Can’t Pretend Chapter 83: He Was so Cute

Thank you, Kimberly, Ann, and LuoYan for the Ko-fis!!

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kiramekineko

 

“Marshal, His Highness Lu wants to see you.”

Ji Shanhong, dressed in a straight military uniform, looked at the folded note in his hand, his back still turned, and he gently asked, “His Highness Lu… Is he feeling better?”

Although he deliberately avoided the vitals, the shot last night was a real hit on Lu Wu’s body.

“Thank you for your concern, His Highness has almost recovered from his injuries.”

“That’s good.” Ji Shanhong unfolded the note in his palm, and with his other hand, he gently flattened the folds of the paper as he asked, “What did His Highness want from me?”

“Ah… I’m sorry, I don’t know, but when the Marshal meets His Highness, he will know.”

Ji Shanhong looked at the writing on the paper, it was a receipt, the receipt was addressed to the ** company Lunro Club, it was a receipt for a bet worth 10,000 star coins on the current crown prince’s campaign.

He smiled warmly. “Mn, I should also go to visit His Highness.”

 

“Why did you mention Ji Shanhong before? I remember he is your elder brother.” Being pushed by Ji Cheying to the dining room, Xie Quan suddenly remembered the two questions Ji Cheying asked at the beginning, one was about his relationship with the royal family and the other was about his relationship with Ji Shanhong.

But what relationship could he have with the famous Marshal Ji? Apart from Ji Cheying, there was no point of intersection between them, and they had only met once.

Ji Cheying pushed Xie Quan’s wheelchair, moving calmly. He changed the subject as if nothing had happened. “Rather than that, aren’t you curious about how I know about your relationship with the royal family?”

The matter of Ji Shanhong was only his current speculation, there was no conclusive evidence yet. Moreover, judging from Xie Quan’s reaction, he should not have thought about Ji Shanhong either. In that case, he was not going to say it to disturb people’s attention. As for the previous question, it was just a quick tongue in the mouth in the heat of the moment.

Xie Quan knew Ji Cheying was changing the subject, but he did care about it. Resisting the subconscious impulse to turn his head, he asked, “How do you know?”

Ji Cheying then brought up everything that happened last night, the war of public opinion between the two princes, the liquidation of Ji Shanhong’s forces, the attack on Lu Wu, and then how the old story was rehashed, someone brought the former third prince, Joan Ansel, back into the public eye and pointed directly to the suspicion that Emperor Hea had brutalized his brother, and thus Joan Ansel’s picture became public knowledge again. In the dead of night, someone restored Xie Quan’s face through the security camera and raised the possibility that the person in the healing capsule was Joan Ansel’s child… And so on, all in a methodical and slow manner.

After adjusting the wheelchair to the right height and seating Xie Quan at the table, Ji Cheying walked into the kitchen and brought out the meal that the robot had already prepared. Xie Quan slowly digested and smoothed out the events, and as he listened to the crisp clink of plates on the table, he and Ji Cheying came to the same conclusion.

“There must be a hand behind this chaos.” He asked, “Do you think it’s Ji Shanhong?”

The most likely reason for this was that Ji Cheying must have thought that Ji Shanhong had something, and that’s why he asked him that question. The most likely reason was that Ji Shanhong is the one behind it.

Ji Cheying put the last dish on the table, the sound of plates clashing drowned out his sigh. But then Ji Cheying raised his eyebrows with some relief. “Good, you understand me so well, that’s a good start.”

“…” Xie Quan felt that this statement seemed not very decent, but he could not find any evidence.

Ji Cheying pulled over a chair and sat down beside Xie Quan. “I just think there’s something fishy about Ji Shanhong, I’m not sure yet, I’ll go investigate first and tell you when I have results.”

Ji Cheying’s words were so clear from Ji Shanhong that Xie Quan was a little confused. In that case, Ji Cheying’s attitude was indifferent when the two brothers were having dinner together before. After recalling it, Xie Quan couldn’t help but feel sad again.

He could actually remember such details of the interaction, he really had grown a lot in the human world. He asked as he sighed with emotion, “Did you have a bad relationship with your brother?” 

After asking the question, Xie Quan regretted it a little. He usually didn’t ask about people’s personal affairs, respecting the sense of boundaries between them, but he had broken the taboo. So he added, “If you don’t want to talk about it, forget it.”

But Ji Cheying nodded in satisfaction, probably because he thought Xie Quan couldn’t see at the moment, he did not mince words to express his satisfaction. “I’m willing to talk, I’m willing to tell you anything you ask, I like it when you ask me, in addition to the relationship with him, you can also ask me about my previous relationship history.”

“…” Xie Quan was sure that Ji Cheying was just immodest.

Ji Cheying gave Xie Quan a bowl of soup and while stirring the soup with a spoon to make it cool to a palatable temperature as soon as possible, he said, “Ji Shanhong is indeed my elder brother, but we are not born of the same omega. He was born to my father’s former omega. And we did not live in one place, so the feelings are not said to be very deep. I respect him, but I’m not close to him, and I don’t like to get too involved with him, after all, he’s a military marshal. If I get too close to him, people will think I’m under his protection to get my current position.” 

