Although everyone present wanted to gossip, since this was after all a royal ball, quarreling in public clearly didn’t look very dignified.

So His Majesty the Empress mercifully opened a private side hall specifically for her, allowing a few people to go in and resolve their matters.

…However, Alina thought her aunt only wanted to gossip, which was why the side hall beside the throne had been made available.

“His Majesty wouldn’t really, would she…”

Ye Bai still had some filter for His Majesty. He hesitated as he spoke.

Alina, however, pointed at the open side hall door and whispered: “Are you sure?”

Ye Bai didn’t speak.

“Besides, if Aunt hadn’t opened the side hall door, would you and I even be able to stand here and peek?”

Alina glanced at Ye Bai as she said this.

Ye Bai looked at the side hall doorframe close at hand and then at the guests in the ballroom, their faces full of envy and jealousy. Because they weren’t related to Ye Wangxing, they could only dance in the ballroom, which made them momentarily dazed.

He felt like he had rediscovered the social circle he had grown up in.

“No one could resist watching a spectacle, especially when it had nothing to do with themselves,”

Marsha, standing behind Ye Bai, patted her friend on the shoulder, then leaned on him to peer inside.

Her expression showed admiration as she said,

“But your brother is impressive too. Even Woden said so, yet he still maintained control and brought people to the side hall.”

Martha truly admired Ye Bai’s brother. Even in the midst of a mishap, he remained composed, with no trace of embarrassment—only the expression of ‘what was supposed to happen, finally did happen.’

He even casually set a trap for Woden.

“I… didn’t want any of you to get hurt, so I wanted to handle this more gently. Your Highness, why did you question them?”

The young man said with a sad look in his eyes.

…Then the stunned Woden became the second target of the deadly stares.

Under the oppressive aura of these four, Woden didn’t dare say a word as he was suppressed.

It was also possible that he froze because he recognized the logic—he had previously used the same reasoning to deal with Ye Bai’s friends who had tried to stand up for him.

Alina thought he deserved it.

But… she didn’t know whether Ye Bai would snap out of it.

Still, when Alina turned to see Ye Bai looking worriedly at Ye Wangxing, she realized she didn’t need to worry about Ye Bai going after Woden before the ball ended.

“…Alina, do you think my brother still has a chance?”

Ye Bai looked at the people in the side hall, and at his weak, helpless brother surrounded in the middle. Instinctively, he sought the advice of his most reliable friend.

However, this time neither Alina nor Martha could provide any useful guidance.

“Honestly, we’ve never faced a life-or-death situation like this. Your brother is amazing. But it should be okay—after all, it’s a royal banquet, and His Majesty is watching. They won’t start fighting. As long as they don’t fight, there’s still a sliver of hope.”

Alina whispered to Ye Bai.

Hearing this, Ye Bai stretched out his hand numbly, pointing toward the throne.

“Are you sure His Majesty is watching to prevent them from fighting?”

Alina looked at her excited aunt and her mother, who had already asked the butler robot to bring a fruit tray.

She fell silent.

At that moment, the people inside finally ended their standoff. Their voices became louder. Alina, unable to pay attention to her two elders with wide eyes, immediately pricked her ears and cautiously peeked over the edge of the side hall.

“—Ye Wangxing, you really are something.”

General Ortas deep green eyes fixed tightly on the young man in front of him. Anger and disappointment filled them, along with a subtle trace of hurt.

It looked like a large beast had approached its master, only to be discarded.

“Heh, I originally thought when you said you wanted to mend the relationship, you meant me. I didn’t expect you were talking to the four of us.”

With this sentence, the golden neck collar on the man’s neck appeared somewhat dimmed.

“—You really are greedy.”

General Ortas tone was calm, but anyone could tell that beneath this calmness, the emotion was like a volcano about to erupt.

“I… I never intended to hurt you. Never.” The young man’s expression showed a trace of struggle as he spoke.

“But I didn’t know why things suddenly developed like this. I only had a small thought, wanting to watch you all nearby. I never expected you to respond to me, since I’m really not very outstanding. In fact, I am very inconspicuous…”

“I never thought I’d hit the jackpot…”

The young man’s helpless and bewildered expression caused General Ortas face to waver slightly.

