Time went back ten minutes.

Alina and her friends were still discussing the four important figures.

“…I still think Count Unobert will rise faster. Didn’t you see Ye Wangxing’s eyes go completely wide?”

Alina said decisively. She pointed at Count Unobert while making a comment that made Ye Wangxing laugh heartily.

“Not necessarily. He never refused Prince Janus’s requests, right? Didn’t he just leave Count Unobert’s side a moment ago because of something Prince Janus said?”

The girl who had tapped Alina’s shoulder at the start of the banquet said confidently. At that moment, Prince Janus approached and said something to Count Unobert. Under Count Unobert’s grim expression, Prince Janus cheerfully led Ye Wangxing like a big dog to stand in front of the others.

…It seemed that he still did not realize the awkward atmosphere between Count Unobert and Ye Wangxing.

“I actually think Lord Semos also has a chance. He’s the vice president of the research institute, and just now he saw Ye Wangxing look expressionless yet pitiful, which surely softened Ye Wangxing’s heart,” another friend argued.

At this moment, Martha spoke lightly, taking control of the conversation.

“—Enough, everyone. Are you seriously saying these three can out-flirt General Ortas?”

Alina and her friends immediately turned to look at General Ortas—and saw him voluntarily unbuttoning his shirt, letting Ye Wangxing touch his collar.

Like a giant beast willingly tamed and collared by humans.

No one could resist the scene.

Even the battle-hardened Martha blushed as she watched the harmony between the two.

She felt as if she had regained the thrill of shipping couples from her teenage years.

But…

Unfortunately, there were still three other beasts lurking nearby.

Martha watched the other three who seemed to be socializing but were constantly watching Ye Wangxing and sighed.

When she turned to see her friends excitedly wanting to join the scene, Martha rolled her eyes and pulled them back.

“Are you crazy? Even in this excitement, do you not fear that if they fight, they’ll hit everyone—including you?”

Martha lectured bluntly, successfully restraining their restless impulses.

After all, even though medical pods were advanced in the interstellar era, getting hit still hurt.

The reckless friends obeyed and stopped staring at the five. Instead, they wandered around the venue looking for other amusements.

Soon, they found some.

“Alina, look! Ye Bai is moving toward Crown Prince Woden again, but this time the Crown Prince doesn’t seem to be inviting him to dance. Isn’t this blatantly embarrassing him?”

The friend spoke with a gnashing expression, though thinking of Ye Bai’s own actions, his indignation lessened somewhat.

His emotions were complicated.

Alina seemed resigned. She waved her hand and said numbly: “He always behaves like this in front of his brother. Ye Wangxing has tried multiple times to guide him, but it’s useless. Ye Bai is still like this.”

Her friend sighed again and said,

“I don’t know what Crown Prince Woden fed Ye Bai to make him so devoted. He follows him everywhere, even when embarrassed in public.”

The friend continued angrily: “Crown Prince Woden should just end the engagement if he dislikes Ye Bai. Instead, he complains verbally, and even when his friends suggested ending it multiple times, he refused.”

Martha sharply said: “A person benefiting from something won’t give it up. Crown Prince Woden refusing to give up Ye Bai, a loyal follower, is normal. The origin of this issue lies with Ye Bai.”

Thus, the conversation returned to the old question: why was Ye Bai so devoted to Woden? Alina had wondered before, but she always felt Ye Bai’s thought patterns were like some kind of mental contamination. Once stuck on something, he might never recover.

Thinking this, she opened her device to catch up on dramas. Seeing several palace dramas on the homepage, Alina suddenly had a realization. She seemed to understand why Ye Bai acted the way he did.

“Do you think it’s possible that Ye Bai had a filter for Woden when they were kids—admittedly, Woden was very handsome as a child—and now he sees Woden throwing a tantrum the same way he did as a child. Ye Bai was probably the only one who didn’t get upset when Woden threw tantrums back then.”

Alina’s words woke Martha up. She said thoughtfully: “And then they got engaged when they grew up. Ye Bai regards Woden as his own. Real love is hard to judge—I’ve never seen Ye Bai look at Woden like he’s looking at a date.”

