What was wrong with this commander?

"No? How is that possible?" Pei Ji asked in surprise. "Just now, he clearly..."

Dr. Li pressed his palm downward, signaling for the general, who was also the young lord, to be quiet.

"You do know that an Omega's heat has three stages, don't you?"

Pei Ji nodded with a sour expression.

"The main indicator used to determine which stage they've reached is Pheromones concentration."

"A concentration of 30-50% indicates the onset phase, 50-80% the heat phase, and 80-100% the bonding phase."

Dr. Li explained patiently, as though teaching a child.

"For a normal Omega, Pheromones concentration gradually rises during heat."

"But based on what you just described, along with my preliminary measurements and observations, the general's spouse's Pheromones concentration only fluctuates between 30% and 50%. It never exceeds 50%."

Pei Ji said, "You mean..."

Dr. Li said, "He won't enter a true heat phase."

Pei Ji knitted his brows. "But his reaction..."

Dr. Li said, "It will be stronger than an ordinary Omega's. We'll need a further full-body examination to establish the exact cause, but my preliminary assessment is that his physical frailty makes him more susceptible to Pheromones."

Pei Ji murmured, "No wonder he didn't go into full heat even when I released so many pheromones at the start..."

Dr. Li raised an eyebrow. "You actually tried to induce it with Pheromones?!"

Pei Ji said, "I'd taken a suppressant! He was the one running around while in heat, telling me to get lost when he was practically fainting. I was trying to subdue him..."

He shut his mouth.

Charles Lee looked ready to write a formal complaint at any moment.

Giving Pei Ji a chilly look, Dr. Li leafed through Shen Que's medical records.

"The commander's gland has been injured. He shows some symptoms of pheromone dysregulation, and his cycle is irregular. That may be why he rejected your temporary mark."

"A temporary mark works by injecting an Alpha's pheromones into the gland, rapidly raising the Omega's pheromone concentration above 50%, then immediately neutralizing it to below 30%, thereby relieving the heat."

"But the commander's case is unusual. His pheromone concentration can't reach 50%, so receiving your pheromones causes him exceptional pain."

Pei Ji opened his mouth. "Then... is there anything we can do..."

Dr. Li put away the medical records. "This is a medical condition. It requires further examination, treatment, and a lengthy recovery period."

"I suggest you be more patient. Either accept the physical reality of his condition... or get a divorce."

Pei Ji scowled. "Divorce is out of the question."

Dr. Li said, "I thought so. Otherwise, White Sand Star's tariffs next year won't merely triple."

Pei Ji said, "..."

Dr. Li looked at the general with furrowed brows. After a pause, he took a booklet from the small medical case he carried and tossed it to him.

Pei Ji caught it.

"What's this?"

The cover featured a cute children's drawing of two little children holding hands, with a flourishing tree behind them.

"ABO physiology basics, preschool edition."

Dr. Li spoke without expression.

"I picked it up when I went to the desert region to provide free medical care a few days ago. It's more reliable than the nonsense people make up on their terminals."

"Although the commander won't enter the heat phase, he does enter the onset phase, as he did tonight. That isn't comfortable for him."

"Though he can't accept a temporary mark, an Omega at this stage can be soothed by Pheromones at an appropriate concentration. It works on the same principle as a Suppressant."

"Rein in those pheromones of yours that want to screw everything in sight, young lord. Learn to control them and soothe your Omega like a gentlemanly Alpha."

"Children in the desert region learn this from the age of three."

"Surely you're capable of that?"

"Who are you calling incapable?!" Pei Ji threw the booklet to Demi.

Then he muttered, "Three years old? They've still got more than a decade before differentiation. What the hell do they need to learn it for?"

Old Hall suddenly appeared.

"Young lord, you've used foul language. I've recorded it, and I'll send it to the Lord's Wife tomorrow morning."

Pei Ji sheepishly shut his mouth.

Dr. Li said, "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

"Thank you for your trouble," the old butler said, respectfully seeing him out. "Coming all the way from the First Oasis in the middle of the night."

Dr. Li remained expressionless. "It's nothing. Part of my duties."

