Can’t Pretend Chapter 90: In Response to Public Opinion

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: SpringBreeze, Kiramekineko

 

On this day, the nation was informed of the recovery of Caesar Ansel by the royal family.

It was said that after the accident of the former third prince Joan Cyrus Ansel, someone wanted to take away the young Caesar Ansel, but in the process Caesar Ansel escaped on his own and had been in exile ever since. Now twenty-two years old, Caesar Ansel would succeed the former third prince as duke and prince, and the conferral ceremony would take place in two weeks.

On top of the announcement, a photo of the new prince was also published. The young man in the picture had handsome eyebrows, and was a rarely clean and beautiful omega.

“This prince is really handsome.” In the research room, someone saw the news and exclaimed, “I think I’m going to fall in love.”

Ding Fei, who was also in the research room, took a curious look at the news, and with this look, she was so wide-eyed that she forgot to pick up the tools she had dropped on the floor.

Her mentor, Professor Elaine, noticed Ding Fei’s movement. She was a child who rarely reacted in such a distracted manner, and she went to Ding Fei’s side, patted her on the shoulder, and asked with concern, “Ding Fei, what’s wrong?” 

This child is not stupid, right?

Ding Fei gulped and looked at the person in the picture incredulously, and only when she heard Professor Elaine’s question did she come back to her senses. After sorting out her shocked thoughts, she frowned and replied with great confusion, “…Professor, you asked me whose design was the power pod, it was him, Xie Quan…” She looked confused.

She looked confused and couldn’t help but wonder, “But how did he become a prince?” Or that child of Joan’s.

Professor Elaine was also very surprised. Since that day’s competition, she had been very concerned about the original power pod designer, after all, it was very likely to be the mechanical genius Yan Bai. No one had ever seen his true face, but then that person never contacted Ding Fei; she thought the boy was gone.  Now that they finally managed to “meet”, they didn’t expect it to be this way.

“Are you sure it’s him?”

“Mn…”

As soon as she came out of the research room, Ding Fei immediately went to find Lilith. The flower of the Mechanical College was surrounded by a group of alpha, as usual, at the moment. Ding Fei pulled the person out of the surrounding group without being told, and led the person to the side before asking a confused Lilith, “Lilith, what’s up with Mr. Xie? “

Lilith used her hand to slightly slow her own breath. Hearing Ding Fei’s question she froze for a second, but had understood.

Ding Fei asked again sharply, “Is that really him?”

Lilith also saw Xie Quan’s message, she hesitated, but said with some reservation, “It should be…” she said, “Do you still remember the alpha that day at Mr. Xie’s side?”

Ding Fei recalled for a moment, remembering the leering alpha, she nodded heavily, “Yes.”

Lilith said, “He is a five-star major general of the Ministry of Military Affairs, his elder brother is the marshal of the Ministry of Military Affairs, at first I thought Mr. Xie’s identity should be extraordinary, just did not expect to actually be the child of the last third prince, now inheriting the position of the prince of the former third prince, it is also appropriate.” When Ding Fei was still digesting this information, Lilith sighed, “It’s just that this is the wrong time.”

Ding Fei was puzzled. “This time?”

Lilith frowned, rather worriedly. “The crown prince has not yet decided, according to public information, Mr. Xie is also an omega.”

Ding Fei’s eyes widened. “Isn’t he a beta?”

Lilith’s face showed a melancholy look, apparently also quite sorry for this, and she said, “Now it seems, at first it should be disguised.”

Ding Fei didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Ah…”

Lilith said in a serious tone, “If he is omega, if the grade is above B, then according to the rules, he should also be one of the crown prince candidates.”

Ding Fei still didn’t know what to say.

 

Although the formal enthronement ceremony had not yet taken place, once the announcement was made, the identity of the newly crowned prince was basically confirmed. So within the palace, Xie Quan soon had a visitor.

“Your Highness, good afternoon, I am Ham Rikaiser, the owner of the Chamber of Commerce building.” The beta, who already had silver hair, bent down toward Xie Quan with his crutches.

Straightening his back, his eyes, which were narrowed by the drooping skin, were full of eagerness as he said with emotion, “Your Highness, you have finally returned.”

“…” Xie Quan looked at the old man whom he did not know at all, and after a moment of confusion in his heart, he guessed, “You know Anna?”

Ham Rikaiser knew exactly what Xie Quan wanted to ask, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the tears that spilled from the corners of his eyes due to the excitement, he replied in a serious manner, “Yes, Your Highness, we are all supporters of Your Highness Joan, and of course, your supporters.”

Xie Quan was sitting in the cloth-covered alabaster chair, but he was unaccustomed to a nobleman’s doings, and when Ham Rikaiser refused to sit down, he stood up and went to the window.

“Tang Wenshao too?”

He could understand Anna, after all, her father was the director of the Institute back then, but how could Tang Wenshao be?

Ham Rikaiser said, “Some of us are those who followed His Highness Joan at the beginning, among them are beta, alpha, and omega; but there is also a large part of beta who are dissatisfied with today’s phenomenon, who admire His Highness Joan’s benevolence and are determined to embrace His Highness Joan’s political ideals at the beginning, so that beta can obtain the same status as the other two genders. And Don is one of them.”

