Enjoying the View?

Two days later.

Old Hall, Demi, Phil, and Anya said goodbye to the Fallen Star Palace and boarded the airship bound for the First Oasis with Pei Ji and Shen Que.

"We won't let the General embarrass White Sand Star!"

Old Hall assured the gathered servants.

"All I ask is that he stay off the trending searches," Phil pleaded weakly.

Demi and Anya nodded solemnly.

The G9 touring airship lifted off smoothly.

Though the old-fashioned airship's propulsion was leagues behind that of starships capable of spaceflight, its spacious, comfortable interior made it a favorite among the nobility.

Holding an exquisite bone china teacup, Shen Que stood in the spherical, 360-degree observation cabin, admiring White Sand Star's scenery.

Pei Ji's Fallen Star Palace stood at the edge of the Third Oasis, with desert to the south and oasis to the north.

On one side lay lush jungle, with man-made suspended tracks appearing and disappearing among the verdant leaves.

On the other, the land rose and fell, covered in desolate white sand as far as the eye could see.

Thick plumes of smoke rose from the far reaches of the white sands.

As the airship passed overhead, Shen Que noticed that the white smoke came from a cluster of enormous spherical machines.

The steel constructs, each a full ten stories tall, stood in orderly rows like an army of giants.

Shen Que suddenly realized what they were.

Sand gold mining facilities.

The Empire's lifeblood, the source of White Sand Star's wealth.

Those spherical machines were actually mining devices powered by S-grade energy cores. Even without operators, they could work continuously for over three hundred days in extremely hostile weather.

His gaze slowly shifted away from the facilities.

Cup in hand, Shen Que returned to his seat beside Pei Ji, the bone china clinking crisply against the tabletop.

Pei Ji, who had been listening to Hall's report, looked up at the sound.

"What's wrong? Don't like the view? Want to switch to something else? This glass is a transparent electronic display. You can watch shows on it."

"What was that show everyone's been raving about on the Star Network lately? Demi! Look it up."

"General." Shen Que gave him a helpless look. "I was just a little tired of standing."

Pei Ji flipped through the Fallen Star Palace's latest budget-cut report with one hand and held out the other.

"Want to sit in my lap?"

Shen Que's pupils trembled.

A thought suddenly popped into his head.

Why tease if you won't bite?

After spending these past few days together, he had realized Pei Ji wasn't entirely uninterested in him. In fact... he was a little too attentive.

Whether Shen Que was eating, taking his medicine, sleeping, or going for a stroll, Pei Ji always had to ask about it.

He was always saying things that could easily be misconstrued, too.

And making... gestures that could easily be misconstrued.

"Does the General treat other Omegas like this, too?" Shen Que had asked Anya privately.

The Little Maid looked baffled. "Like what?"

Shen Que pondered. "He just... flirts a lot. He's a bit like..."

He recalled the new expressions he had heard from those combat soldiers.

"An equal-opportunity flirt."

Anya said, "Ah... well, that's..."

"Absolutely not!"

"Sir, don't you know our General trended for making the fleet's Omegas cry by yelling at them?"

"Demi told me there used to be Omegas among the General's servants, too."

"Omegas might be a little sensitive, but they're meticulous workers."

"But the General found all their crying annoying. He scolded several of them into quitting, then simply stopped hiring Omegas altogether."

"If he spreads anything around indiscriminately, it's not charm. It's venom."

Shen Que said nothing.

So Pei Ji only treated him this way?

Yet he wouldn't bite him.

Never mind a permanent bond; he hadn't even given him a temporary mark.

He had gone into heat again over the past two days.

More accurately, he only knew of one instance.

When he went into heat, he would lapse into a light coma, retaining a little awareness, but not much.

When he woke, once again, all he had beside him was a soothing agent with a scent too faint to detect.

Pei Ji wasn't stingy about releasing pheromones for him, but whenever he went into heat, Pei Ji would only use soothing agents to deal with it.

Glancing at the hand still held out in midair, Shen Que fell silent for a moment, then lightly patted Pei Ji's palm.

"Too hard. No thanks."

That light pat was like an electric current, crackling from Pei Ji's fingertips straight into his heart.

Together with the Omega's almost coquettish words.

It flipped some hidden switch inside the Alpha with a click.

