ITF Chapter65

The king has passed away, and a new monarch now sat upon the throne. Backed wholeheartedly by both the Shao family and the Church, the arrangements for Bai Jiashu’s coronation proceeded steadily and in perfect order.

To the nobility, the king’s passing came as a surprise, though it was not entirely beyond expectation. Although the court publicly announced that Bai Yi had died of illness, whispers that could not be spoken aloud still circulated—His Majesty had died from excessive indulgence.

It was rumored that by the time the chief steward of the royal bedchamber discovered Bai Yi, his body had long since gone cold. Several of his Omega lovers were found dead beside him, having met the same fate. People could not help but sigh secretly that the once gloriously brave man had lost his life in such an undignified manner.

However, these were merely rumors; the personal attendants who had witnessed Bai Yi’s deathly state had all been secretly executed.

Including that chief steward of the bedchamber.

And of all this, Luo Congye, who had become a prisoner, knew nothing.

Less than a week remained until the day he would be sent to the gallows. When he was first thrown into the dungeon, he would silently count the days, but here, where neither the rising of the sun nor the setting of the moon could be seen, he soon lost his sense of time in the prolonged confinement.

His moments of clarity grew fewer and fewer, and he could barely control his pheromones anymore. In fact, he felt as though he might already be dead, because in his groggy state, he actually saw Bei Chengzhou.

Disguised as a household servant, Bei Chengzhou set the tray carrying the prisoner’s meal on the floor, lifted a bowl of water and tipped it toward the man’s mouth, then casually wiped his face with the back of his hand as though it were an absentminded gesture.

Luo Congye’s gaze focused on the palm of his hand.

Four large words were written there.

“Bai Yi is dead.”

Seeing his stunned expression, Bei Chengzhou placed the water bowl back onto the tray, picked up a piece of coarse bread, and used the movement to reveal the palm of his other hand as well.

This time, there were two lines of text.

“Hold on.”

“We will rescue you.”

These two sentences finally dragged Luo Congye back to reality and allowed him to recognize the childhood playmate he had been separated from for over a decade.

He turned his head slightly, avoiding the piece of coarse bread Bei Yang was trying to stuff into his mouth. “I’m not eating.”

This was not the first time he had said no to the Urdan people who had infiltrated Bai Heting’s mansion. Holding back his anger, Bei Yang’s voice turned stern as he stressed each word: “Don’t waste the food we went to such great lengths to prepare.”

Luo Congye was bound to a chair with his upper body completely bare. Hardly a patch of uninjured skin remained. The oldest knife wounds had long since healed, leaving neat, sharp-edged scars behind. Some injuries had only recently formed scabs, while the overwhelming majority were still fresh, raw wounds.

The split flesh was tinged with white, and his trousers were mottled and stained by the blood that had trickled down.

“Take it away,” he said with his head drooping listlessly. “I’m not eating.”

Bei Yang lifted a hand to the back of his neck, checking that the suppressant patch remained firmly in place and that none of his nearly uncontrollable Alpha pheromones could leak out. He forced Luo Congye’s face straight by grabbing his chin and viciously mouthed seven words to him: “Don’t let my brother die in vain.”

Luo Congye’s gaze wavered for a moment. But soon, he averted his eyes from Bei Yang’s stare and murmured, “Just leave me alone.”

Bei Yang forced his face up a little higher. Just as he was about to say something more, an explosive burst of angry fir pheromones suddenly flooded the entire dungeon, accompanied by Bai Heting’s voice, “You want to go on a hunger strike, is that it?”

The dry, rock-hard piece of coarse bread cracked in half under Bei Yang’s grip. The broken halves and scattered crumbs dropped to the floor, sinking into the bloodstained water thinned by the cold water. Bai Heting strode forward, snapped, “Get out of the way,” at Bei Yang, who was frozen in place, then kicked the meal at his feet across the ground.

“If he won’t eat, then let him starve.”

Bei Yang clenched his fists, then slowly relaxed them, forcing himself to steady his breathing. He stepped aside and crouched down, gathering the items Bai Heting had kicked over one by one and placing them back onto the tray. Bai Heting spared him a glance before taking a step forward and coming to a stop in front of Luo Congye.

“When exactly did you start colluding with the Urdan people?” He asked in a deep voice.

This was the first time he had spoken to Luo Congye since the executions began. Luo Congye forced his head up with great effort to meet the other party’s eyes.