Her friends were curious: “What does it look like to look at a date?”

Martha casually pointed to two young men nearby.

“Look at Count Unobert and Ye Wangxing’s eyes. Count Unobert’s gaze is like looking at prey, almost oozing possessiveness. Ye Wangxing’s eyes are subtler, but he constantly watches Count Unobert’s eyes.”

“I guarantee that previously, they must have had one—or several—very passionate nights.”

Martha said this confidently, based on her rich experience.

“…But Ye Bai didn’t have that kind of look for Woden. Even when they got engaged, he didn’t see him as a dating partner, he looked at him every day through the lens of royal history and royal etiquette.”

“…We thought back then he was just nervous about marrying into the royal family—by the way, did those books help?”

Her friends asked in confusion.

“No use at all. My mom and my aunt never read them. My mom would at least pretend in front of outsiders, my aunt didn’t even bother pretending. Anyway, their status was enough. As long as they appeared proper and didn’t drag officials to space bungee-jumping, it was fine.”

Alina waved her hand and said, then touched her chin thoughtfully.

“But if Ye Bai thinks like that, it seems there might still be a way to save him—as long as the filter that makes him see Woden as throwing a tantrum breaks.”

Martha nodded but furrowed her brows. “But Ye Bai’s situation over the years has proven that his filter is very solid. He looks at Woden like he looks at his own family. Changing his view of Woden would be extremely difficult—unless Woden deliberately broke the filter.”

Hearing Martha’s words, Alina and her friends all sighed.

“Why is it so hard to make Ye Bai step into the fire?”

As she spoke, Alina’s gaze drifted toward Ye Bai. When her eyes landed on him, the next second…

—Alina watched Woden’s hand come into intimate contact with Ye Bai’s face.

Woden’s expression still showed irritation and anger. Luckily, Woden remained somewhat rational, so the force of his hand was not too strong, but it still caused Ye Bai to fall to the ground.

From Alina’s perspective, Ye Bai didn’t fall because of the light force.

It looked more like shock.

He seemed shocked that Woden would strike him in such an important setting.

After realizing what he had done, Woden first looked incredulous, then tried to reach out to help Ye Bai.

But…

Ye Bai’s shocked expression seemed to hit some nerve in Woden. Woden’s face immediately twisted into furious humiliation, and he spilled all his red wine onto Ye Bai.

This instantly erased the shock on Ye Bai’s face. He sat dumbly on the ground, as if the light in his eyes had gone out.

“Ah! Woden, what are you doing?!”

Alina instinctively shouted.

The surrounding people immediately focused on them. Seeing Crown Prince Woden’s actions, they instinctively stepped back to avoid getting caught in his anger.

But when they saw who was being struck, everyone’s face showed disbelief—it was the Crown Prince’s fiancé, not just any fiancé. Behind him stood the Minister of Finance!

Some people instinctively looked toward the Minister of Finance and saw him with a dark expression, holding a wine glass, charging fiercely toward Crown Prince Woden.

Director Fei was equally unwilling to yield. Dressed in a women’s suit, she casually took out her walking stick and walked toward the Crown Prince.

But faster than these furious parents, a shadow moved. Before the surrounding people could react, they heard Crown Prince Woden let out a pitiful, almost unbearable scream.

“Ah—!”

The next second, Woden, like Ye Bai before him, fell to the ground. He curled up like a shrimp, his face pale, occasionally gagging.

The surrounding people immediately focused on the culprit. The culprit, the young man, withdrew his fist cleanly from where it had struck Woden’s stomach.

His face still showed the soft, harmless expression he always had. Even his blank expression now looked like an angry little white rabbit—a herbivore that could only endure.

There was no trace of the domineering aura he had just shown while punching a prince.

Just when everyone thought the young man would say something harsh, he turned in another direction, kneeled on one knee, placed his hand over his heart, lowered his head, and pleaded toward the throne.

“Your Majesty, I offended the Crown Prince in the heat of the moment. I am guilty.”

