After The Mission Failed, The Scumbag Alpha Ran Away - Chapter 21

21: Your Highness, Be Careful of Pretending Too Seriously

The dazzling female ghost opened her clear, phoenix-like eyes, filled with icy coldness. Smiling intimately, she mimicked Lou Huaiche’s movements, kneading the Omega’s scent gland with alternating lightness and pressure.

An Omega’s scent gland is far more sensitive than an Alpha’s. Lou Huaiche trembled slightly in her arms, and Jiang Youbai inexplicably felt as though she were holding a bewitching peach blossom swaying in the breeze.

The flower trembled wildly.

Jiang Youbai gripped her waist with one hand, marveling at how impossibly soft the person in her arms felt—warm, fragrant, and tender beyond compare.

Lou Huaiche’s eyes, tipped with a hint of crimson, were as delicate as a lotus emerging from water. She lifted her gaze to Jiang Youbai, her pupils reflecting a shimmering light. She sneered mockingly, “Is this all you’ve got? Your Highness.”

Jiang Youbai’s expression remained unchanged, her voice laced with an inexplicable, dark malice: “Miss Lou, someone who’s entered their heat early isn’t in any position to say that.”

“Feeling something for pheromones isn’t the same as feeling something for a person,” Lou Huaiche, despite being at a disadvantage, refused to back down. She pressed Jiang Youbai down, her slender fingers resting dangerously on the Alpha’s scent gland. “Your Highness, if you don’t know how to be an Alpha, should I teach you?”

This was practically a direct challenge to an Alpha’s bottom line.

Jiang Youbai smiled good-naturedly, unbothered. She leaned down, following Lou Huaiche’s motion, and captured her lips.

Their tongues intertwined, their kisses gentle and teasing.

In the secrecy of the moment, it seemed as though countless fragmented emotions were tangled within this kiss. A scorching ambiguity churned, melting into a tender, honeyed affection.

They clearly didn’t love each other, yet in their tense standoff, they tasted traces of solace in each other’s embrace—threads of something resembling love.

In this oppressive, stifling imperial capital, it was only when locked in each other’s arms, kissing, that the two of them felt truly alive, their hearts pounding wildly in their chests.

This false love was like a drop of ink in clear water—the moment it touched the surface, it spread rapidly. Though minuscule, it clouded perception like a thick fog, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.

Gradually, their kisses grew fiercer, neither willing to yield dominance to the other. Lou Huaiche tried several times to reverse their positions, but Jiang Youbai swiftly pinned her back each time.

Jiang Youbai’s voice dripped with a sinister sweetness: “Miss Lou, why aren’t you teaching me how to be an Alpha now?”

Lou Huaiche, finding resistance futile, turned her face away, refusing to engage.

At times like this, her pride was inexplicably stubborn. Jiang Youbai brushed aside the strands of hair scattered across the sofa, toyed with the red ends for a moment, then suddenly tilted her head and bit down on Lou Huaiche’s scent gland.

Pheromones surged, thick enough to flow like liquid. Two similar woody scents tangled and clashed, as incompatible as fire and water.

It was rare for an Omega to challenge an Alpha with pheromones.

Pheromones could convey many things—emotions, states, even the strength of an Alpha or Omega.

In the era after the emergence of secondary genders, pheromones became a third language, beyond words and body language.

Normally, Lou Huaiche’s pheromones were released naturally due to her heat, devoid of any additional meaning. Today, however, she deliberately used them to provoke Jiang Youbai.

After the temporary mark, Jiang Youbai, satiated, lazily remarked, “Miss Lou, you wouldn’t resort to pheromones just because you’re losing, would you?”

Lou Huaiche glanced at her sidelong and silently released even more pheromones.

Jiang Youbai fell silent for a moment before retracting her own pheromones. “You’d better not lose control. When an Alpha and Omega fight with pheromones, the only outcome is losing all rationality and completing a full mark.”

Lou Huaiche, sensing her retreat, pressed on relentlessly, releasing yet more pheromones.

Jiang Youbai gripped her shoulder with one hand while the other reached for a syringe of suppressants on the table. With swift precision, she injected Lou Huaiche: “Miss Lou, don’t push your luck.”

The moment she pulled out the suppressant, Lou Huaiche sensed danger. Before she could react, Jiang Youbai had already plunged the needle into her arm.

The fast-acting suppressant took immediate effect, halting Lou Huaiche’s pheromone production.

Lou Huaiche was so furious she was speechless: “You, an Alpha, carry this around?”

Jiang Youbai stood and opened the window: “Fresh air helps clear the mind. After being bitten by you twice, you think I wouldn’t carry suppressants?”

The rush of fresh air dissipated some of the pheromones in the room. Lou Huaiche sat up, casually smoothing her disheveled hair. She picked up a small metal box from the coffee table, flipped it open with one hand, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

Amid the swirling smoke, her face bore traces of exhaustion and weariness.

She tapped the cigarette ash: “Your Highness, the imperial capital has been restless lately. The Fourth Princess has been swamped with work. How come you’re still so free?”

The Fourth Princess was busy?

Jiang Youbai’s eyes darkened. She hadn’t expected to glean such crucial information from Lou Huaiche.

As far as she knew, Lou Huaiche and Jiang Qingxian weren’t close.

Did that mean Lou Huaiche got this information from Ning Yunze?

A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant. Suppressing her suspicions, Jiang Youbai tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear: “Miss Lou, I’m an idle person. Even if I were busy, I’d make time for you, wouldn’t I?”

Lou Huaiche parted her red lips, exhaling smoke: “Your Highness, spare me the act. We both know exactly what kind of person the other is.”

Jiang Youbai, hearing this, instinctively curled her lips into a gentle smile: “Miss Lou, how could that be? For your favor and affection, what wouldn’t I pretend to be?”

Lou Huaiche seemed stung by a particular word in her reply. As if stepping on a landmine, she suddenly stood, strode over to Jiang Youbai, her face shadowed with gloom. Her voice was icy: “Your Highness, must I spell it out for you—”

“False sentiments and feigned affection—don’t drape them in the guise of true love,” Lou Huaiche lifted her gaze, her amber peach-blossom eyes burning with anger. “Your Highness, if you pretend to be devoted, aren’t you afraid you’ll lose yourself in the act?”

Jiang Youbai nearly laughed coldly.

Lose herself? What did she even have left to lose in a relationship?

Her sweet, gentle smile twisted into something sardonic: “Miss Lou, if you’re so afraid, could it be you’re genuinely worried about falling for me?”

Lou Huaiche curled her lips. Suddenly, she reached out and lightly traced circles over Jiang Youbai’s heart. Then, slowly, her fingers drifted to her pulse, as though tempted to strangle her: “Your Highness, those who deceive will inevitably be deceived.”

Jiang Youbai caught her hand: “Then let’s see—will I be the one fooled, or will you be the one ensnared?”

In the tension-filled silence, neither yielded, their eyes equally cold and sharp.

An invisible smoke of battle hung between them, a war on the verge of breaking out.

The number 5 on the panel floating before Jiang Youbai’s eyes abruptly changed to 0.

Jiang Youbai: “?”