Yun Xunlan’s coming-of-age birthday banquet was finally set to take place three days later.

On that day, not only would people from their own country attend, but many powerful nobles from the Diemian Empire and high-ranking officials from the Xingyun Federation would also be invited to participate in this unprecedented grand feast in the galaxy.

Yun Xunlan wasn’t the type to enjoy a lively atmosphere, but as the third prince of the Galactic Empire, his coming-of-age banquet carried extraordinary diplomatic significance. He had to enjoy the privileges and comforts that came with his status, but he also had to shoulder certain responsibilities and obligations. So, three days before the birthday banquet, Yun Xunlan found himself unable to relax at all. He was constantly being held up by Yun Xunguang at the Taizi residence, the Donghuang Palace, to help her deal with a multitude of official documents, leaving him so busy that he barely had time to develop his brotherly bond with Yu Chen.

However, no matter how busy he was, he still had to complete the daily survival tasks issued by the system. To that end, every morning before heading to the Donghuang Palace, he would first stop by the training ground to listen to the loyal “oaths” from the royal guard alphas—mainly to hear Yu Chen’s.

But as he listened, Yun Xunlan noticed that Yu Chen’s voice while reciting the oath seemed to be getting quieter day by day, the reason for which was still unclear.

So, paying special attention to his future good brother’s state, Yun Xunlan decided to summon Yu Chen for a private meeting again tonight. He wouldn’t disturb their training during the day—he simply didn’t have the time to do so.

“Indeed, not everyone can be a crown prince. I really admire you,” Yun Xunlan said, rubbing his temples, feeling that dealing with official documents for a day was even more exhausting than working non-stop in the lab for three days and nights. “If it were me, I could only last three days at most.”

Yun Xunguang laughed: “Is it really that exaggerated? Don’t you read more documents than this when you’re in the lab?”

“But I love reading those things; I don’t love reading these,” Yun Xunlan complained, yet he still opened the next document projection and asked Yun Xunguang, “When can you let me go back to the Seventh Experimental Base?”

Yun Xunguang was also looking at the document projection and didn’t glance his way: “Let’s talk about it after your birthday banquet. Besides, doesn’t your Beihuang Palace have a lab? You can do experiments there too.”

Yun Xunlan frowned: “The lab at Beihuang Palace has limited space and can’t conduct…”

“Your bounty of 3 billion has already disappeared from the black market list yesterday. Either someone paid to have it removed, or someone took the job,” Yun Xunguang suddenly interrupted Yun Xunlan’s words in a serious tone. She closed the document projection and turned to look at the young man beside her. “Which situation do you think you are in, my dear brother?”

Yun Xunlan was momentarily taken aback.

“Every time you go into the operating room, I stand guard outside until the doctor brings you out. You always say your time is precious, but so is mine. You shouldn’t waste time lying in the medical pod, and I shouldn’t waste time standing outside your operating room.”

Yun Xunguang smiled faintly, her voice a bit hoarse: “I usually have a lot of patience, but when I’m outside your hospital room, I can’t sit still for even a minute.”

After saying that, without waiting for Yun Xunlan to respond, she shifted her gaze, staring blankly at a point and said, “Dick said that not many of those guards can withstand your pheromone simulation pressure. At least wait until they finish their pressure resistance training and can adapt to your pressure before you go back to the Seventh Experimental Base, okay?”

“Okay.” Yun Xunlan replied softly.

Yun Xunguang let out a long breath, also rubbing her temples in a feigned headache, but her tone became much lighter: “If you’re really bored, you can go find Yu Chen to catch up on ‘War Psychology.’ With your terrible grades, it’s a good thing you didn’t go to military school; otherwise, you definitely wouldn’t graduate.”

‘War Psychology’ is a required course in all military schools across the galaxy, with exams every semester. If you fail the exam and don’t pass the retake, you have to repeat the year. If Yun Xunlan had gone to military school back in the day, judging by his terrible grades in this subject, he would still be a first-year student and wouldn’t even be able to advance to the second year.

So, Yun Xunlan took this to heart: “Okay, I’ll go find him for extra lessons.”

Yun Xunguang shook her head and sighed: “Let me have a little peace of mind. This month, I haven’t even had time to have a proper meal with your sister-in-law; all my time has been spent worrying about you.”

Yun Xunlan raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled: “I don’t believe that. He’s your attendant; if you don’t even have time to eat with him, I can only suspect that you’re having an affair.”

“I said ‘have a proper meal,’ stop trying to stir up trouble between me and your sister-in-law.” After getting Yun Xunlan’s promise not to leave the palace casually, Yun Xunguang no longer restrained him. “Alright, go back and rest. See you at the banquet tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Yun Xunlan stood up from his chair and was about to leave when he suddenly heard Yun Xunguang call out his nickname.

“Lanlan.”

Yun Xunlan paused, turning back to look at Yun Xunguang.

Although Yun Xunguang’s primary characteristic was female, she was the same height as Yun Xunlan, standing at a solid 1.85 meters. She slowly walked up to Yun Xunlan, half-raising her arm to easily wrap it around the young man: “Happy birthday! We all love you very much, my dear brother.”

“I know.” Yun Xunlan hugged her back and said softly, “I love you all too.”

