Chapter 27 – The Secret of Aiden
The next morning, Xi Wei was ready to go to Klaire’s place after breakfast. His Majesty Trent was worried about Xi Wei going alone and sent Craig to personally led the Royal Guard team to escort him. And so, the helpless Xi Wei had to went together with the facial-paralysis man, Craig.
Along the way, Admiral Craig was silent, turning the atmosphere in the suspended car very awkward. Xi Wei also felt lazy to talk to him and turned to look out the window. Fortunately, they soon arrived near Klaire’s home. To Xi Wei’s surprise, there were two rows of soldiers in front of Klaire’s house, and a few dark-blue suspended cars also parked there. Those cars had star-shaped pattern drawn above them, the symbol of the Star Corps. All the soldiers stood tall and as still as statue.
Craig watched this scene from afar. Knowing that General Byron might go out soon, he said to Xi Wei. “Sir, let’s wait a moment here before coming over.”
Xi Wei nodded: “Okay.”
Sure enough, not long after that General Byron and a few soldiers came out of the house and boarded the suspension cars. The Star Corps fleet left the ground, flying through the air like a meteor, before disappearing from their sight.
Craig then ordered the Royal Guard to move, stopping just in front of Klaire’s house. Then, he personally accompanied the First Prince to the door.
Mrs. Grace who had just sent her husband off caught sight of the First Prince and immediately moved to salute him. Xi Wei hurriedly asked: “Ma’am, is Klaire home?”
“He is inside changing his clothes.” Grace smiled and continued, “long time no see, the First Prince has grown a lot taller than before.”
The little boy with black hair and a pair of clear eyes who stood in front of her was still wearing the custom-made white mini suit that Queen Anna had prepared from him a while ago. He looked very cute, and If it wasn’t for his identity, Mrs. Grace would have hugged him. She had watched this boy grow up, he was just like her own son.
Hiding behind her was Kevin. When he saw Xi Wei, he also came forward to greet him: “Brother Xi Wei.”
Xi Wei smiled and touched his head: “Kevin, if you have time, go to the palace to see my sisters, they really miss you.”
Just as Xi Wei and Klaire grew up together, Kevin was often taken to the palace by his mother to visit Queen Anna and the two princesses Alicia and Xi Lin. They got along very well, the three omegas would often write and draw together. Kevin was very talented in painting. At such a small age, his painting of animals and plants were so lifelike. His talent was definitely much better than his brother Klaire.
At this moment, Klaire finally came out. He bowed as soon as he saw Xi Wei: “Prince.”
Xi Wei: “…”
This guy was obviously doing this on purpose, giving him a salute in front of so many people… The embarrassed Xi Wei narrowed his eyes, but still faced Klaire with a smile.
“Hey, Klaire, let’s go to Aiden’s house,” he said, pretending to be calm.
“Okay.” Klaire looked back at Grace,” Mom, today I’m going to a classmate’s house with Xi Wei. I won’t come back for dinner.”
Grace smiled and said, “Yes, you can go!”
Xi Wei and Klaire turned and walked away.
Looking at the backs of the two laughing children, a strange idea suddenly flashed in Grace’s mind: the two of them look really good together. If Klaire can marry Xi Wei, Xi Wei will also call me mother, how nice would it be.
Escorted by the Royal Guard, Xi Wei and Klaire set off to Aiden’s home.
Along the way, Craig continued to stay silent and as still as a statue. Xi Wei had long become accustomed to this man’s facial paralysis, and just whispered in Klaire’s ear: “St. Paul Academy’s repetition rules had lasted for several years, but it finally changed this time, it’s really satisfying.”
Klaire also moved closer and whispered back, “I think the headmaster might be trying to imitate the military management system from the Empire’s First Military Academy, but he ignored the fact that most students here are children, not soldiers, and that being too strict with children is not a good thing.”
Xi Wei agreed: “Yes, putting too much pressure on a child may cause them to have psychological problems in the future.”
The Royalty’s special suspension car was very spacious, more than 20 meters in length, it not only had sofa and table, but also a soft bed. The two little ones were sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning close and whispering with each other. General Craig stood still in front of the big screen, staring intently at the projected navigation route.
Aiden’s home was far from the Imperial Palace and Klaire’s House, located on the other side of the capital star. Fortunately, the suspension car’s speed was very fast. In less than 10 minutes they had arrived at Aiden’s residence.
Xi Wei was a bit surprised to see just how good the condition of Aiden’s house was. They lived on a particularly big courtyard with two three-storeys high villas built inside. The Villas’ design was very chic, Xi Wei had never seen such a beautiful design in the capital star. They were dominated with white and azure colors, as fresh and beautiful as blue sky and white clouds. Coming here felt like they have entered a truly peaceful and isolated place.
