Employee lounge.
Ji Shenwen watched Yu Lizhu leave with a face full of joy, forcing himself to appear fine, but inside he felt a heaviness he had never known before.
His steps weighed down as he turned to face Gu Heng.
Ji Shenwen forced out a smile, giving two dry laughs: “Your Highness, you must be joking. I’ll pack my things immediately and return to the Empire.”
Gu Heng set upright the chair that had toppled over. The lingering trace of alluring pheromones made his hand unconsciously rub against the chair’s backboard, a restless sharpness stirring in his dark eyes.
But his prey had long since escaped.
Gu Heng arched his sharp brows, sat down in the chair, and, displeased, poured himself a glass of liquor—taken straight from an unopened box on the floor.
Most likely some employee had slacked off and left it here. The lounge doubled as a half-storage room, with all sorts of odds and ends piled up.
Ji Shenwen dared not say anything.
These were bar goods, after all. Ordinary staff were not allowed to open them at will, let alone drink them—such behavior violated bar rules.
Sometimes staff would secretly steal bottles to drink, and the worse ones even sold them outside. Yet he, stationed closest to the liquor cabinets, had never once taken advantage, never once sneaked a drink.
He was the only one who still abided by such dull rules.
Ji Shenwen suddenly sank into gloom.
Was he really suited to be an undercover agent?
Gu Heng tasted the liquor. The cheap flavor made his refined brows furrow instantly. He looked at Ji Shenwen and said: “Didn’t expect it to taste so different. I’ve seen you mix this one before.”
Ji Shenwen looked up, puzzled.
Gu Heng swirled the glass, staring at the translucent liquid within for a while, but in the end did not lower himself to drink it. Instead, he said faintly: “Isn’t that so? I never thought that a cheap liquor, once mixed by your hand with others, could rise to another level, enough to be drinkable.”
Ji Shenwen opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end it only collapsed into silence and a gray, dim expression.
Gu Heng looked at him coldly: “You want to return to the Empire?”
Ji Shenwen half-knelt, bowing his head with sincerity: “Yes. I hope Your Highness will grant me permission. I am willing to return to the Empire and accept punishment.”
“…”
The silence pressed so heavily that Ji Shenwen’s spine stiffened, sweat breaking out in his palms, yet he dared not move.
At last, the verdict came.
“I don’t approve. It’s too late.”
Gu Heng’s calm tone plunged Ji Shenwen into despair.
Ji Shenwen collapsed fully onto his knees, truly kneeling on the ground, eyes filled with pain and supplication: “Why, Your Highness? Could you not, for the years I’ve followed you, allow me to return to the Empire to face punishment? Even if you strip me of rank and exile me to a wasteland star, I would have no complaints.”
A flicker of impatience passed through Gu Heng’s eyes. He kicked Ji Shenwen’s shoulder, his voice cold and harsh: “Do you want to return to the Empire to atone—or for yourself?”
Ji Shenwen’s shoulder went numb with pain, his back bent, but he did not dare make a sound. His lowered gaze was full of shame and sorrow.
It was for himself.
Perhaps he truly wasn’t fit to be an undercover agent. Encountering a Federation Omega woman, he couldn’t help but soften. He would rather return to the Empire and accept any punishment than drag Yu Lizhu into this.
The thought of Yu Lizhu’s hopeful hand reaching for his, her heart bared without reservation like a pearl in an open shell, entrusting her trust and tenderness to him—
He, a useless, utterly failed undercover agent, had deceived her feelings so despicably.
Ji Shenwen closed his eyes in despair and pain.
He really was a coward, incompetent. The Crown Prince’s reprimand was deserved.
“Forgive me, Your Highness. It was for myself. I fell for a Federation Omega woman I should never have fallen for. I deserve the Empire’s punishment. If it means dragging an innocent Federation woman into this, I find I simply cannot…”
Gu Heng saw straight through his thoughts, his lips curving in a cold smile: “Innocent, is she?”
“Ji Shenwen, do you think I will keep being lenient with you? You are still that naïve second son, coddled by your family. If that Federation Omega woman could count as innocent, you, Ji Shenwen, certainly cannot.”
“Time and again, you could have pushed Yu Lizhu away, driven her off. Scaring off an Omega by playing the villain can’t be that hard, can it? Don’t tell me your training in undercover disguise and psychology didn’t cover that. And yet you kept up that façade of the kind, considerate bartender.”
Ji Shenwen’s pupils contracted, stunned and blank for a long moment.
Gu Heng sneered, tearing the illusion apart: “You were subconsciously indulging her, trying to win her favor.”
Ji Shenwen lowered his head, shaken and bewildered, his fingers unconsciously scratching faint marks into the floor as he murmured: “I didn’t… I—I don’t know…”
Something flickered in Gu Heng’s eyes. He suddenly spoke offhandedly: “She clung to you—or perhaps you walked straight into her trap. If I hadn’t seen you pass pheromone resistance and anti-seduction courses myself, with the state you’re in now, I’d say you ought to retake them at the academy.”
Ji Shenwen was so ashamed he couldn’t lift his head.
“Or perhaps… Yu Lizhu is an Omega. Your compatibility might be very high—you could go test it.”