His movements flowed naturally, uninterrupted. When the Minister of Finance and his spouse arrived, they could only kneel beside their son and also plead for forgiveness.

Yet the Minister and his spouse looked solemn, as if the Crown Prince’s actions had already finished their son off, but inwardly they felt extremely satisfied.

They understood that even if they had come to reason with Crown Prince Woden, he had already hurt their son. No matter how much they wished for the Empress to give their son justice or compensation, it could not make up for the harm their youngest had suffered.

Especially…

Minister Ye looked at Ye Bai’s averted face. His eyes were full of numbness, and he sighed deeply.

He hoped that after tonight, Ye Bai would become clearer-headed.

Ye Bai treated Woden as family, but whether Woden wanted Ye Bai as family was still unknown.

After Ye Wangxing spoke those words, the previously frozen banquet hall began to flow again.

Just having jumped up from the sofa, Alina and Martha stood next to the Minister of Finance’s family, their mouths opening and closing for a while, not knowing what to say.

After a long moment, Alina finally managed to say: “Luckily my aunt didn’t agree to this year’s proposed livestream plan. We still stuck to the old tradition of pre-recorded broadcasts.”

—Otherwise, today’s royal scandal would have dominated every trending topic across the empire and become everyone’s gossip.

Martha nodded in agreement. She had previously thought Her Majesty the Empress might be a bit conservative, but now she realized that conservatism was right!

She could not imagine if this incident had been circulated from start to finish—how the online public would have condemned them.

A royal ball funded by taxpayers’ money had somehow produced a scandal where the Crown Prince hit his fiancé. There would certainly be people who would spread it from the Crown Prince to the entire royal family, just like the previous public opinion incident.

As long as they refused to admit it and released the pre-recorded version instead, it would be like that royal scandal from centuries ago: even if all the nobles in the empire saw the Empress and his own brother in compromising positions, as long as no real evidence was released, it would remain unofficial history.

The public loved to speculate. If the situation was not fully disclosed and only a cut version was shown, most people would believe whatever version was provided.

Moreover, the pre-recorded version allowed for buffering. Given the editors’ extraordinary skills, they could even turn the footage into a scene that appeared harmonious and happy.

Martha expression gradually grew serious.

Meanwhile, the guests voices quieted. They looked at Crown Prince Woden and the kneeling Minister of Finance’s family, unsure which side to take.

Normally, they should have sided with Crown Prince Woden. But since Her Majesty had not spoken and given Woden’s own situation, they genuinely did not want to defend him.

However, if they sided with the Minister of Finance, his eldest son had just beaten the Crown Prince!

He still crouched on the floor like a shrimp, unable to make a sound.

Alina, however, had no such worry. Given her identity, she could stand on either side. But she dared not choose carelessly—if she sent the wrong signal to the nearby officials, it would be disastrous.

Another reason for Alina’s hesitation was that she looked at the four men beside her with a serious expression.

After arriving, the four men quietly asked some nobles about the situation, then exchanged thoughtful glances toward Crown Prince Woden on the floor.

Alina did not want to interfere with their plan and be remembered by these four men.

But if they intended to take advantage of Woden now, the situation might not be favorable.

Even if Woden was unpopular, he was still the Crown Prince. Ye Wangxing hitting him to the ground with a single punch was a bit too disrespectful.

Fortunately, this matter could be either serious or trivial—it mainly depended on her Empress aunt’s attitude.

Alina’s expression grew tense as she thought this. Woden, lying on the ground, shared the same thoughts.

He had barely recovered from the intense pain, forcing back the urge to vomit. As he prepared to regain his dignity as Crown Prince, he looked up and saw the Minister of Finance’s family kneeling beside him.

Their pitiful, apologetic expressions made Woden furious. They were clearly faking! If they had truly acknowledged their mistake, they should never have hit him in the first place!

Thinking this, Woden’s guilt over hitting Ye Bai immediately vanished, and his gaze toward the Minister of Finance’s family became knife-like.

However, in places Woden could not see, from both the throne and beside him, the looks aimed at him were equally hostile.

