AEKMEM chapter 38

Chu Heng touched his nose, feeling quite guilty. “I saw that you didn’t want people to know that you aren’t the original An family young master, so I didn’t mention it.”

An Qiao snorted coldly, “Just because I don’t want people to know doesn’t mean I like being treated like a fool and kept in the dark!”

Chu Heng: “…”

That’s it. He knew An Qiao had another identity he hadn’t revealed.

He regretted not confessing earlier.

However, saying it now would only add fuel to the fire. Maybe he should leave it at that for now. He’d talk about it after getting through this hurdle.

Chu Heng said softly, “I’m afraid if I reveal your identity, you’ll feel uncomfortable and might just run away.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said, looking at An Qiao.

An Qiao was startled when he met his gaze and heard him say, “I don’t want you to leave.” A strange, tingling sensation rose in his chest.

“During this time, we…” He paused, ultimately not revealing his true feelings. “We’ve gotten along quite well, and we’ve always cooperated well, haven’t we?”

“If you leave, your identity might cause trouble. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be using the identity of the eldest son of the An family. Besides, the outside environment is extremely complex. It will probably take you a long time to adapt.”

“From my perspective—” He gazed deeply at An Qiao. “I need you.”

“If the Crown Princess matched to me by the brain system suddenly disappears, the entire empire will be watching. That would trouble me greatly and make me very unhappy.”

He exaggerated the objective consequences and impact of this matter. In reality, he didn’t care about any objective influence. He simply didn’t want An Qiao to leave and couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

An Qiao inwardly rolled his eyes.

Given Chu Heng’s status and his arrogant, rebellious, and unrestrained nature, why would he care about others’ opinions in the empire?

However, Chu Heng was right about one thing. It was more convenient to maintain his current identity within the empire for now.

Perhaps he himself hadn’t realized that when he mentioned “leaving,” he wasn’t considering leaving at that moment and returning to his original elven world.

But there was still one crucial question:

“Don’t you want to know my true identity? Why am I impersonating the eldest son of the An family? Did I infiltrate your side deliberately to harm you?” He stared into Chu Heng’s eyes and asked.

Hearing An Qiao mention “true identity,” Chu Heng’s eyelids twitched.

He still didn’t want An Qiao to know that his other elf disguise had been exposed as well.

“Your identity isn’t important,” he said.

That was true. Before he knew that An Qiao was an elf, he had Jiang Qi erase all clues and evidence related to An Qiao’s identity so that no one else would know that An Qiao wasn’t the original eldest son of the An family.

To him, An Qiao was simply An Qiao.

“As for the rest, all I need to know is that you won’t harm me. My intuition tells me you would never harm me.”

He’s really confident, An Qiao thought to himself: What if I did want to harm you?

If he weren’t the imperial crown prince and commander-in-chief of the Second Army—someone far too important and sensitive—and if he didn’t have such high combat power, and if the other man hadn’t been seriously injured at the time… perhaps when he saw him and remembered the black dragon in the video, his dragon-lover instincts would’ve flared up. He might’ve knocked him out and kidnapped him.

Hmm. Thinking about it, it’s not impossible.

As for whether Chu Heng is lying— The elf is especially sensitive to the goodwill and malice of others. He could tell that Chu Heng had no ill intentions toward him.

As An Qiao frowned and became deep in thought, a firebird formed from fire-based superpowers appeared out of thin air. The bird was the size of an eagle and flew before him.

Although ethereal and intangible, the firebird’s colors were dazzling—a fiery red—and its appearance was exceptionally beautiful.

The firebird, which was fierce and menacing around others, was now harmless and docile. It fluttered and danced energetically in front of An Qiao, seemingly trying to please him.

“I was wrong.” Chu Heng, who had cleverly conjured the firebird and was controlling it to fawn over An Qiao, said with a forced smile, “Getting angry is bad for your health. Don’t be angry anymore, okay?”

As he spoke, he noticed the slight gleam in An Qiao’s eyes. He waved his hand, and instantly, hundreds of firebirds burst forth from the void and swirled gracefully around An Qiao.

The spectacle was dazzling and radiant, as beautiful as a dream.

An Qiao looked up at the scene. His icy blue eyes shone as if starlight flickered within them. They possessed an unusual brilliance.

He was interested in strange and beautiful things; the more novel and fantastical, the better.

Seeing An Qiao staring intently at the sky full of firebirds and not glancing at him made Chu Heng feel jealous.

Chu Heng felt a strange pang of jealousy.

“Didn’t you always want to see my black dragon beast form?” he asked cunningly, trying to get An Qiao’s attention.

An Qiao immediately looked at Chu Heng, his eyes brighter than before.

While the firebird was interesting, a dragon was still more appealing to him!

Chu Heng: “… ”

Although he had successfully attracted An Qiao’s attention, he felt even more jealous for some reason.

It seemed that An Qiao cared more about his black dragon beast form than about him as a person.