“Disguising yourself as a Beta and infiltrating my guard regiment just to get close to me was already part of your plan, wasn’t it?” Bai Heting stood upright with his chest lifted, looking down from above with cold, lowered eyes as he questioned him in a rapid, clipped tone. “During last year’s autumn hunt ambush… were you involved?”

Luo Congye’s mind could not keep up with the aggressive interrogation. After a few seconds of silence, he replied, “No.”

Bai Heting’s voice dropped lower, his gaze turning darker and more menacing, “I am giving you one more chance to answer.”

“No.” Luo Congye repeated firmly.

Before the words had completely left his mouth, Bai Heting threw down two words with absolute certainty, “You were.”

Luo Congye froze, “I didn’t…”

Bai Heting said, “I have obtained definitive evidence.”

This was utter fantasy. Luo Congye shook his head slightly, “Impossible.”

Bai Heting used the tip of a dagger to force his chin up, his tone resolute, “You and those Alphas are in league with each other. Someone saw you coming and going with them.”

“How is that possible?” Luo Congye continued to shake his head.

He paused, letting out a dry laugh, “That person is lying to you.”

With a flick of his wrist, Bai Heting expertly left a fresh wound on his shoulder.

“You’re still being stubborn?” He raised his voice.

Luo Congye didn’t feel much pain from this cut. His sense of pain had already gone numb to knife wounds of this degree.

But Bai Heting’s gaze was sharper than that dagger, “That day… were you really drugged?”

That day… Luo Congye sluggishly figured out which day he was referring to. His lips parted slightly, but Bai Heting gave him no chance to respond and pressed on, “What exactly were you all thinking? Did you believe that marking me would make me submit obediently? Did you think your pheromones could bind me?” He patted Luo Congye’s face with the flat of the dagger and sneered, “What do you think you are?”

Luo Congye froze for a moment, his gaze falling upon the dagger.

An intricate flame pattern was carved into the wooden handle. During those four months of painstaking polishing, he had never imagined that this dagger would eventually be stained with his own blood.

“I will make every last one of the Urdan people pay the price,” Bai Heting lowered his head to draw close to his face, speaking at a deliberate pace. “I will let them know what kind of price must be paid for scheming against me.”

Luo Congye’s gaze shifted from the dagger in his hand back to his face.

In the flickering candlelight, those eyes were both beautiful and cold.

He should have felt sad.

Yet, Luo Congye did not feel particularly sad.

It was as though, under the weight of prolonged torture, even his heart; like his body, had gone completely numb.

They were never from the same world to begin with; an ending like this was only logical. Moreover, the general had warned him so many times before.

It was he who had deceived himself by taking the words spoken by an Omega whose mind was clouded by pheromones as the absolute truth.

Luo Congye blinked slowly.

“You want to know the truth about that day?” He asked softly.

The tender pheromones of tequila rippled out as he added, “Come closer, and I’ll tell you.”

Bai Heting did not move.

But Luo Congye saw him instinctively draw in breath.

With a creak, the wooden chair shifted slightly, and a pair of chapped lips brushed against Bai Heting’s lips in a fleeting touch.

Luo Congye leaned back in the chair with a relaxed smile on his face as if a heavy burden weighing a thousand pounds had finally been lifted from his shoulders.

A kiss was something meant only for the person one liked.

Bai Heting remained in the exact same position as before.

He had thought he could push Luo Congye over to the side of the Urdan people, but he had failed. Only a pool of stagnant, unrippled water remained in Luo Congye’s eyes, without a single trace of a desire to live at all.

This stubborn Alpha had given up.

He had proven his loyalty with his life and had also fulfilled his promise—”If I mark an Omega, I will stay with him until death.”

Gripping the dagger tightly, Bai Heting’s gaze slowly swept across his heavily scarred body, finally stopping at his abdomen.

The veins in Luo Congye’s neck suddenly bulged—

Every wound he had suffered before this had been a slash, but this blade was plunged straight in.

“No one is allowed to pull this dagger out. Leave him to endure it just like this.”

Bai Heting released his grip on the hilt and tilted his head slightly, looking down at the Alpha who still lingered crouched at his feet without moving away. The Alpha kept his head lowered with one hand pressing down on the tray, and the other clamping tightly over the suppressant patch on the back of his neck.

Bai Heting looked back; Luo Congye had already lost consciousness from the excruciating pain.

“Pass down the order,” his throat was dry and raspy. “The execution of this criminal by hanging has been moved up. It will take place tomorrow morning.”

You can unlock the complete translation in epub format HERE!