Can’t Pretend Chapter 69: Taking Away Freedom

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

“Welcome to the Kosei On Matters channel ~ Hello, guys! I’m your little Jackie ~ today we’re continuing to focus on the crown prince’s campaign approval ratings.” The woman with the doll’s haircut sat on a circular couch, and the white wall behind her projected the pictures and names of the four current crown prince candidates.

Underneath each name is the current approval rating.

“They say you can never be sure until the last day of the race for the crown prince. Yesterday, His Royal Highness Saroyan, who was at the top of the list with 60% approval rating, was suddenly exposed in the early hours of this morning for his discriminatory remarks against the beta population, causing a huge uproar. The recording was made in the early hours of this morning, causing an uproar. However, in the recording that broke out in the early hours of this morning, Her Highness Saroyan revealed his true face… Although the early morning recording has been quickly processed, the major polling organizations have downgraded the approval rating of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Saroyan.”

The support rate under Saroyan’s name on the screen dropped from 60% to 36% all of a sudden. And at the same time, the support rate of Grand Duchess Amelia corresponded to a much higher rate.

The other two candidates, Lu Wu and Erika, did not fluctuate much, but also had a slight increase. It was clear that the scandal of Saroyan was the most favorable for Amelia. After all, the only one who had the ability to compete with Saroyan was the same as the direct lineage of Emperor Hea, Her Highness Amelia.

At this time, many people on the screen began to speculate that this scandal may be the Grand Duchess’s plan. Obviously, these people were not the only ones who would speculate. The very next day, the Grand Duchess Amelia was exposed to have an affair with a number of noble men.

After such a confrontation, people feel that the crown prince’s campaign war had really begun.

There were some waves outside, however none of these had anything to do with Xie Quan.

This was the seventh day of his captivity.

After that day’s confrontation, Xie Quan was not confined to his room anymore. He was able to move around the house in a small way, he could even open the window and hear the birds chirping and people talking outside. The man was certainly not completely unguarded. He was confident that Xie Quan would not be able to escape even if he was not locked in the room.

On the first day, he used medicine to paralyze Xie Quan’s visual nerves. It temporarily took away Xie Quan’s vision.

On the third day, he medically paralyzed Xie Quan’s leg muscle control nerves, temporarily depriving Xie Quan of the ability to walk independently on his own.

“Next time you come, please make sure I hear a satisfactory answer from you, as long as you promise me that, you will recover from your leg and eye problems immediately.” The mystery man smiled and dropped a kiss on Xie Quan’s hand, then touched his hand suggestively.

Meaning, next time if Xie Quan still doesn’t say yes to him, then he will make Xie Quan temporarily unable to even use his hand.

What a fucking pervert.

There were perverts every year, but this year there were especially many. Is he hitting the wrong side of the tracks this year? How come everywhere he goes, he meets a pervert?

Sitting in his wheelchair, Xie Quan looked at the exquisite yet wild garden, his face expression like a pool of stagnant water, no fluctuations. He only directed the maid behind him to push himself to the further edge of the garden. As mentioned before, the mystery man was so relieved after taking away Xie Quan’s ability to move alone that he relaxed the restrictions on his range of motion, and Xie Quan was repeatedly testing out where he could go and—

He suddenly shouted, “Xiao Bai.”

The garden was quiet, with only the sound of birds chirping and cicadas chirping. It was Sophia, the maid beside him, who froze for a moment, and she bent forward. “Sir?”

Xie Quan lowered his eyes. “Nothing.”

The maid Sophia looked at the young man in front of her facing her, eyes downcast, long eyelashes covering the thoughts in his eyes, the afterglow of the sunset stretched his already lean and long figure even longer.

Such a good-looking person—

Her eyes fell on the youth’s long, smooth legs, and the blind, unfocused eyes.

It was unfair that he could not see or walk.

Sofia hid her inner intolerance, working in this mansion she was required not to show any feelings. She asked, in a respectful but audibly straight voice, like a robot, “Would you like to go home, sir? It’s almost dinner time.”

