Chapter 3

Ruan Tang had gotten what he wanted.

After taking his leave of Ruan Ming, he intended to return to his rooms and make preparations to move his mother and siblings out of the Ruan estate before the wedding, settling them somewhere safe.

Unexpectedly, after only a few steps, he heard a commotion of raised voices arguing.

Because Ruan Ming had brazenly moved his various lovers and illegitimate children into the mansion, making them share the same halls as the legitimate wife and her children.

These sorts of disputes — like the maneuvering in a harem — were so common to Ruan Tang that he had long grown inured to them.

Hearing the noise, he intended to take a detour and avoid the source of the conflict.

But to his surprise, hurried footsteps came directly toward him...

“Zhou Yao, don’t be like this! I think Fifth Brother definitely wouldn’t want to see this kind of situation either…” A familiar voice reached Ruan Tang’s ears.

Ruan Tang understood at once.

Ah, so this storm was aimed at him after all.

He immediately lifted his eyes toward the source of the voice.

He saw a handsome young Alpha in military uniform storming toward him in a fury, while behind him, a delicate-looking Omega and a Beta were trying to hold him back.

They couldn’t match his strength, failing to restrain him, and could only follow him until they all stood before Ruan Tang.

Ruan Tang looked at the young Alpha at the front, and a cold sneer immediately curled at his lips.

It was his ex-fiancé, Zhou Yao — the man who had called off their engagement because he couldn’t tolerate Ruan Tang’s supposed “viciousness” and repeated “framing” of Ruan Xi.

Along with his gentle, kind half-brother Ruan Xi, and his former best friend Wen Run.

Seeing these three loathsome people, Ruan Tang couldn’t suppress the urge to simply turn around and leave.

“Ruan Tang! Stop right there!” But before he could go, Zhou Yao already called out viciously, his gaze at Ruan Tang always tangled and mixed with some indefinable emotion.

Once upon a time, Ruan Tang had thought this Alpha really did like him—

Little had he known, it would all turn out to be a farce.

Ruan Tang stopped, and in contrast to the storm in Zhou Yao’s eyes, he was impossibly calm: “What instruction does Young Master Zhou have?”

As if he and Zhou Yao were complete strangers.

“Are you really going to marry that mad dog Auston?” Seeing Ruan Tang’s indifferent attitude, Zhou Yao’s anger inexplicably burned even fiercer. He glared at Ruan Tang, burning rage in his eyes as if to incinerate him.

Ruan Tang still calmly acknowledged the fact: “That’s right. I didn’t expect Young Master Zhou to hear the news so soon…”

Zhou Yao seemed not to have expected an affirmative answer from Ruan Tang’s mouth. Upon hearing Ruan Tang personally confirm that he would marry Auston, his mind went blank for a moment.

After a brief daze, his countenance grew even darker and uglier. He stared hard at Ruan Tang as if he wanted to skin him alive, and sneered angrily: “That killing-crazy Auston, that mad dog who’s scared countless Omegas to death… For power and status, you’d actually marry him!”

“Climbing the ladder, you really stop at nothing!” His rage boiled over, every word biting and full of contempt for Ruan Tang: “I was wrong, I actually thought someone like you would be forced into this.”

It was his fault. He’d known all along what kind of person Ruan Tang was…

Yet time and again he couldn’t stop himself from having expectations, only to be disappointed over and over!

Ruan Tang watched coldly as Zhou Yao acted furious, looking as if he cared deeply and as if Ruan Tang had betrayed his trust — Ruan Tang found it utterly ridiculous.

Zhou Yao had appeared in his life and suddenly pursued him when Ruan Tang was at his most infamous, after being rejected by his first fiancé.

—Ruan Tang once thought meeting him was luck; even if the man was willful, arrogant, and quick-tempered, as long as he truly cared about him, Ruan Tang could try to make a marriage work.

But he hadn’t expected that after the engagement, Ruan Tang would discover that Zhou Yao was actually an admirer of his half-brother Ruan Xi. He had secretly harbored feelings for Ruan Xi, and approached Ruan Tang only because Ruan Xi had gotten together with his ex-fiancé Shen Mozhi; he settled for Ruan Tang as a substitute.

Along the way, it also cleared a path for his beloved, making sure Ruan Tang could never get back together with his former fiancé.

