Pat paced around the office anxiously with the printed report in his hands.

He didn’t know how much time Tang De could buy for him, or whether it would be enough for him to go to Lan Ze and discuss whether to tamper with the data.

Just as he was about to exit the office, he was taken by surprise as Oser stepped in toward him. He backed away, and the report scattered all over the floor.

“Y-your Highness Oser, good morning, ah. You came so quickly, haha…..” Pat laughed dryly.

His gaze drifted toward Tang De not far behind Oser, and the man sent him a helpless gesture.

Oser’s gaze dropped toward the floor, and Pat bent down to clean up: “I was just about to report to you that the medical college’s equipment seems to be broken. There’s something wrong with the test data. Don’t bother looking at all this, it’s just scrap paper.”

The toe of a shiny shoe stepped on the scattered papers, and Pat’s outstretched hand froze mid-air.

Oser turned his head slightly, giving Tang De a clear signal, and then took a step back.

The report was quickly picked up and sorted out, and Tang De handed it to Oser.

The first half was an analysis of the composition of Ling Yi’s pheromones, filled with chemical formulas and professional terminology. Oser glanced at it and tossed it aside.

The second half matched Ling Yi’s pheromones to the other unpaired Alphas in the medical college’s records. Generally, a matching rate of over 60% was considered qualified, 70% was a recommended match, 80% was an excellent match, and 90% was commonly known as ‘the chosen one.’

In first place, of course, was Fengdi Oser himself, who topped the list with a 100% matching rate, surpassing Group A.

He was followed closely by his half-brother Fengdi Disi, with a matching rate of 99.65%.

But anyone who had a blood relationship with Oser, even if they were from a marginal royal family, all had an astonishing matching rate with Ling Yi. Even his uncle Lu Dawa, whom Ling Yi had killed himself, had a glaring 91.20% after his name.

Oser knew most of the people at the top, but those farther down were more and more unfamiliar. After turning over an entire page of Chosen Ones, there were actually four pages of excellent pairings.

But Oser knew that only a tiny fraction of the empire’s population could leave physical records at the Royal Medical College. Most were members of the royal family or patients with rare diseases worthy of research.

There were occasional exceptions, such as one name Oser spotted amongst the group of nobles: Xi Lei, at 87.77%. He had undergone biological sampling due to his injuries, and was also included in the statistics.

Tang De stood slightly behind Oser, doing his best to suppress his curiosity and not lean in for a look. Gradually, his eyes seemed to become glued to it, and his expression grew increasingly astonished.

The most nervous person in the room was Pat: “Ling Yi’s new pheromones turned out exactly as expected. Whether in the surgical simulations or the actual operation, there were no errors at all…..Junior Lan Ze can also vouch for this!”

After each sentence, he would steal a glance at Oser’s reaction.

“As for why the results are like this……don’t even mention analyzing the cause, I’ve never seen this before in all my years in medicine. It seems that not only does he match your pheromones, he reacts chemically with all Alpha pheromones.”

Oser: “You mean, he’s the only one who matches me, and I’m only one percent of who he matches with?”

Pat: “Strictly speaking, it’s 0.00000…..1%”

Oser smiled.

Pat’s heart sank when he saw this smile that didn’t reach his eyes. The Crown Prince Oser he was familiar with had returned.

“You really didn’t let me down by handing me such a ‘high scoring’ paper. Neither the position of Vice President nor the Royal Medical Award do you justice. You should be promoted to President — no, only President of the Medical Association is worthy of you.”

“Y-y-y-y-your Highness, listen to my excuses…..no, listen to my explanation!”

Pat’s talking speed was proportional to his desire to survive: “A single Alpha mark lasts for thirty days before fading, and an Omega needs three months to entirely metabolize the Alpha pheromones. In essence, you only need to mark Ling Yi once per month to ensure that he always has your mark on him!”

“There are a lot of people on this list, but few of them have the ability or courage to cover your mark. As long as you keep marking him, what’s the difference between Ling Yi and an Omega exclusive to you?”

Oser tilted his head: “Is that so?”

Tang De asked himself the same thing as Pat nodded like a woodpecker, and the answer he came up with was ‘yes.’ 

