Faint stars glimmered through the wisps of cloud overhead. Bai Heting walked with long, hurried strides, forcing Bai Jiashu to quicken his pace and jog a few steps before finally falling into step beside him along the lakeshore.
The fir pheromones had already regained composure, which made the oppressive weight of the tequila pheromones stand out. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Bai Jiashu glanced back at the Alpha guard who was leading the white horse a dozen paces behind them.
He muttered curiously, “I thought your guard detail consisted entirely of Betas.”
Bai Heting glanced at him, pausing briefly before saying, “They indeed are all Betas.”
His words were ambiguous, but Bai Jiashu had no interest in looking deeper into a guard’s identity. After a moment of thought, he picked a topic he knew Bai Heting would like to hear, “I also think Royal Father’s worries are truly redundant. They’re just guards, who care if they’re an Alpha or a Beta, as long as they’re reliable.”
Bai Heting walked on in silence, no longer replying.
He had always been a man of few words, and Bai Jiashu was long used to it, continuing to tell this quiet soul all about the novel things he had seen and heard over the past half month; including who had raised rare and exotic beasts, who had married into whose family, and what exquisite performances by artists he had watched in the palace.
He recounted everything he could think of, and at the very end, said gloomily, “Royal Father brought up that matter to me again today.”
That matter was something Bai Heting was already tired of hearing.
He kept his eyes straight ahead as he walked, “To bear offspring for the royal family and continue the bloodline is the duty of the Crown Prince.”
Bai Jiashu frowned, “He is nearly ten years younger than me—”
“He is at the perfect age for marriage and childbearing,” Bai Heting countered calmly. “It is you who is too old.”
Earlier that spring, the youngest son of the Minister of Revenue had presented as an Omega. Bai Yi had long hoped to arrange a marriage between them, but Bai Jiashu refused outright and would not be persuaded otherwise. Bai Heting had seen that Omega a few times at court banquets; he had a well-behaved personality, a beautiful appearance, and a soft-spoken way of talking. His father also held great power, making it a well-matched royal marriage.
Bai Heting glanced at him, “A prince who is still unmarried at twenty-seven is unheard of throughout history.”
Bai Jiashu immediately retorted, “Aren’t you unmarried as well?”
Bai Heting said flatly, “I am different from Your Highness. My duty lies upon the battlefield.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t fulfill my duty, I just have my own principles,” Bai Jiashu scoffed softly. “Royal Father and Queen Mother’s marriage exists in name only. They—”
“Your Highness.”
He was starting to speak recklessly again, and Bai Heting stopped his tracks.
Bai Jiashu stopped as well, but the interruption did nothing to shake his resolve. Continuing his line of thought, he said, “Though they are mates acknowledged by the Lord, is there truly any affection between them? Royal Father has so many concubines, how many of them are female Omegas?” He took a step to the side, standing right in front of Bai Heting, and said solemnly, “I will not let my marriage follow in their footsteps. I must be with the person I like.”
Bai Heting said, “Your Highness, such words are beneath your status.”
And truly naive.
Bai Jiashu was clearly born only a few months later than he was, but judging by his maturity, he was probably on par with that teenage prospective Crown Princess.
Bai Jiashu said, “You clearly know what I mean.”
Bai Heting did know. One had to lead a remarkably easy life to display their thoughts so fearlessly on their face. He looked at Bai Jiashu and asked, “Do you honestly think that as long as you keep dragging out your marriage, His Majesty will eventually agree to your request one day?”
Bai Jiashu froze upon hearing this.
Bai Heting bypassed him and continued walking forward.
A Crown Princess with neither father nor mother, incapable of securing political alliances for the royal family, or a loyal and obedient minister with no divided loyalties. What Bai Yi would choose was self-evident.
As he walked, he said, “If you are unwilling to be bound by a political marriage, then you should understand me all the more. I, too, am unwilling to be bound by an Alpha.”
Bai Jiashu said anxiously, “Who wants to bind you—”
“Your Highness.” Bai Heting interrupted him once more.
He hadn’t expected that he would actually need to say these words twice today.
“I will not marry, not in this lifetime. Nor do I have any interest…” He emphasized the latter half of his sentence, “…in talking about love or romance with anyone.”
The footsteps following from a distance slowed down.
Yet Bai Heting walked even faster.
At this moment, he was clearer headed than ever.
Love and romance only made people weak and dull.
It caused people to give away weaknesses in vain.
However, the position he occupied allowed no room for any weaknesses.
Bai Heting walked forward without looking back, “So, do not waste your time and energy on me.”
“Walk a bit slower!”
Bai Jiashu quickened his steps to catch up, once again choosing to compromise in the face of his icy attitude, “Every time I bring this up, you get angry. I just won’t bring it up anymore.” He walked quietly with Bai Heting for a while, and only after Bai Heting’s pace slowed down did he speak again unhappily, “I heard from Royal Father that you are leaving the capital again.”
Bai Heting gave an absent-minded “Mm.”
The footsteps following from a distance stopped completely.
“There are some small-scale Omega rebellions in the south,” Bai Heting said, his voice pausing unnaturally for a brief moment. “We’re departing in three months.”
A cessation of the inhibitors for at least three months was required before the inhibitors could take effect again; those were Zhou Chengbei’s words.
“Omegas?” Bai Heting had mostly held the fort in the capital over the past two years and rarely went to the front lines, so Bai Jiashu simply thought he was making a mountain out of a molehill. “How much of a storm can a bunch of Omegas stir up? Is it worth going there in person?” The moment the words left his mouth, he realized he had misspoken. Sheepishly, he lowered his voice and added, “I spoke out of turn.”
Alarms and natural reactions tinged with discrimination were common whenever Alphas spoke of Omegas, and Bai Heting had long since grown accustomed to it. He shook his head indifferently, “You are not wrong.” He twirled the hunting knife back and forth between his fingers, saying thoughtfully, “That is precisely why I want to go there and see for myself how a bunch of Omegas could stir up such a massive storm.”
