AGMATSWHLMAR Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Auston Duke’s manor was located in the most desolate part of the bustling Imperial Star, a location he personally selected. It occupied a vast area, more than two thousand acres.

However, it didn’t give off the impression of a luxurious aristocratic residence. Instead, it exuded a gloomy and decaying aura, making people’s blood run cold.

On the dark night, not a single street lamp was lit within the manor’s grounds.

As the hovercar sped along, faster and faster, the shadows of trees flashed past Ruan Tang’s eyes. Ruan Tang felt as if he were on a train to hell.

The Empress’s personal maid knocked on the tightly shut, black gate.

The moment the gate opened, a wave of cold, damp air rushed out, making it feel more like a tomb where ghouls and vampires dwelled than a residence for the living.

“Hello, Miss Anna.” The white-haired head butler, rumored to be the only person with all four limbs intact in this manor, respectfully greeted the Empress’s confidante.

“Hello, Head Butler Andrew.” Anna smiled at the butler and introduced, “This is the Duke’s newlywed Duchess. I am here on behalf of Her Majesty the Empress to escort the Duchess.”

The butler immediately gave Ruan Tang a respectful bow. “Greetings, Your Grace, the Duchess. I will be at your service from now on. Please feel free to tell me anything you need.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a robotic servant missing its right hand came forward to carry Ruan Tang’s luggage…

Duke Auston was disabled himself, so he couldn’t stand to see complete people in his manor. Apart from the elderly butler, even the robots were only allowed to be defective.

This personal preference was peculiar and unsettling.

Ruan Tang quietly sized up the strange manor and responded softly, “Yes.”

…

Meanwhile, the master of this manor, Auston, known as the Bluebeard Duke, was languidly sitting in his wheelchair, watching three-dimensional projections of bloody and violent videos that recreated cruel ancient tortures, as if he were actually there…

“My lord, tonight is your wedding night. The Duchess has arrived. You should go downstairs…” Aaron, his one-handed personal servant, seeing that he was in a relatively good mood, tentatively urged Auston.

Auston was listless, as if nothing in the world could pique his interest in the slightest. He asked, “Go down to do what?”

His only passions were blood and violence.

Only when indulging in blood and violence did he feel alive.

As for Omegas, he had no interest in them at all, and even wanted to stay away from them.

This time, although he reluctantly agreed to marry under pressure from the Empress, he didn’t even want to lay eyes on his so-called partner in name…

After being repeatedly warned by the Emperor and Empress not to treat the Omega as a toy or scare him, Auston became even less interested in the Omega.

He didn’t even bother to attend his own wedding banquet.

As far as he was concerned, agreeing to let the Omega live in his manor and share a room with him was already the biggest concession he could make.

To expect him to go down and meet him, to mark him… simply wishful thinking.

“…Well, the Duchess is the number one beauty in the Imperial Star. Don’t you want to go down and see for yourself?” Aaron was at a loss for words and could only try to arouse Auston’s interest in Ruan Tang.

Auston, however, was unenthusiastic: “What’s there to see?”

In his eyes, all Omegas were the same, weren’t they all just two eyes and a nose?

“This… what will the Duchess do if you don’t go down? Where will he sleep?” Aaron couldn’t think of anything else to say, feeling that he couldn’t influence this lunatic’s thinking.

Auston said without thinking, “What’s there to ask? You go down now and tell Andrew to find him a place to sleep, that’s all.”

His attitude towards his partner was like treating a dog.

Aaron was speechless: “…”

Auston frowned deeply when he saw that he wasn’t listening, glared at him coldly, and ordered, “Hurry up and go!”

Aaron was startled, afraid of angering this demon, and quickly went downstairs to carry out this difficult task: “…Yes, yes.”

After Aaron left, only Auston remained in the huge study. Auston was losing interest in the video and was about to reach out to change it.

How boring, he had watched this video too many times and it was no longer interesting.

He didn’t like it anymore.

Just as he was about to change the video, his hand slipped and switched to the manor’s surveillance footage.

The surveillance automatically focused on the location where living people were in the manor. At this moment, Head Butler Andrew and Anna were leading Ruan Tang upstairs.

Auston was about to turn off the surveillance video, but the moment he casually glanced up at the projection controlling the optical brain, he froze.

His gaze inadvertently fell on the unfamiliar Omega’s face.

In just one glance, his body trembled slightly, and even his pupils constricted instantly.

The Omega’s skin in the projection was visibly delicate and smooth, like fine silk, and his short black hair was as dark and lustrous as ink.

He was exquisitely beautiful, as if he had walked out of a painting, yet he exuded a chilling coolness.

He was as cold and detached as if he had been carved from ice. Although he should have made people feel cold, Auston suddenly felt a tingling in his scalp and a surge of excitement throughout his body.

He hadn’t been this excited in a long time, and even the most bloody and violent videos hadn’t been able to bring him joy for a long time.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, he only looked at the Omega once, and he felt as if he had been electrified, and he was intensely excited…

…

At that moment, Ruan Tang was being led by Head Butler Andrew, familiarizing himself with the manor. Andrew and Anna were in his ear, one after the other, telling him about Auston’s preferences and teaching Ruan Tang how to attract Auston’s attention and win his favor…

Although the Empress’s purpose in having Ruan Tang marry Auston was to have him bear a child, this could not be accomplished without Auston’s cooperation.

