“I know, but things on Imperial Star are really urgent…”
Lu Yan cleared her throat, mentally preparing herself before finally pressing the answer button.
As expected, Duke Lu’s imposing voice came through the communicator.
“Lu Yan, where are you right now?”
Lu Yan glanced at her moody little brother standing beside her and, without changing her expression, dragged him into the mess.
“I’m at Xiao Chi’s place.”
Lu Chi looked thoroughly disgusted by the long-forgotten childhood nickname she had just used for him and glared at her fiercely.
A moment later, he heard Lu Yan answer the call.
“Oh, okay, Dad.”
After hanging up, Lu Yan looked at him.
“Dad wants me to bring you home.”
Lu Chi saw right through her.
“I’m just getting dragged along to take the heat for you, aren’t I?”
Lu Yan pushed him toward the door.
“Enough nonsense. Hurry up. Dad only gave me half an hour. If we’re late, neither of us is getting out of this unscathed.”
Even after the spaceship landed in the docking area of the Duke’s residence, Lu Yan still felt vaguely uneasy.
Just before stepping out of the cabin, she couldn’t help grabbing Lu Chi.
“Does Dad know about the whole thing with me chasing Colonel Gu’s starship?”
Lu Chi rolled his eyes at her.
“I know about it. Do you really think Dad doesn’t? It’s only because Mom has been in seclusion at the research institute these past few months and hasn’t been getting any news. Otherwise, Dad wouldn’t be the only one waiting for you at home today.”
Lu Yan sucked in a breath.
She had a very bad feeling about this.
She patted Lu Chi on the shoulder and said earnestly,
“Lu Chi, we’re siblings, after all. When Dad starts tearing into me later, remember to help divert some of his fire.”
For once, Lu Chi heard her openly acknowledge their sibling relationship.
He looked at her with a complicated expression, then pulled away the hand she had just patted him with and coldly refused,
“…Not a chance.”
Since the gentle approach wasn’t working, Lu Yan switched to threats.
“Fine. Then I’ll tell Dad about how you kidnapped and imprisoned that military academy substitute instructor.”
Lu Chi nearly gnashed his teeth.
“Lu Yan!…”
He knew it.
This vicious woman suddenly being nice to him definitely meant she was up to no good.
They entered the main residence.
In the grand reception hall beneath the towering dome, servants stood silently along both sides.
Seated in the place of honor was Duke Lu, dressed in a dark purple formal uniform trimmed with subtle gold. His features were sharp and stern.
He cast a faint, lowered glance at the siblings who had just entered.
The steward immediately understood the duke’s silent command and led all the servants out of the hall without a word.
Seeing that the situation was even more serious than she had imagined, Lu Yan discreetly nudged Lu Chi.
With a weakness in her hands, Lu Chi had no choice but to steel himself and step forward.
“Dad.”
“Get out.”
“…Okay.”
Lu Chi shrugged at Lu Yan, indicating that even he was powerless, then promptly retreated to the back.
Seeing this, Lu Yan could only obediently step forward.
“Dad.”
“Lu Yan, you still know I’m your father?”
Duke Lu stared at his daughter and reprimanded her with an authority that made anger almost unnecessary.
“You’ve been spoiled and indulged since you were little, becoming more and more willful and lawless. In the past, no matter how much trouble you caused, your mother and I turned a blind eye and let you have your way. But this time, you’ve gone too far!”
“You forced Colonel Gu to undergo a forced beast transformation in front of an oncoming starship. Do you have any idea that if anything had gone wrong, Gu Chenyu could have fallen into a coma and never woken up again?!”
Lu Yan froze at those final words.
For a moment, she was completely stunned.
She only knew that Gu Chenyu had forcibly transformed that day to save her.
But she had known nothing about what he had suffered afterward…
So this was how dangerous it had actually been for Gu Chenyu, one of the most powerful Beastmen in existence?
Lu Yan was still shaken by the realization when Duke Lu delivered his final ultimatum.
“I don’t care who you like, and I don’t care how dissatisfied you are with Gu Chenyu. But I will not agree to your divorce! Lu Yan, from today onward, if you dare mention divorce to Gu Chenyu even once more, don’t come back to see me!”
Here it was.
