Chapter 023: Tempted
Only major military Generals and prominent leaders in the royal family were eligible to own S-Class mechs, so their interior design was naturally very luxurious. White Feather's full body expansion was more than 100 meters wide, its cockpit was very spacious, and in addition to the driving platform, there was an independent bedroom for the owner. The size and specifications of the bedroom was even better than a first class hotel suite.
However, the bedroom within Caesar's armor was not so extravagant. He valued comfort and practicality above all, so the bedroom space was fully utilized and decorated in a very simple and clean way.
The spacious bed had a soft white mattress, Caesar gently rested Lin Yuan on the bed, but Lin Yuan seemed to be stuck in a fearful memory, he immediately clung tightly to Caesar's neck, repeatedly calling out for his father.
Caesar was stunned for a moment.
Lin Yuan….. Was probably mistaking him for his father in his memory? So he was holding him tightly?
Cough, although he was very tangled from being identified as a father, Lin Yuan was tightly holding him, so Caesar felt distressed and soft-hearted. Seeing Lin Yuan's pale complexion, his heart felt sore, so Caesar immediately ignored being awkwardly called "Dad”, and gently embraced Lin Yuan.
"Don't be afraid … It’s all right …”
Like appeasing a frightened animal, Caesar stretched out his slender fingers and stroked Lin Yuan's back.
He seemed to feel a warm presence, so Lin Yuan buried his face deeper into Caesar's bosom, his body still slightly trembling. His forehead was constantly oozing sweat, but his arms stubbornly gripped Caesar.
Caesar couldn't help but tighten his arms, one arm wrapped around the boy's waist, the other hand patiently and gently rubbing his back, as well as petting his hair, trying to appease him.
“I'm here, I won't leave you …”
“Okay … don't be sad …”
Caesar’s voice was gentle as water, as if he was coaxing a lover.
White Feather: “………………”
This is too nauseating, Master! This is a high-tech society Master! When you encounter this situation, you only need to give him a tiny dose of tranquilizers! You really don't need to use "Hands-on” "Manual” "Repetitive” means to pacify him ah!
Unfortunately, White Feather was ordered to be quiet, so he dared not speak out, he only looked at the two embracing in the bedroom with a puzzled curiosity.
He’s not an outsider?
Is he….. a so-called 'wife'?
Thinking of this, White Feather immediately forgot the "mute” command in his excitement, he projected a small virtual White Feather and floated into the bedroom, “Master! You just said he's not an outsider right? I understand! He must be your fancied PrincePrincess! Prince Princess is really good-looking ah! Beautiful eyes, cute nose, hair is my favorite pure black….."
Caesar looked at him impatiently, "Shut up, don't wake him up.”
Lin Yuan had finally calmed down and fallen asleep when this chatty White Feather ran over. Caesar really regretted lending it to Brian so he could study the manufacturing principles of S-Class mech. White Feather stayed with Brian for half a month and came back like this!
The melodramatic romance dramas Brian loved watching produced mental toxins that completely polluted White Feather…..
“I know.” At his Master's fierce glare, White Feather immediately put away his voice and directly communicated with Caesar by spirit connection, “Master are you sure you want to choose him as Prince Princess? He seems to be a Beta ah? The royal family must combine with Omega to keep the royal family bloodline pure! Did you really fall in love with a Beta? You're so courageous ah!"
Caesar: “…”
White Feather floated curiously in the air: “Are you going to give up being heir to the Cepheus throne and elope with him?
Caesar: “…”
White Feather excitedly said: “I know, you must have a good plan. You'll take him to a beautiful secluded place and live happily in a world for two right? I understand! This is the true love of humanity! Rest assured, I'll take up with you two fugitives and flee to the end of the universe, protecting you from the bounty hunters His Majesty will send to capture you! I'll definitely support you, and always accompany you, and dutifully take good care of you, and watch your children grow up ….."
Caesar glanced at it coldly, then pressed the manual shutdown button.