But Woden could not care about that now. After being punched and feeling stomach acid reflux, he was extremely uncomfortable, his throat burning, his stomach on fire.

Yes, he had hit Ye Bai, purely because Ye Bai insisted on telling him things he did not want to hear—whether it was to deal with public opinion or to be more careful with his companions, to manage his reputation first.

All of it annoyed Woden greatly. Yet when he heard Ye Bai suggest helping him create the appearance of a harmonious engaged couple, his annoyance turned into mockery.

“To get close to me, you even pull such a grand reason? Ye Bai, your love brain is hopeless.”

Woden had mocked.

The ever-dutiful Ye Bai now showed genuine anxiety.

“Woden, don’t you realize your position is unstable? Stop being lazy. You must manage your reputation. With your current ability, you can only secure the throne by winning public support—”

Hearing this, Woden’s head buzzed. Before Ye Bai could finish, Woden slapped him across the face.

When had he needed public support to secure the throne? What was wrong with his current ability? How could Ye Bai say such things? Had he not always supported him, believing in his ability?

By the time Woden realized that Ye Bai was speaking the truth, it was too late—his hand had already struck.

Fortunately, it was not too hard, and Woden intended to help Ye Bai up.

However, when his gaze fell on Ye Bai’s face, his head buzzed again.

—Because he saw disappointment in Ye Bai’s eyes.

That kind of disappointment reminded him of the look he had often seen in his mother’s eyes recently.

A mix of exasperation at his inability, yet knowing he could not improve—Woden could not dare to meet it directly, bowing his head instead, putting on a false show of composure.

But this was Ye Bai? Who gave him the audacity to be looked at this way!

Without hesitation, Woden threw the red wine in his hand, ignoring his female companion who, seeing his reckless behavior, quickly sidestepped into the crowd in her high heels like a crab.

Female companion: !@QW#￥% (extremely vulgar imperial curse words)

Yet, the moment he threw the wine, Woden regretted it. He remembered he was not at a private party or an ordinary banquet—he was in the palace.

—And he had just ruined the ball.

Before he could do anything further, a dark figure leapt in front of him, and the stomach pain made him curl up on the ground. When he regained awareness, this was the result.

Woden finally found his voice, opening his mouth to demand his mother punish the Minister of Finance’s family for offending the royal family.

He was confident, thinking his mother always protected him in such matters.

But before he could speak, he heard his mother laugh lightly from the throne.

“—Mr. Ye, you were just dancing with Janus. When did you offend Woden?”

This made all the guests freeze, unsure what the Empress meant.

Prince Janus, hearing his sister, swiftly lifted Ye Wangxing from the floor, embraced him, and assumed a dancing pose, winking his icy eyes at the young man to signal him to be silent.

Her Majesty did not oppose Janus actions at all, instead, she even smiled.

The Empress meaning was clear.

The officials present were not fools. Especially in a scenario where the Crown Prince clearly slipped, concealing the incident aligned with political norms.

After all, the Crown Prince had struck someone—his fiancé—an act that counted as aggravated domestic violence under imperial law.

If he could strike his own family, what about others? This was no primitive world.

Moreover, taking legal action against the Crown Prince could backfire, given his status.

Now, the Crown Prince had been hit by his fiancé’s elder brother. In legal terms, it was ambiguous, the incident could be ignored. After all, the Crown Prince slapped someone and got a punch in return—completely reasonable.

—And the fiancé’s actions were already rumored, perhaps he did not want legal procedures.

Thinking this, the guests quickly spoke.

“Crown Prince, why are you on the ground?”

“Crown Prince, where is your companion?”

“Crown Prince, shouldn’t you tend to your fiancé? He was splashed with wine, the lounge is over there. You can go together.”

The guests spoke kindly, ignoring Woden’s pale face and incredulous gaze.

They were not worried about Woden’s rise bringing them trouble, firstly, the Empress signaled them, and secondly…

Their hidden gazes looked at Prince Janus spinning with Ye Wangxing on the dance floor.

…It was still unclear who would ultimately ascend the throne.

