Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Thus, after some chaos, the following scene unfolded—

Prince Peide sat at the head of the table, Kaiser on his left, while Yi Ye occupied the sofa alone, with a little princess dressed like a petal cupcake tightly clinging to him. The little princess was still trying to sniff his neck, her delicate nose twitching, and after a moment she asked seriously, "Why don't you have a smell?"

"Because I'm a Beta, little princess. At your age, you probably haven't presented yet. Even if I were an Alpha, what could you possibly smell?"

The little princess proudly raised her head, "My teacher says I will differentiate into a top Omega in the future. Before that, of course, I need to confirm the scent of my future husband."

"You know quite a lot."

"I've read so many books!" The little princess became even prouder, tilting her head back so far it seemed her neck might break, "I've read many times more books than other kids my age. My brother and sister both praise me as a little genius!"

Yi Ye echoed, "Alright, alright, little genius. So tell me, what books have you read?"

"《The Empire's Top Alpha's Forbidden Beta》! 《The Crown Prince and His Little Canary》! 《The 33-Day Heat Wave》!"

One after another, the clear, childish voices exploded in the quiet room like bombs. Yi Ye's smile slowly froze, then twitched, and finally turned to horror. He looked at Peide, his face clearly reading, "Your royal education is this explicit?!" with a big exclamation mark.

Peide felt as if he had a bone stuck in his throat, weakly defending himself, "I had no idea she was reading these."

"Alright, Your Highness, no need to say more." Yi Ye raised his hand in sorrow, "Royal education is indeed unique, it's my fault."

Peide: ...

Kaiser sneered, "Heh."

"And this brother!" But clearly, the bold little princess wouldn't let anyone off. She pointed at Kaiser, "You look like the protagonist in the manga I read!"

Kaiser raised an eyebrow, "Oh? So the author of that manga has good taste—"

"But later, the protagonist's wife had an affair and ran off with someone else, and he ended up dying alone and couldn't even afford a burial plot."

A moment of silence.

Kaiser stood up abruptly, his brows furrowed fiercely, "You have three seconds to give me the name of that manga author."

The little princess, frightened by his fierce expression, immediately burrowed into Yi Ye's arms, "Husband, husband, someone is bullying me, boohoo."

Yi Ye: ...

Great, never held a girl's hand in two lifetimes, and now directly promoted to the empire's biggest kept man.

"Your Highness, are you just going to let the princess cling to Yi Ye like this?"

Kaiser's hands itched to grab the little girl by the back of her neck and throw her out, but restrained by her princess status, he gritted his teeth, turning to Peide.

"Juliet seems very happy." Peide smiled gently, "As her brother, I am also very pleased."

He looked at Yi Ye, who considered himself a "kept man." Clearly, the youth seemed quite willing to take care of the little girl, even naturally taking out a tissue to wipe her nose.

Kaiser: ...

He shouldn't have come to the palace today.

"By the way, Young Master, why are you here today? Were you also invited by His Highness?"

"No," Kaiser turned his head away, his expression displeased. "I went to the Royal Library to find some books."

The Royal Library is located within the palace and is the private domain of Prince Peide's maternal aunt, the Duchess of Wenz. Only with the Duchess's permission can one enter. Kaiser had booked a slot in advance, but he didn’t expect to bump into Yi Ye. He expressed his hope that Yi Ye could accompany him to the library, to which Yi Ye tilted his head, puzzled, holding the little princess's finger and pointing at himself.

"I didn’t book a spot, so I can’t get in. Besides, in a library, I’d probably doze off in seconds."

"Hubby, wanna check out my aunt’s library?" The little princess whispered in his ear like a thief, "I’ve stashed some cool books in there."

"Just call me Brother Yi Ye. Today, I was invited to the palace by the Prince. Let’s see what the Prince has arranged. I can go anywhere."

He’s a guest; it’d be rude to bail halfway.

"The library’s got some cool stuff; you should check it out. It’s just that I’m temporarily too busy." Prince Peide’s been swamped with the Emperor’s birthday prep, and all the procedures and ceremonies need his approval. He invited Yi Ye today because it was planned in advance, and he felt a bit lonely not having seen the youth for a long time. He’s got a soft spot for this guy and would even like to invite him to stay in the palace for a long time if possible. But honestly, chatting with him here might not make the other party feel at ease. He is the crown prince, and people inevitably become formal with him, but he doesn’t like that. Maybe it’s better to let Yi Ye explore the palace.

After watching the attendant escort Yi Ye and the others out, Prince Peide sat back at his desk, which was full of documents and reports. He grabbed a pen and scribbled a rejection, then suddenly remembered something.

"Is the Duchess at the library today?"

Attendant: "Your Highness, the Duchess went to the library this morning."

"Looks like they’ll cross paths." Prince Peide smiled faintly, "What a pity, the scene must be interesting."

...

The Royal Library’s got this huge dome with a glass and glazed tile roof, standing in the center of a garden surrounded by flowers and trees. After another security scan, Yi Ye strutted into the library under the little princess’s universal pass. The library has seven floors, with stairs on both sides and a circular staircase in the center leading to the top attic. The scent of paper and ink is almost suffocating.

He set down the "little cupcake" in her yellow puff dress, and the latter ran off in her white low-heeled leather shoes, heading straight to her treasure trove of books.

Yi Ye was having a blast.

