Chapter 12

In the darkness, Auston watched Ruan Tang calmly, the special pheromone scent of Ruan Tang — like an orchid yet not an orchid, like a plum yet not a plum — lingering cool and clear beneath his nose.

The scent was clean and pure, utterly delightful...

But, strangely, there was not a trace of desire or seduction in it.

A compatibility rating above ninety-five percent made Auston's gums itch, making him want to release his own pheromone scent to entice and claim Ruan Tang.

But sensing the stiffness and rigidity of the body beneath his hand, he chose not to do so. He could feel that Ruan Tang was not entirely willing...

Ruan Tang knew what was going to happen between them. Though his mindset was very much go-with-the-flow, his body still tensed up involuntarily until it was ramrod straight; even his neck was taut.

No one had ever bitten his gland before...

And he did not know whether it would hurt.

Feeling the Alpha draw closer and closer in the darkness, the cold mask brushed against his nape.

Ruan Tang could not help closing his eyes.

"So..." Auston's hand rested against his back, but in the deep dark, he leaned close to Ruan Tang's ear and breathed, "I shall take a good look at my leather, and see whether my spice is still intact..."

He inhaled deeply at the gland that emitted Ruan Tang's pheromone scent, intoxicated, smelling and stroking him with great relish. "Mm, you smell so good..."

Close, the scent was richer than when it had been wafted from a distance.

But still just as cool, just as unique, just as beloved.

Ruan Tang: "..."

Ruan Tang had not expected this turn of events at all, and instantly his whole person grew even more rigid.

Sure enough, as a normal person he ought not to have tried to guess a madman's train of thought. This was entirely his own fault...

His body stiff, he let Auston touch and sniff him as he pleased, feeling that in Auston's eyes he had become a great big sachet of incense plus a piece of jade one could not bear to put down.

Only when Auston had finished touching and smelling to his heart's content did he at last release Ruan Tang and wheel the chair away.

...

Around eight in the morning, a manservant named Seti appeared once more in his room and began to help him dress and wash.

The young manservant's back was ramrod straight, just like countless ordinary manservants. He knelt half on one knee before Ruan Tang, holding Ruan Tang's foot with gentle hands as he helped Ruan Tang into socks and shoes...

He kept his head lowered, so Ruan Tang could not read his expression, only seeing his thin lips pressed lightly together and his eyelashes trembling faintly...

Auston held Ruan Tang's foot, yet in his heart thought to himself.

Truly a beauty.

From hair to toe, there was not a single part of this Omega that was not pretty. Even his toes were plump, smooth, and lovely, so charming one could not bear to let go.

Every part of him, from head to toe, was a treasure worth collecting.

As if handling one of his own prized pieces, Auston carefully helped Ruan Tang into his shoes and socks, then went to the washroom and scrubbed his hands thoroughly. He immediately brought Ruan Tang his breakfast along with a pot of black tea.

"Madam, this Ceylon black tea was tribute from Sri Lanka Planet. The Duke is very fond of it; you might give it a try." Auston observed him closely as he spoke.

Ruan Tang lifted the black tea and took a small sip. "Thank you, but I don't care for black tea. From now on, coffee with breakfast will do."

"Madam, the Duke is fond of..." For two whole days Ruan Tang had not once taken the initiative to ask anyone about him, and Auston found this exceedingly strange.

And he was especially eager to bring himself up in front of Ruan Tang.

But Ruan Tang clearly had not taken his meaning. Hearing the young manservant mention Auston again and again, trying to tell him the Duke's preferences, Ruan Tang assumed the young servant only wanted to help him win his husband's favor.

"My marriage to the Duke is a political alliance, with no foundation of feeling." Ruan Tang set his teacup down at once and told the manservant bluntly.

So, he had no interest whatsoever in learning about the Duke, and there was no need to bring him up...

Once he said this, Auston only grew more curious; he understood Ruan Tang not at all.

The first time he had heard of Ruan Tang from another person's mouth, it was Ruan Tang saying to someone else that he thought the two of them were quite suitable, and that Auston would be the husband most suited to him.

Though Auston had not then met Ruan Tang, he had already, in his heart, formed a rough judgment of Ruan Tang from those words —

He considered himself a person with nothing worth liking, someone who sent countless Omegas trembling with fear at the very sight of him. The fact that Ruan Tang was willing to marry him of his own accord, and proclaim to the world that he was quite suitable, clearly meant Ruan Tang wanted to please him, to win his good opinion.

