AGMATSWHLMAR Chapter 104

Iso walked out of the palace and returned to his mansion, the submissiveness and gentleness on his face instantly swept away. Even the hand that had been gently caressing his lower abdomen suddenly turned cold and hard.

“Your Highness, I wonder what you would like to do later?” The servants in the mansion were no longer surprised by his emotional instability, only dutifully asking what he planned to do.

Iso glanced at the sunny weather outside and immediately said without thinking, “Horse riding, it’s a good day. I want to go riding…”

Everyone in the Imperial Duke’s mansion knew that this Imperial Duke, who came from an orphanage, loved the aristocratic sport of horse riding the most.

“But, Your Highness, wouldn’t horse riding be inappropriate for your current physical condition?” The servants listened and began to prepare the riding gear for Iso, but the butler looked at his lower abdomen and said worriedly.

To ride a horse while pregnant, engaging in strenuous exercise, he had never seen an Omega as careless as Iso during pregnancy.

“Why is it inappropriate? Is it because of the thing in my belly?” Iso glanced at him indifferently, not caring at all. “I’m telling you, this kind of thing, if you like it, you can call it a child. If you don’t like it, it’s just a tumor growing in your stomach, frantically absorbing your nutrients and vitality, a parasite. Why should I give up doing what I like for the sake of a tumor?”

His voice was chillingly indifferent.

The butler couldn’t help but shudder, still hesitating to speak, “But… if you have a miscarriage now, it will also be very troublesome…”

“Don’t worry, it won’t be that easy to have an accident.” Iso chuckled, but insisted on his own way, “An unwanted child is like a weed with vigorous vitality. It will grow wildly in any crack, accumulating the mother’s vitality… If it were so easy to lose, it wouldn’t be worthy of growing in my belly…”

The world operates on survival of the fittest, and for him, even the fetus in his womb was the same.

…

At the same time, in the Andrew Royal Mansion on Imperial Star, Marshal Ruan Yang, far away in the borderlands, was using a holographic projection during his spare time to vividly guide and urge his little fiancé to study and improve, as if he were there in person.

“…No, you’re playing the piano wrong. You missed a note. You can’t get away with it. Start over immediately. Don’t be lazy…” Ruan Yang’s voice, to Duke Ryan at this moment, was simply like a curse from hell.

Ryan still didn’t know what his father had discussed with Ruan Yang to make this promising Marshal Ruan Yang, who was originally indifferent, agree to a marriage with their royal family and him, this good-for-nothing playboy.

Although it was fake, Ryan thought it was quite fun for the first few days and wanted to tease this elite soldier who was so earnest and had the words “honest man” written all over him.

But unexpectedly, after the engagement, Ruan Yang became a different person. Not only did he lose his previous indifference and alienation, but he even forced his way into Ryan’s life in a way that left no gaps, urging him to study and improve every day. Ryan not only didn’t feel like he had an extra fiancé, but even felt like he had an extra dad, an extra teacher, and a strict one at that.

Andrew hadn’t restrained him much before, but this Ruan Yang was even stricter than his own father, not only restraining him on Imperial Star, but even when he went to the borderlands, his projection would still seize every opportunity to discipline him.

The most infuriating thing was that everyone in the royal mansion actually stood on his side—

Ryan felt like he was going crazy.

“I only played one note wrong, and you want me to start all over again? Are you sick?!” Facing this Ruan Yang, who wasn’t fun at all and only knew how to force himself to be his toy, Ryan didn’t even bother to pretend and directly exposed his true nature, cursing at Ruan Yang.

He and Ruan Yang weren’t that close at all. Why was this person interfering so much with him?

“When my mentor’s wife was alive, she wouldn’t even miss a single note even with her eyes closed.” Facing Ryan’s arrogance, Ruan Yang’s temper was exceptionally good from beginning to end, looking at Ryan with a gentle expression, just encouraging him, “Your Highness, you still have room for improvement. I know you’re smart and you can definitely do it, so why not be strict with yourself and try again?”

Ryan knew that Ruan Yang’s mentor’s wife was the wife of Marshal Calandor, one of the former Imperial Twin Stars, the sister of Marshal Xue Xin, and the most famous genius pianist in the entire empire, but she had died in an assassination bombing twenty years ago along with Marshal Calandor.

Ryan knew this so clearly because his parents were a fanboy of Marshal Calandor and a fangirl of Mrs. Calandor, and had told him their stories since he was a child.

Ryan didn’t have any feelings about these stories, nor did he find these two people annoying.

But because of Ruan Yang, he felt like he was about to hate these two people—

“Your mentor’s wife is your mentor’s wife, and I’m me! She’s a piano genius, a musician famous throughout the interstellar, and I’m just a good-for-nothing, a playboy who just loafs around and waits to die. Don’t compare us, and I don’t want to learn from your mentor’s wife at all!” Ryan’s temper flared up, and even nine bulls couldn’t hold him back.

Ruan Yang looked at him and sighed deeply, his eyes still full of indescribable tenderness, “Your Highness…”

“Ruan Yang, I’m telling you, our engagement is fake, fake! Although I’m engaged to you, it’s just a deal between you and my father. I won’t marry you… It’s fine to put on a show outside, but in my personal life, I hope you don’t interfere arbitrarily, acting like someone close to me, to discipline and restrain me…” Ryan’s scalp tingled from the tenderness in his eyes. “I’m not worthy of an elite like you, and I can’t become the future partner you want. I just want to be myself, to be a happy little playboy. You better not have any expectations of me!”