Later, when friction arose between Ruan Xi and Ruan Tang, this fiancé unhesitatingly took the side of his moonlit ideal Ruan Xi, accusing Ruan Tang of “viciousness,” causing Ruan Tang to be cast off again and become a public target.

He had fallen from heaven into hell.

Ridiculous — with such moral decay, this man now had the audacity to play the hypocrite before him.

“No need for Young Master Zhou’s concern. Who I marry is my own choice and has nothing to do with you!” Ruan Tang retorted with nonchalant mockery. “Besides, I think Duke Auston is just fine…”

“Even if he’s a madman, a madman has his merits… At least he doesn’t have the twisted mind to sell his looks for a crush, get engaged to their rival, and then break it off — now that’s the real absurdity, isn’t it?” Ruan Tang sneered coldly.

In his younger days, Ruan Tang would never have considered a madman like Auston a good marriage prospect, no matter how many benefits he could bring.

But at his current age, having experienced too much filth… and seen too many “normal” Alphas for what they were—

Ruan Tang had come to think a madman was quite fine.

At least that madman knew gratitude and grievances, and was straightforward… unlike Zhou Yao, who seemed open and upright but schemed in the shadows with twists and tricks.

“You—” Zhou Yao hadn’t expected Ruan Tang to say such things. His eyes reddened as he stared at Ruan Tang, gritting his teeth.

Ruan Tang’s name was given by his mother, who hoped her youngest child, an Omega, would grow up sweet and soft, like a marshmallow, cherished by all.

But Ruan Tang himself was the polar opposite of that name — cold and hard, not just nasty but sharp enough to bite.

During the time before Ruan Tang revealed his “vicious true face,” though Zhou Yao had never loved Ruan Tang, he had genuinely intended to marry this Omega and live a good life together.

But unexpectedly, before they could even marry—

Ruan Tang had revealed his true face by scheming against Ruan Xi — not only vicious, but obstinate.

Zhou Yao had been waiting for Ruan Tang to feel remorse, to wake up and apologize to Ruan Xi — but Ruan Tang had only gone further down a dark path, becoming more and more irreconcilably hostile toward Ruan Xi.

And the relationship between them could never return to the beauty of their engagement — it grew worse and more extreme every day.

They had been wounding each other with the harshest words. Zhou Yao could no longer remember how long it had been since they had a proper conversation.

Seeing Ruan Tang like this, Zhou Yao felt only a dull weight in his heart—

But what exactly was so heavy, even he himself didn’t know.

Ruan Tang was a vicious, calculating Omega — completely opposite to his aesthetic ideals. Zhou Yao didn’t know why he still held expectations for him…

“Brother Zhou, please stop! If you’re worried about Fifth Brother, just talk to him nicely. I’m sure Fifth Brother must have his reasons.” Seeing them arguing endlessly, Ruan Xi stepped forward, acting like a perfect white lotus — delicate and kind, as if trying to mediate between them.

The more gentle, kind, innocent, and adorable Ruan Xi acted, the more it highlighted Ruan Tang as unreasonable, obsessive, and sinister.

Ruan Tang looked at his white-lotus act and let out a cold laugh.

Once upon a time, Ruan Tang too had been deceived by Ruan Xi’s frail, harmless appearance, thinking Ruan Xi really was a pure white lotus… Because of what had happened to his mother and siblings, Ruan Tang had always hated Ruan Ming, but he had never hated Ruan Xi; in fact, he once thought this half-brother was innocent.

Believing him to be soft and kind, Ruan Tang had once given him his whole heart, caring for him attentively.

It was only later, when Ruan Tang suddenly noticed that every single piece of misfortune he suffered seemed inextricably linked to Ruan Xi, that he began to wake up.

Because of Ruan Xi, his father, who had previously been lukewarm toward him, grew increasingly cold and disgusted. Soon after, Shen Mozhi, heir of the Shen Family — the foremost of the ten great families — and the youngest Council President in the empire, who had inexplicably come to propose an engagement to him, suddenly discovered that Ruan Xi was the benefactor who had saved his life as a child, and fell madly in love with Ruan Xi.

He broke off the engagement with Ruan Tang in a furious dispute and went on to pursue Ruan Xi.