Pat’s words were just common sense, but common sense was just cold knowledge to Oser.

“Doctor Pat, please take a look at today’s physical examination report—” Luo Li pushed open the door and walked inside. “So many people, ah.”

Oser: “How is Ling Yi?”

“There are no serious problems, but his body temperature is rising instead of lowering. Why can’t he get rid of his heat fever?” Luo Li asked himself.

“What happens if it doesn’t go down?” Oser asked.

“Um, he’ll be in a constant state of agitation and tend to stick to his Alpha. The chances of pregnancy will greatly increase, and…..”

Pat wanted to shut his mouth. Why did this Luo Li always say the things His Highness wanted to hear?

He took over the topic: “It’s also easy for him to overdraw his physical strength and become mentally exhausted, which is not conducive to recuperation. These are all disadvantages of a long-term heat period.”

“And?”

“You haven’t been trained to control your pheromones, and if you continue remaining close to him, he’ll likely stay like this. You and he are 100% compatible. Any mood fluctuations on your part will affect his hormone levels, so Your Highness would do well to rein in your emotions. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Oser: “Nope.”

Pat: “…….”

. . . . . 

Ling Yi watched Oser’s guards come in and out, replacing all of the furniture and furnishings.

“Is this necessary?” Seeing the grandeur of the ward after the renovation, Ling Yi felt very much like a nouveau riche who didn’t know how to spend his money.

Tang De was hanging up Oser’s clothing one by one in the closet: “His Highness was worried that you might find this place too simple and crude, and wants you to live more comfortably. These are all clothes His Highness has worn – he said you can wear them if you want.”

Ling Yi rolled his eyes behind Tang De’s back.

“His Highness is truly wasting talent, making the captain of the guard handle such trivial matters.”

Tang De closed the closet door and turned around: “That’s not true. When it comes to you, nothing is trivial. If you need anything, you can tell me directly.”

“Then…..I want to go see my adoptive father.”

“Okay, no problem.” Tang De easily acquiesced. “I’ll take you there.”

When Xi Lei saw Ling Yi coming, he got a bad feeling.

“What are you doing here?”

“I haven’t seen Uncle Xi En in ages. I came to see how he’s doing.”

He turned his back to Tang De and gave Xi Lei a signal.

When Xi Lei understood, his face darkened and he moved closer reluctantly, standing side by side with him outside the intensive care unit as they visited Xi En through the glass.

“Dad is fine. You don’t need to worry about him.”

Ling Yi crossed his arms and felt a pill being pressed into his palm.

“What’s it to you if I’m worried?”

He then lowered his voice and said: “Three of them.”

Xi Lei’s expression reflected in the glass grew even worse: “You must understand that he’s my father, not yours. If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t be like this.”

Then, in the same low voice, he said: “One pill at a time!”

“Do you think I wanted Uncle Xi En to end up like this? If you have the guts, go find the culprit and settle the score. Why get angry at me?”

He turned his face slightly: “Three.”

Xi Lei practically gnashed his teeth as he said: “Don’t worry, I’ll settle this account sooner or later!”

“One pill!”

Tang De couldn’t help but laugh, feeling helpless.

“All right, stop arguing. The relationship between you two brothers is truly unfathomable.”

“Who’s his brother?” Ling Yi turned his head away in disdain and quickly swallowed the medicine while Tang De wasn’t looking.

“Exactly!” Xi Lei also turned his head away angrily.

Having solved his urgent problem, and hearing that Oser had to “follow the doctor’s orders” and keep his distance from him, Ling Yi’s happiness doubled.

When he returned to the ward, he saw guards coming out of the next room.

He sent Tang De an inquisitive look.

“Oh, I asked them to renovate the ward next door as well, so that His Highness can work and rest nearby. And he can get to you quickly if any special circumstances pop up.”

Ling Yi was speechless: “So this so-called “keeping his distance” means keeping a distance of one wall between us?”

Tang De smiled and answered: “This is the furthest distance His Highness is willing to maintain.”

As the two were conversing, a guard with a very familiar face turned around.

Although Ling Yi had only met You Lin once, his experience of being persecuted by Lu Hulun to the extent that his entire family was destroyed caused Ling Yi to feel some sympathy toward him.