He was a high-ranking, much-loved Imperial Duke. Let alone that he and Ruan Yang were just putting on a show, he didn’t like Ruan Yang at all. Even if he really liked Ruan Yang,

He would never change himself for an Alpha.

“…Ryan, do you know? The reason I’m treating you like this is because of your father’s expectations…” Ruan Yang looked at him deeply, not expecting Ryan to react so strongly, and wondering if all children were like this during their rebellious phase, he immediately tried to communicate with Ryan properly.

When Ryan heard him use Andrew to pressure him, he became even more sulky, “Don’t use my father to pressure me! I’m not familiar with you at all, not familiar at all… My father likes you, let him marry you, I won’t marry you anyway…”

He really didn’t know why his father, Andrew, a playboy, liked Ruan Yang, such an elite, so much. They didn’t seem to be from the same world at all, just like himself and Ruan Yang.

“Okay, it’s my fault. I didn’t consider your feelings. I won’t force you anymore.” Ruan Yang looked at him with a solemn expression, as if looking at a helpless but naughty child, coaxing him softly, “…Be good on Imperial Star, listen to your father and mother, and I’ll take you out to play when I get back, okay?”

He really wanted to get closer to Ryan and get along with him well.

Ryan was a little happy when he heard him say he would take him out to play, because his parents never allowed him to run around or leave Imperial Star. If Ruan Yang took him out, his parents should agree, but looking at Ruan Yang, who was interfering in everything and was like an old nanny, he became unhappy again.

“…I’ll go wherever I want to play myself. I don’t need you to take me!” Ryan glared at him, his whole body full of resistance to him. “An elite like you who establishes meritorious service should stay in your borderlands and shine, and it’s best if you don’t come back before we dissolve our engagement…”

Ruan Yang didn’t care about his harsh words, looking at him, he was incomparably gentle, “How can that be? I promised your father that I would protect you well.”

“Protect me? How are you going to protect me?” Ryan didn’t take him seriously at all.

Ruan Yang said solemnly, word by word, “I will become your sword. If anyone wants to touch you in the future, they must step over my dead body first…”

Ryan didn’t expect Ruan Yang, who usually looked so upright, to actually say such words that sounded like he was flirting with him, and instantly hung up Ruan Yang’s call impolitely, his whole face flushed.

He didn’t answer Ruan Yang’s calls anymore and rushed downstairs, only to see his father, the old playboy Andrew, planting flowers in the garden.

“…Hey! Old Andrew, how did you talk to that Ruan Yang about the cooperation? Why did he become a different person after getting engaged to me? You weren’t fooled, were you? Is he harboring ill intentions?!” Ryan rushed in front of Andrew and said without any respect, “He’s pestering me all day long like he has nothing else to do, pestering me on Imperial Star, and continuing to pester me even after he went to the borderlands…”

Andrew said unhurriedly, “Isn’t it certain that Alphas are different before and after engagement? My little Ryan is so excellent and outstanding, isn’t it certain that Ruan Yang is head over heels in love with you and fell in love at first sight?”

“I’m very excellent and outstanding, that’s right.” Ryan didn’t hide his narcissism at all, but he still hesitated when he mentioned Ruan Yang, “But I always feel that Ruan Yang and I aren’t from the same world. He’s not good at all and not suitable for me, Old Andrew. When he comes back from the borderlands, you let me dissolve the engagement with him, okay?”

He originally agreed to get engaged to Ruan Yang because Ruan Yang was dull and serious, and it was fun to tease him. Ryan originally only regarded this engagement as fake, intending to put on a show and tease Ruan Yang, and privately not interfere with each other, continuing to live his happy life like a fairy.

But Ruan Yang intervened in his life after the engagement, and Ryan instantly felt that it wasn’t fun at all…

“Little brat, Ruan Yang isn’t good? What kind of Alpha do you want to find?” Andrew didn’t expect him to be so fickle and wanted to dissolve the engagement so quickly.

Ryan said, “Old Andrew, I don’t understand why you like Ruan Yang so much, why you want me to be with him so much…”

“You must know that as long as you’re with him, he will never do anything to hurt you in the future. He will cherish and love you for life and protect you with his life…” Andrew said earnestly.

Ryan stuck out his tongue and felt that his father was just an old idiot, believing such things that coaxed children, “If men are reliable, sows can climb trees! This Ruan Yang is probably just looking reliable, you see him being different before and after the engagement, you know he’s two-faced, a hypocrite!”

“You actually believe him?”

“Ruan Yang was Calandor’s favorite student when he was alive. He joined the military academy at the age of twelve and started following Calandor. It’s no exaggeration to say that he’s Calandor’s half-son, and he also regarded Calandor as his father. Before Calandor had an accident, he secretly left all his inheritance to the unconscious Ruan Yang…” Andrew said as if reminiscing about the past, “Calandor once said that if he had an Omega child, he would definitely marry him to Ruan Yang. Ruan Yang also agreed at the time. I trust Calandor’s judgment.”

Almost no one on Imperial Star could have imagined that Andrew, the playboy prince who was ostensibly at odds with the elite Marshal Calandor, was actually Calandor’s fanboy in private, and would often shout “Calandor, Calandor” at his son at home, preaching Calandor’s glorious deeds all day long.

Ryan was used to his illogical words that dragged in Calandor every three sentences, and even suspected that it was because of Calandor that Ruan Yang resonated with this old playboy and agreed to cooperate with such an unreliable person.

Ryan was simply speechless, “Marshal Calandor is Marshal Calandor’s judgment, I’m your son, not Calandor’s son. If he’s with me, how good can he be to me?”

Andrew looked at Ryan deeply, but didn’t say anything.