On the way back to Beihuang Palace, the system asked Yun Xunlan, “Are you really going to find Yu Chen for extra lessons?”

“Yeah, but it’s not the right time yet,” Yun Xunlan replied. “What if he mistakenly thinks that I’m getting close to him just to catch up on ‘War Psychology’? How can we still be brothers then? I’m meeting him tonight to continue developing our friendship; talking about extra lessons isn’t appropriate.”

Yun Xunlan valued his brotherly bond with Yu Chen very much and was willing to invest energy and effort to maintain it.

Because he hadn’t lived so comfortably in a long time—just getting up every day to see Yu Chen at the training ground was enough to complete his daily survival tasks. Was there an easier way to accomplish daily tasks than this?

“My royal sister even said that even if I’m making love, I should at least have a guard watching nearby. She really overestimates me,” Yun Xunlan sighed. “If I hadn’t met Yu Chen, when would I have time to make love?”

He would definitely be busy every day searching through the hundreds of billions of comments, messages, and posts from netizens on the star network to find negative reviews that could help him complete his daily tasks. Forget about making love; he might not even have time to sleep.

But the system opened up a new line of thought for him: “You could do both at the same time.”

“Um… you’re right; that could work.” Yun Xunlan pondered for a moment and then pursed his lips, “But it’s still better to find Yu Chen; it’s more time-efficient and less of a hassle.”

The system felt a pang of sympathy: “That is true.”

It’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality. After getting used to life with Yu Chen, how could Yun Xunlan be willing to go back to his previous lifestyle? So, when the guards finished their daily training around nine o’clock that night, Yun Xunlan summoned Yu Chen to build their brotherly bond.

On the other side, Yu Chen, who was summoned to follow Ni Chun to Yun Xunlan’s sleeping quarters, was also guessing in his mind why the prince wanted to see him this time. Was he planning to continue brainwashing him? Or was he going to bring up the topic of extra lessons?

However, the distance from the guard dormitory to the prince’s sleeping quarters wasn’t far, and Yu Chen didn’t have time to come up with an answer before he arrived at the guest room door.

Ni Chun gently knocked: “Your Highness, Major Yu Chen has arrived.”

“Come in.”

The heavy ornate door slowly opened at the young man’s voice.

Yu Chen raised his eyes and saw the prince calmly leaning against the living room sofa, his long silver hair cascading like cold satin flowing in the moonlight, filled with a desolate chill. His golden eyes, however, resembled burning stars, possessing a gravitational pull that could transcend all dimensions.

So even though the young man was sitting far away and high up, the moment he looked over at Yu Chen, Yu Chen instinctively tensed every muscle in his body, and his heart began to race—not out of nervousness or infatuation, but as a natural response of his body mobilizing adrenaline in preparation for the impending contact and fierce clash with another top alpha’s pressure.

But until the alpha walked over and stood just half an arm’s length away from him, Yu Chen didn’t feel the pressure descending; he only caught a faint scent of dampness.

He belatedly realized that the prince had probably just taken a shower.

Yu Chen lowered his gaze and saluted Yun Xunlan: “Your Highness.”

“Good evening, Major Yu Chen.”

The young man’s tone was gentle, his naturally slightly hoarse voice like a low string being pulled, making one inexplicably feel that every word he spoke was laced with sexual innuendo. Even though he was merely expressing genuine concern for Yu Chen: “Are you feeling unwell lately?”

Yu Chen didn’t understand why Yun Xunlan would ask him such a question and replied, “No, Your Highness, I’m in good health.”

“But I feel like you’ve been speaking as if it’s…” Yun Xunlan paused for a few seconds before coming up with a suitable adjective, “very laborious?”

Yu Chen: “…”

…What the hell, laborious?

Hearing this, Yu Chen’s expression remained unchanged, but his gaze was somewhat complicated.

Because this matter had to start from three days ago.

He would always remember that day; the sky was very clear and blue. He had just gathered with his colleagues at the training ground and was preparing to conduct pressure resistance training when Dick announced a grim message: “The Third Prince appreciates us, and we cannot disappoint his trust. So every morning when the Third Prince comes to the training ground to inspect, you all have to loudly recite your oaths of loyalty in front of him, so he can feel our unwavering sincerity until death!”

The others seemed to hear heavenly music, while Yu Chen felt like he had received a death sentence.

To make matters worse, Dick emphasized: “Except for Yu Chen. Yu Chen, I don’t even want to talk about you; just keep your damn oath quiet. Don’t say it too loudly, or you’ll embarrass yourself.”

Yu Chen really wanted to retort: Do you even need to remind me?

Seriously, could he just be mute? He didn’t want to talk anymore.

Was he even talking?

He was just putting on a show, making a fool of himself.

Yu Chen couldn’t explain the real reason why speaking was “laborious” in front of Yun Xunlan; he could only say, “Your Highness, I speak softly because I’m naturally introverted. I’m not used to speaking loudly in front of so many people.”

Yun Xunlan looked puzzled: “Really?”

Neither online nor in reality did he perceive Yu Chen as an introverted person.

Yu Chen’s expression was blank, but his back teeth were clenched tightly: “Really.”

After hearing this, the prince smiled gently: “That’s good. I was worried you felt embarrassed and were too shy to speak loudly.”

Yu Chen: “…”

Damn!

Was it too late for him to tell the truth now?