Xue Ji sent her stepmother a message saying she had arrived outside the house.
Less than ten seconds later, her stepmother called. After a brief hesitation, Xue Ji answered. “Are you not home?”
On the virtual screen, her stepmother was drenched in sweat, likely from the frantic search for her. Upon hearing the call connect, she flinched at the coldness of being addressed simply as “you” instead of a familial term. “Xiao Ji, I’m still out. You, you’re back?”
Xue Ji offered no explanation. “Is anyone else home?”
Her stepmother managed a strained smile. “Wencheng is there.”
“Tell him to open the door.”
During the year Xue Ji had lived there, her biological father was perpetually absent. Whenever her stepmother suggested adding Xue Ji’s biometrics to the smart lock, her stepmother’s three children would find every excuse to interrupt or block it. Consequently, Xue Ji couldn’t even enter her own home without help.
The stepmother clearly remembered this, and an awkward expression flickered across her face.
Xue Ji waited for her answer. After a moment of silence, her stepmother asked cautiously, “Xiao Ji, does Her Majesty know you’ve returned?”
Xue Ji saw right through her. Her stepmother was afraid she had snuck back to cause trouble for her precious son. She gave a faint, cold smile. “It was Her Majesty who brought me back.”
The stepmother murmured “That’s good” twice and lowered her head in shame. Xue Ji snapped the communicator shut.
Before long, the door opened. A plain-looking, sullen young man walked out reluctantly, grumbling, “Getting married off and still coming back, making me run errands…”
Yuna pushed Xue Ji’s wheelchair inside.
Seeing that Xue Ji ignored him, the young man became even more irritated. “Hey, I’m talking to you. I heard the engagement ceremony was canceled. Did Her Majesty get sick of you? Did you come crawling back in disgrace?”
Xue Ji finally spared him a glance. “Xue Wencheng.”
This was her stepmother’s eldest son, the one she spent the most effort planning for. Wencheng was habitually ignorant and had terrible grades; he had only gotten into an elite high school through family connections. Yet, for the past two years, he had been clamoring to get into the First Military Academy.
The First Military Academy was for the elite of the Empire. With Wencheng’s grades… well.
From his words, it was clear he didn’t know the truth behind the interrupted ceremony. Her stepmother had at least some discretion not to tell her son everything.
Wencheng noticed Xue Ji’s stare and craned his neck. “What? Did I hit the nail on the head?”
Xue Ji’s expression was icy. “I am here to retrieve my belongings.” She motioned for Yuna to wheel her to her room.
Wencheng felt like he had punched the air—an indescribable sense of frustration washed over him. Since childhood, this half-sister had always overshadowed him, even stealing his own mother’s affection. Why?
He stood there for a moment, then, unable to let it go, chased after her. “You’ve always looked down on me, haven’t you? Well, let me tell you, I’m about to enroll in the First Military Academy. My future is limitless! And you? You’re just a cripple, a…”
Xue Ji had already reached her room. She paused while taking books off a shelf but continued packing, ignoring him.
Yuna, who knew the truth, turned to give Xue Wencheng a strange look. She knew Her Majesty had exchanged a spot at the First Military Academy and several shops for Xue Ji’s hand in marriage. So this was the talentless hack who was getting in through the back door.
Yuna had speculated about Her Majesty’s reasons for sending her here. Besides surveillance, she was likely meant to look after the future Consort. Sure enough, as soon as they arrived, someone started bullying her.
Wencheng was sensitive to being watched. “What are you looking at?”
Yuna, a master of sarcasm, drawled, “You say you’re going to the First Military Academy? Looking at you, you don’t exactly seem like Academy material.”
This hit Wencheng’s sore spot. He couldn’t stand being looked down upon. “What do you know?”
“I don’t know?”
Wencheng sneered, “You’re just a Beta. Someone like you probably couldn’t even touch the threshold of the Academy.”
Yuna laughed and interrupted him. “Let me give you a piece of advice: don’t say that at the First Military Academy. They don’t take kindly to gender discrimination there.”
Wencheng quickly bolstered his ego. “What are you acting like a counselor for? You probably just read a few things on the Star-Net and came here to show off…”
Yuna interrupted him a second time. “I, as a Beta, am indeed not that impressive. I’ve only managed to reach the rank of Captain in the Royal Guard.”