White Feather: “………………”
While being forced to close down his intelligence center, White Feather couldn't help but think: Sure enough, the guy who speaks the truth is always punished! After speaking the Master's thoughts, I was shut down, the Master must be shy!
At the moment, Caesar was thinking – Brian definitely made that mech watch a bunch of his melodramatic love dramas with him!
Just what the heck is going on in White Feather's intelligence center?! Does he have a collection of every kind of contrived romantic film plot? He really felt ashamed to be his master….. Luckily Lin Yuan was still asleep, so he didn't hear that nonsense.
He looked back to his arms and found that Lin Yuan's expression was very uneasy, he was frowning tightly, apparently caught in a terrible nightmare.
Caesar took off his coat and shoes, laid him on the bed, smoothed out his messy hair and tucked him in with the quilt.
He searched around in the bedroom for the healing instrument, and took it over to check Lin Yuan's vitals. He found no big problems with his body, but the curve on the EEG had abnormal fluctuations, obviously, his mental state was very poor. It must be because he was forced to accept memories from Suzaku, leading to his memory disorder.
Caesar took a sedative, lifted Lin Yuan’s hand, and injected the medicine into his vein.
Lin Yuan gradually quieted down with the sedative, and his brain’s mental fluctuations slowly became stable, ten seconds later, he entered into a deep and peaceful sleep. The various values on the healing instrument also returned to normal.
Caesar finally relaxed.
Fortunately, Lin Yuan’s spirit was strong enough, he'd managed to force himself to handle his memory disorders. If that wasn't the case, Lin Yuan would've had a mental breakdown and become a madman! That kind of mental torment was many times more terrible than fleshly torture!
Thinking of this, Caesar's heart suddenly clamped in pain. He looked at the pale boy lying on the bed, and his heart suddenly produced a strong desire to protect him, to never let him be hurt!
When an Alpha faces their loved ones, the first feelings produced is this strong desire to protect! Then it's the desire to conquer, and the desire to monopolize! When an Alpha's pheromones suddenly begin to fluctuate violently, it's a sign that the Alpha has fallen in love!
“…..” Caesar immediately dropped Lin Yuan’s hand, and stiffly turned away from the cockpit.
Caesar walked out of the cockpit, temporarily depressed from his chaotic thoughts, and saw Suzaku where White Feather had dropped him on the ground.
Although White Feather was headache inducingly chatty, as an S-Class intelligent mech, he still had a sense of propriety when working. It chose to land in a desolate, undeveloped prairie, with no monitoring systems nearby, so they didn't have to worry about being tracked.
Caesar walked to Suzaku's front, frowning, and asked: "Tell me Suzaku, why did you escape today?”
Suzaku remained silent, apparently he was not at ease with the person in front of him.
Caesar paused, then took out his platinum card for Suzaku to look at, and softly said: “You should be able to guess my identity right? The mech I'm driving today is called White Feather, it was made by Mr. Aston, the same as you. Your manufacturing process is similar, so it could easily invade your intelligence center."
Suzaku was silent for a while, then he finally asked: “You're…the Fourth Prince?”
Caesar nodded, then slowly said, “Suzaku, I have no malicious intentions. Your energy is exhausted, you can't escape, and the museum people are chasing you. If you don't want to be caught and brought back to the museum, it's best to tell me what's going on. Maybe I can think of a way to help you."
Suzaku’s red eyes flashed for a moment, then he said: “I don't want to be kept there like a prisoner. I’ve been waiting for a chance to escape all these years. But when they imprisoned me, they unloaded all the energy stores in my body, a machine cannot move without energy."
“Fortunately, when Mr. Aston made me, he installed a light conversion system, so I can store and use solar energy. Only Mr. Aston and my Master knew about it. These years, I've been taking advantage of the minutes during their daily inspections to accumulate light energy, so I could save enough energy for when I found a chance to escape ….."
