This is me all the time 😂
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Although Uncle Berg had reminded Xi Wei not to let any alphas get too close to him, Xi Wei and Klaire had shared lives in two worlds, after all, and their relationship wasn't ordinary. If you asked him to deliberately give Klaire the cold shoulder, of course he’d feel that it was strange. So when Klaire walked over to him, he couldn’t help but welcome him, and their movements were even very natural.
But when other people saw this scene, it looked a little too ambiguous.
Especially that scene of Xi Wei and Klaire looking at each other while smiling. They practically treated everyone else as empty air.
Everyone knew that the two of them were childhood friends who had been born on the same day and grew up together. It was within the bounds of reason for them to be close. Klaire’s intentions toward Xi Wei were very clear, but when it came to marriage, it was hard to achieve anything without support. The key point was still seeing His Majesty’s opinion. If His Majesty didn’t agree, no matter how much Klaire liked Xi Wei, he wouldn’t get anywhere.
Joen stood by watching this scene, and slightly narrowed his eyes. He took the initiative to walk over and said, “You’re Klaire? I almost couldn’t recognize you.”
Klaire smiled and said, “Upperclassman, it’s been a long time since we’ve met.”
The Klaire in front of him had undergone a huge transformation. In Joen’s memory, the Klaire from back then had been a cute little kid. He never thought that after this guy grew up, he would have such handsome looks. With his high, straight nose, sensuous thin lips, and a pair of fathomless blue eyes, he looked very charming when he smiled.
When Klaire was sixteen, not only did he obtain early admittance to St. Romia Military Academy, but he also passed the highest level examination in martial arts and got his black belt. He had practically become a legendary figure in the Empire, and he was the idol of many young alphas.
Joen had heard of many of his accomplishments. But Joen had been several grades higher than him, and by the time Klaire entered school, he had already graduated. They hadn’t seen each other at school, so this was their first meeting in several years.
Facing Joen’s gaze, Klaire wore a polite smile on his face, but in his heart, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of loathing. He had always felt that this person wasn’t simple. The expression in Joen’s eyes when he looked at Xi Wei made Klaire feel, for the first time, a sense of crisis.
They were the eyes of a hunter looking at his prey. They carried a hint of appreciation, and also some amusement, as if Xi Wei simply couldn’t escape from his grasp.
Klaire frowned, gently took Xi Wei’s hand, and said softly in his ear, “It’s too noisy here. Let’s go over there and have something to eat, are you hungry?”
Xi Wei touched his stomach and said with a smile, “I actually am hungry, let’s go.”
Klaire led Xi Wei through the crowd to where Aiden was sitting.
When Xi Wei saw his good friend, he immediately walked over to him and sat on the sofa beside him. “How did it go? Did you see any alphas that caught your interest?”
Aiden’s physique was similar to Randy’s, with an early first heat. It was already time to get married. He didn’t reject the idea of marriage, but rather looked forward to finding a good alpha and having a few cute babies. When Xi Wei called up Aiden to the banquet, it was for the sake of letting his good friend meet an alpha he liked. After all, this banquet was a rare opportunity to gather together all the most eligible alpha bachelors from distinguished families on the capital planet.
Hearing Xi Wei ask, Aiden smiled and said in a low voice, “I met one just now who I thought wasn’t bad. He knew how to have a conversation, and he was quite the gentleman.”
Carlo, who was pricking up his ears to listen in, couldn’t help rain curses in his heart when he heard that: What do you mean, not bad?! What’s good about that scrawny alpha? Aiden, open your eyes wide and look at me, at me! Such a good alpha is standing right in front of you, and we even grew up together as children, what do you have to go searching for other people for?!
Aiden sensed that there was something inexplicable in his peripheral vision, and when he looked back doubtfully, he saw Carlo staring straight at him. His fists were clenched tightly, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked just like a crazed wild beast.
Aiden asked him in confusion, “What are you glaring at me for? Did I offend you again somehow?”
Carlo: “...”
Klaire suppressed the urge to laugh. He turned and got some of the cake and fruit that Xi Wei liked to eat, putting them on the table.
“Thank you.” Xi Wei unceremoniously started eating. While eating, he asked Aiden, “What kind of status did that alpha have?”
Aiden said, “His name is Maynard, and he’s from the Warwick family...come to think of it, he and Klaire seem to be related?”