Craig let one of his subordinate to park the suspension car, put down the landing ladder, then walked down with Xi Wei and Klaire.
The door was guarded by smart mechs. After doing facial scans, the three of them were automatically sent to the house. A mechanized voice of a smart armor greeted them: “Distinguished guests, please wait a moment, my home owner will come out soon.”
A moment later, Aiden opened the door and ran out with a happy smile: “You are here, come in!”
Xi Wei was puzzled: “You are alone? Where’s your dad?”
Aiden said: “After hearing you are coming, Dad went out to let us children play at home. He’ll come back at night.”
Upon noticing Admiral Craig, Aiden felt a bit afraid and moved to hide behind his smart armor.
Seeing this, Xi Wei turned around and said to Craig: “General, why don’t you go back first. I’ll send a message for you come to pick me up at night.”
Craig, who was dismissed by the child, looked expressionlessly at Xi Wei and said: “Prince, His Majesty ordered me to keep you safe. I’ll stand by the door, if you need anything contact me immediately.”
Xi Wei relented: “Very well, I’ll have to bother you.”
His father just worry too much, what could’ve happened in his classmate’s home? Ordering the moving fridge Craig to always follow him, Xi Wei found it really inconvenient. Fortunately, Craig stayed true to his words and waited outside the door, while Xi Wei and Klaire followed Aiden into the house.
Not only the design of the villa, the decoration inside Aiden’s house was also very unique. A comfortable beige sofa was placed in the living room, next to it were a few pots of blue flowers. The flowers had small and exquisite petals, at closer look one could see that they curved into a crescent shape. The flowers clustered together, emitting a light floral fragrant. They looked so elegant.
Xi Wei couldn’t help asking: “Aiden, what’s the name of this flower? It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
Aiden replied: “It’s Blue Moon flower, my father’s favorite.”
Randy was obviously a very tasteful person. Their home was very clean and tidy, the furnitures all placed neatly and orderly with blue and white flowers mixed in as decorations. Faint scent of flowers filled the place, making people feel relaxed and happy.
“Sit down and have some juice first.” Having his friends visiting was a rare occurrence for Aiden, so he was very happy. He poured juice for the two boys, then asked his robot housekeeper to prepare a plate of fruit.
Klaire took the initiative to peel an orange for Xi Wei and handed it to the other boy, which Xi Wei accepted happily.
While eating fruit, they looked around and found something strange: seemed like it wasn’t a family of three living here, because the crystal frames hanging on the wall were only full of Randy’s and Aiden’s photos. From the time Aiden was born until he turned 7 years old this year, Randy took a photo with his son every year on his birthday. The frames on the wall recorded the process of Aiden growing up from 1 to 7 years old, but there was no sign of an alpha father in the family.
Xi Wei had long suspected that there was a problem between Aiden’s parents, otherwise Randy wouldn’t have only Aiden as his child. Coming here today made it clear that Aiden’s alpha father did not live with them.
There was no “divorce” for alpha and omega’s marriage in the empire, because according to known physiology knowledge, once an alpha had marked an omega the alpha would have a strong desire to protect their partner. The omega would also become strongly dependent of the marking from their own alpha. The two people would identify each other as the only one. Even if the they initially didn’t know each other , most Alpha-Omega couples had relatively stable feelings for each other after marriage, there were very few separation cases.
Unless the alpha was someone on the front line in military who couldn’t come in contact with his family.
But even if Aiden’s father was in front line, would he really not come home for seven years? The front line was relatively peaceful in these two years, the Honor Corps stationed there had also asked the soldiers to take shifts home to visit their families. If the alpha were one of them, he should have taken a few photos with Randy before, rather than leaving the house barren of his presence.
Maybe Aiden’s father was killed? But if his father died, the Empire’s Omega Conservation Society would usually push Randy to remarry, for Randy to be single until now was unreasonable. The strangest thing about this was: how did he go through his annual heat without an alpha around? According to the description Xi Wei had seen in a book, a few days a year omegas would almost lose their self-control ability, how could he get through it?
Xi Wei was very confused.
Aiden’s family background seemed so complicated that he couldn’t figure out a lot of things.
At this moment, Aiden suddenly asked: “Xi Wei, do you want to visit my backyard? My father keeps some small animals, they are really cute.”
Aiden’s voice jerked Xi Wei back from his thoughts. He smiled and said: “Okay, show us the way.”
