Chapter Thirteen
The meeting room was silent.
The alpha seated at the head of the table had suddenly interrupted the meeting and left the room for a full half hour.
For something like this to happen to Yan Beiyou, who was known for being serious and meticulous, was exceedingly rare.
No one in the conference room dared to chat with one another.
Yet, more or less,
they were all secretly speculating.
What major event could possibly have required their emperor to halt the meeting and handle it personally?
The tightly shut doors were pushed open from outside.
The alpha who had just left returned to the conference room.
Yan Beiyou looked relaxed and natural, no different from when he had left.
If there was any difference, it was merely that there was now a black-and-gray cashmere scarf draped over the alpha's arm.
Everyone held their breath and watched the alpha return to his seat.
He spread out the scarf and looped its long length into a circle, making it look like a little nest.
Then, before everyone's widened eyes, Yan Beiyou took an egg from his pocket and placed it inside the nest made of scarf.
The entire process was smooth and effortless, without the slightest hesitation.
After finishing all this, Yan Beiyou calmly swept his gaze over the people in the conference room and resumed the work from earlier.
Two hours later, the meeting ended.
Yan Beiyou did not rise to leave, and no one else dared to leave before the alpha.
Zhu Yucheng, who had witnessed everything, walked over to Yan Beiyou as he stuffed both the egg and scarf into his pocket.
Lowering his voice, Zhu Yucheng quietly asked, "Your Majesty, what kind of egg is that? It's rather pretty."
Yan Beiyou patted the egg through his pocket and replied, "A dragon egg."
Almost everyone present was a top-tier alpha or omega, their senses sharper than ordinary people's.
Every word of Zhu Yucheng and Yan Beiyou's conversation fell clearly into everyone's ears.
One alpha who was getting up from his chair silently slowed down.
One omega who was heading for the door abruptly stopped and smiled as he greeted a colleague beside him.
Zhu Yucheng sucked in a sharp breath. "Your Majesty—"
Who was it?
Who had quietly given their emperor a dragon egg without anyone knowing?!
Yan Beiyou cast a bland glance at his shocked friend. "What?"
This was not a suitable place to discuss such a private subject. Zhu Yucheng shook his head repeatedly. "No, nothing..."
Yan Beiyou strode out of the conference room on his long legs.
The egg in his pocket carried half of his pheromones.
Half dragon, half mushroom.
Song Ren had visited the Imperial Palace today. With dark circles beneath his eyes from staying up several nights in a row to research materials, he told Yan Beiyou of an extremely slim possibility.
Yan Beiyou's Companion Beast had swallowed Mushroom Spore. After its pheromones fused with Mushroom Spore, it became an egg.
After the egg had stayed beside Yan Beiyou for several days, the fluctuations of spiritual power inside the shell became more frequent than before.
"An ordinary creature's egg can hatch successfully in a suitable environment. The egg belonging to Your Majesty and that mushroom gentleman may likewise have a chance of hatching in a certain pheromone environment."
The area beneath Song Ren's eyes was dark, but his eyes gleamed with excitement at the new discovery. "The result of hatching may be a new Companion Beast that can only be commanded by Your Majesty and that mushroom gentleman."
"Or it may hatch into a humanoid creature."
Ye Nanxun's scarf carried the scent of an omega. Yan Beiyou had no intention of returning it to the kind mushroom gentleman.
Back in his room, Yan Beiyou reached into his pocket and took out both the egg and the scarf.
His slightly rough fingertips, callused with a thin layer of skin, rubbed the soft scarf.
The scarf was not new, and some areas had pilled. Its owner had probably used it for many years.
Pilling was normal for pure cashmere. It felt soft and warm to the touch.
Just as he had in the meeting room, Yan Beiyou made a nest for the egg with the scarf, then left the egg there without further concern.
He walked to the adjoining dressing room, where his everyday clothes filled the racks.
After picking through them, Yan Beiyou took a black-and-gray cashmere scarf from the wardrobe.
At four in the afternoon, Ye Nanxun left the piano practice room.
His slender, pale fingers habitually reached for the neck exposed to the cold air.
They found no soft cashmere fabric, only empty air.
Right, that very tall alpha had wrapped the puppy in his scarf and taken it away.
Pulling his coat collar closer, Ye Nanxun returned to the parking lot under the guidance of an Imperial Palace staff member.
He had never taken driver's education classes.
Even if he had a car, he could only use its intelligent self-driving system.
But even if he did not need to drive himself, regulations still required him to sit in the driver's seat.
Ye Nanxun thought,
When the weather gets warmer, I'll get my driver's license.
There were many things he had never done in his previous life, and now he wanted to try them all.
With a plan in mind, Ye Nanxun did not delay. He immediately went online and registered for the driver's license exam.
He registered for the online test first.
As for the practical test, he was still considering whether to attend driving school or have his father teach him.
Soothing, melodious piano music played in the car. His thoughts gradually settled, and a familiar tune drifted past his ears.
It was the piece that very tall alpha had played at the piano that afternoon.
Would that person come tomorrow?
What piece should he play then?
As he pondered, the car slowly entered the estate in the suburbs.
Ye Nanxun looked out the window and immediately spotted a flashy black sports car parked in front of the villa.
His gaze slowly swept over the sports car's license plate, and a brief shadow passed through his expression.
The car parked beside the black sports car.
The villa door opened from within, and Chen Mingzhu was the first to step out with a smile.
"Nanxun, your cousin is here today too."
As Chen Mingzhu spoke, a young-looking, refined alpha appeared in the villa doorway. His undisguised, appraising gaze landed directly on Ye Nanxun.
He had visited the Ye Household several times, yet every time, he had failed to run into his reclusive cousin at home.
Was it a coincidence, or intentional?
But if it was intentional, Ye Zhineng and this cousin had never even met before.
The more he failed to encounter him, the more Ye Zhineng wanted to see him with his own eyes.
What was so extraordinary about this omega cousin of his, with SS-grade spiritual power, that so many young nobles could not stop thinking about him?
When the tall omega stepped out of the car, if Chen Mingzhu had not warmly called him "Nanxun," Ye Zhineng would have thought he was an alpha.
That fleeting thought vanished the instant Ye Nanxun's face entered his field of vision.
Before seeing Ye Nanxun, Ye Zhineng had always believed Xu Wenyan was the most beautiful omega he had ever seen.
Light green eyes looked toward Ye Zhineng. Though the corners of Ye Nanxun's lips were raised, there was a touch of noble distance in his expression.
"Cousin." Ye Nanxun's expression remained indifferent.
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