Suzaku paused, "I don't know how Master is doing, I’d love to find him.”
Caesar asked, puzzled: “Master? You mean General Ling Yu?”
Suzuki said, “Yes, you know him?”
Caesar was silent.
About General Ling Yu, he only knew that he was the Night Corps' General who had injected illegal Omega inhibitors, and after being expelled from military, he was sentenced to life-long house arrest, but somehow he stole an armor and escaped Cepheus, then he encountered a cosmic sandstorm and was buried in the interstellar ruins.
This matter was over nineteen years old. The military dissolved the Night Corps and blocked all the news about the matter, and over the years, no one ever mentioned the name Ling Yu.
Caesar only knew this much because he'd visited Marshal Rosen’s house when he was a child and had inadvertently found Ling Yu's tomb in the back garden. The monument was engraved with 'The Imperial Night Corps, Tomb of General Ling Yu'. Caesar was very puzzled – Why did they stand a tombstone at a house, instead of the cemetery the Empire dedicates for burying martyrs?
After returning to the palace, the puzzled Caesar pestered his mother about this matter. The frustrated Queen Anna whispered the reason to him, and warned him not to mention it to anyone.
Caesar learned the cause and effect, and couldn't help but feel sorry for that very talented General Ling Yu. Child Caesar even felt that the military court people were too unreasonable, they actually expulsed General Ling Yu out of the army because he was an Omega.
Of course, he was only 10 years old, and a prince must be cautious, so he could only secretly say these thoughts in his heart.
The experience of General Ling Yu had very much touched Caesar's heart.
Unexpectedly, today he actually got a chance to witness the legendary exclusive armor of General Ling Yu – Suzaku!
Caesar was silent for a moment, then he said, “You want to find your Master? Don't you know he’s dead?”
Suzaku froze, "He ….. died?”
Caesar nodded: “He was sentenced to life-long house arrest by the military court, but he later took an armor and escaped Cepheus, encountered a cosmic sandstorm, and was buried in the interstellar ruins. It's been nineteen years.”
“…”
Nineteen years? He was imprisoned for so long…..
Suzaku was silent for a moment, he looked as sad as a robot could look, his head lowered.
Although the armors were a mixture of metal, their intelligence center was quite advanced, especially the S-Class armors, their intelligence center was modeled almost exactly after a human's nervous system. When a Master and armor stayed together for a long time, it was very normal for both of them to grow emotionally attached. Suzaku suddenly learned the news of his Master's death, it should be very sad, right?
Caesar didn't know how to comfort it, so he stayed silent.
But at the moment, Suzaku was thinking about another matter – according to his time estimates, he was separated from his Master after his arrest, if he really was dead as the man in front of him said, then, what about the child today?
Why does that child’s memory have General Ling Yu's figure?
Hidden in the depths of that child's memories, is a picture of General Ling Yu calling him son! In other words, Master is most likely not dead, and he even gave birth to that child?
As to where his Master went, and why the boy came here….
These mysteries could only be slowly solved by with him.
After a moment, Suzaku softly said: “Today, the child that was driving me, he is your classmate right? I would like to be his armor, I want to recognize him as my Master. Do you have a way to help me?"
Caesar was surprised and asked: “You want to recognize Lin Yuan as your Master? How much did he match with you?"
Suzaku said with certainty: “100%. And, because we had a spiritual collision this time, it affected the match. On the re-match, it should be more than 100%."
Caesar: “…”
Unlike the Alpha, Beta and Omega’s innate physical differences, the spiritual strength completely varies from person to person. The spiritual threshold was determined by innate genetics and intensive spiritual training. There were many Alpha who were physically stronger, but spiritually weaker than Beta or even genetically superior Omega.
—-Lin Yuan’s spiritual threshold is actually so high?!
Suzaku, besides being an S-Class mech, also had nearly three decades of memory as an S-Class mech. Even the experienced with armor driving combatants who knew the ins and out of machines like the back of their hands would be too afraid to risk driving it, but Lin Yuan was actually able to meet it with a 100% match?!