Their trip amazed Xi Wei. Aiden’s backyard was full of all kinds of flowers, it also had many small animals like cats, dogs, as well as some other furry small animals that Xi Wei did not recognize. The animals’ living arrangement was well-organized with plates placed in orderly manner to feed them. A group of small animals were currently hanging their furry heads to eat there, they looked very cute.
Xi Wei couldn’t help reaching out his hand, touching the head of one of the white cats. The cat looked up at Xi Wei, rubbed its head gently against his palm, then continued to drop his head to eat.
Xi Wei smiled and said: “Your father must be full of love for him to raise so many small animals.”
Aiden said proudly, “My father is the gentlest man in the world.”
The three of them walked round the backyard, by the time they came back inside it was lunch time. Aiden took out the lunch his father had prepared, then they ate together. After that he took his two friends to the study and said seriously: “Thank you for coming here, I have a lot of things I have to learn for the remedial exam, Xi Wei please teach me.”
“No problem.” Xi Wei readily agreed and stated to teach Aiden patiently.
Meanwhile Klaire was sitting there doing nothing, Xi Wei glanced at him and gave him a task: “You put together a key points summary for this year’s lessons, then review them with Aiden. Use the more difficult test sites as base, then mark the wrong answers with red so I can teach him from the beginning.”
“All right!” Klaire naturally enjoyed the task given by Xi Wei and immediately sat down to take notes.
Time passed quickly, in a blink of an eye it was already evening. Xi Wei was still teaching seriously until a loud noise was heard outside. The three children finally realized that the day has been black. They got up and ran out to see what was that noise.
Outside, Craig’s face was still expressionless as he took hold of a man’s arm. The man’s voice was stiff as he said: “Let go of me.”
The blank-faced Craig asked: “Who are you? Those without authority is not allowed here.”
“This is my house, why can’t I come here? What are you doing at the door? Let me go!”
The man in his grip was Aiden’s father–Randy. His face was pale as he struggled fiercely, it was normal for an omega to react like that –trying to push and flee– in face of a strange and hostile alpha. The intense alpha pheromone coming off General Craig apparently touched Randy’s rebellious nature. However, as an omega Randy was unable to fight against Craig’s power, and was suppressed by the man.
Craig was also a puzzled by how violent the omega was. He twisted Randy’s hands behind to subdue him.
At that time, the three children finally came out. Seeing his Dad being bullied, Aiden’s face suddenly changed. He immediately charged past and bit Admiral Craig ‘s hand: “Let go of my father!”
Craig: “…”
Though the little fellow was afraid of him, he couldn’t bear seeing his father being bullied. Aiden used all his courage to bit Craig’s hard until the back of the man’s hand was actually bleeding. Craig’s grip loosen, Randy took this chance to free himself, before moving quickly to guard his son.
The father and son duo were like angry cats standing on guard against Craig.
Craig wiped the blood on the back of his hand, and saw the child’s teeth printed clearly on it. The boy looked very lovely, yet had the power to bite people so ruthlessly.
Craig came forward to them, but Xi Wei stopped him: “General, this is Aiden’s father, I think you may have misunderstood something?”
Hearing Xi Wei’s explanation, Craig frowned. The man was actually the father of the child, no wonder they looked so similar with soft chestnut hair, pale eyes and pale delicate features. But the man was sneaking behind him before, so Craig mistook him as someone with ill intention towards the Prince.
After knowing it was a misunderstanding, Craig immediately apologized: “I apologize, it was my mistake.”
Randy ignored him and looked back at Xi Wei, “It’s getting late, Prince, let’s go inside and have dinner.” Then he turned to Craig and said coldly,”the general will not have to come in.”
Craig: “… Oh.”
Randy’s rejection of Craig was quite obvious, and Craig, still expressionless, continued to stand solemnly at the door like a statue.
Xi Wei and Klaire looked at each other and went in with Randy.
Randy was very good at cooking, soon he put the prepared meal on the table. Looking at the three children in front of him, his face finally relaxed a little and restored his usual gentle expression. He smiled and said: “You come here to personally review the lessons with Aiden, I’m really thankful. Aiden’s character is introverted, in school he also only have you two as his friends, so thank you for your help and care.”
Xi Wei immediately said: “Uncle don’t talk like a stranger, I and Aiden are good friends, of course we have take care of each other.” ”
“Yes uncle, we are classmates, no need to be polite.” Klaire immediately echoed –husband and wife should talk in harmony.
“Dad, Xi Wei takes care of me really well at school. Before exam, he also gave me math lessons every day.” Aiden said seriously.