But the way he was looking at Ling Yi right now was the complete opposite.

“Omega pheromones, as expected…..is this the reason you stayed?” he said in a questioning tone.

These words weren’t very pleasant to the ear. Tang De was about to warn him to be polite, but Ling Yi admitted without hesitation: “That’s right. Everyone has their own methods of survival.”

“Your method of survival is to persuade His Highness to exercise his power of pardon for you and give up the throne?”

“What else could I do? Become a hunted criminal and live in hiding for the rest of my life?”

Tang De noticed that the atmosphere wasn’t right and immediately flashed between them, blocking their view of each other.

“Don’t forget that you were smuggled back into the country and His Highness arranged for you to pretend to be a guard. How about you keep a low profile?” he whispered.

You Lin glanced across Tang De to give Ling Yi a deep look, then turned and left without another word.

Tang De comforted Ling Yi: “Don’t worry, his experience is rather unique, and he’s inevitably a little radical sometimes.”

“I understand. His Highness Oser told me that I was almost his successor.”

“You won’t be,” Tang De blurted out. “His Highness was still young when the You family was in trouble. His Highness has regretted for many years that he was unable to save his family. But His Highness has accumulated sufficient experience now, and possesses the ability to stand up to the Prime Minister. He will never allow the tragedy that befell You Lin to happen to you.”

Ling Yi seemed to have discovered a new world: “Can I understand this to mean that whether or not I asked him for help, he wouldn’t have let them die? Not only would I not die, but my entire family would have been able to escape Lu Hulun’s pursuit safely?”

Tang De was terrified: “I never said that!”

“So making myself an Omega was completely unnecessary?”

“…..Please don’t tell His Highness I said that. Please!”

Ling Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “What can I do? Even if I don’t say anything when I’m awake, I can’t control what I say in my sleep. It would be fine if there was no one beside me, but if there is someone…..”

Tang De forced a smile and said: “Is there anything you want to do, or anything you need? As long as I can help, I’ll do my best.”

“Let me think about it.” Ling Yi pretended to ponder for a moment: “The ward is so boring, ah. If there was something to distract my attention, I wouldn’t be thinking about it all the time. Unfortunately, all of my belongings, including my cell phone, were confiscated when I was arrested.”

“No problem,” Tang De assured, patting his chest. “I’ll take care of it.”

Tang De invited Ling Yi into the room with great trepidation, and slapped his head in regret. He really had figured out a lot of things.

“Now I know how His Highness Oser fell into this trap.”

. . . . . . .

That night, Ling Yi finally had the peace and quiet he had been yearning for, but he tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep.

The new bed must be too soft. After sleeping in a military academy dormitory and then a dungeon, his body couldn’t adapt to this level of indulgence.

He climbed out of bed in a daze, instinctively walked to the closet, and sucked in a deep breath.

A faint, pleasant pheromone scent met his nose, and his irritable mood immediately calmed.

After enjoying the afterglow of the moment and realizing what he had done, Ling Yi quickly closed the closet door.

“Are you crazy?” he asked himself. During the day, he had been genuinely disgusted with Oser leaving his clothes here.

But after standing there for a few seconds, he opened the door again and grabbed something at random.

“Fuck it, whatever.”

Ling Yi prided himself on adaptability being one of his strengths, and would never wrong himself if the opportunity permitted.

It didn’t even matter that he had made himself an Omega. Only an idiot would regret something that had already happened.

There was a faint sound at the door, and Ling Yi immediately snapped to alertness from his semi-conscious state. He found a set of medical scissors and hid behind the door.

The uninvited guest pushed open the door and walked in, finding the huge bed empty.

Just as he was feeling confused, something sharp pressed against his back.

“Who are you?”

You Lin slowly turned around and came face to face with Ling Yi.

“So it’s you.” Ling Yi glanced at the travel bag in his hand. “Are you here to assassinate me too?”

You Lin’s grip loosened, and the travel bag fell to the floor.

“Put on my uniform and pretend to be a guard. No one will stop you. The bag contains your ID, plane tickets, and various notes I’ve made. It will be enough for you to survive abroad.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want you to leave here. Now.”

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Chapter 19 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 21