However, the young man did not respond until there was suddenly some small sound from the other side of the garden wall, and only then did he suddenly and slyly ask, “What is the place across the street?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“There seems to be more people lately.”

The maid Sophia listened carefully, and the small sounds next door were indeed the sound of people walking around. The footsteps were light but they could not hide the haste in them, and she replied in the same tone, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure, sir.”

Xie Quan, though invisible, tilted his head slightly in Sofia’s direction, as if he were trying to look at her. He ordered, “I’m a little cold, please bring me a blanket.”

This was the summer season, although the garden was cool, but certainly not too cold.

Sofia could not hear that this was Xie Quan’s way of getting away from her, and she said, unperturbed, “I’ll have someone else bring it over right now.”

“I just want you to go.” Xie Quan spoke uncompromisingly and capriciously, but his voice was as flat as ever.

Sofia frowned, but before she could speak, Xie Quan’s voice rang out again.

“I can’t even walk or see, so what are you guys afraid of?” Xie Quan asked without much emotion, “Do you think I can escape from here?”

“…”

“I can hear your loyal death stare at me.” Xie Quan continued, “But do you think your loyalty or my mood is more important in front of your master?”

Sofia’s grip on the wheelchair suddenly tightened.

“If I tell him that you disrespected me, what will your master do to you?”

Sofia replied with some difficulty, “Sir, I am only following orders.”

Hearing these words, Xie Quan knew he was right. The mystery man who treated himself like this was definitely not a person to get along with. In addition, this mansion was so quiet as if no one existed, and such a depressing atmosphere indicated that the person’s management methods were quite harsh.

It must be a person who treated human life like grass. As soon as he said he didn’t like the maid, the mystery man could just execute the maid to please him. Xie Quan said, “Unfortunately, your life is now not only in his hands, but also in mine. Let me stay here alone, I will not escape, and I cannot escape.”

Sofia pursed her lips and stared deadly at the youth who was sitting in a wheelchair with a clear and elegant face. Eventually she let go of her grip on the wheelchair handle. Taking a few steps back, she said, “I’m going to get the blanket, sir.”

Before leaving, Sofia hesitated, torn left and right, and uneasily warned, “Sir, you’d better not act rashly, the alarm device around the mansion will attack all living things indiscriminately before it is lifted, you will only be killed if you accidentally trigger the device.”

Xie Quan smiled, he spread his face and smiled gently. “Thank you for the reminder, you are a good girl.”

When the footsteps faded away, the smile on Xie Quan’s face gradually melted away like snow under the sun. The controls of the wheelchair were locked by Sophia, and Xie Quan had no intention of moving his position, he just held the handle of the wheelchair then carefully balanced himself and bent down—

His hands touched the ground, and the path with its residual heat was next to the land planted with flowers. He felt around on the ground and then found his target—a few stones. He gathered the stones in his hands and straightened up as he held his breath and listened carefully for those thin footsteps coming from beyond the wall.

The advantage of losing his vision was that his sense of hearing was much sharper. The last few days were really the most attentive period of his listening to the outside world. Probably God wants him to learn to use his ears more close to nature…

But although such experiences were valuable, he would not let go of that man. He gathered the stones in his palm, grabbed one with his other hand, and then threw it hard in the direction where he heard the sound.

With a pop, the stone smashed into the wall and then bounced back.

Xie Quan’s head gently tilted to avoid the bouncing stone, he picked up a stone again.

This time, he threw it a little higher—

Another failure.

After several consecutive attempts, finally, the stone went over the fence to the other side of the wall.

“Ow—” Someone made a startled sound.

Then immediately, the person next to him whispered, “Shh—don’t make a sound.”

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to.” The person panicked and quickly apologized, “Something hit me.”

The man said sternly, “Where did something hit you in a place like this? If you lose your cool in front of the bigwigs at the banquet in four days, your life will be in danger.”

“I won’t do it next time.”

“Hurry up and take your things and go.”

The sound of their conversation was low, but it was picked up by Xie Quan, who was just a wall away.