He seemed to believe what Ye Wangxing had said and unconsciously stepped forward.

At the door, Ye Bai’s expression looked extremely anxious. He was genuinely afraid that his brother would be attacked by these men because of the scumbag words he had spoken.

“So this is why your brother could date four people at once, while you only dated Woden and it ended up on your record.”

Martha said sharply.

“Given your brother’s situation, believe it or not, if he had shown even a little of this behavior, the current result—after he thought it through—he could have been taken away by those men on the spot. Whether he’d live or die would have been uncertain.”

Ye Bai shivered immediately.

Martha added: “Also, your brother had dated them, they were all ex-boyfriends, so they understood his character to some extent. Naturally, they also knew he wasn’t lying. In this case, as long as one person didn’t firmly cause trouble, your brother’s chance of survival increased slightly.”

“So… my brother knew this situation and deliberately acted that way?”

Ye Bai asked in disbelief. After all, his brother didn’t seem like that in daily life.

“No,” Martha shook her head, her tone showing slight shock. “That’s exactly the point. Your brother’s personality naturally includes indecisiveness, similar to yours, and that led to everything he showed toward these four men coming purely from his heart.”

“He genuinely didn’t want these four men to get hurt,” Martha sighed. “But I can understand it—after all, who could resist these four?”

As she spoke, Martha sighed internally. Unfortunately, she really couldn’t learn this trick.

“Martha is right. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have taken until now for people to discover that he was involved with four men at the same time,” Alina added, her expression still showing shock.

If they weren’t eavesdropping, she probably would have gasped a few times in respect.

“The degree of sincerity he showed to these four men was probably comparable to yours. Before being discovered on the spot, I bet they wouldn’t have believed Ye Wangxing was entangled with anyone else—he loves me this much, how could he have anything to do with other men?”

Martha nodded in agreement with Alina, but when she turned to look at Ye Bai, her expression immediately showed disdain.

“It’s not about making you like your brother, catching four at once, but why does your brother’s indecisiveness turn into a tangled love-brain when applied to you and Woden?”

Ye Bai: “…”

Was it my fault?

Alina also looked slightly disdainful. She thought about all the troubles Ye Bai’s love-brain had caused them before and felt like hitting him.

While they chatted, their friends behind them and more distant guests had heard the sounds from the room by various means and were now discussing it excitedly.

However, while they were excited, the Minister of Finance and his wife felt somewhat embarrassed.

—Something about their two children seemed off.

While the discussion raged outside the door, changes occurred inside.

General Ortas still couldn’t resist the young man’s pitiful expression. He stepped forward, about to speak, but the cat-eyed man beside him blocked his view.

He glanced at the man standing there and seemed to disdain his ineffectiveness—how could he be soothed by Ye Wangxing’s words so easily and forget to question him?

However, when he looked at Ye Wangxing, his expression was no better than Ortas’s.

His beautiful cat eyes immediately reflected many complex emotions, but he closed his eyes and quickly suppressed them.

When he opened his eyes again, only coldness remained. He pressed his voice low, as if addressing an outsider, and spoke to Ye Wangxing: “Ye Wangxing, I truly didn’t expect you to treat me this way.”

“I regarded you as my only exception, and I felt your sincerity. But… I didn’t expect that your sincerity was divided among four people.”

As he spoke, his emotions gradually rose, and the cold expression on his face could no longer hold. He looked like a volcano about to erupt, or an enraged cat, and he let out a low growl at Ye Wangxing.

The young man in front of him looked guilty, as if his guilt would engulf him entirely. Tears trembled in his eyes.

—Until the man growled,

“…you even took the tracker I gave you to go on dates with other men!”

“Is this what you call not wanting to hurt any of us, Ye Wangxing?”

As soon as he said this, the young man’s previously guilty expression froze.

The tears that had been welling in his eyes vanished, and he looked at the cat-eyed man in front of him in confusion. Then, as if remembering something, his confusion turned to shock.

“—I thought you had turned off that tracker!”

The onlookers at the door, led by Alina, thought: “…”oh wow, didn’t expect an unexpected turn.

“…cough, actually that thing can be controlled remotely.”

Semos’s voice immediately dropped eight octaves. His original anger was interrupted. Like a big cat realizing its mistake, though he could have roared, he now mewed at the young man.