Outside the window was the sea of blue to purple flowers that he was most familiar with, and listening to the admiration for the deceased and the nostalgia that flowed from the tone of Ham Rikaiser’s voice, the scene that had appeared many times in his dreams seemed to come back to him.

In the long corridor in the sea of blue flowers, the man stood in it, expressionlessly looking at the toddler who had fallen. But at the same time, the words of Emperor Hea with his unbeatable arrogance came to his ears.

[A puppet is just a puppet, what do I have to fear?]

He turned back around, against the light outside, his face hidden into the shadows, except for those eyes that were like ice crystals, flowing with a glittering light.

“So you want me to fulfill my father instead… I guess, a beta re-divergence, is it?”

Ham Rikaiser was so excited that the hand squeezing his cane trembled. “Exactly! Your Highness! Your Highness! Your Highness died of hatred when Joan’s long-cherished wish was not fulfilled, and that man took away the throne that belonged to Your Highness! Now all this should be yours! Besides us, hundreds of thousands of beta’s are waiting for you to inherit Joan’s legacy and become the new emperor of the empire! Give the empire a whole new look!”

Xie Quan’s eyebrows jumped slightly. “Hundreds of thousands of beta?”

Ham Rikaiser nodded. “Your Highness, the beta administrators in the Chamber of Commerce have all secretly signed a petition asking Your Highness to become the Crown Prince, several of the Crown Prince contenders today have mixed qualifications and are already overwhelmed, the Chamber of Commerce holds the economic lifeline of empire, the petition will definitely be taken seriously, not to mention there is Marshal Ji, we have enough military power. “

His eyes shone with the light of certainty. “In addition to this, we also have the support of public opinion, you’ll become the Crown Prince as a matter of course.”

Xie Quan lowered his eyes. “When are you going to submit the petition?”

“Your crowning ceremony will be broadcast live throughout the country, and we will deliver the petition at the ceremony to convey the public opinion to the royal family.”

Not long after Ham Rikaiser left, Ji Shanhong walked in. He looked at Xie Quan standing by the window and didn’t make the extra effort to ask what Ham had said to Xie Quan.

And Ham could come in, there was his authorization. So he simply said, “As you can see, the people desperately need a new leader.”

He looked at Xie Quan’s back and, in a trance, he seemed to see the man of old.

Xie Quan and Joan did look very similar. Even their silhouettes carried the same kind of loneliness. He suddenly said, “You are very lucky.”

“Everything is the way it is, everything he desires will be delivered to you by someone else.”

Xie Quan didn’t even want to care about Ji Shanhong, but when he heard this, he couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly is your relationship with Joan?” Anna was seeking revenge to clear her father’s name, Ham and Tang Wenshao were seeking a beta future, but Ji Shanhong had nothing to do with either.

Only he, after giving so much and planning everything, seems to be asking for a nebulous shadow.

Realizing that his thoughts were showing, Ji Shanhong brought back his emotions and he smiled slightly. “I am just a follower of your father. What happened to him that day was unjust. You are his child, and our purposes should be the same. So, you can trust me, I will never harm you.”

Xie Quan did not react to this, but asked, “Since you are a follower of Joan, how much do you know about the research on beta re-divergence?”

Ji Shanhong replied, “I handled most of it for your father.”

Xie Quan pondered for half a minute. “Really? Then no wonder you have the recordings of his conversations.”

Xie Quan was referring to the compassionate conversation that had been put on the internet and was said to have shown the world “what a member of the royal family really is”. He said, “I see, well, I trust your arrangement.”

Ji Shanhong smiled with satisfaction. “I will naturally take care of everything for Your Highness.”

That night, Ji Cheying, who had finished his military affairs, found Xie Quan in a pavilion deep in the garden. He had already searched around the palace and was a bit impatient, but when he saw Xie Quan squatting on the ground with a disassembled robot in front of him, his words were extinguished at once. He asked helplessly, “What are you doing here?” He walked up, looked at the disemboweled robot maid, and asked, “How did it get disassembled like this? Isn’t it dark here? How come it’s not in your room?”

Without looking up, Xie Quan used an almost gorgeous technique to dismantle the mechanical parts, and then assembled those parts into new ones with a new combination.

“The room is uncomfortable with eyes everywhere.”

Ji Cheying leaned against the pillar of the pavilion, clasping his hands and looking with downcast eyes at Xie Quan sitting on the floor. “I heard someone came to see you today, are you tired?”

Xie Quan took his old screwdriver and tightened the screws. “They made me the crown prince. Said the people need me.”

Ji Cheying raised an eyebrow. “When did you become so self-sacrificing?”

Xie Quan thought for a moment and unscrewed that screw again, replacing the part. “I was thinking about that too.” After a pause, as if he suddenly remembered, he said, “By the way, your brother told me to trust him.” Xie Quan said, “I promised him, I said I would trust him.”

Ji Cheying narrowed his eyes.

The next second, Xie Quan closed that mechanical cavity. “But I forgot to tell him one thing, I can trust him, but he can’t trust me.”

Turning his head, he looked at Ji Cheying, his eyes sincere and honest. “Let me tell you first, I might have to do something.”

Ji Cheying had told him before that next time he would have to tell him before he got involved.

Ji Cheying heard, froze for a second, then lost a laugh, he squatted down, level with Xie Quan. “Coincidentally, I also have a plan. How about a partnership?”