Randy touched his son’s head lightly, “Yes, you should thank Xi Wei.”
Feeling puzzled, Aiden scratched his head: “I don’t know how to thank him.”
Randy thought and said, “Well, do you like animals? You can pick two pets from my backyard as a gift.”
Xi Wei tried to refuse: “No need for that, Uncle.”
Randy smiled, “I know you are a prince and Klaire is the son of a general, you must lack nothing at home. I have nothing else to give you. These small animals are personally raised by me, you can rest assured that they are very docile and healthy, just yesterday there were two newborn kittens which I have yet to name, I’ll give them to both of you.”
Before Xi Wei could speak, Klaire smiled and said, “Thank you, uncle.”
Truthfully Klaire was not interested in small animals, but he knew that Xi Wei liked cats, so he agreed. In their past life Xi Wei had wanted to raise a cat, but as an actor he had busy schedule and often had to go to many places. He had no time to take care of a cat and had to dispel this idea. Now, Randy personally wanted to gave them pets, in face of his kindness, the two children also did not refuse. Also, if the two of them brought back two newborn cats and raised them together, it would create good memories.
After dinner, they went to the backyard. Randy took out two cages, and sure enough there were two newborn cats there.
A soft white blanket was laid on the bottom of the exquisite cage so the two kitten would not hurt themselves. They looked so lovely, one was pure white and the other was pure black, both lying on the blanket while yawning.
Xi Wei immediately fell in love and stretched out his hand to pet the cats. The white cat was very cooperative, putting its front paw in Xi Wei’s hand. Xi Wei smiled and shook it. Meanwhile the black cat was a very proud creature who ignored Xi Wei. Upon seeing Xi Wei coming over, the small animal turned around and presented his butt towards Xi Wei.
Xi Wei smiled and said to Klaire: “I want the white one, this black cat is for you to raise.”
Klaire naturally did not object. They took the cats, and leave the house soon after.
After leaving Aiden’s home, the suspension cars fleet soon returned to the capital star. It was still quite early. Xi Wei didn’t want to go back to the palace so soon, he still wanted to hang around with Klaire, so they stopped midway. Klaire smiled and said: “Let’s get off and walk around?”
“Okay. ”
The two children walked shoulder to shoulder, looking at the various suspended cars flying above them. Both of them couldn’t help feeling just how strange this future world was. They had been in this world for seven years and had long adapted to the surrounding environment. To tell the truth, aside for the bizarre human body mutation into Alpha, Beta, Omega, Xi Wei actually quite liked this world. Science and technology had developed so much, doing anything was really convenient.
But, the thought of Omega’s fate just made Xi Wei a little upset.
Seeing him in a bad mood, Klaire shifted the subject: “Will you bring the cat back to the palace?”
“Yes, my mother also really like small animals, I can raise it during vacation, and then she can help me after we go back to school.” Xi Wei said.
“Let’s name them,” Klaire suggested.
Xi Wei looked at two kitten, thought a bit before saying, “The white one is called Xiao Xi, the black one is Xiao Ke, what do you think?”
Klaire: “… As long as you are happy with them.”
If they married in the future, he must not let Xi Wei name their children, or he might use: Wei KeXi.
While he was pondering this, Xi Wei suddenly said: “By the way, did you notice something strange in Aiden’s house?”
Klaire had long been aware of the answer to this question, but due to Aiden’s presence, he held himself back from saying anything. But since Xi Wei mentioned it, Klaire would no longer hold back and voiced his doubt: “Aiden is clearly in single-parent family, but according to the Imperial’s rule, if his father died, his dad Randy can remarry. It’s strange that Randy never remarried or lived with an Alpha.”
“I think so, too.” Xi Wei nodded, “I know Uncle Randy’s love life is his own business, we are not qualified to ask, but the problem is Aiden disease… You remember? He fainted before, and we went to the school hospital with teacher Kelly.”
Although his past memory had not restored at that time, Klaire had clear recollection of his life since he was born as Klaire. He said: “The doctor diagnosed Aiden with a rare blood disease, saying that the best cure was to extract hematopoietic stem cells from his siblings. If it’s controlled by drugs, he would have time until he turns 14 years old, right?”
“Yes, and the stem cells must be extracted from another omega. If his father is really gone, then he will never have a brother or sister, isn’t it hopeless?”
Looking at Xi Wei’s worried look, Klaire fell silent for a moment. He gently shook the other boy’s hand and comforted him: “Don’t worry, let’s wait for a chance to talk about this matter with Aiden’s dad. Aiden’s father being dead is merely our speculation, maybe he is still alive.”