Wencheng’s words died in his throat.
Yuna decided to twist the knife. “Let me introduce myself: Captain of the Sixth Squad of the Royal Guard, Yuna Warren.”
Wencheng went stiff. His face turned from white to a deep red, like a ripe tomato.
The Royal Guard? Every member was a top graduate of the First Military Academy. While graduates could go to any of the nine armies, the Royal Guard was the one place most people fought tooth and nail to enter. They were the Queen’s elite hounds and the center of Imperial power.
To be a Captain of the Guard meant her credentials far exceeded any ordinary Academy graduate. Wencheng felt like a clown.
He didn’t dare lose his temper. Unlike Xue Ji, if Yuna chose to make things difficult for him, his future military career would be over before it started.
Yuna snorted. “A coward who only preys on his own family.”
Wencheng clenched his fists but remained silent.
Xue Ji, flipping through her books to organize them, found a faint smile touching her eyes. She was also just learning that Her Majesty had sent a Guard Captain to accompany her. To prevent her from running? It seemed like a waste of talent; she was just a disabled person now.
There was noise at the entrance; her father had returned, smelling of alcohol. As usual, he was indifferent to everything. Even the fact that his daughter was marrying the Queen didn’t distract him from his revelry.
Xue Ji looked out the window; night had fallen.
She didn’t have much. With Yuna’s help, everything was soon packed into storage boxes and moved to the hovercar by small robots. Xue Ji signaled Yuna to leave.
At the door, her stepmother, Zheng Qianmei, called out, “Xiao Ji, I…”
Xue Ji didn’t look back. “No need to see me out.”
Leaving the villa, Yuna became more friendly, chatting casually. “Now that you’ve packed, are you moving into the Palace tonight?”
Xue Ji looked out the window and shook her head. “No, I’m going back to my own apartment. And you?”
“Me?” Yuna laughed. “I’m staying with you, of course! In my position, I’m on 24-hour standby. Just think of me as a hired bodyguard.”
Talking to Yuna was unexpectedly easy, and Xue Ji’s low mood began to lift. She needed time to adapt to these sudden changes.
She asked Yuna why the Queen had chosen her, an Alpha and a cripple.
Yuna was tight-lipped about that but didn’t lie. “When Her Majesty is ready to tell you, you will know.”
Yuna also mentioned the Second Princess, Lois. “Her Majesty used to shield the Second Princess too much. This time, there finally seems to be a change. We in the Guard are all quite happy.”
“Why do you say that?”
Yuna clearly disliked Lois. “Her Majesty’s sister is always implying Her Majesty is cruel and tyrannical, doing little things behind the scenes to make herself look like a pure savior. But Her Majesty protected her most. Without the Queen, she wouldn’t have survived past ten years old. She is the last person who has the right to criticize the Queen!”
Xue Ji fell into thought. It was true. Public opinion of the sisters was polarized, no one dared speak ill of the Queen, but everyone praised Lois’s kindness.
How had she not noticed the anomaly before? It felt as if her mind had been clouded by something.
Three days passed, and Xue Ji entered the Imperial Palace. To her surprise, Her Majesty had prepared her quarters but hadn’t visited her once. This allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief.
Soon, the day of the engagement rehearsal arrived. After the previous debacle, the Queen seemed determined to make it grander, even adding a “rehearsal” to the schedule.
During the rehearsal, Xue Ji finally met Her Majesty.
She noticed the Queen’s mental state seemed poor; there was a palpable sense of irritability. Standing near her, Xue Ji couldn’t help but tense up before her injury, she too had been a top-tier Alpha.
During a break, Xue Ji went out for some air.
At a corner, she was suddenly grabbed by the wrist with immense force and pulled from her wheelchair into a secluded alcove.
Xue Ji was sat on a vanity counter, and the person buried their head in the crook of her neck. Their fingers gripped her tightly, their body trembling slightly as they inhaled her pheromones.
Being so close, a deep, cold scent flooded Xue Ji’s nose like a bottomless abyss.
That was Her Majesty’s pheromones.