A party? A big shot? No wonder the mysterious man hadn’t come over in the past few days, so he was preparing a banquet? He was imprisoned here, taking away his sight and mobility, and the culprit was still happily preparing a banquet.

It’s really irritating. Four days later?

Dropping the stone in his hand, Xie Quan tilted his head and looked to the sky. That man had tampered with his visual abilities, so he was now not able to see the affairs in front of him. But his eyes still retained a faint ability to sense light.

He could feel the wheel of daylight overhead. With some plans in mind, he suddenly had a few moments to spare and couldn’t help but think of another person.

At that time Ji Cheying said to him that they went their separate ways. The sudden disappearance of Major General Ji was a good way to get what he wanted. But then, he was completely convicted.

In the eyes of Major General Ji, he was probably an outright liar.

“Ai…” Xie Quan sighed softly.

I hope Ji Cheying won’t be so desperate as to throw away all his things. But throwing it away was nothing. It was all for him anyway, and it was his freedom to do what he liked with it.

Footsteps sounded behind him, Sofia came back.

“Sir, your blanket.” The soft blanket covered Xie Quan’s legs, and Sofia was about to retract her hand when a somewhat cold hand suddenly grabbed her.

She froze.

The youth’s hand suddenly loosened.

“Excuse me,” he said.

“It’s okay, sir.”

The youth’s eyes, as translucent and crystalline as ice crystals, wrapped meaninglessly around her figure. He obviously couldn’t see anything, but it made Sofia feel as if the light of his eyes could shine into her heart. His voice was still as icy as before, but something seemed to have changed. “I’m sorry about earlier, I know it doesn’t concern you. I was capricious, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, sir.” Sophia replied, and then she pushed the wheelchair, carefully avoiding the bumpy areas, and walked slowly back.

Passing by the group of flowers, Xie Quan suddenly spoke, “These flowers smell so good.”

“It’s a blue lace rose.”

Xie Quan pondered. “Blue lace…” He lowered his eyelashes, hiding the deep thoughts in his eyes.

“Is something wrong, sir?”

Xie Quan shook his head. “Nothing, I just think the scent is a bit similar to you.”

“I…?” Sofia laughed lightly, “Sir, I’m a beta, I don’t smell like pheromones.”

Xie Quan said softly, “It’s not pheromone, it’s the scent you carry on your clothes.”

The voice fell gently, but it made Sofia’s heart jump.

However, before she could think about it, Xie Quan’s cool but gentle voice rang out again, “Let’s go, Sofia.”

 

The author has something to say: 

I saw the angels in the comment section worry about the stupid author, you do not worry, the author is still alive…

I’m really sorry for making everyone wait so long and disappearing all the time, I’m really sorry.

Last month the author’s work was very busy, and then in April felt that it may be slacking down after the outbreak, so a major illness, said the name of the disease is not big, but one after another directly sick for most of the month. At first it was acute tonsillitis fever, then a heavy cold for about a week, and now acute bronchitis (frown rub forehead), and then because of the nature of the work, there is no way to take time off to rest at home, so a weekend off and back home from work is basically the following order: eat, take medicine, sleep. I would like to say rest well and then hurry up and heal, but because I have to work, I have been repeating.

So when I got home, I didn’t do anything, I just slept.

This week is not so serious, so I began to write the text, write a little, and then think of the previous break so long, so I thought I would simply write the rest of the content in one go, and then you can update it steadily. But my base friend told me that the reader angels are very worried about me (yes, the author is very turtle afraid to read the comments), so after thinking about it, I decided to put the writing out first, although it has not been able to save much manuscript QAQ.

The author has to go to the hospital tomorrow to see a doctor, so it is not quite guaranteed that the recent stable update, friends let me take another half month off to recuperate, but I thought about it, or try to write, or really not feel (recently started writing again after a while, really special card, these days a little smoother).

Sorry, to let you worry about it ~ I also hope that you can stay healthy. The recent weather repeatedly makes it really easy to get sick, do not be like the author, being sick can be really uncomfortable.

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