Klaire was from the Warwick family, and when he heard this, he couldn’t help but say in surprise, “You’re talking about Maynard? He actually is related to me. He’s the son of my father’s older brother, and he’s older than me by six years. I don’t really know him that well, I only ever occasionally saw him at the family gathering every year.”
Aiden asked curiously, “Then how much do you know about his life?”
Klaire said, “I only know that he’s different from most of the alphas in the family. He didn’t apply for military school, but went to an art school to study painting instead. I’ve heard that he has quite a talent for painting. He opened an exhibition hall on the capital planet, and the works displayed inside are all his. Of course, this is all what I’ve heard from my mom. I’m not too clear about the rest.”
Aiden’s eyes lit up. “Painting? You said he has quite a talent for art? I really like design, and he likes painting, we should have plenty to talk about. Klaire, can you give me his contact information?”
At the side, Carlo was so angered he glared at Klaire with narrowed eyes and made a throat-slitting gesture, meaning, if you dare to give it to him, I’ll hack you to death.
Klaire caught on, smiled and said with a sigh, “I don’t know this cousin of mine that well, so I don't have his contact information. He didn’t give it to you just now?”
Aiden said, “We just casually talked for a while, and then he had something to do, so he left first. I didn’t get the chance to ask him.”
Xi Wei couldn’t help but interrupt and say, “Aiden, you’ve taken a liking to that Maynard?”
Aiden found it a bit embarrassing, was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, “I thought he was pretty good. I was very happy talking to him, and he’s got a lot of style. I’d like to be friends with him.”
Xi Wei looked back at Klaire. “Did you hear that? Aiden’s taken a liking to your cousin. Go back and ask for his contact information.”
Klaire: “...”
Xi Wei frowned and said, “What? Is it so hard to find your mother and ask for his contact information?”
Klaire said quickly, smiling, “It’s not hard, not hard. Okay, I’ll ask later.”
This guy really didn’t hesitate at all to sell out his brother for the sake of his wife! All alone without help, Carlo could only depressedly take a big gulp of red wine.
He never thought that Aiden would only be lovely and shy on the surface, while being highly similar to his dad Randy in his bones. As an omega, he took the initiative on the major event of marriage. He had a good impression of Klaire’s cousin Maynard, and asked Klaire for his contact information; this clearly meant that he wanted to actively pursue him.
In the Empire’s several hundred years of history, the success rate of omegas who actively pursued alphas was practically 99%.
Seeing how Aiden looked eager to give things a try, Carlo really hated that he couldn’t grab that guy called Maynard and give him a good beating! It wouldn’t be so terrible if he came across a small-minded, lackluster love rival, but meeting a love rival like him, who was handsome and had both money and style, Carlo really wanted to cry.
Today’s banquet continued until ten o’clock at night before coming to an end. The alphas who were similar in age toasted each other and exchanged small talk until the atmosphere was quite lively.
As the birthday boy, Xi Wei didn’t go and make conversation with those alphas, but sat by Aiden the entire time, eating and talking. He adopted an attitude of complete disinterest towards those other alphas.
Of the alphas who were invited to the banquet, some only showed up to give the royal family some face. There weren’t that many alphas who were really interested in Xi Wei. Some of the bolder ones went up to try to worm their way into his affections, asking for his contact information. Without a trace of politeness, Xi Wei asked them all to please go back.
In any case, he still didn’t intend to get married, and it was even more impossible for him to marry a man. As for today’s banquet, he was just going through the motions and following the palace’s customs.
After the banquet ended, Xi Wei returned to the palace, where people from the Omega Protection Association had long been waiting for him.
After Xi Wei entered the door, he picked up the little white cat he had raised for many years, and while petting the cat’s fur, asked, “What are you looking for me for?”
A tall and slender female omega walked up and said deferentially, “Your Highness, according to the rules of the Empire, omegas who come of age at eighteen need to carry out a genetic match with the gene bank, and pick a suitable marriage partner. You’ve already held your coming-of-age ceremony today, and now it’s time to begin the matching process.”
When it came to genetics, determining which couple could marry by carrying out a genetic match with the gene bank was a good way to do things. The couple that the system determined to have the highest genetic compatibility would undoubtedly have the most outstanding descendants.
But human beings had their own feelings, after all. They couldn’t marry who a machine said they should marry just because they had a high degree of genetic compatibility. Xi Wei really disliked this machine-matched marriage system. However, his father and mother had come with him, and Xi Wei didn’t want to make things awkward for them. He could only tranquilly stretch out his arm and let the Association’s doctor take some blood for the genetic test.