And the reason for marrying him and currying his favor, in Auston's view, could only be the Empress's promise that the firstborn son would be made Crown Prince — there could be no other possibility.

Thus, Ruan Tang's first impression in Auston's mind was that of an Omega, like his mother the Empress, who was fiercely ambitious, fond of grasping power and stirring up storms, a man with a clear goal.

Auston had originally estimated that after marrying him, Ruan Tang would surely scheme to get close to him, ferret out his preferences, seduce him, and do everything in his power to bear the Crown Prince.

But Ruan Tang had done nothing of the sort —

Not only that, but, unexpectedly, Ruan Tang showed a marked lack of interest in him, as if he wished only to live peacefully beside him as a marriage in name alone.

Auston had even, on one occasion, handed Ruan Tang the opportunity, and still failed to receive any attempt at seduction.

All he had gotten was a stiff body and a cold, clear pheromone scent...

Few people or things slipped beyond his control like this. All of it made Auston grow more and more curious about Ruan Tang as a person.

"Madam, why is it that you married the Duke?" Auston asked.

Ruan Tang glanced at him, thinking only that this manservant was indeed new and altogether too bold: "That does not seem to be a question you should be asking."

"Forgive me, Madam, I have overstepped." Only then did Auston recall what his present position was.

"In front of me it's fine, but in front of others you must never be like this, or you'll be the one to suffer for it." Ruan Tang found him so dim that he could not help offering a word of caution.

"Yes, Madam." Auston immediately lowered his head. "Thank you for the warning, Madam."

Ruan Tang stirred the black tea in his cup out of boredom, gazing out the pitch-black window in a daze, then said suddenly, "Because, I had no choice."

"…Madam, you were forced into marrying the Duke?" Auston understood at once that Ruan Tang was answering his previous question, and a faint light flickered in his eyes.

The version he had heard was not like that at all.

Ruan Tang gave a small shake of his head. "No, I married the Duke of my own accord. Because, apart from him, I had no better option. He is, for now, the most suitable husband I could find."

"How could that be?" Auston stared at him.

He could hardly credit Ruan Tang's words. Ruan Tang was so very good-looking, his scent so special, and he was nothing like Auston himself — mad, crippled, with a foul reputation. How could it be that no one liked him, and that he could not find a better match?

Ruan Tang knew what he was thinking, but he only laughed and said, "I used to think as you do, but the fact is just that..."

His engagements had fallen through time and again. Apart from Duke Auston, who else could he choose? He could hardly go off and marry any random Alpha who saw Ruan Xi as the moonlight in his heart and Ruan Tang as a black-hearted lotus, only to be despised and spat on for the rest of his life, could he?

Or elope with Lu Yang — not to mention that even if they really eloped, they could not even get off the Imperial Star...

And even if they did, with Omegas so rare and Suppressant so tightly controlled by the Empire, Lu Yang could not protect him.

Besides, he did not even like Lu Yang. Why should he drag the man down and ruin his future?

In such circumstances, no matter how he weighed it, Duke Auston was plainly the most suitable candidate for his marriage. A couple who shared a low table in perfect harmony and clung to each other in love was a partner; a couple who treated each other with icy politeness and dreamed separate dreams in the same bed was also a partner... After everything he had been through, Ruan Tang's requirements of a partner had sunk to a level where all he wanted was to live peacefully with him, and for him not to stand on Ruan Xi's side and scheme against him.

Ruan Xi would hardly be likely to seduce a madman who was both crippled and disfigured, would she?

And even if Ruan Xi did try, that lunatic Auston would not understand a thing about it, surely.

Auston gazed at Ruan Tang in a daze, unable to help thinking to himself that he had never seen a more beautiful Omega than Ruan Tang. Were all the Alphas on the Imperial Star blind?

How could it be that no one liked Ruan Tang?

"Madam, do you dislike the Duke?" After a long pause, Auston suddenly asked.

Ruan Tang asked, baffled, "Dislike the Duke? Why would I dislike the Duke?"

"Because the Duke is bloodthirsty and cruel, both crippled and hideous... a madman who has driven several Omegas out of their minds with fear." Auston's description of himself was quite objective.

Ruan Tang burst out laughing at once: "You really will say anything, won't you."

He thought this fool, left by Auston's side, would either die or be crippled for certain...

"I only do so in front of you, Madam." Auston at once said, in a low voice.

Ruan Tang gave up on him in exasperation: "You really must watch that mouth of yours from now on."

Auston promptly closed his mouth.

