CH 86

The fading haze gradually engulfed the twilight, and the last lingering aftertaste of the setting sun melted into the dark night sky.

Ge Xiu looked away from the silver-white mecha and turned to look at Haines standing beside him.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, there was a fire sparkling in the depths of his dark pupils as he asked lightly:

“So, is this a wedding gift you gave me?”

Haines looked up at the mecha standing in front of him and shook his head with a low laugh: “No.”

He lowered his head to look at Ge Xiu and said quietly:

“It’s a birthday present.”

Although the other party didn’t say it clearly, Haines was very clear about the deep meaning behind the question he asked—— What was the purpose of his gift? Was it a gift out of the marriage contract between them?

In that case, this mecha was no different from an expensive diamond necklace. In the final analysis, it would be just an alpha’s purchase for possession that belongs to him, an invisible attempt to buy over someone stemming from desire—Haines has no doubt that if he answered with yes, and the other would have reject this gift the next second without a word.

Haines stared at the young man in front of him and continued unhurriedly:

“Actually, if you are not satisfied with our engagement, I don’t mind letting it be voided.”

He raised his hand to caress Ge Xiu’s face and gently wiped oil smears off his face, he said in a low voice: “This mecha is yours, because only you can be worthy of her—it has nothing to do with any other factors.”

Haines’ eyes were as deep as the night sky, the faint blue light condensed in the depths of the pupils, traces of aggressive dark fire flickered and burned on the bottom of his eyes, the almost paranoid blazing affection felt as if it could burn them both to the bones, the corner of his lips curled lightly:

“You are mine—it also has nothing to do with the marriage contract.”

Whether there is a marriage contract or not, they are destined to be together again.

Ge Xiu’s pupils trembled slightly and he forgot to move away for a while.

Haines traced the outline of the boy’s graceful jaw with his fingers, and he whispered firmly: “In this world, only we are worthy of each other —you and I are born to be together.”

They were too close.

Ge Xiu could smell the taste of the deliberately restrained pheromone coming from the other—tasting like rum mixed with a strong burning sensation, the extremely aggressive breath swept down his nose like fire down into the throat, arousing a fiery tingling sensation. Straightforward and intense, the smell of pheromone rushes towards his face with heavy sense of presence, like a predator occupying every trace of air and winding around him.

An intense heat like drunkenness rushed to his cheeks from the depths of his blood vessels.

Ge Xiu was startled, and out of instinct, he suddenly pulled back.

Because he panicked, he even stumbled a few steps due to unsteady center of gravity. Thanks to Haines’ quick and nimble hands, Ge Xiu didn’t fall down.

The hot taste of rum hit again.

Ge Xiu was shocked and quickly broke free from Haines’ embrace.

It wasn’t like Ge Xiu has not smelled Haines’ pheromones before today—although he was consciously suppressing them, in daily life, even the strongest person would not be able to cover everything.

But Ge Xiu removed his glands after all, and his sensitivity to pheromones has reduced greatly. In addition, he always paid great attention to keeping a distance, so even if he smelled the pheromones on the other before, he had never had a reaction as intense as now.

Haines let go of his hand, watching the young man quickly distance himself from him as if scalded and stop a few meters away from him.

Ge Xiu pursed his lips tightly and showed a cold expression, but in sharp contrast to his indifferent facade, an intense physiological flush started from the cheekbones, spread on the white skin, and continued reaching his ears, it was like a warm and gorgeous sunset, and there was a layer of misty water in his eyes, like a lake full of clear moonlight, glistening in the night.

Haines was a little surprised at first, but he quickly recovered his calm and asked without changing his face:

“The banquet is about to start, let’s go back?”

Ge Xiu avoided his gaze, nodded expressionlessly, and squeezed a short syllable from the depths of his throat:

“Yeah.”

After speaking, he didn’t wait for Haines to go at all, but walked quickly towards the villa, and then disappeared into the enclave of the lush vegetation of the garden—his back was still straight, but he gave off an inexplicable feeling as if he was running away.

Haines stared at the young man’s rapidly disappearing back, frowned slightly, and then followed slowly.

The sound of brushing against leaves in the garden followed Ge Xiu and he heard the footsteps of the other party being left far away, and finally slowed down his pace.

He raised his hand and rubbed his hot cheeks vigorously, and took a deep breath slowly, finally calming down his chaotic mood.

The breeze gently brushed against his ears, and then was silently flew into the dark night sky.

——In fact, during this period of time, Ge Xiu has fully determined that the other was [that person].

But he still haven’t found the answer to the most important question.

Why did [he] appear in this virtual world, and why was he always appearing by his side again and again—who was he? What was his purpose? Who were the people behind the scenes who arranged these punishments worlds?

The information Ge Xiu knew now was too little, and even the memory before being arrested was blank, which made him completely unable to sort out his thoughts from these cluttered clues, and he had no choice but to take a step after step.

And Haines…

Ge Xiu forcibly stopped his thoughts from centering about Haines and was determined not to delve into what the other party just said.

He stood in the icy night wind and waited until the effect of the other’s pheromone on him had completely subsided before stepping back into the banquet hall.