The doctor input Xi Wei’s genetic information into the database, smiled and said, “Your Highness, thank you for your cooperation. The match results will come out by tomorrow. When the time comes, I’ll send someone to notify you.”
After the people from the Association left, Xi Wei put down his cat irritably and said to Queen Anna, “Mother, isn’t this genetic matching completely unreliable? If it calculates that I have the highest degree of genetic compatibility with a hundred-year-old alpha, don’t tell me I’ll have to marry the old man?”
Anna smiled and patted Xi Wei’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, this is just a formality. The Association will select many suitable alphas. If you don’t like the one with the highest degree of compatibility, you can settle for second best. You can choose the third highest, or the fifth, and it’s all allowed. The genetic match is just to ensure the health of later generations.”
“Oh.” If you said it like that, it was a bit more humane. You didn’t have to choose the first one on pain of death. However, Xi Wei couldn’t summon much interest for this. He yawned lazily and said, “In any case, I still don’t want to marry. There’s no need to pay attention to the match results, I’ll just stay in the palace for a few more years.”
His Majesty Trand and Queen Anna gave each other a look and sighed helplessly.
This eldest son of theirs had a very strong-minded character. If they really forced him to marry, who could say but he might do something rash. Right now, they could only use the eldest prince’s late development as an excuse to fool the media, and delay things for a few years.
Craig escorted Aiden home, while Carlo and Klaire took a hovercar back by themselves. On the road back, Carlo kept irritably scratching the back of his head. Klaire saw that he was about to scratch his scalp off, and he couldn’t help but pat his shoulder sympathetically. “You really are in a bit of trouble this time. Today, I didn’t tell Aiden the whole truth. To say that my cousin has a talent in art is modest. In fact, he’s been a genius ever since he was a child. When he was ten, a painting of his got first prize in an empire-wide art contest. It was for that reason that my uncle let him apply for art school. His graduation piece was hung in the school exhibition hall as a mural, and the number of betas chasing him could circle a football field. My little brother Kevin has been learning painting with him recently, and I’m actually pretty familiar with him.”
The more Carlo heard, the more depressed he became. According to what Klaire was saying, Aiden would definitely like this kind of refined gentleman who had art in his blood.
Aiden definitely wouldn’t take a liking to an alpha who was both clumsy and bad-tempered like himself.
Could it be that his love was just going to die prematurely like this?
Seeing that Carlo had a face like it was the end of the world, Klaire couldn’t help but smile and say, “You don’t need to be so dispirited. Actually, no matter how good my cousin’s qualifications are, there’s one point on which he can’t compare to you.”
Carlo said, “What point?”
Klaire said, “He doesn't love Aiden like you do.”
Carlo looked blank for a moment. This sentence seemed to enlighten him, instantly waking him up. Carlo’s eyes suddenly lit up, and hitting his thigh, he stood up. “That’s right! There’s no one who likes Aiden more than me. Feelings can’t be compared to qualifications. I’ll treat Aiden well, I’ll cup him in the palm of my hand and love and protect him. Just on this one point, there’s no one who can match up to me.”
Klaire said, “Exactly, so...why lose heart?”
Carlo quickly recovered his spirits and sat back down on the sofa. He said earnestly, “Thank you, Klaire. You said it very well.”
Klaire smiled and patted his good friend’s shoulder. Feelings were strange when you spoke them out. Even if a beautiful woman stood in front of him who had the face of an angel and the body of a succubus, whose family situation was good and whose temperament couldn’t be picked at, Klaire’s eyes would still only hold Xi Wei. It had been this way for two lives in a row. So he firmly believed that as long as he treated him sincerely, there would always be a day when he would see the light at the end of the tunnel.
That night, Dr. Kenny, the president of the Omega Protection Association, went through the Empire’s vast genetic database and filtered through the genetic information of all unmarried alphas, matching them against Prince Xi Wei’s genetic data. After the computer operated for half an hour at ultra-high speed, analyzing and calculating, it finally arranged the names of ten alphas according to their degree genetic compatibility.
What shocked Dr. Kenny was that there was actually one alpha whose genes were compatible with Xi Wei’s to a degree of more than 95%!
His name was Klaire, the eldest son of General Byron, who was born on the same day as Xi Wei.
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5:47 for 2,790 words, or 12.4 minutes for every 100 words. An improvement in rate by 1.5 minutes, finally 😅
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