Because of Auston’s lack of cooperation, the Empress was very worried about not having a grandson.

In the past, the Empress had considered directly injecting someone with a releasing agent, directly letting the Omega enter heat, locking him in a room with Auston, and having Auston do the deed, ignoring Auston’s thoughts.

But this method had already been tested on several Omegas before Ruan Tang –

They were allowed to enter Auston’s room during their heat, locking Auston and them together, trying to force Auston to fall into heat and mark them.

But the end result was –

Although Auston was a lunatic, his mental strength was extremely strong, and no one could force him to do things he didn’t want to do.

Putting him in the same room with Omegas in heat, he not only did not succumb to his physical desires and mark them, but also unleashed mental pressure on those Omegas in heat without any tenderness.

He directly drove several Omegas crazy.

His reputation as the Bluebeard Duke came from this.

The Empress was helpless and finally realized that she could not force this son of hers, and it would not work if he was not willing to do it himself.

Therefore, she could only take a roundabout route, planning to let Auston marry, to find him an Omega whose family background, appearance, and match were all worthy of him, hoping to get Auston and the Omega to get along, to develop some feelings and then naturally mark him to have a grandson.

And Ruan Tang was the one that the Empress had carefully selected –

The most suitable candidate to be Auston’s Duchess.

“Duke Auston has special hobbies, likes some bloody, violent, and extremely cruel things, I know this is a bit difficult for you, but in order for you to resonate with him and make him have a good impression of you… I think you can still pretend to like these things, to be very interested in them, and cultivate common interests with the Duke…” Anna rambled in his ear: “I sent you some introductory videos to your mailbox, you can watch more first, and adapt…”

Ruan Tang responded very teachably: “Okay, okay.”

But in reality, he turned a deaf ear to her words and didn’t listen to a single word.

He was far from as ambitious as others imagined him to be. As long as his life was not in danger, as long as he could ensure that he, his mother, his older brother, and his older sister were safe and sound, he would not want to actively attack others unless others provoked him.

The Empress and his good father were probably destined to be disappointed. In fact, from the moment he married into the Auston Duke’s manor, Ruan Tang had already decided that as long as Duke Auston did not take the initiative to come to him, or his heat inhibitor failed…

Otherwise, he not only did not want to take the initiative to approach the Duke, but even wanted to stay far away from him.

Just as the butler and Anna were carefully instructing and teaching Ruan Tang how to attract Auston.

“Duchess, Head Butler, Lady Anna…” Aaron went downstairs with a troubled expression and bowed to them with a frown.

The butler looked at him strangely: “Aaron, aren’t you serving the Duke? Why are you down here?”

“The Duke asked me to come down and tell you that it’s getting late, and to arrange a place for the Duchess to stay as soon as possible.” Aaron looked at Ruan Tang with sympathy, wondering how to convey Auston’s meaning tactfully without hurting Ruan Tang’s feelings.

It’s so pitiful.

Such a beautiful Omega, but their Duke has no idea how to cherish him and wants to leave him alone in an empty room.

“What about the Duke?” Anna frowned and questioned Aaron.

Aaron sighed inwardly, wondering how to convey the Duke’s meaning of not coming down and letting the Duchess sleep by himself without hurting Ruan Tang: “The Duke he…”

Just then, the elevator door on this floor, which was dedicated to Auston’s convenience, suddenly opened.

A tall man wearing black clothes and a mask was pushed out of the elevator in a wheelchair by a robot behind him. His voice was low and slightly hoarse as he spoke, “Long time no see, Official Anna.”

“Your Highness…”

“My Lord…” The butler, Anna, and Aaron all saluted him.

Auston was the eldest son of the Emperor and Empress. Even if he lost the position of Crown Prince, he was still the Empire’s First Prince, but after he became a Duke, he no longer allowed others to call him the First Prince, only to call him by his title.

Only those close to the Emperor and Empress would still call him His Highness.

Through the mask, he only glanced at Anna and the others before turning his arrogant and cold gaze unreservedly to Ruan Tang.

Although he was wearing a mask and his face could not be seen, he gave people a sense of decadence and gloom.

Being stared at unreservedly by him almost gave Ruan Tang the feeling of being watched by a poisonous snake.

“Your Highness, allow me to introduce you, this is…” Anna looked at the strange atmosphere and was about to introduce Ruan Tang’s identity to Auston.

Auston didn’t give her a chance to speak at all, directly interrupting her and continuing to stare straight at Ruan Tang: “You are Ruan Tang?”

Before coming downstairs, he had checked the name of his current spouse in the spouse column.

“Yes, my Lord.” Ruan Tang immediately guessed that this person sitting in the wheelchair was his nominal husband, Duke Auston, whom he had never met before.

Faced with Auston’s direct, probing gaze, Ruan Tang remained calm.

He knew that the way a madman looked at people was different from that of normal people, and having spent too much time with his mother and older sister…

Ruan Tang didn’t find the gaze that normal people would find terrifying to be sinister or terrifying at all.