young and painting a grand vision for the adults, and things will happen naturally.”
However, this was another world, and there were always some communication issues between him and its people.
For instance, rather than taking the bait, Lucia was more concerned with trivial matters—
“Where did you learn all this?” Lucia stared intently at Yun Xuan. She had only given him access to a personal terminal, not the right to communicate with the outside world.
Yun Xuan raised an eyebrow. If Lucia wasn’t mistaken, was that contempt in his eyes?
Lucia was instantly enraged, but before she could teach this arrogant omega a lesson, Yun Xuan spoke again. “I saw it on the news. They even exposed the jobs of John and his family.”
At that moment, Yun Xuan suddenly thought that if his teacher, who had suffered so much from intelligence gathering, were to come to this era, he would probably thrive like a fish in water—ah, but that was on the condition that his teacher didn’t become an omega like him.
Lucia’s annoying voice broke his reverie. “So? Do you have proof? If you think you can order me around with your self-righteous delusions, then it seems you still haven’t learned what I’ve been trying to teach you these past few months.”
Proof, proof.
Yun Xuan felt a slight urge to laugh. The abundant resources and advanced technology of this era had made these people incredibly foolish. Was proof so important?
Proof could be faked at any time, just as Lucia, the leader of Glory, could transform into a champion of A-Virtue.
But human nature doesn’t change.
People are greedy. Their cunning stems from excessive greed. But as long as one grasps the core of that greed, one can clearly foresee a person’s future destiny.
What the Sixth Prince wanted was power—his own power, not the power of a puppet.
He could certainly use A-Virtue to cater to others now, but only on the condition that A-Virtue was co-opted by omega ideology, rather than becoming an independent system, an alpha’s system.
The Empire’s hundred-year tradition of alpha emperors was not so easily overturned.
Although most citizens now acknowledged that omegas had been deprived of their rights, they would likely trust an A-Virtue emperor more than an omega emperor. After all, if they shared the same ideals, an alpha emperor would at least not carry out a purge of alphas. Furthermore, an alpha with the quality of being “tough and reliable” was clearly more capable of turning ideals into reality than an omega who was easily controlled by emotions.
If the Sixth Prince was as smart as he appeared, it was impossible for him not to see this.
Therefore, killing Yun Chuji and stirring up chaos between A-Virtue and alphas was all benefit and no harm to him. It would tarnish the image of the alpha community and nip the growth of A-Virtue in the bud.
Yun Xuan knew full well that, aside from Yun Chuji’s A-Virtue, any other alpha’s theory of A-Virtue would eventually revert to the old way of thinking of alphas in this era. It would naturally lose its appeal to omegas, and the Sixth Prince would, as he wished, gain the complete loyalty of all omegas.
“Proof is unnecessary. If you spend time looking for proof of someone’s intended actions, you will miss the proof of their actual actions. The latter is the true weapon for bringing someone down.”
The omega was very certain. This certainty reminded Lucia of his cousin, Yun Chuji.
Yun Chuji also showed this kind of certainty during her livestreams, which was why Lucia was now increasingly suspicious of her loyalty. If she wasn’t an excellent actress playing a double-faced role, then she was an excellent actress playing a traitor.
And Yun Xuan?
What was he?
A madman, or a genius whose mind had been sharpened by suffering?
Lucia opened a bottle of wine, poured the pale green liquid into a glass, added two ice cubes, and dropped them to the bottom. She took a sip, then said leisurely, “I’ll give you five minutes to convince me.”
It took Yun Xuan only three and a half minutes to make Lucia believe him.
Finally, he said, “If you want to win the support of omegas, then instead of marrying a noble omega—one who is not only a leader of Spartacus but also has several distant relatives on the Glory list—it’s clear this marriage offers nothing more than negligible family support and won’t truly win you anything among the omega community. But by marrying me, my sister is the founder of A-Virtue, I am a commoner omega, and you can create the image of a deeply devoted alpha who defies worldly conventions for love.”
“Your Highness, isn’t that the most likable kind of alpha?”
The ice in the glass melted, and a few transparent streaks of water ran down its side.
Lucia swallowed, then let out a long sigh.
“I’ll take that bet.”
“If you win, you can become my husband. If you lose, then the person known as Yun Xuan can cease to exist.”
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