Chapter 17

Ruan Tang was extremely astonished, never having expected that the legendary duke, so willful and brutally cruel, would make such a compromise for him.

In this pitch-black ducal palace, he hadn't seen sunlight for many days.

Now, looking at the bright sunlight outside the window, Ruan Tang's entire mood refreshed and cleared up, completely forgetting his worries from yesterday in an instant.

He even ate much more for breakfast.

After breakfast, watching the brilliant sunlight outside, Ruan Tang suddenly felt a desire to go out and take a walk on his own initiative.

The Auston Ducal Palace under sunlight completely shed its previous gloomy and dark impression. Ruan Tang walked around, looking, and felt that every spot was picturesque and beautiful.

He finally truly appreciated how magnificent, grand, and resplendent the residence of Duke Auston, the son most ostensibly favored by the empress, was.

If no one were leading the way, Ruan Tang felt he would surely not find his way back.

…

Meanwhile, Duke Auston, who had suddenly changed a habit he'd maintained for years for Ruan Tang, was handling work in his study...

Long accustomed to darkness, he looked up during a break in his work at the golden sunlight outside the window, finding it extremely dazzling and momentarily hard to adjust.

Tsk, these Omegas are really troublesome and hard to keep...

Such a glaring thing as sunlight, and yet without it he could become so depressed—really, such a fuss.

If it weren't for seeing him so downcast, afraid he would become depressed to death, Auston wouldn't want to see sunlight, and now that he had decided to keep this Omega for his scent and feel, Auston vowed in his heart that he must raise him well, to the best he could.

Auston was afraid that Ruan Tang might get depression.

Thus, Duke Auston, long accustomed to darkness, decided to force himself to adapt to sunlight for the sake of his delicate and hard-to-keep pet...

After all, he only disliked sunlight, but that Omega seemed unable to live without it.

He wondered if the depressed Omega from yesterday would cheer up after seeing sunlight today.

Thinking of Ruan Tang, Auston, who had been extremely irritable over official matters, immediately curved the corner of his mouth slightly and suddenly wanted to get up and go see that Omega.

To see if Ruan Tang, with sunlight, would become happy, like many precious plants blooming in his residence.

Just then, a knock suddenly sounded from outside the door: "Knock knock."

"My Lord, Duke Carlos has arrived." Aaron reported respectfully.

Auston frowned slightly, but still chose to abandon his leisure time: "Let him in."

"Yes." Aaron closed the door and withdrew, and after a moment, led in a middle-aged nobleman with an honest and amiable appearance, standing by and respectfully opening the door for him.

This middle-aged man was none other than Duke Carlos, one of the seven grand dukes of the empire's nobility and the one among the powerful figures on the imperial star with the best relationship with Auston.

He was the empress's half-brother, and Duke Auston's biological uncle.

Because he was born of a concubine, Carlos's title was not inherited from the empress's father, but earned through his own meritorious deeds; he was truly a figure who could stir up storms.

He looked kind and amiable, like a benevolent uncle next door, but he himself was a ruthless character.

Due to being half-siblings, Duke Carlos had a poor relationship with the empress, but he had always cherished Duke Auston, his nephew.

For Auston, the relationship with this uncle was far closer than with his own biological parents.

As he entered, Aaron immediately withdrew and closed the door, leaving the two uncles and nephew alone.

"Uncle, was your trip to Colombo Star this time smooth?" Auston asked directly.

Duke Carlos looked at Auston with a face full of kindness, smiling: "…In response, Your Highness, everything progressed very smoothly, just as we had anticipated earlier."

Auston nodded uninterestedly, idly tapping his index finger on the table.

The two talked freely about various confidential matters.

Carlos looked at the sunlight outside Auston's window and suddenly said: "I haven't been away long, but during this time, it seems there have been considerable changes here, Your Highness?"

"It's nothing. It's just that having been in darkness for so long…" Auston said listlessly, just looking at the dazzling sunlight outside the window, casually: "…one always needs to see the sun occasionally…"

He didn't want to explain too much the reason for suddenly restoring the natural climate of the residence.

Duke Carlos was not one to pry, so upon hearing this, he stopped lingering on the sunlight and instead asked: "…I heard that Your Highness nearly dealt with Andre yesterday, gouging out his eyes?"