Ji Shenwen froze, dazed, and lifted his head in a stupor.
Gu Heng looked down coldly: “I’ll give you, Ji Shenwen, and the loyal family standing behind you one last chance. Continue the mission. As long as your entanglement with Yu Lizhu doesn’t interfere with the mission, I won’t interfere. When the mission ends, I’ll ensure your Omega little lover can live with you in the Empire under a legal identity.”
Pain and struggle flashed in Ji Shenwen’s eyes, though outwardly he forced a relaxed smile: “That’s too far away to think about now. Maybe before long, Yu Lizhu will lose interest in me.”
Displeasure flickered again in Gu Heng’s gaze.
If Ji Shenwen weren’t still a useful talent—his bartending skills were indeed excellent, and he had performed well on other assignments—Gu Heng wouldn’t have wasted so many words on him.
His face cold, Gu Heng cut straight to the point: “She’s just a Federation Omega. You’re thinking too much.”
“Ordinary marriages between the Empire and the Federation are rare, but not unheard of. If you truly care that much, then after the mission I can strip you of your post and noble title. You’ll live as a commoner.”
Clearly, the Crown Prince was threatening to reduce him to a commoner, yet Ji Shenwen oddly felt a measure of relief.
Still, bewilderment lingered. “You’re not worried that I might collude with a Federation Omega and leak Empire secrets?”
Gu Heng’s black eyes glinted with indifference: “If you want to die, you can try. But if you betray even a little or leak anything detrimental to the Empire, both you and your little Federation Omega lover will be executed by me.”
“And your relatives in the Empire as well.”
Ji Shenwen shuddered all over. It was as good as admitting he had no other choice.
Yet something still gnawed at him. Bracing himself, he asked: “I would never betray the Empire. But what about that Alpha I saw earlier with Your Highness?”
He hadn’t forgotten the shocking sight the moment he walked in: His Highness Gu Heng in close contact with a Federation Alpha male.
That Alpha had come together with Yu Lizhu, apparently as a good friend of hers.
Who would have thought the Empire’s Crown Prince—who had just scolded him so harshly—would in the next breath be entangled with a Federation Alpha man?
By rights, as a subordinate, Ji Shenwen shouldn’t pry into the Crown Prince’s affairs. Yet he couldn’t stop himself.
Gu Heng: “You know that Alpha?”
Ji Shenwen hesitated before replying: “Not really. Just that Yu Lizhu brought him, so I suppose they’re close friends.”
Interest stirred faintly in Gu Heng’s gaze. He spoke calmly: “Do you know my father searched among the nobility for a suitable Crown Princess with high compatibility for me?”
Ji Shenwen: “I seem to recall something like that.”
But nothing had ever come of it. After causing a stir among the aristocracy, there had been no news of the Crown Prince choosing an official consort.
Gu Heng continued: “No match was found. My compatibility with those noble Omegas was all very low. My father even suggested choosing from among the commoners, but I refused.”
Ji Shenwen didn’t find it strange.
The higher-ranked the Alpha, the harder it was to find a compatible Omega. With His Highness’s S-rank Alpha genes, only an S-rank Omega could possibly match.
And the Crown Prince might be above even S-rank.
Though the official scale capped at S, the differences within S were vast. Back in the Empire’s First Military Academy, several S-rank Alphas had been no match for the Crown Prince.
Ji Shenwen suddenly thought: maybe being too high-ranked wasn’t all good—made it too hard to find a wife. He tried to comfort him: “Don’t worry, Your Highness will surely find a partner highly compatible with you.”
Gu Heng said evenly: “I already have.”
“I had thought it impossible to find a highly compatible Omega. And indeed, it was impossible. But I found an Alpha whose compatibility with me is high.”
Ji Shenwen’s eyes flew wide in shock: “!!!”
Unbelievable. Since when was there compatibility between Alphas? Weren’t Alphas supposed to repel each other’s pheromones?
Baffled, Ji Shenwen blurted out: “But you’re an Alpha! In the Empire, Alphas can’t marry each other—even with high compatibility, it’s useless!”
Gu Heng’s brows drew together coolly, as though irritated by the noise: “I never intended to marry an Alpha.”
Ji Shenwen faltered: “But you and that Alpha…”
Gu Heng’s black eyes were calm as he met his gaze: “Just a Federation Alpha. Even if I bring him back to the Empire, it means nothing.”
The words were familiar, yet Ji Shenwen felt a chill sink into his bones.
In those fathomless, indifferent black eyes of Crown Prince Gu Heng, he seemed to glimpse the twisted fate from which that Alpha would never escape.
But whatever Gu Heng decided to do—who could possibly stop him?
***
Zuo family study.
The lamps still burned late at night.
Zuo Shihuan lowered his brows meekly: “Father, you wanted to see me?”
Father Zuo Zoujian smiled: “I’ve spoken with Miss Yu’s father. We think holding the engagement banquet in a month would be ideal. What do you think?”
A month later?
Zuo Shihuan furrowed his brows, fingers digging into his palms. For the first time, the resistance rising in his heart made him unwilling to obey his father’s arrangement.
