The man who was called out by Yú Chén stopped in his tracks. When he turned his head, he didn’t engage in the usual banter with Yú Chén. Instead, he flared his nostrils and sniffed the air around him, then fixed his gaze on Yú Chén. “Hmm? Yú Chén, you bought the same three…”

Before Fù Yánxī could finish his sentence, a third person interrupted him. “What the heck? Yánxī, you dyed your hair the same color as the Third Prince?”

“Yeah.” Fù Yánxī replied, running his fingers through his short hair that had been dyed from red to silver. He raised an eyebrow at the third person’s side-parted hair. “Did you dye yours too?”

The third person, whose full name was Guì Yán, was the alpha who ranked third in the practical assessment for the royal guard selection. He was from the same military unit as Fù Yánxī and was currently looking at Fù Yánxī’s silver hair with envy. “Why do I feel like your dye job looks better than mine? Yánxī, where did you get it done? How much did it cost? I spent 5200 star coins on my silver hair. Did I get ripped off?”

Over five thousand star coins for a haircut? For a men’s short hairstyle? Wasn’t that just a blatant rip-off?

Fù Yánxī was about to respond to Guì Yán when a long, sharp whistle cut through the air, causing him to immediately shut his mouth and stand at attention— that was Commander Dík’s assembly whistle.

Dík didn’t care about their chatter or any grievances they had. As soon as everyone was present, he blew the assembly whistle and then coldly scanned the faces of each alpha with a stern and serious gaze. “I don’t care where you served before. From today onward, you have only one identity: the royal guard! The one you must protect with your life and pledge your loyalty to is the Third Prince! Do you understand?”

“Understood!”

Fù Yánxī responded loudly, and Guì Yán followed suit.

Yú Chén, standing nearby, almost had his ears blown out by their fervent shouts, and even after entering the Northern Royal Palace, he felt like his head was still buzzing.

Their elite guard team, including Commander Dík, consisted of ten people. They took two vehicles, and since Dík wasn’t in their car, the atmosphere inside was much more relaxed. So, Fù Yánxī and Guì Yán chatted away, making it hard for Yú Chén to keep his cool.

However, Yú Chén figured that even if Dík were present, he probably wouldn’t say much. After all, he was the commander personally chosen by the Crown Prince Yún Xún Guāng, and his loyalty to the royal family was extraordinary. He enjoyed watching the guards treat Yún Xún Lán like a deity, as if they had been brainwashed.

The main topic of Fù Yánxī and Guì Yán’s conversation was Yún Xún Lán, and the content could basically be summed up by Fù Yánxī’s online nickname—“Forever Protecting the Third Prince.” Dík might even join in on their conversation if he heard it.

So annoying.

The joys and sorrows of humanity are not shared.

Yú Chén felt indifferent towards Yún Xún Lán and could only focus on fulfilling his duties without dereliction. He found their noise bothersome.

Fortunately, the noise lessened a bit as they passed through the Northern Royal Palace garden, because Fù Yánxī and Guì Yán were fixated on the half-blooming pink flowers among the greenery.

Not wanting to look at the two of them, Yú Chén turned his head and glanced at the flower bushes. However, that one glance made him realize that these pink flowers looked oddly familiar…

“Yú Chén.”

At that moment, Fù Yánxī started barking again.

Yú Chén couldn’t even be bothered to lift his eyelids. “What are you barking about now? Go ahead.”

Fù Yánxī asked him, “I was just wondering, did you buy the same pheromone-scented perfume as the Third Prince?”

What the heck?

Yú Chén frowned and turned to glare at Fù Yánxī.

“I’ve bought many kinds before, but none of them smell as much like yours as this one. I, I… want to buy a bottle too.” The tall alpha said this with rare red ears, looking nervous as if he had just made an incredibly difficult decision. “As long as you share the purchase link with me, we can consider our past grievances settled. If I argue with you again, I’ll be a dog.”

Yú Chén scoffed coldly. “Call me ‘dad’ and I’ll give it to you.”

Fù Yánxī decisively replied, “Dad.”

Yú Chén: “?”