Pei Ji froze, tossed aside the report, and abruptly leaned over. "Hard?! Are you complimenting my abs?"

Shen Que said, "...General, sometimes the way your mind works really is... peculiar."

But before the last word had fully left his lips, Pei Ji braced a hand against the sofa and squeezed onto Shen Que's seat with an overbearing air that brooked no refusal.

The soft, one-piece sofa had no backrest, and Shen Que immediately sank into it under his movements.

Pei Ji pressed close, leaned toward his ear, and murmured, "Or did you mean I'm hard somewhere else?"

Shen Que's face instantly flushed, and he shoved Pei Ji.

Pei Ji didn't budge. Instead, he settled deeper into the sofa.

Reaching around Shen Que, Pei Ji pulled him in and pressed more tightly against his back.

They were like two little animals tumbling in the sand.

"Pei Ji!"

Pei Ji, the predator of the pair, caught Shen Que's feeble wrists.

"Oh? So now you're willing to use my name."

"Well, one good turn deserves another-"

His tongue almost brushed Shen Que's ear.

"A pleasure, Shen Que."

The lilting first syllable gave way to a sharp, emphatic second, like a terrifying thorn emerging from a plump, rounded flower bud.

When those two syllables left Pei Ji's mouth, Shen Que's mind actually short-circuited for a moment.

Something hard pressed against him.

"Pei Ji!"

The little bird caught in the beast's jaws began struggling fiercely.

He glanced at the four servants, who had discreetly retreated to a corner to fiddle with their fingers the moment Pei Ji pressed close.

They were far enough away that they probably couldn't see or hear clearly.

But... but...

Shen Que's face felt as though it would burst into flames.

"There are people here!"

Gritting his teeth, he tried to muster his authority as Commander and warn the outrageously bold Alpha behind him.

"It's fine. They won't look."

The General, who had never feared the Commander, pulled him deeper into his embrace, pressing him against his hard chest, his abs, and...

Shen Que drew a short, sharp breath.

He repeated silently:

He's my husband.

He's my legally recognized Alpha.

Whatever he wants, I should give him.

Haven't I already decided to offer my body for Messiah, for the Empress?

But why in broad daylight?!

This spherical, 360-degree observation cabin is completely transparent...

Shen Que was about to die of embarrassment.

Pei Ji watched the Omega in his arms with amusement. He looked like a ripe apple.

His flushed cheeks gave him some color and made him look healthier.

Unfortunately, his pheromones were uncontrollable, so Pei Ji had taken a Suppressant before boarding, too.

Otherwise, the scent of flowers drifting through the desert...

Would surely have smelled wonderful.

To Pei Ji, Shen Que's struggles felt like a kitten scratching an itch.

The Commander seemed to be wrestling with something. He would struggle for a while, then stop. A little later, his face would grow redder, and he would start struggling again.

Afraid of truly exhausting him, Pei Ji released Shen Que after a few rounds.

As though granted a pardon, the Omega immediately stood and escaped his confinement, straightening his clothes with trembling fingers.

Two buttons at his chest had somehow come undone, revealing a small patch of pale skin.

He's insane!

Shen Que glared at Pei Ji, who was still half reclining on the sofa.

Pei Ji put on an innocent expression.

"You're the one who said I was hard. I just let you feel for yourself. Any thoughts?"

Shen Que's throat shifted slightly, and he spat out two words. "Get lost."

The corners of Pei Ji's mouth curled up. He rose and approached Shen Que, reaching out a second before he could retreat to fasten the button he had been struggling with.

His fingertips touched skin through the shirt, and Shen Que shivered faintly.

Pei Ji's fingers had well-defined joints and thick calluses on their pads.

A deep scar stretched across almost his entire right palm.

There were also a few less conspicuous little wounds.

These were a combat soldier's hands.

Strong, solid, and covered in scars.

Those hands finished straightening the clothes in place of the other, trembling pair, then tipped up the chin before them so their owner could steal a kiss on his cheek.

The warm touch against his cheek vanished as soon as it landed, and Shen Que abruptly came to his senses.

He hurriedly tore his gaze from Pei Ji's hands, broke free of the Alpha's embrace, and strode out of the observation lounge.

He would never set foot in this room again for the rest of his life!