"Just charge three times my usual house-call fee."

Then Pei Ji suddenly called, "Dr. Li."

Charles Lee stopped.

Pei Ji strode up to him and said quietly, "Please keep what happened tonight from my father."

Dr. Li raised an eyebrow.

Pei Ji sighed. "You know what a temper my father has. He's always had his grievances with the empress. He wouldn't have agreed to this marriage so readily if he hadn't been hoping for a grandchild. If he finds out... who knows what trouble he'll stir up."

"And..." He paused, his voice growing grave. "I don't want his private affairs spreading all over White Sand Star."

"Please."

"Rest assured," Dr. Li said slowly. "Protecting a patient's privacy is part of a doctor's duty."

"Good." Pei Ji let out a relieved breath and told Demi, "Pay tonight's house-call fee from my personal account."

Charles Lee gazed at his retreating figure.

The Alpha in his black military uniform had long since grown a full head taller than him. Before he knew it, the lawless little brat who used to trail after the lord had grown into a mature young man.

Like a tall, straight pine.

Lean and strong, undaunted by frost.

Pei Ji, First-Class General of the Fourth Fleet.

"Young lord," Dr. Li called.

Pei Ji looked up at his voice. "What is it, Dr. Li?"

Dr. Li said, "There's something..."

His deep, cultured eyes swept over the young man's upright figure.

"...Never mind. I'll say it outright. I think you'd better take a shower first."

"You stink."

Beside him, Demi and Anya nodded vehemently.

"We second that!"

Half an hour later.

Freshly washed and handsome once more, Pei Ji returned to the bedroom.

The man on the bed had his eyes closed. It was hard to tell whether he was asleep or unconscious.

His long lashes trembled restlessly, and his cheeks were flushed. Pei Ji pressed the back of his hand against Shen Que's cheek.

It was still terribly hot.

Though he couldn't enter a true heat phase, being trapped in a state of unbearable heat had to be miserable too.

The white sand in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows had been cleaned away, and the windows were tightly shut.

The room was dry and warm.

Beneath the glass lampshade, the dim golden light cast a sensual glow.

The pheromones in the air mingled intimately, lingering together.

What good was any of it?

Pei Ji sighed.

He couldn't even bite him.

The commander on the bed suddenly let out a sigh, buried his cheek in the pillow, and bit his lower lip, trembling all over.

This time, the pain had flared up.

Pei Ji had been injured before too. He knew how much it hurt when broken bones healed.

If he hadn't been feverish and weak, Shen Que probably would have woken up long ago.

He stared at the commander's deathly pale face.

An image flashed through Pei Ji's mind: Shen Que standing aloof in that photograph.

And before that.

At the First Fleet's appointment ceremony.

The empress had lightly touched her sword to her youngest commander's shoulder.

"Shen Que, from this day forward, you are my sharpest blade."

Back then, Shen Que's stern features had appeared with perfect clarity on every terminal screen through the Star Network.

The young commander's gaze was deep, like a boundless sea of stars.

His thin lips parted.

He said, enunciating every word, "It is my honor."

And afterward.

At every medal ceremony, he had worn that same cool, detached expression, calmly accepting flowers and praise, like the morning star in winter.

Quiet and distant.

Yet always shining.

In the hot-blooded military, amid the charged atmosphere of training breaks brimming with Alpha hormones, someone would always bring up the First Commander, whether casually or deliberately.

So many people admired him.

Of course Pei Ji knew.

When news of Shen Que's defeat arrived, Pei Ji had just finished a campaign to retake a small planet on the frontier.

"Defeated? That Shen Que? How is that possible?"

That had been his first reaction.

Yet reality was always so cruel.

Injury, resignation, marriage.

The once-unattainable flower had fallen, landing in his bed.

He lay weakly curled into a ball, with only the top of his head peeking out.

Like an injured sparrow.

Unable to fly again.

"Fine, fine... since you're so pitiful..."

Pei Ji sighed, sat down beside Shen Que, and picked up the copy of ABO physiology basics-preschool edition that the maids had left nearby. He began studying it in earnest.