What abuse have you suffered?

Anya slunk out of the room.

Pei Ji hurried over. "Did he drink the medicine? Is he okay? He's not angry anymore, right? Can I go in now?"

After struggling for a while with the barrage of questions, Anya finally chose to sigh first. "He hasn't taken the medicine."

Pei Ji's face immediately fell.

Anya hastily added, "But he didn't seem very angry. He was even interested in asking me what kind of banquet was being held at the Desert Tavern."

"But I'd barely answered him when a call came in. He wouldn't let me listen, so he sent me out..."

Pei Ji's expression darkened further. "Whose call couldn't he take in front of you? Don't tell me it's an old flame?"

Demi rolled her eyes at Pei Ji.

"Do you think he's as casual about relationships as you are?"

Pei Ji pointed at himself in shock. "I've been single since birth, thank you."

"I've kept myself pure for my Omega all these years, so why does he get to take calls behind my back? I'm not even in his terminal's contacts yet!"

"Absolutely not!"

As he spoke, Pei Ji reached for the doorknob.

There was a click.

"He even dared to lock me out?!"

Meanwhile, inside the bedroom.

Shen Que knelt on one knee, his hand over his heart, and addressed the woman on the screen. "Good evening, Your Majesty."

The supreme ruler of the Imperial Court-Empress Carolina-wore an elaborate court robe and the Silver Branch Crown. She appeared to be seated in a garden, with no servants attending her.

Those cold, proud eyes that looked down upon the universe were now anxiously inspecting the Omega before the screen.

"Raise your head and let me look at you... Are you all right, Shen Que?"

Shen Que lifted his head and, as expected, caught a barely perceptible trace of weariness in her eyes.

After his injury, the post of Commander of the First Fleet, which was under the Empress's personal control, had been left vacant. That must have... caused considerable trouble.

"I'm very well. I'm sorry to have worried you, Your Majesty."

Carolina raised a hand to silence him.

"Don't give me polite platitudes. I've already heard about the wedding. What exactly happened?"

Shen Que froze, considering his words.

"It was an accident." He paused. "You shouldn't have to concern yourself with such a trivial matter."

"An accident? A trivial matter?"

Carolina gave a cold laugh.

"You are the Omega I personally bestowed upon that Pei Ji. The only reason I didn't make him kneel and kiss your toes was out of respect for Pei Li, and he actually abandoned you at the wedding! Do you know what people on the Star Network are saying about you now?!"

As the Empress's voice abruptly rose, several trending topics appeared on the terminal screen.

Shen Que glanced at them. After catching words like [incompetent], [pitiful], and even [infertile], he pressed his lips together.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?!" Carolina rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Shen Que, tell me the truth. Has that Pei Ji been abusing you?"

"Abusing me?" Shen Que frowned slightly.

Although Pei Ji's attitude toward him was a mystery, it certainly couldn't be called abuse.

"Of course not," he patiently explained to Carolina. "He might... not like me, but he treats me quite well."

"What?!"

Carolina's voice abruptly rose another pitch.

"He dares not to like you? Who gave him the nerve? Pei Li, or those citizens who gave him those nicknames?!"

"The Demon King of the Battlefield, the Bane of the Zerg... Who does he think his Omega is? What right does he have-"

"Your Majesty," Shen Que gently interrupted her.

In the Empire, interrupting the Empress was a capital offense, a desecration of the Imperial Court. No one dared say a single word of dissent to the exalted Carolina.

But at Shen Que's words, Carolina suddenly stopped. Then she coughed and ground out, "If I'd known, I would have kicked him off the shortlist! That lunatic..."

"The Brain Computer's matching results are beyond doubt," Shen Que said calmly. "Our pheromones really are highly compatible."

"My mental state has also improved considerably since coming here."

"Then he has some use after all," Carolina said irritably. "Why do you say he doesn't like you?"

Shen Que paused, then forced out a few words:

"He hasn't marked me."

"What?! He hasn't marked you! Who does he think his Omega is? What right does he have... Hm? He hasn't marked you?"

Carolina stopped short, her upturned eyes turning back to the Commander kneeling obediently before the screen.

He hasn't marked him...

Then doesn't that mean...

With his eyes lowered, Shen Que nodded.

"Yes... He might..."

Have someone else he likes... Or... prefer to mark a healthy Omega rather than a sickly one.

For some reason, just thinking about those possibilities left him unexpectedly downhearted.

Perhaps it was the influence of their highly compatible pheromones.

Biological instinct would decide at first sight that the other person was the one you wanted, whether you wished it or not.

On the other side of the screen, however, Carolina's mood was the polar opposite of Shen Que's gloom.

Carolina could barely contain her joy. She was almost moved to tears of happiness.

Wonderful!

Her precious boy was still untouched.

She never should have agreed to let Shen Que marry so far away.

Although White Sand Star was far from the Hive, and Pei Li's considerable influence could offer her Commander the best protection, this was still the precious boy she'd raised for so many years!

That lunatic Pei Ji had so many scandals to his name. Once the deed was done, her sweet, adorable Shen Que would be someone else's Omega for good!

But now everything was fine.

He hadn't been marked!

Coughing lightly twice, Carolina tried to make her voice sound a little sadder.

"Well... Don't be too upset. Focus on recovering for now. Since that Pei Ji's pheromones help you, wring him dry... If worse comes to worst, you can always get a div-"

Before she could finish saying "divorce," the still image suddenly shook.

The ruby chandelier overhead gave a clear clatter, and the floor began trembling as well.

Alarmed, Shen Que was about to get up.

Then a violent roar came from outside the floor-to-ceiling window, followed by a flash of blue light and Demi's scream.

"General, please calm down!"

The floor-to-ceiling window instantly split into four pieces. A pitch-black Mecha landed outside, mercilessly stamping two craters into the fine white sand.

Pei Ji swept out of the cockpit like the wind and strode into the bedroom, crushing the broken glass beneath his feet.

"Let's see which lover you're calling behind my back!"

Shen Que immediately rose, but his weakened legs gave out, dropping him to his knees again.

Pei Ji narrowed his eyes and darted forward, catching him with practiced ease.

"Tired? Hm? Need a rest? Hm? Not only are you making calls behind my back, you're into punishment play too? Is kneeling fun? Want me to strip you naked and tie you up so we can try something new?!"

Shen Que's pale face immediately flushed red.

"Pei Ji!" he warned.

At the same time, a cold, intensely imposing voice sounded from the other end of the terminal screen.

"Pei Ji."

Pei Ji raised an eyebrow and turned toward the screen.

"Did I give you permission to speak? You-"

Silence.

The Empire's Demon King, who dared defy heaven and earth alike, froze in an utterly rigid pose.

Silence.

On the terminal screen he had accidentally kicked over, a face appeared, as icy as the snow on Jiluo Star that had remained frozen for a thousand years.

"You what?"

Empress Carolina's ice-shard voice came from the upside-down screen.

Pei Ji said, "Is it too late for this clown to kneel?"