"I do not dislike the Duke; I only want to treat him with respect, as a proper guest." After a long while, Ruan Tang said suddenly — whether in answer to Auston or to himself, it was hard to tell — "He... is also a pitiable person."

The imperial house was ever the most heartless of all. The truth was, as someone moving in these circles, Ruan Tang had always heard talk of Duke Auston.

Duke Auston was the eldest son of the present Emperor and Empress, and had been the first Crown Prince.

Before he was ten — back when he was still Crown Prince — he had been the most honored being in the whole Empire, a child of heaven, a prodigy, doted on by his parents, carrying on his shoulders the hopes of the entire Empire for the future.

But all the tragedy and upheaval came in the year he turned ten. Assassins from the Empire's reactionary factions found their chance to abduct him and gravely wound him. At the time the Emperor and Empress were furious, mobilizing every force and army they could, leaving corpses strewn across the land and countless dead and wounded.

He was rescued with great difficulty, only to find his face utterly destroyed and his body permanently crippled.

In itself, this had been an accident. Even if one was truly unlucky, one could only blame fate; it had been Duke Auston's own destiny.

But the truth was not so. There had long been rumors among the populace that, when Duke Auston was brought back, his injuries were not that severe, that they could have been healed. It was only after his disappearance that the Empress Family's hidden strength and influence had come to light, shocking and frightening the Emperor.

He began to realize just how fiercely ambitious the Empress was, who now possessed half the Empire's power, and how she could at any moment kill him and prop up their young son in his place, seizing all the power for herself.

The Emperor was seized with a tremendous sense of crisis, and so he gave an order to the doctors attending the Prince: he wanted his son permanently crippled, never to recover.

A disfigured cripple could never become Emperor...

And the Empress, that fiercely ambitious woman, only discovered that her eldest son was ruined and could no longer be Crown Prince before she cast him aside at once. She became pregnant once more and bore a new Crown Prince...

She may have known the Emperor had laid hands on her son, or she may not.

But in her eyes, it was nothing more than a small setback in the struggle for power.

Once her eldest son had lost his usefulness, she coldly neglected her child, who had only just recovered from his grave injuries and been left crippled, never once visiting him, let alone accompanying or encouraging him as he struggled up from the abyss. Not only that, but in order to vie with Lady Samantha for the Emperor's favor and pave the way for the new Crown Prince, she wounded and exploited her crippled son again and again, using him to set up schemes against Lady Samantha.

And the Emperor, once Duke Auston had grown up, appeared on the surface to be filled with guilt, lavishing affection on Duke Auston and making up for it doubly, spoiling him to no end —

In truth, however, he had used him as a target, erecting him in front of the child he truly loved to draw the fire of the struggle and shelter that child from wind and rain.

Later it only got worse. He handed the Empire's Department of Interrogation to him; on the surface it was a great privilege, a sign of his favor toward this son, but in reality he used Auston's hand to purge dissidents and attract hatred, truly treating Auston as nothing but a hunting dog of the imperial house, a blade.

Auston, this eldest son, had earned a notorious name for himself, drawn the hatred of countless noble houses, and done all the things the Emperor wished to do but could not openly do.

And the Emperor, a father who had spoiled his child, needed only to scold him a few times before he could, later, dispense impartial justice by sacrificing his kin and remain a fine Emperor.

Had nothing befallen the Crown Prince, what would the end of Auston's path down this road have been?

Having offended so many powerful noble houses, having made them hate him to the bone, once the birds were gone the good bow would be put away; in all likelihood, it could only have ended in death.

These palace secrets, and the Emperor's and Empress's harem intrigues with their concubines — Ruan Tang, moving in these circles, had grown up hearing them. Even before he knew Auston, Ruan Tang had already heard the name; as a child, whenever Ruan Tang found his own plight unbearable and felt himself especially wretched, he had only to think of that prince to feel that he was not pitiable in the slightest.

No matter how harsh Ruan Ming was to him, he was only neglected, and never thought to take his life. His mother, his brother, and his sister, though one was mad and one lay in a coma, loved him truly.

But Auston had fallen from the clouds in a single day, the once-favored child of heaven discovering that he was, in truth, nothing. His father wanted him crippled for life, his mother never inquired after him... He watched his father lay out a road of no return for him. Had the Crown Prince not met with his accident, and had he himself not been harmed by the Emperor and rendered unable to father children, he would never have intervened...

He had been cast wholly into an abyss from which he could never rise again.

Ruan Tang asked himself honestly: if he had been in Auston's place, if he were Duke Auston... he, too, would think it better to have gone mad.