As Pei Ji closed the reception room door, Ai Fan's words still echoed in his mind.
"I'll make the decision for you about the wedding. Consider this banquet compensation."
"As for an apology... Shen Que said it was a private matter between you two, so you'll have to sort it out yourselves."
Sort it out ourselves, huh...
Pei Ji was stumped.
Shen Que had never asked where he had gone on their wedding day, so he had naturally assumed Shen Que didn't care.
So, were Omegas really that sensitive?
Did they care about every important occasion? And every word he said?
They were so hard to understand.
Pei Ji rubbed his chin.
Before they married, he had sworn he would treat Shen Que well.
But in just these few days, Pei Ji had already discovered how difficult it was to truly be "good" to someone.
He and Shen Que each had their own personalities, habits, and ways of thinking.
Even though he had been putting effort into this marriage all along, that effort had been based on his own perspective and preferences.
Not on what Shen Que wanted.
Pei Ji suddenly felt he ought to find out what Shen Que was thinking.
A familiar voice suddenly rang out behind him. "General!"
Pei Ji turned at the sound and saw Demi and Anya running toward him, breathless.
A bad feeling welled up inside him, and his expression darkened. "What happened to Shen Que?"
"As soon as you left, those paparazzi started taking sneaky pictures of your husband without any restraint."
"Luckily, General Luo and Dr. Li came over to help and had your husband step outside for a walk to get away from them."
"But Young Master Austin followed him out without either of us noticing, and then he... he..."
"Then what?!"
Pei Ji's anxious voice echoed through the quiet garden.
He walked so fast, his strides so long, that Anya and Demi had to jog to keep up.
"He got beaten up by your husband..."
Pei Ji stopped mid-step on the stairs.
"Who beat up whom?"
"Your husband beat up Young Master Austin."
Pei Ji was stunned for a moment. "Huh?"
He started walking again.
Then Pei Ji asked, "Where's Austin now?"
Anya said, "Dr. Li gave him an injection of a hallucinogen. After your husband was settled in, General Luo took him away."
Recalling the little leather whip at Luo Yuan's waist and the adorable smile on his face as he dragged the unconscious Austin away, Anya couldn't help shivering.
General Luo... could be pretty terrifying sometimes...
Pei Ji nodded.
"Good. Luo Yuan knows his limits. He won't kill him."
As he spoke, he pushed open the garden door.
This little garden was a place for afternoon tea, hidden among clouds of wisteria.
Ai Fan liked wisteria.
But the plant had turned into cosmic debris along with Earth's destruction three hundred years ago.
So Pei Li had hired a research team specifically to recreate it on Blue Star No. 33, then transplanted it to the Moon Palace and built this little garden.
He had even received an award for outstanding contributions to saving extinct species.
When Pei Ji entered the garden, he happened to see Charles emerging from a resting room. He hurriedly asked, "Is he all right?"
Charles nodded, his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry. We administered the soothing agent early. He's fine now."
Pei Ji breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Is he asleep?"
"He slept for a while. He was already awake when I came out."
"I'll go check on him." Pei Ji immediately reached for the door.
"Wait, young lord."
Charles stopped him, his tone serious.
"I have some questions for you."
Floating Lamps drifted through the wisteria like dandelion seeds.
Pei Ji leaned against a pillar, casually catching one of the lamps and tossing it into the air.
"You're asking about the pattern of his heat episodes?"
Charles nodded, his gaze fixed on the electronic medical record.
"For example, do they happen at a regular time? Or under particular circumstances?"
"At night," Pei Ji blurted out. "He's gone into heat on half the nights this week."
"Besides those, there were two other times. Once during a Combat Match with me, and once after he fell. Then there's this time."
Charles made marks on the screen.
He suddenly glanced at Pei Ji. "What do you make of that?"
Pei Ji stopped tossing the Floating Lamp. Its light stopped swaying and settled quietly over his handsome profile.
He was silent for a while.
Pei Ji threaded his fingers through his hair, pushing the slightly sweat-damp strands back.
"Ah... you mean that..."
He met Charles's gaze.
"Pain."
Charles's eyes grew even more serious.
"Exactly. Pain."
Every night, Shen Que took medication to promote the healing of his broken bones. Although it included some sedatives, they still couldn't eliminate the physical pain.
Whether he went into heat at night as his broken bones healed, or during the day after an accidental fall or knock, it was the same.
It was all related to pain.
Every heat episode Shen Que experienced came with pain. More precisely, he felt pain first, then went into heat.
"I've tried inducing it with pheromones or physical contact, but neither worked." Pei Ji pressed a hand to his forehead.
Charles paused in his note-taking. "Physical contact?"
Pei Ji's gaze drifted away as an image from the airship flashed through his mind.
"Just a little intimacy... don't look at me like that! I didn't go too far!"
Charles's tone was cool. "You'd better not have."
Pei Ji tipped his head back and let out a long sigh. "Is nobody going to speak up for me? He's my legally wedded husband! I can't bite him or touch him. Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold back every day, doctor?"
Charles said, "You could get a divorce."
"Absolutely not!" Pei Ji said firmly.
Charles returned to the medical record. "Thank you for your sacrifice in the service of medicine. Have you noticed anything else?"
"No."
With a dark expression, Pei Ji listed his findings one by one.
"Directly stimulating his scent gland makes him release a little pheromone, but only a little."
"Pheromone stimulation doesn't work at all. He can smell my scent, but he doesn't respond... in that way."
"Only pain works. Every single time."
Pei Ji pushed his hair back again in frustration.
"Help... aren't we over ninety percent compatible? Why doesn't he respond to my pheromones?"
Charles's tone remained calm. "You need to understand that sexual urges between Alphas and Omegas arise from the mingling of highly compatible pheromones. The Commander can't even control his own pheromones, unless..."
He paused.
"You hurt him."
"If you make him release his pheromones first, then stimulate him with yours, he'll respond to you."
"But even if he responds, it's useless." Pei Ji squeezed the Floating Lamp hard. "He cries the second I bite him. All he feels is pain!"
"In the end, I'm still the one making the heroic sacrifice and serving as his human soothing agent!"
Charles said, "Then get a divorce."
Pei Ji said, "Absolutely not!"
Charles sighed. "You really have put in a lot of effort."
Pei Ji might complain, but after mistakenly doing something he shouldn't once, he never did it a second time.
He really had been carefully observing Shen Que and taking care of him.
...Although this pampered young master wasn't particularly good at taking care of people.
Most Alphas were domineering and possessive. Given Shen Que's condition, there was no telling what someone else might have put him through.
Charles put away the medical record and announced under Pei Ji's disgruntled glare, "I'll contact his doctor on Messiah and prepare some medication to continue his treatment, but..."
He paused for a moment.
"Young lord, you should still prepare for the worst."
"I've never encountered a case like this before."
"Whether in terms of mental power or heat cycles."
Pei Ji said nothing. He simply raised his hand and released the Floating Lamp, watching the little sphere drift into the wisteria.
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