In the banquet hall, the lights were illuminating brilliantly, and many people in suits and leather shoes were chatting and laughing.

Ge Xiu slipped to one of the long tables, felt a few candies and stuffed them into his pockets.

Before he could peel off the outer packaging of one of the candies, Admiral Drost’s voice came from behind him: “Where did you go just now?”

Ge Xiu paused.

He sadly glanced at the half-peeled candy in his hand, then turned to look at Admiral Drost behind him, with a well-behaved look on his face: “Actually, just now, I…”

“Don’t try to find an excuse!” Admiral Drost interrupted Ge Xiu’s unspoken words with suppressed anger: “Do you know how long has the butler been looking for you? The guests downstairs—”

“He was with me just now.”

A familiar lazy voice sounded, and Ge Xiu’s back suddenly stiffened.

A strong and mellow wine aroma surrounded him.

Haines walked over unhurriedly and put his palm lightly on Ge Xiu’s shoulder. He glanced at the boy beside him, whose height was half a head lower than his. A smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and he said half-ironically: “After all, we need to communicate our feelings, right? Father-in-law?”

Father-in-law’s was suffocated to point of his face being the color of pig liver.

He was accustomed to hearing Haines sneer at him, and the sight of him standing in front of him and calling him “father-in-law” felt like an absurd dream—though he was telling the truth—but Admiral Drost really didn’t expect the other party to be so thick-skinned, calling him like this in public without changing his face.

Simply… simply…

Admiral Drost couldn’t think of any suitable adjectives to describe this shameless man.

He glanced at the two people in front of him with a complicated expression, and the evil fire that had risen in his stomach just now was directly quenched by this inexplicable feeling of suffocation.

“You… forget it…” Admiral Drost hesitated.

He took a deep breath, raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose a little tiredly, and said weakly: “Wait until I announce the news of the marriage of the two of you… just… don’t cause any more trouble for me.”

After he finished speaking, he turned around slowly, and left the scene as fast as he could as if escaping.

Haines squinted his eyes secretly—

the father and son were alike in terms of quickly fleeing the scene, as if carved out of the same mold.

After General Drost left, Ge Xiu quickly widened the distance between them.

He lowered his head and continued to peel the candy in his hand, and then stuffed the round candy into his mouth. The soft fruity sweet aroma spread and flowed into his throat from his mouth, but he still couldn’t get rid of the spicy and stimulating rum smell, on the contrary, the smell of candy highlighted the taste of Haines pheromone even more clearly.

Ge Xiu took two steps away again quietly.

Haines keenly noticed Ge Xiu’s small movements and asked: “What’s wrong?”

Ge Xiu shook his head unnaturally: “…Nothing.”

Haines frowned and asked:

“Is it because of what I just said?”

He sighed:

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to force you to make a choice, although my previous actions may not prove my point… but I’m serious. If you are not satisfied with our engagement, I don’t mind breaking it off.”

Haines stared at Ge Xiu and said seriously: “I will not give up pursuing you, but I will never force you to fulfil the engagement until you are willing to accept me. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go to your father now to explain the situation and cancel the marriage—”

He said, turning around and preparing to leave.

But before he could take a few steps, Haines felt his arm being grabbed. He was stunned and turned his head to look behind him.

He saw that Ge Xiu’s cheekbones were still painted with an unusual blush, his eyes were misty, his sight was dodging slightly. He gritted his teeth and then whispered: “It’s not what you said just now… it’s your pheromones…”

Haines was stunned for a moment: “What?”

Ge Xiu raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, and said in a low voice: “Your pheromone taste like rum—I’m really bad at drinking… it made me feel a little overwhelmed.”

Haines frowned and asked slowly after thinking: “You smelled my pheromones? Are you sure?”

Ge Xiu nodded.

Haines continued to ask: “What about you before? Have you ever smelled it?”

Ge Xiu nodded again.

Haines looked at Ge Xiu with an unfathomable expression, and asked a third question: “What about other people’s pheromones? Have you smelled it since you came back from the frontier?”

Ge Xiu was taken aback.

He thought about it seriously, then looked up at Haines a little surprised, and said: “I don’t have such thing in my memory… But I really rarely have contact with other people, so maybe I didn’t pay attention?”

Haines shook his head.

He sighed, “Who taught your physiology class? Why don’t you have any common sense in this area?”

Ge Xiu raised his eyebrows and looked at him looking offended.

Haines stared at him inquiringly: “The function of the glands is not only to release pheromones, but also to distinguish the pheromone emitted by other people. If glands are completely removed, like yours, the perception of other people’s pheromones will be affected. It should be extremely slow, and it should be even more impossible to distinguish the taste of the other when the alpha deliberately restrains his pheromones…Unless…”

Ge Xiu asked: “Unless what?”

Haines chuckled: “Only when their pheromones matching degree is higher than 90% this may happen.

Ge Xiu couldn’t help being surprised.

Although his physiology class knowledge is really bad but he still understood the concept of the pheromones’ matching degree being higher than 90%…

It’s a situation one in a million.

Haines’ lips were slightly raised, his eyes were as deep as the sea, and he whispered:

“Look, like I said, we were born to be together.”