“No wonder when you said you went to find me on my planet after the breakup, you didn’t find me. I hadn’t told anyone…”

Ye Wangxing murmured in confusion.

“Wow, I didn’t expect Lord Semos played so cleverly.”

Alina, at the door, remarked, and Martha nodded in agreement, while only Ye Bai worried about his brother.

“This counts as an infringement of personal rights, right? My brother actually had a tracker planted on him, and it wasn’t even detected. What exactly is the capital’s security for?”

Ye Bai spoke harshly, which was rare for him.

“Lord Semos personally made the tracker. It would probably be difficult for existing security checks to detect it—though it does involve invading someone’s privacy. I don’t know what Marshal thinks about this,”

Alina said quietly.

But before they could turn to look at the Marshal, they heard Semos quietly explaining.

“I was just worried about your safety, thinking about your protection. At that time, you were on a remote planet where security wasn’t as good as on the capital planet. And in the capital, I only turned on the tracker to know where you were. I thought we were dating then…”

Semos lowered his voice to explain, as if he had forgotten he was supposed to seek an answer.

However, Ye Bai thought Semos’s reason was complete nonsense. His brother would definitely not believe it. But Alina and Martha had the opposite opinion.

“Don’t I and Alina know your personality? You’re extremely indecisive. Woden says something, and you believe it. Your brother’s personality is very similar to yours, he would definitely believe it,”

Martha glanced at Ye Bai and said, and the next second it came true.

“…Indeed, security on a remote planet isn’t very good, and it’s normal for people in love to want to control each other’s whereabouts.”

Hearing his own brother say something similar to what he had thought, though different in detail, Ye Bai felt for the first time what others must have felt toward him back then.

—He felt dizzy and angry, with a breath stuck in his chest.

Ye Bai felt that if Alina and Martha weren’t holding him back, he would have rushed inside and beaten Semos while shouting that he was lying.

Meanwhile, Ye Bai was fuming outside, but in the side hall, the atmosphere between Semos and Ye Wangxing had become calmer—perhaps even slightly warm.

“Actually, Ye Wangxing, I don’t care about your past. I won’t mind the previous incidents. Do you want to… choose me?”

As Semos cautiously asked, Prince Janus beside him finally could not bear it. He grabbed the blushing Semos, glanced at him, then mocked Ye Wangxing directly.

“Hah, Brother Ye—Ye Wangxing, your taste wasn’t very good before, huh?”

Although Prince Janus mocked, even changing how he addressed Ye Wangxing, no one thought he was truly mocking him.

—His tears were still in his eyes.

Just seeing Ye Wangxing broke his composure a little.

He almost cried, but gritted his teeth and forced the tears back, squeezing out through his teeth: “…Ye Wangxing, have you been lying to me all this time? Was your saying you liked me a lie?”

“What exactly do you take me for? A backup you call when needed and discard when done?”

It was clear Prince Janus was trying hard to harshly question Ye Wangxing, but his voice revealed that he was forcing himself.

Seeing Ye Wangxing’s guilty expression, he could not hold back any longer and asked, tears streaming: “I clearly liked you so much. You were my first love. I… I gave up my royal dignity to try to steal you. Why, why would you treat me like this…”

The young prince was tall and strong, but he ended up crumpled with grievance. He kept wiping tears from his face, looking pitiful like an abandoned dog.

Even those watching outside felt their conscience pricked.

“Prince Janus is really crossing the line. Your brother only responds to softness, not force. See, he comforted him,”

Except Martha. She looked at the youth moving forward with compassion and clicked her tongue.

“But Prince Janus really does look pitiful, and among these four, he’s the only one without tricks.”

Ye Bai felt a little sympathy, then saw Alina and Martha turn to him, shaking their heads with pity.

Ye Bai suddenly had a bad feeling.

“…Prince Janus is faking it?”

“Not entirely—maybe seventy percent real, thirty percent fake. He is genuinely hurt, but he’s also using this opportunity to gain your brother’s sympathy,”

Alina said, stroking her chin.

Ye Bai was shocked and turned back into the hall, just in time to see his brother standing in front of the half-crouching Prince Janus. He lightly patted his shoulder, as if about to say something.

But Prince Janus grabbed his brother’s hand and, with one smooth motion, hugged his brother’s waist.