The corner of Yú Chén’s lips had just begun to curl up when Fù Yánxī’s bold “dad” made him freeze. And it wasn’t just Fù Yánxī who was now his “older son.” Guì Yán, who was also infatuated with Yún Xún Lán, looked at him eagerly. “Dad, can you share it with me too?”

“Dad, I want it too.”

“Me too, daddy.”

The twins, Sòng Tīngyàn and Sòng Tīngqiáo, in the front and back seats, also chimed in, leaving only the expressionless female alpha, Lù Yōu, who was driving, silent.

However, after Yú Chén exchanged a glance with her in the rearview mirror, Lù Yōu also opened her mouth. “Daddy?”

Yú Chén: “…”

Seriously, do you all love me that much?

Yú Chén’s gaze drifted back through the car window to the flourishing flower bushes. This time, he finally remembered why these flowers looked familiar.

They were the vibrant colors that never withered in the Northern Royal Palace garden, the same sweet and cool ice cream that had melted on his tongue not long ago, and the scent that now surrounded him, floating in his breath, inhaled deeply into his lungs— the scent of the Third Prince Yún Xún Lán’s pheromones— lychee rose.

Who is Yún Xún Lán?

If you randomly asked an omega on the streets of the Galactic Empire this question, their answer would likely be the same: “My dream alpha.”

Perhaps asking a beta would yield a similar result.

After all, since the beginning of this year, the ninth-generation omega estrus suppression drug independently developed by Yún Xún Lán had been released, and he had surged to the top of the “Most Desired Alpha in the Entire Galaxy” list.

You see, the previous eight generations of omega estrus suppression drugs had significant side effects and short durations. However, the ninth-generation drug developed by Yún Xún Lán not only had minimal side effects but also extended the duration from one day to three days. Even if it couldn’t completely cover the entire estrus period for omegas, it alleviated the suffering caused by side effects to the greatest extent.

Moreover, he donated half of the profits from selling the ninth-generation omega estrus suppression drug to establish a charity foundation aimed at helping omegas from financially struggling backgrounds to safely get through their estrus periods.

With an alpha like that, which omega wouldn’t like him?

So even though the voting for the “Most Desired Alpha in the Entire Galaxy” list was still ongoing, Yún Xún Lán’s votes had already broken historical records, surpassing the second place by three times, and the total number of votes was still rising.

It even led to jokes on the interstellar internet: “It seems there isn’t a single omega or beta in the entire galaxy who doesn’t want to marry Yún Xún Lán. Unmarried ones need not say more, and even the married ones want to divorce and marry him again.”

But Yú Chén never expected that Fù Yánxī, Guì Yán, and Lù Yōu would also be so enchanted by Yún Xún Lán.

Seeing that Yú Chén was slow to respond, Fù Yánxī narrowed his eyes, feeling suspicious. “Yú Chén, you’re not messing with us, are you?”

Guì Yán, Sòng Tīngyàn, and Sòng Tīngqiáo also turned their gazes towards him, and if Lù Yōu weren’t focused on driving, she would have been staring too.

Yú Chén: “…”

In less than half a day on the job, he was about to offend half of the elite guard team.

However, Yú Chén was the kind of person who faced the music and didn’t shy away from the truth. He told Fù Yánxī honestly, “I was just trying to mess with you.”

— But since all of you are so eager to call me ‘dad,’ I can’t help it.

Although Yú Chén didn’t say the last part out loud, it was all written in his eyes, and anyone not blind could see what he meant.

Fù Yánxī: “…”

Other alphas: “…”

With several pairs of dark, piercing eyes on him, Yú Chén decided to spread some fatherly love and reveal the truth. “This isn’t perfume; it’s the scent of ice cream. You all know the Ailiánxīyà dessert shop, right? Their new ice cream flavor is this one, eighteen star coins each. If you like it, you can go buy it. I can treat you all, and I’ll send you red envelopes right now.”

“Ah, I know! It’s the new flavor that just launched this month, and it’s been all the rage online!” Guì Yán’s eyes lit up, but then quickly dimmed as he said, “I went to the Ailiánxīyà today, but the store I went to was sold out, and I couldn’t buy it.”

Lù Yōu nodded, her fingers curling slightly around the steering wheel. “Yeah, I remember, especially their slogan.”