In her previous life, it was precisely after this argument that she had stubbornly torn everything apart, divorced Gu Chenyu, completely severed ties with her family, and run off after Cheng Linzhou…
Lu Yan silently endured the entire lecture.
Then she raised her head and, for once, admitted her mistake with unusual sincerity.
“Dad, I know I was wrong.”
“I promise I’ll never divorce Gu Chenyu again. I’ll live a good life with him.”
The moment she finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent for two seconds.
Duke Lu, who had been expecting Lu Yan to throw a tantrum and make a scene, was completely stunned.
Lu Chi looked as though he had just seen a ghost.
However, Duke Lu was only surprised for a moment. Once he remembered everything she had done in the past, he let out another angry snort.
“Nothing but lies! At Prince Anya’s birthday banquet last time, you personally promised your mother that you would get along with Gu Chenyu from then on. And what happened? The moment the banquet ended, you abandoned him and the child and ran off to find that doctor surnamed Cheng. Do you really think I’m as easy to fool as your mother?”
Lu Yan, who had thoroughly brought this upon herself, was speechless.
She widened her eyes in frustration and hurriedly explained,
“Dad, I wasn’t thinking clearly before. But this time, I really know I was wrong. Everything I’m saying is true. I’m not lying to you!”
Unfortunately, she had clearly exhausted all the credibility she had with Duke Lu.
His expression remained unmoved, and his tone was firmer than ever.
“I’m not your mother. That trick won’t work on me!”
“Starting today, you’ll stay in the Duke’s residence under house arrest for a week. After that week, you can come back and tell me all this again.”
As he spoke, Duke Lu raised a hand and gestured toward the hall.
Several bodyguards immediately entered.
“Escort Miss back to her room!”
Lu Yan’s heart sank.
She hurriedly kicked Lu Chi behind her.
But just as Lu Chi stiffly managed to squeeze out a,
“Dad…”
Duke Lu coldly cut him off.
“Don’t think I don’t know that you skip classes at the military academy every day. You’re going to reflect on yourself too!”
Lu Chi, who had been dragged into the punishment as collateral damage, was speechless.
Before the bodyguards took him away, he shot Lu Yan an utterly resentful glare.
Lu Yan was already struggling to save herself. How could she possibly spare any thought for him?
And the moment she was brought back to her room, she discovered something even worse.
The entire floor where her room was located had been completely sealed off by the Duke’s residence security system.
Lu Yan immediately wanted to contact Gu Chenyu and tell him that she might have to postpone her return to the frontier for a few days…
But when she opened her star ring, the invisible screen was completely blank.
There wasn’t even the slightest trace of a signal.
Her father had actually blocked all communication signals to her!
·
Meanwhile, at the colonel’s residence on the starfield frontier.
The second day after Lu Yan left.
Gu Xinghuai seemed to have returned to his usual routine. He quietly stayed in his room, sitting at his desk and seriously concentrating on assembling his little model for his class assignment.
Unlike what had happened on his first birthday, he didn’t cry or throw a tantrum demanding that Gu Chenyu take him to find Mommy.
But on the third day—the very day Lu Yan had promised to return—
the little guy began repeatedly glancing toward the docking area outside the window.
And he kept waiting until late into the night…
The little models on his desk had already piled up so high that there was nowhere left to put them.
Yet that familiar streak of purple light from Mommy’s spaceship still hadn’t appeared in the night sky outside.
Finally, Gu Chenyu walked in and lifted the little guy from his desk.
His expression remained as indifferent as ever. He gently rubbed the little cub’s head and said in a low voice,
“We’re not waiting anymore, baby.”
Gu Xinghuai’s little mouth trembled.
He buried his head in his father’s arms and sniffled softly, his childish voice muffled against his chest.
“I wasn’t waiting for her…”
After that night, Gu Xinghuai tightly drew the curtains in his room and refused to look outside the window ever again.
Over the next few days, the little guy seemed to return to his normal routine.
He went to class and came home as usual, completed all his children’s assignments on schedule, and went to bed on time.
He never mentioned Lu Yan again.
It was as though she had never been there.
Until one night.
Gu Chenyu returned from the military base after finishing his work. The moment he entered the little cub’s room, his hand touched the child’s forehead.
It was burning hot.
Gu Xinghuai had a fever.