The guests words and attention completely infuriated Woden.

He stared in disbelief at the guests, glanced at Ye Bai, who had turned away after the wine incident, then looked up at his mother on the throne.

“Mother, why are you protecting them! They offended me as Crown Prince—”

Woden’s words were cut off as Alina covered his mouth.

Watching him roll his eyes and struggle in her hands, she clicked her tongue in disdain.

But since it was a task given by her mother, Alina could only drag Woden aside while feeling annoyed.

Alina understood why her aunt did not support Woden today, after all, he was in the wrong. Publicly hitting one’s fiancé was unacceptable, especially when the other party was famously loyal, making Woden appear like a brute.

But since it was also inappropriate for the Crown Prince to make such a scene, Her Majesty gave him a way to step down, and everyone took the opportunity to step aside.

However, Alina did not expect Woden to still lack perspective at this moment and insist on having Her Majesty deal with the Minister of Finance’s family.

Alina rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt, while the Minister of Finance and his wife had already helped Ye Bai, who had collapsed over there, up and went to the lounge with the help of the butler robot.

By the time the Minister of Finance and his wife returned with Ye Bai, Alina had been struggling with Woden for nearly ten minutes.

Looking at Woden on the sofa, who was harder to control than a pig, Alina really wished she could ask her aunt for a few slaps to knock some sense into him.

Fortunately, she managed to shut Woden’s mouth, otherwise, who knew what he would say.

But Alina still had to hold him down until the end of the banquet.

After all, he was the Crown Prince.

Alina did not know how many times today she had thought of those words, she was nearly physically nauseous.

Meanwhile, Woden continued to bounce on the sofa, and Martha and the others helped hold his limbs.

Woden: could not help but turn into a stubborn fish~

Fortunately, the banquet reached its midpoint, and Her Majesty was about to give another speech.

At this point, Woden finally calmed down a bit. He knew that if he made any noise now and disrupted his mother’s speech, he would truly be removed from the position of Crown Prince.

Ye Bai, seeing Woden finally subdued, remained expressionless.

He lowered his head, the red marks on his face from the slap now fully cleaned with the robot’s help, and he appeared as fresh as when he had just entered the banquet hall.

Ye Bai really did not understand why Woden had turned into this state or why things had reached this point.

Was it his fault?

His emotions wanted to tell him it was his fault, but his reason pulled him back.

No, it was not his fault.

He had already done everything he could for Woden.

The problem was that Woden himself was a rotten person, a childish fool who had never considered how embarrassed Her Majesty would be because of this incident.

Ye Bai looked at the floor, listening to Her Majesty’s speech, his expression bitter.

But even if he realized now, what good would it do? His reason told him he should not like Woden, but his emotions reminded him that years of effort and friendship could not be abandoned so easily.

Moreover…

Who else could control Woden? Especially now that Her Majesty had abandoned him.

He was the Crown Prince. He would become Emperor in the future. If he made wrong decisions, it could indeed cause problems across the empire. He could not just shift responsibility to others.

Ye Bai thought this, and just as his gaze began to harden, Her Majesty, standing before the throne and finishing her speech, added one more sentence.

“Here, I have another piece of good news to share with my ministers and my subjects.”

Her Majesty’s face, which revealed no age but only the gravity of her presence, was full of smiles.

She then clapped her hands, and the holographic screen behind her suddenly displayed two infants still in swaddling clothes.

—Their baby clothes bore the royal emblem.

“The royal family welcomes a little princess and a little prince. Celebrate for our two heirs, my subjects.”

Under everyone’s shocked gaze, Her Majesty cheerfully took the wine glass handed by the butler robot and raised it high.

She looked at Woden, who appeared near tears, her eyes full of pity and sighs, until only coldness remained.

“Everyone, to the future of the nation!”

“To the future of the nation!”

After the guests finished, they put down their wine glasses, thinking tonight’s scandals had come one after another.

Her Majesty had secretly given birth to two children without anyone knowing, and they only learned because she told them herself. Her secrecy was impeccable.