Auston gently spun the pen in his hand, recalling what Carlos was referring to, and gave a soft "mm": "Since he's become someone else's dog, scheming to stay by my side for his master, he naturally must bear the price of staying by my side…"

Whether the price was mental torture or physical, Auston felt it was what these spies should bear.

"Since Your Highness doesn't like them, why not dismiss them all? Why keep these eyesores as spies by your side?" Carlos was somewhat puzzled by his nephew.

Auston had always been very clear about how many spies were in the Auston Ducal Palace and whose spies they were.

As one of the seven dukes, he could completely dismiss them, but Auston had never done so; instead, he kept these other people's moles by his side.

"Dismiss them? Why should I dismiss them all?" Auston leaned back lazily in his chair, sneering: "If I dismiss them, those people will just find ways to stuff new people in to monitor me. That would be much more troublesome for them."

Carlos immediately said: "If Your Highness wishes, you can make the entire residence watertight, preventing others from ever planting their people by your side again."

Although there was nothing wrong with Auston's current approach, as a paranoid superior, Carlos still felt it best for Auston to clean out all others' people around him and keep only those he trusted.

"How boring would that be?" Auston's eyes suddenly became unfathomably deep, full of interest: "If I replace them all with my own people, who would be left to casually perform for me—gouging out their own eyes, disfiguring themselves, crippling themselves?"

The reason he didn't clear out these spies was never because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to.

Although Auston was a madman, he was also a rational and clear-headed one who knew where the boundaries of the law were. If he replaced these people, who would still self-mutilate to stay by his side?

Then who else could he torment?

Whenever Auston thought of how these people were extremely afraid of him, yet had to endure him, had to self-mutilate in front of him to stay, clearly in pain but still pretending to be content, he felt incredibly excited.

Carlos frowned deeply, wanting to admonish Auston, but not knowing where to begin.

"Besides, Uncle, don't you think it's very interesting that these people are ordered to come monitor me and pry into my news… and yet I use them to pass the messages I want to their masters?" Auston curled his lips maliciously, full of interest.

He was mad, but he was never stupid…

Carlos was really too tired to comment, unable to understand his nephew's perverse hobby, but seeing that Auston was always clear-headed and didn't seem like he was being monitored, he stopped scolding him: "As long as Your Highness is happy."

"Happy? Of course I'm happy. With so many people playing with me every day, of course I'm happy…" Auston lightly traced the rim of his cup.

Carlos looked at Auston's bright and clean office, free of gloom, and suddenly said: "Getting more sun is a good thing… I was away for a long time this time, never expected that Your Highness would agree to get married. I missed Your Highness's wedding banquet, haven't yet congratulated Your Highness on your marriage…"

"But I wonder, what are Your Highness's plans?" He was asking about Auston's intentions regarding the empress's schemes.

When Auston heard him ask about the empress, he immediately pulled a mocking smile: "Those who don't let me have peace, I will never let them have peace. I will never let my dear mother have her way…"

"She wants me to have a child to be her puppet, to fulfill her dreams, to repeat my fate—she can forget it."

His initial reason for agreeing to marry was merely to let the empress be full of hope, thinking she could control him, and then suddenly shatter that hope, leaving her with nothing.

"…Then that Omega sent by the empress, do you need me to—?" Carlos immediately understood Auston's meaning, and seeing he didn't want to follow the empress's arranged path, proposed.

Although Ruan Tang was merely a breeding tool and not worth worrying about, he had now become Auston's nominal and legal partner, which was ultimately different from those servants…

In Carlos's eyes, keeping him around was ultimately dangerous.

Just based on Ruan Tang's current identity, Carlos felt the empress could make countless moves.

It would be better for them to preemptively act, to lay a hand on Ruan Tang, and without harming his life, completely shatter the empress's plans without her knowing…

For example, render this carefully selected breeding tool of the empress completely infertile.

"There's no need. Don't touch him." When Auston heard him mention Ruan Tang, he immediately frowned deeply, well aware of his uncle's ruthless nature, and immediately ordered sternly: "He… I have my own plans. Don't interfere in matters concerning him."

He could see that Ruan Tang was different from those sent to him by ill-intentioned people; his eyes were very clean, very clear.

Therefore, Auston didn't want to harm him, wanted to keep him well…

Carlos looked at Auston in surprise, not expecting such a strong reaction, but he still obediently replied: "Yes, Your Highness."