The tall youth buried his face in the man’s waist, voice muffled and tinged with crying: “Brother Ye… please don’t abandon me, okay?”

Ye Bai watched his brother hesitate violently.

“Janus is really good at this. With that voice, no one could refuse him,” the Empress said from her throne, smiling at the banquet but her eyes almost flew toward the side hall.

The Princess, next to her, was much more relaxed, smiling as she looked at the side hall: “Janus naturally knows how to be likable, it’s just whether he wants to or not ”she said.

“But now, Janus should be confident of victory,” the Empress said, but she didn’t think so.

“He’s still inexperienced. Don’t forget that none of the four inside are easy to deal with. Even Semos, who seems clueless socially, managed to distract Ye Wangxing from noticing the tracker on him.”

“Moreover…”

The Empress squinted, looking again at the side hall, meeting a pair of golden eyes.

“There’s still one hardest to handle, who hasn’t spoken yet.”

Just as the Empress finished, a figure appeared behind the young prince, lightly patting his shoulder: “Your Highness, it’s still the banquet outside. Don’t let the drones capture it.”

The man with golden eyes spoke gently but kept his gaze on Ye Wangxing.

Ye Wangxing did not look at him, but upon hearing the words, hurriedly helped Prince Janus to his feet.

“Janus, there are still people outside filming. You need to stand up, your image cannot be damaged.”

Ye Wangxing genuinely cared for Prince Janus, forcing him to grit his teeth and stand.

“—Thank you, Count Unobert,”

Prince Janus said through gritted teeth.

The scene reminded Alina of the palace intrigue drama she had just caught up with last night.

—The merchant Empress had called the imperial doctor in a few words, leaving the concubine with no cover.

And when the concubine thanked her bitterly, the merchant Empress replied lightly: “It’s fine.”

Count Unobert smiled as he said this, then met Ye Wangxing’s eyes.

He didn’t look angry, but his emotions were clearly unsettled. His gaze on Ye Wangxing held countless emotions, and he finally closed his eyes and sighed.

“I know you are young and don’t know how to handle these feelings. I won’t blame you, but…”

Count Unobert pointed to the brooch he wore over his heart.

His expression carried bitterness as he said: “Wangxing, my heart hurts.”

Ye Bai watched Ye Wangxing’s expression waver again.

Then he turned to see Prince Janus, who hadn’t yet wiped his tears.

The remaining two turned their faces away from Ye Wangxing.

Ye Wangxing stood pale, eyes full of struggle and pain. His gentle face carried guilt and conflict. His lips trembled, as if wanting to speak but not knowing where to start.

His gaze flickered among the four, finally forcing out: “I… I really don’t want to hurt any of you. Should we just—”

He closed his eyes mid-sentence, as if making a decision, but it was interrupted by the man with golden eyes.

“Wangxing, your mind is still chaotic. Don’t make a rash decision. Are you sure what you want won’t hurt us?”

Count Unobert’s voice was unusually stern.

The other three seemed to understand what Ye Wangxing intended and did not glare at Count Unobert.

Ye Wangxing opened his eyes to look at Count Unobert, then closed his mouth and lowered his head.

The man with golden eyes, out of Ye Wangxing’s sight, exhaled and stepped forward, holding Ye Wangxing’s wrist, placing his hand on his face.

Ye Wangxing was surprised and relaxed his hand, revealing a palm that had been squeezed to bleed.

Count Unobert held his hand and said in a steady voice: “I won’t force you. I will give you time to think carefully, but…”

He gently kissed Ye Wangxing’s palm, looking softly into his surprised eyes: “I hope I can wait for the answer I want.”

Count Unobert then turned and left the side hall, honoring his promise, leaving Ye Wangxing to think.

Only Ye Wangxing stood there, blushing and dumbfounded, facing the remaining three who seemed deadly.

“Geez, the older ones are still the smartest,”

Martha sighed, and Alina nodded.

Ye Bai quickly regained his wits and raised the most pressing question that would affect his quality of life: “…Can tomorrow’s trending news about the royal family having two new heirs cover up my brother’s matter?”

Clearly, it could not.

The next day, one headline topped the charts.

#The ex-boyfriends of the four are the same person!#

 

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