Li Yan collapsed onto the cracked iron table, his chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow gasps. His body was completely covered in a thick layer of sweat, and his legs shook uncontrollably from the brutal treatment he had just endured.
Every muscle in his torso felt entirely drained of strength. He wanted nothing more than to push himself away from the table and cover his torn robe, but his limbs simply refused to cooperate.
Before he could even stretch out a hand toward the dark object that had emerged from the table, Prince Jing Yuchen moved. He reached past Li Yan’s shoulder and snatched the black scroll from the hidden compartment.
General Zhen Sheng slowly stepped back from Li Yan’s hips, his breathing heavy as he fastened his belt. His golden eyes were fixed on the parchment in the prince’s hands. The cold, tense atmosphere of the war room returned instantly, the temporary heat of the encounter vanishing like smoke.
Jing Yuchen unrolled the old scroll, his eyes scanning the lines of text quickly. As he read further down the page, his violet eyes suddenly widened in pure fury. The regal composure on his face cracked completely, replaced by a dark, murderous expression.
"What is it, Prince?" Zhen Sheng asked, his voice dropping into a rough whisper. "What does it say?"
Jing Yuchen did not answer him immediately. Instead, he slowly turned his gaze down toward Li Yan. The look in his eyes made Li Yan’s stomach turn cold. It was filled with a deep, renewed hatred that felt even more intense than before.
"He lied to us," Jing Yuchen said, his voice trembling slightly with rage. He threw the scroll down onto Li Yan’s chest, the heavy paper hitting his skin. "Read it, General. See what our precious Duke has been hiding beneath our feet."
Zhen Sheng picked up the document, his brow furrowing as his eyes moved across the seal. "This is... a contract with the northern sea forces. Months ago."
"Yes," Jing Yuchen hissed, stepping closer until he was looming directly over Li Yan’s head. "Duke Xiao Mingxuan wasn’t just a proud, useless noble. He signed a secret agreement to sell out the empire’s main border codes to the northern scouts. He traded our military positions for foreign protection."
"No wonder you knew about the poison," Zhen Sheng muttered, his face turning dark as he stared at Li Yan, his fists clenching at his sides. "Your little warnings in the bedroom and the ballroom weren’t a strategy to save us. Your secret plot failed because the spy moved too early, so you tried to cover your tracks by playing the hero."
Li Yan forced himself to sit up slowly, his elbows trembling against the iron table. My robe hung loosely from his shoulders, torn and ruined. No, no, this cannot be possible. How did the Duke know of this place, moreover nothing like this was added in the original novel.
"Use your brains," Li Yan said, his voice raspy but firm as he looked at them. "If I were working with the northern sea forces, why would I stop the general from drinking the poison? If he died, the bond would break, and the capital would fall into chaos. That would give the enemy exactly what they wanted. My actions tonight don’t align with a traitor’s plan."
"You did it to save your own skin, Mingxuan," Jing Yuchen retorted coldly, refusing to listen to a single word. "You knew that if the general died, the system inside you would destroy your soul as well. You played both sides to keep yourself alive while your family prepared to open the gates."
"I have nothing to do with that contract," Li Yan insisted, glaring back at them with absolute, pure hatred. He despised how easily they dismissed his logic, and he hated how this world kept twisting everything against him.
"I don’t care about the northern forces, and I don’t care about your empire, the Emperor was the one who sent us here, how would I have known of this place if I was just sent here with you all."
"Your words mean nothing now," Zhen Sheng said, his voice entirely devoid of the warmth he had shown during his fever. "The evidence is right here. You are a traitor to the crown."
The intense stress of the interrogation, combined with the poison residue still lingering inside their bond, suddenly took a massive toll on Li Yan’s body. His internal core began to shake. The pure hatred he felt for the two men sitting before him caused his SS-Rank pheromones to go completely haywire, breaking past his mental controls.
A thick, intensely sweet scent of crushed lilies suddenly exploded from his skin. It wasn’t the usual gentle fragrance; it was heavy, suffocating, and incredibly potent. The smell filled the entire war room in a matter of seconds, making the air feel thick and hard to breathe.
"Mingxuan, pull your energy back," Jing Yuchen commanded, covering his nose as his own ozone scent began to flare up in response.
"I can’t," Li Yan gasped, clutching his stomach as a sudden, intense heat began to burn inside his veins.
The sweet scent was so powerful that it began to leak right through the cracks in the wooden windows of the war room. In the dim light of the estate’s courtyard lamps, Li Yan could see the thick pheromones turning into a visible pink mist, spreading rapidly into the night air outside.
Before either of them could move to restrain him, a sharp, piercing ring exploded directly inside Li Yan’s brain. The blue glass screen violently flashed into view right in front of his face, the text glowing in a brilliant, blood-red hue.
CRITICAL DISASTER: Host Pheromone Leakage has triggered a regional ’Alpha Bloodlust Riot’.
Warning: The unstable SS-Rank sweetness has spread across a five-mile radius outside the estate perimeter. 5,000 maddened high-rank warriors and Alpha beasts are currently storming the estate gates to claim the Host.
Time to total estate breach: 60 seconds. Prepare for immediate defense.
Li Yan’s heart gave a massive thud against his ribs as a loud, frantic alarm began to scream inside his head.
At that exact second, from the deep forests surrounding the isolated estate, the sound of wild, terrifying howling began to echo through the night. The sound grew louder and closer with every passing heartbeat.
Outside the gates, the distant shouts of the imperial guards stationed to watch them turned into screams of pure panic as the maddened crowd approached.
Li Yan looked up from the table, his eyes wide as he met the gaze of the prince and the general. The danger was no longer just inside this room.