The music in the imperial ballroom started playing again, but the atmosphere remained heavy. The guests kept their distance from the center of the room, speaking in quiet whispers while watching the three men.
Li Yan kept his eyes on the crowd, his mind working at lightning speed. The public execution of a lord’s reputation was a great distraction, but his gut told him the real danger tonight wasn’t from a snobby local politician.
"You are still tense, Mingxuan," Prince Jing Yuchen murmured, fingers lightly brushing against the small of Li Yan’s back as they moved toward a quieter side of the hall. "The threat has been removed. No common dog will dare to speak a word against you again. I have ensured your security."
General Zhen Sheng let out a low, mocking snort, deliberately stepping between the prince and Li Yan to break the contact.
He slung his heavy arm over Li Yan’s shoulder, leaning his weight down with an easy, arrogant grin. "Don’t listen to his fancy royal talk, Duke. The prince spent so much time flexing his pretty little magic that he didn’t even notice the security layout of the room.
If anyone else tries something, it’s my blade they’ll have to worry about, not some cold air."
Jing Yuchen’s violet eyes flashed with an instant irritation. He stopped walking, his posture turning rigid. "A crude military mind only understands blood, General. Some matters require a ruler’s authority, not a brute’s tantrum."
"A ruler’s authority?" Zhen Sheng chuckled darkly, his hand resting lazily on his sword hilt as he stepped directly into the prince’s personal space. "Your ’authority’ almost let that fat bastard ruin the court’s mood. If I hadn’t drawn my sword, the guards wouldn’t have even moved."
"Enough!" Li Yan snapped, his voice tight with pure irritation as he looked between the two towering men. His patience was wearing paper-thin. "I am not worried about your petty matches. Did you both completely forget what I told you back in the bedroom? The foreign threat is closer than you think.
We are supposed to be analyzing the room as a team, not bickering like children over who gets the bigger piece of meat."
The two dominant men froze. Then, slowly, they turned their heads to look down at him at the same exact time.
The playful mockery and the anger instantly vanished from their faces, replaced by a dark, united front of pure, terrifying dominance. They didn’t move away; instead, they closed the distance, trapping Li Yan between their massive chests until their scents flooded his senses, pressing down on his lungs.
"You are getting quite bold tonight, Mingxuan," Jing Yuchen whispered, his voice dropping into a deep, dangerous tone that made the air feel thin. He leaned down, his breath brushing against Li Yan’s ear. "You speak of teams and strategies, yet you forget who rules this court."
Zhen Sheng let out a low, possessive growl, his large hand sliding up from Li Yan’s shoulder to grip the back of his neck, his thumb rubbing the sensitive skin right above the collar. His golden eyes flared with a wild intensity. "Listen to me, sweetheart.
We might listen to your little warnings because they sound amusing, but remember your place before us. In this house, and in this empire, you belong beneath us. Don’t mistake our patience for submission."
Li Yan’s breath hitched, a sudden wave of heat rushing straight to his thighs from the weight of their combined pheromones.
His straight-man pride fought hard against the submissive pull of his body, his jaw tightening as he glared back at them. They were absolute monsters—arrogant, dominant, and completely unyielding the moment their power was questioned.
Before Li Yan could spit out a retort to crush their egos, a sharp, piercing ring exploded directly inside his brain.
The world seemed to slow down. The bright crystal lamps above flickered, and the blue glass system screen violently flashed into view right in front of his eyes, the text glowing.
[ CRITICAL MISSION ALERT: High−Level Threat Detected!
Target: Foreign Agent Activity within the Immediate Perimeter.
Objective: Prevent the disruption of the Triple − Soul Bond. If a bonded target falls, the system core will fracture. ]
Li Yan’s eyes widened. His gaze instantly shot past the prince’s white-robed shoulder, scanning the moving crowd of servants.
There, just a few paces away near the royal drink tables, a young servant in a plain grey palace uniform was moving quickly. The servant had a strange, cunning smile stretched across his face—a look of pure malice that didn’t belong to a palace worker.
With a quick flick of his wrist, the servant passed a fresh, silver chalice of dark plum wine directly into General Zhen Sheng’s path, placing it on the small tray right beside his elbow. The servant didn’t look back; he immediately melted into the shadows of the curtains.
"Tsk. All this talking is making my throat dry," Zhen Sheng rambled, completely oblivious to the blue screen or the servant’s movement. His instincts were sharp on a battlefield, but the arrogance of his own Alpha strength made him careless in a crowded room.
He reached out his hand, casually picking up the silver chalice from the tray.
"Zhen Sheng, don’t—" Li Yan tried to shout, his hand reaching out frantically to swat the cup away.
But the general was already raising the chalice to his lips. In one swift gulp, he drank the wine down, his throat moving as he swallowed the entire contents in a single second.
Li Yan’s hand froze mid-air, his heart stopping dead in his chest.
Zhen Sheng lowered the silver cup. He paused, his broad shoulders suddenly going completely still. His golden eyes, which had been flashing with arrogance just a moment ago, suddenly went wide and blank, staring straight into the empty air.
Jing Yuchen frowned, his eyes noticing the sudden shift. He stepped forward, his hand touching the general’s arm. "What is it, General? Why are you behaving strangely over a simple drink? Did the wine sour your tongue?"
"It... it tasted like something snacky," Zhen Sheng muttered, his voice sounding hollow, completely stripped of its usual rough power.
But before another word could leave his lips, his fingers lost all their strength.
Clank!
The silver chalice slipped from his hand, crashing loudly onto the floor and sending the remaining drops of red wine splashing across their boots.
An instant later, a horrific, choking sound came from the general’s throat. Zhen Sheng violently grabbed his own head with both hands, his large fingers digging so deeply into his hair that his nails nearly tore the skin.
"ARGHHHHH!"
A blood-curdling, agonized scream tore out of the general’s chest, echoing violently across the entire ballroom as his knees buckled and he began to collapse toward the floor.