At least now they understood why the palace had been under lockdown recently, even moving Crown Prince Woden to a room outside the palace—they feared he might harm the two heirs.

But considering Woden’s behavior, even Her Majesty could not fully trust him, he had the temperament to harm his own siblings.

However…

The guests exchanged glances and could not help looking at Woden, who still seemed dazed on the sofa.

It seemed that Woden truly—was about to lose his position as Crown Prince?

Even Ye Bai was a little stunned. He had been thinking that if Woden ascended the throne and they ended their engagement, with no one around to restrain him, what would happen to the empire?

Her Majesty’s actions had directly solved that worry. If Woden could not handle it, then someone else could take his place, right?

But…

Ye Bai turned to see Woden looking so dazed and somewhat pitiable, and he could not help softening again.

—Alina, watching this, rolled her eyes until they ached.

“I don’t know whose genes Ye Bai inherited. How can he lose all principles when he sees someone pitiful? That guy just hit him!” Alina ranted wildly, loosening her grip a little.

Martha and the others also rolled their eyes at Woden’s antics that night.

—But unexpectedly, Woden took advantage of the moment and broke free from their hold.

Before Alina could catch him, Woden slipped out of her hands like he had started sprinting, charging fiercely forward.

He even grit his teeth and ran straight toward the center of the dance floor.

Seeing the charging Crown Prince, the butler and security robots rushed to protect Her Majesty.

Her Majesty, confident in her position as Woden’s mother, assumed he would not dare to attack her.

But…

Woden did not run toward Her Majesty. Instead, he turned and charged toward someone else, surprising everyone present.

Because it was neither Prince Janus nor the Minister of Finance.

—It was Ye Wangxing, who had just punched Woden.

Ye Wangxing seemed stunned, standing in place without dodging Woden’s incoming fists.

Woden also appeared to charge toward Ye Wangxing unhindered.

Then…

Four figures blocked his path.

Prince Janus and General Ortas, the two strongest in combat, pinned him in place. Though they did not force him to kneel with iron-like hands, they made it difficult for Woden to escape.

Woden, enraged, swore loudly.

“Ye Wangxing! This is all your fault! If you hadn’t punched me today! If it weren’t for that platform you made! Mother would never have abandoned me!”

He looked like a spoiled beagle past its prime—his cuteness had plummeted, leaving only the cries of a big-eared donkey.

Ye Bai rushed forward to calm Woden but was pulled aside by Alina.

“Do you want to hold your brother back?” Alina said sternly.

Ye Bai looked at the frenzied Woden, then at his older brother, who had stood up for him tonight.

He remained silent.

The Minister of Finance and his wife wanted to intervene for their son, but two others were faster with their words.

“The Crown Prince seems drunk. Look, he’s talking nonsense.”

Count Unobert smiled, not engaging with Woden’s words.

The man with catlike eyes, with even less patience than Woden, called the butler robot.

“He’s drunk, acting wildly. Take him to his room to prevent escape, understood?”

The butler robot immediately tried to take Woden away. Woden struggled even harder, expanding his range of attacks.

…Eventually, it affected the four men who had blocked him.

“…What’s your relationship with Ye Wangxing? Is he your father? Why are you protecting him like this?” Woden shouted in fury.

Then…

The four men in front of him simultaneously adjusted their clothes, cleared their throats, and smiled.

“He is our partner/lover/husband/boyfriend.”

Woden went silent.

The butler robot also stopped pulling him.

The previously noisy banquet hall immediately fell silent.

Alina, who had been scolding Ye Bai, abruptly turned her head so hard she almost broke her neck, without a sound.

Ye Bai, stunned, followed her gaze and looked at his older brother.

Ye Wangxing still had that gentle, almost helpless, animal-like face. Compared to the four men, now slightly flushed, he looked like the one being bullied.

But… what did it mean to do the biggest thing with the most helpless face!

Ye Bai silently turned his gaze to his father, who had just been slapped, and his mother, who was sighing.

‘Dad, Mom, it seems that even without Woden’s incident, our family is doomed.’

 

 

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