Caesar's mood felt complex: Just how many more shocking secrets does Lin Yuan’s body hold?
Are there any more like dropping an Alpha in three seconds? Or doing over a hundred consecutive somersaults without dizziness? And making even an S-Class mech want to recognize him as Master? No wonder someone secretly gave him the nickname Small Beta Monster, "Small Monster" are really apt words to describe him!
Caesar took a deep breath to calm down, and looked at Suzaku: “Suzaku, you should know already, who can own an S-Class mech is very strictly controlled. Even if you want to recognize Lin Yuan as Master, it has to go through the approval process from the Mech Association and a signature from the military council. Lin Yuan is only an ordinary cadet, the military won't agree to let a student own an S-Class mech."
Suzaku replied: “I know. That's why I want you to help me drop my hardware down to C.”
Caesar was startled, "A downgrade?”
“Yes.” Suzaku said: “I'm willing to become C-Class. An ordinary C-Class mech doesn't need to go through the Mech Association and the military council review. If I'm dropped down to C-Class and sent to Lin Yuan, no one will be suspicious.”
Caesar: “…”
Armor hardware installations were very strictly hardwired during the manufacturing process, upgrading the hardware was very troublesome, dismantling the hardware was even more trouble, and the process could very easily cause permanent damage, in most cases, it directly destroyed the mech.
No smart mech armor would willingly ask to be downgraded.
But Suzaku, in order to escape museum pursuit, was actually willing to drop to C-Class, anyone could see how painful its years of captivity must've been.
Disassembly and demotion, although the risk was high….. luckily they had Brain, the guy who has been handling mechs like they were toys since childhood, they could give it a try.
Caesar thought about it, then finally agreed: “All right, if you really want to recognize Lin Yuan as your Master, I have a way to help you.”
An S-Class mech couldn't be directly sent to Lin Yuan, so bringing Suzaku down to C-Class, then sending him to Lin Yuan was a good choice. More specifically, Suzaku’s intelligence center would remain S-Class, but his weapons and hardware would be temporarily removed. Afterwards, they needed to find a way to install them back. This was equivalent to making an S-Class IQ armor with a C-Class shell.
Lin Yuan would be very happy! If he had a mech armor with an S-Class intelligence center, he would probably laugh during his sleep right?
Thinking of Lin Yuan's black eyes full of joy and excitement, Caesar felt…..his heart warming, he couldn't wait to fulfill all of the boy's wishes.
Caesar looked at Suzaku and smiled: "It's an agreement, we'll put on a play together.” Caesar took out a small mech space button, “Come Suzaku, jump into the space button. I'll take you away from here.”
“Thank you.” Suzaku obediently jumped into the space button.
Caesar walked back into the bedroom with Suzaku, Lin Yuan was still asleep.
Because of the sedative, his sleep was very stable, his long and thick eyelashes casted a faint shadow on his face, and his bitten until bloody lips were healed, but very swollen, it looked particularly pity inducing.
Caesar sat on the bed and stretched out his hand to gently rub Lin Yuan’s hair.
The black hair slipped through his fingers, and its softness seemed to spread to his heart.
In the quiet space, there was only the sound of heartbeats and breathing.
The frequency of Caesar's heartbeat gradually accelerated while watching the boy's swollen lips, he even felt….. an impulse….to lean down…and kiss….
Oh shit……
White Feather's nagging crow’s beak seems to have hit the mark!
Could it be that … I really am attracted to this Small Beta Monster?
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T/N:
Prince Princess - White Feather calls Lin Yuan Prince Princess. But I could be wrong. It's written as 王子妃- Wangzi fei – Prince Princess. Princess is usually written as 王妃- Wang fei. Tell me if I'm wrong, I'll edit it.
Fallen in love - could also be 'in heat'
Crow's beak – fig. person who has made an inauspicious remark