“Melting the lychee rose on your tongue…”

Fù Yánxī murmured the slogan, and by the end, not only were his ears red, but his entire face looked like he had drunk too much, rivaling his previous hair color. “Doesn’t this violate advertising laws? Isn’t it a bit too suggestive?”

Does the “eighteen” in the slogan refer to the price or the age?

Does “lychee rose” refer to the scent and appearance of the ice cream or to someone with the same name as the pheromone?

Why is it that a sweet cone with a not-so-top-notch flavor can sell out every day at a price of eighteen?

— The answer was clear to everyone.

“Suggestive? What’s suggestive? It’s been on sale for a month, and no one has said anything, so it must be legal.” Guì Yán stubbornly denied it, insisting, “In any case, it absolutely cannot be taken off the shelves before I manage to buy this ice cream next time!”

Sòng Tīngyàn and Sòng Tīngqiáo agreed wholeheartedly, likely with the same intention. “That’s right, you’re right.”

Only then did Yú Chén realize what they were talking about.

He still held the same opinion: Do you all really love him that much?

And what kind of nonsense was that Ailiánxīyà ice cream slogan?

Mentioning this made Yú Chén speechless. When he bought the ice cream, he was only thinking about how it tasted, not paying any attention to the slogan. If he had seen it, he definitely wouldn’t have bought that ice cream— the lingering scent was just too damn strong!

The lychee rose fragrance in his mouth hadn’t dissipated yet.

Yú Chén licked his canine teeth, which were designed for alphas to inject pheromones, feeling increasingly annoyed.

He had never marked anyone, but the scent that was different from his own and that slogan made him feel as if he had just bitten into a soft gland that had the scent of lychee rose pheromones.

Fortunately, Yún Xún Lán was an alpha. If he were an omega, how would that be any different from being a pervert?

Doesn’t the Galactic Empire have a public relations team specifically responsible for maintaining the royal family’s public image? Why aren’t they doing anything about this? Where is the law?

Before Yú Chén remembered that Yún Xún Lán’s pheromone was lychee rose, he had wanted to drink water to wash away the taste. Now that he knew, he couldn’t stand it any longer. The lingering scent of food was different from pheromones, and using a pheromone-blocking spray wouldn’t eliminate it. Yú Chén could only get up and rummage through the trunk for bottled water to rinse his mouth.

Seeing this scene, Fù Yánxī’s face immediately fell, filled with jealousy and resentment as he muttered, “Living in luxury without knowing it…”

“Stop going crazy all day long.” Yú Chén scolded him with a cold face. “Do you want this luxury?”

Alphas have a strong territorial instinct, and they instinctively reject all other alphas. This situation is even more pronounced among high-ranking alphas. Therefore, to prevent pheromones from leaking and offending Yún Xún Lán, they all had military-grade strong suppression patches stuck to the back of their necks.

What if he went to see Yún Xún Lán with a mouthful of lychee rose scent and was mistaken for provoking him?

After rinsing his mouth with two bottles of water, Yú Chén finally felt like he couldn’t smell the lychee rose scent anymore. However, as soon as he got out of the car, that fresh and sweet fragrance of white lychee and pink rose wafted back around him.

It was evening, and as Yú Chén lifted his eyelids, what met his eyes were the lychee roses burning wildly along the path to the Northern Royal Palace under the sunset, never fading. Walking among them felt like prey entering the territory marked by a top alpha of the Galactic Empire. If they didn’t bow their heads and submit, they would be mercilessly hunted down.

This suddenly reminded Yú Chén of something: the level of Yún Xún Lán’s pheromones had always been a mystery. The royal family had never made it public, but the outside world generally assumed he was SSS level.

Because in the royal family, whether alpha or omega, the lowest level is SS. Moreover, a year ago, when he attended a banquet on behalf of Yún Xún Guāng, an accidental pheromone outburst caused chaos, leading several SSS-level omegas at the banquet to enter their estrus period, and the alpha of the same level present were also suppressed to the point of being unable to move. Such a powerful pheromone—who would believe he wasn’t an SSS-level alpha?

But the contradiction lies here: if Yún Xún Lán were truly SSS level, why wouldn’t the royal family make his level public? And now they even went to great lengths to establish a small elite force specifically to protect him?