At this point, Ji Cheying’s brow furrowed, obviously disgusted by such a statement. After collecting his emotions, he continued, “Because I was not close to him, I also knew that our brotherhood was just a grand word to Ji Shanhong.”

Xie Quan recalled Ji Shanhong’s behavior at that time, he doubted, “But Marshal Ji seemed very concerned about you.”

Ji Cheying’s sword eyebrows were slightly raised, he did not agree with this matter, he said in a flat tone, “Ji Shanhong, this person, a cold nature, what you see is only his pretense. There is no one else in the Ji family today except me and him, because Ji Shanhong has killed everyone, including our ‘father’.”

Ji Cheying’s tone was so calm, but the words that came out were so gut-wrenching, the contradiction of which made Xie Quan’s brow furrow.

“But this is what those people deserve, in this case, Ji Shanhong is actually considered my benefactor.” After Ji Cheying finished in a deep voice, he laughed. “Far from it, but in Ji Shanhong’s heart, blood ties are the most unwarranted thing, and of course in that, I am like him.”

Ji Cheying put down the spoon and reached out his hand to touch Xie Quan’s furrowed brow. He used a little pressure, as if he was forcing the folds of his brow to spread out. Xie Quan obediently spread his eyebrows, Ji Cheying’s austere eyes were tinged with a warm smile, and then he suddenly froze.

Because he suddenly remembered something, he said, “I suddenly remembered something.”

“What?”

“Ji Shanhong cried once, and that was the only time he cried. And that was when I was eight years old.”

Xie Quan felt a little puzzled at first, but quickly reacted by saying, “When you were eight… Seventeen years ago, the very year that Joan Ansel died.”

“That’s right, and probably the right time, it was summer, and your father’s accident was also in the summer.”

Both men fell silent, and finally Ji Cheying said, “Forget it, let’s not think about it, let’s eat.” He scooped up a spoonful of soup and brought it to Xie Quan’s lips.

“…” Xie Quan was caught off guard by the spoonful and had no choice but to drink the soup first, then before the second spoonful came he refused, “I can do it myself.”

He held out his hand to get the bowl himself.

But Ji Cheying didn’t have the slightest intention of backing down, he dodged Xie Quan’s hand and said nonchalantly, “You’re inconvenienced now, be good, don’t be capricious.”

Xie Quan took half a second to think about the last time someone had spoken to him like that, and then took half a second to get back to the present situation. After taking a second spoonful of soup, Xie Quan said with a blank face, “Are you treating me like a child?”

“No.” Ji Cheying replied without hesitation, “How can I treat you like a child? You are my omega, if you are a child then aren’t I committing a crime?”

“…” Xie Quan’s eyes widened, if he wasn’t invisible at the moment, he would really want to take a closer look at how thick this man’s cheek was. “How am I your omega?”

“We’ve already explored this issue earlier, but of course if you want to explore it again, I don’t mind.”

Xie Quan struggled helplessly. “But I didn’t agree.” After that, a spoonful of soup was brought to his mouth, and he drank it down very busily, frowning as he continued, “I didn’t want to find myself an alpha.”

“What a coincidence, I wasn’t thinking about it either.” Ji Cheying was now full of energy after getting over his own hurdle. “But since you took advantage of me, you have to be responsible for me.”

“???” Xie Quan was dumbfounded. “How did I take advantage of you? I was marked by you, didn’t you take advantage of me?”

Ji Cheying raised his eyebrows. “You teased me and forced me to commit a taboo, I didn’t want to find an omega, but you forced me to change my mind, so you have to be responsible for that.” Xie Quan was about to retort when Ji Cheying promptly asked, “Who was it last night that couldn’t be driven away?”

“…”

“Who opened the door when I locked myself up for your safety, knowing that I was susceptible?”

“…”

“I put up with it when you were like that, but one guy made a point of disclosing that he was omega.”

“…”

If it wasn’t for Xie Quan’s own strong logic skills, he would have been wound up by the other party. The corners of his mouth twitched. “If I didn’t see you suffer so much during your susceptible period, would I have let you bite me? You are really…” Realizing that he had let his mouth slip, Xie Quan lowered his eyes and turned his head away. “Whatever you say, give me the soup.”

However, it was already too late, Ji Cheying had already heard the words in his heart, Xie Quan could not see and missed the glittering light of his eyes, he laughed in a low voice. The laughter was low and deep, and not very loud, but in Xie Quan’s ears it sounded extraordinarily scratchy. He tried to maintain the indifference on his face, “Are you crazy? Why are you laugh—”

The next second, his lips were covered with a warm, hot touch, no longer a spoon, but Ji Cheying’s lips.

Ji Cheying’s kiss was delicate, extremely gentle, yet strong enough not to tolerate rejection. He gently nibbled on Xie Quan’s lower lip, then gradually deepened the kiss.

Last night, Ji Cheying did not kiss him, at this moment, he could not resist any longer. Ji Cheying sighed in his heart as he kissed the man he had wanted for so long.

He was so cute.