At that moment, he suddenly understood the bittersweet relief the furry beastmen in the army felt when speaking of their partners’ apparent preference for their beast forms.

**

Chu Heng urged An Qiao to leave, offering to transform into his black dragon form and fly him out of the Spirit Burial Snowfield immediately.

For some reason, he was reluctant to let An Qiao stay, especially in the eerie back mountain of the Elf Palace.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” An Qiao said, remembering something.

He kicked a scarred man standing nearby, deliberately leaving a mark on his face. “This is the leader of the Greedy Wolf Pirate. He said they kidnapped you when you were young and left you stranded.”

“Is that why you attacked?” Chu Heng stared at An Qiao, a strangely bright light flashing in his eyes.

An Qiao felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze.

“Shouldn’t your focus be on the Greedy Wolf Star Pirate?”

Back then, Chu Heng was a prince who had just been born. He was almost a formidable future heir to the empire, but he was kidnapped from the capital star by star pirates. In the end, nothing was ever found, and not even a trace of the culprit was seen. It was a disgrace to the empire.

Almost the entire empire knew about it. An Qiao, though not particularly interested in world affairs, had heard of the incident.

So it really is because of me?

Chu Heng couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Instead of pressing An Qiao for details, he continued, “I’ve suspected before that the pirates who kidnapped me from the capital star when I was young were from the Greedy Wolf Star Pirate Group. It’s just a pity that, despite monitoring them for years, I’ve never found any evidence.”

“Qiao Qiao, you really are my lucky star. Thank goodness you caught a key accomplice in that case back then.”

An Qiao found Chu Heng’s smile utterly inexplicable.

“I don’t know how much he knows. I’ll wake him up, and you can ask him yourself.”

An Qiao then kicked the scarred man twice, successfully waking him up from his near-death experience.

Seeing this, Chu Heng couldn’t help but smile again.

With his cold and aloof demeanor and ruthless actions, Qiao Qiao possessed a strangely endearing contrast.

Besides, An Qiao was “ruthless” because of him.

Thinking this, he felt a surge of satisfaction.

“It’s you?!” The scarred man, forced awake, stared at Chu Heng with hatred and fear.

Over the past few years, the Greedy Wolf Star Pirates had suffered greatly at Chu Heng’s hands; all of its members hated and feared him.

However, when he saw his companions’ corpses scattered on the ground and recalled fainting from his severe injuries, his horrified gaze turned to An Qiao beside Chu Heng. Looking at An Qiao, his pupils constricted, and his lips trembled as if he were facing a demon from hell.

Chu Heng, on the other hand, was curious about what An Qiao had done.

“Speak,” An Qiao said coldly and arrogantly. “What exactly happened when your Wolf Star Pirate kidnapped Chu Heng?” He exuded a terrifying aura of superiority.

He had clearly forgotten that he had just told Chu Heng to ask the question himself.

“Ha,” the scarred man suddenly laughed in a sinister, mocking tone. “Your Highness, the Crown Prince of the Empire, you probably don’t know what kind of monster your Crown Princess—your bedmate—really is!”

An Qiao: “… ”

This was the first time he had ever been called a “monster.”

No matter how you looked at him, his face had absolutely nothing to do with monsters. He was truly blind. He should have beaten him up much harder back then.

And what the hell was this “bedmate”?

“Who are you calling a monster?” Chu Heng’s expression suddenly darkened.

He kicked the scarred man who had slandered An Qiao several times. However, he controlled his strength, inflicting only excruciating pain and stopping short of killing him. “I know my Crown Princess best. There’s no need for an outsider like you to cause trouble.”

What blindness! His Qiao Qiao is clearly an elf. The most beautiful elf!

So what if he was a bit brutal when he beat people up and his fighting skills were a bit unbelievable? How could he be so blind as to mistake his Qiao Qiao for a monster?

“Hahaha… impotent rage, huh!” The scarred man coughed up blood from the kicks but laughed instead.

Knowing he was doomed, his only thought was to bite them before he died. His smile grew increasingly manic. “Chu Heng, you’re truly cursed, a jinx! Your wife is lying to you, and your mother is no pushover either.”

However, Chu Heng didn’t let him get away with it. “I know my crown princess wouldn’t lie to me intentionally. Even if he did, I’d gladly accept it.”

“Oh, really? Then you’re quite the lovesick fool, actually willingly being deceived by your Crown Princess.” The scarred man’s tone was mocking; he clearly didn’t believe that Chu Heng had no suspicions whatsoever.

“So you don’t care at all what your mother did to you? Do you know—”
He then smiled sinisterly, eerily, and chillingly.
“Back then, your mother just watched us kidnap you.”

An Qiao’s eyes widened in shock.

His first reaction was to look at Chu Heng. However, Chu Heng showed no reaction; his face was calm, and his gaze was unwavering.

An Qiao could tell that Chu Heng was truly unmoved and indifferent rather than suppressing or hiding his emotions.

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