Honestly, breaking the engagement was fine — Ruan Tang had been prepared to marry Shen Mozhi and had expectations for their future, but if the man didn’t like him, Ruan Tang figured he wasn’t so desperate as to cling to someone who didn’t want him, so he was ready to let it go.

Either way, he would have been seen as the victim in public opinion.

But unexpectedly, Shen Mozhi didn’t just break the engagement — he also spread everywhere that Ruan Tang had deceived him, that Ruan Tang had ulterior motives, and that he had only gotten engaged to Ruan Tang because he had mistaken him for Ruan Xi, his real savior.

In an instant, Ruan Tang became a target of public condemnation in the aristocratic circles of the Imperial Star, branded as a schemer who would stop at nothing to climb the social ladder — the epitome of a “black-hearted lotus.”

Ruan Tang was left with a face full of question marks, not even knowing what had happened.

He tried to explain, but no one believed him. Instead, they became even more convinced that he had employed cunning tactics to trick Shen Mozhi into the engagement…

Meanwhile, Ruan Xi’s reputation in those circles kept growing.

And it wasn’t just Shen Mozhi — soon after came Ruan Tang’s second fiancé, Zhou Yao… All of Ruan Tang’s misfortunes seemed to originate from Ruan Xi.

After losing two fiancés in a row, it seemed as if Ruan Xi had been surrounded by some kind of halo — everyone around Ruan Tang, as if answering a calling, all took Ruan Xi’s side.

This included Ruan Tang’s friends, suitors, and childhood companions.

And because of the conflict between him and Ruan Xi, they all turned on Ruan Tang: “Ruan Tang, how can you be so vicious? What good does framing and scheming against Ruan Xi over and over do you? He’s forgiven you time and again, yet you still bully and harm him… You’re just taking advantage of XiXi’s kindness, aren’t you?”

“Do you think you’re so noble because you’re the son of the first wife? You think XiXi is the child of a mistress? Let me tell you, that’s all last generation’s business. Besides, even when your mother was sane, she tacitly allowed Marshal Ruan to keep lovers — he had a sea of mistresses and bastards. It’s just that only XiXi’s mother was promoted to official wife… But your behavior of only targeting XiXi is disgusting and vicious. I think you’re doing it on purpose — you’re just jealous.”

Everyone had concluded that Ruan Tang was malicious and spiteful, targeting Ruan Xi.

At first, Ruan Tang argued back, but he soon found that his resistance was not only useless but made these idiots even more convinced he was a villain singling out Ruan Xi; they kept “slapping him down” with public opinion.

Ruan Tang grew tired of defending himself.

To him, these people were like maggots in a sewer — disgusting, but unable to truly harm him. The more he engaged with them, the more they jumped and targeted him.

Conversely, when Ruan Tang let them be and stopped paying attention, these maggots quieted down.

Though Ruan Ming disliked this son of his, as the patriarch of a major noble family and a Marshal of the Empire, he would not go so far as to mistreat his own flesh and blood.

Especially since this son was the only normal child left from his first wife, who had shared his hardships.

In his darkest moments, Ruan Tang had thought of leaving, of getting far away from the Imperial Star, from the Ruan Family, from Ruan Xi and the idiots around him. But then he would look at his addled mother, his comatose brother, his deranged sister…

And Ruan Tang knew he could not leave.

He was the only sane, clear-headed person left in his branch of the family. Ruan Ming might not actively mistreat his first wife and the two children who had once been his pride but were now utterly ruined.

But if he left…

The current Lady Ruan, Ruan Ming’s various lovers, and their children were no easy sparks to deal with; it was entirely possible his three blood relatives would die without anyone knowing how.

Moreover, he had a premonition that even if he left, Ruan Xi would not let him go…

He had a vague sense, though he didn’t know what or why, that Ruan Xi — who already had the moon and the stars at his feet — wanted to take something from him… He wouldn’t let him go, but he also couldn’t kill him.

Ruan Tang had always possessed a beast-like intuition.

So he had settled into the Ruan estate, content to be a good-for-nothing freeloader just marking time.

As for what others thought of him, the loneliness of his childhood had forged his indifference; Ruan Tang simply didn’t care.

Pure and clear, mud and mire — each knows its own nature.

Those who didn’t believe him, betrayed him, and chose to side with Ruan Xi — in his eyes, they had no right to stand by his side any longer.