He’d sometimes think: if he had a sister, he would probably become a hardcore player of dress-up games. Sadly, the post-apocalypse world was rough; he had no siblings or parents. Later, he rescued a little girl during a zombie hunt, but she was soon adopted by others on the grounds that he wasn’t cut out for childcare, and he became lonely again. Coming to this world, realizing the dream of a dress-up game on Bai Chuan was unrealistic, so he had to sadly let go of that dream.

"Do you like children very much?"

Yi Ye rested his hands on the back of his head: "I just like this lively feeling."

He changed the subject: "Young Master, what kind of information are you looking for in the library? The collections of the big families should be quite extensive too. What books do you need to find here?"

Kaiser paused, his expression gradually becoming serious.

"Remember Blue Flower Star?"

Hearing this name, Yi Ye was surprised: "Are you here to find information about Blue Flower Star?"

"It was inspired by the cooperation between Bush Meihua and Eugene. Their relationship wasn’t good enough for Bush Meihua to betray his teammates for Eugene, so after the match, I had someone monitor him. Later, I found out that he had visited Saint Knowledge Star during his school days."

Saint Knowledge Star is also the planet where Melville Military Academy is located.

"There, he met a student from Melville Military Academy, whom I happen to know."

"Bush Meihua’s brother died in the Blue Flower Star exploration mission four years ago, and only one person from that team returned alive—the brother of this person. Few people know that his brother came to our mansion to see my father the day he returned, but my father wasn’t there at the time, and I met him."

Yi Ye: "Did he say anything to you?"

"No, he left quickly. But the next day, I heard the news of his death." Kaiser’s golden eyes reflected the light from the top of the library, exceptionally calm. "I didn’t care about their deaths at the time; I didn’t take it seriously. Even when I later found out that Bush Meihua had met that military student, I was just curious, so I went to Saint Knowledge Star. But after arriving, I found out, quite coincidentally—that military student had also died."

"Like his brother, he was cremated immediately after death, leaving no trace."

"Someone doesn’t want me to know about this, wants to cover something up, but I insist on finding out the truth. And the only thing they have in common—"

"Is Blue Flower Star." Yi Ye pondered, "You want to investigate the cause of their deaths?"

Kaiser shook his head and said, "I want to know the secret of Blue Flower Star."

Yi Ye stayed silent, offering no response.

From what we know so far, Finnian Mei Hua died during the Blue Flower Star expedition, the entire team perished, the only survivor died of illness after making it back to the main star, and his brother died unexpectedly four years later. All signs point to Blue Flower Star. But this mission was jointly decided by the Senate and finally executed by the Central Command, with only the twelve members of the Senate's Round Table privy to its details.

Unless they join the Senate's Round Table, which, as you can imagine, is out of the question.

"But there are other ways in, right?"

Kaiser nodded.

Yi Ye raised an eyebrow slightly: "With Prince Peide?"

They know of two Blue Flower Star operations, the first four years ago and the second last year. Peide was the only one to make it out of the second operation, but like joining the Senate's Round Table, getting info from him is next to impossible.

"This is the main star's most comprehensive library. If Peide's after info on Blue Flower Star, he'll definitely come here."

As he spoke, he connected to the library's system and pulled out a whole list of books about Blue Flower Star according to the classification.

Yi Ye: "You’re not seriously planning to read all these, are you?"

Let’s see how many... over a thousand?! You’re kidding!

Kaiser was at a loss for words: "Do you really think I'm a fool?"

"..."

Sometimes, indeed, it's been noticed.

"I’ve got Peide’s reading records. Don’t ask how, just don’t." He emphasized the words, which only made Yi Ye more curious.

They used Peide’s reading records to track down the books.

Yi Ye sat back, legs bent, leaning against the book wall. He tried to focus, but after just two pages, he was already dozing off. He figured it must be the book gods’ curse—how else could he be nodding off after less than a thousand words? He shook his head vigorously to wake himself up and turned to the next page.

The quiet sound of pages turning filled the air.

He held a thick, thousand-page book, its preface stating:

"Blue Flower Star, the planet in the Empire's star system most similar to ancient Earth's ecology, three hundred years ago due to a meteorite impact caused frequent disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, leading to the collapse of the ecosystem, humans faced extinction, and to date, according to monitoring, the surviving humans on Blue Flower Star are even less than a hundred... but there have been ecologists who stated that the real reason for Blue Flower Star's destruction was the invasion of alien species..."

Yi Ye’s eyes skimmed the text, his knuckles pressed to his temples. Soon after, the clatter of the little princess’s heels echoed on the stairs, and then a yellow figure dived into his arms. She hugged Yi Ye’s arm, glanced at the dense research paper on his lap, and pouted.

"Don’t read these, so sleepy, so sleepy." She unfolded a comic book like showing off a treasure, "Hubby, look at mine!"

"I told you to call me brother."

Yi Ye closed the book, took her comic, and found that this one seemed to be the one she mentioned earlier where the male protagonist looked exactly like Kaiser. Really, the color of this red hair was almost the same.

The little princess mumbled: "Look here, the red-haired protagonist's wife cheated on him, and the red-haired guy cried so miserably in the heavy rain."

At first glance, it didn’t look alike, but the hair color was almost like taking a color sample directly from Kaiser’s head with a color picker. The more Yi Ye looked at the crying face in the rain, the more he wanted to laugh, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. The next second, the comic book in his hand was snatched away, Yi Ye maintained his amused expression and looked up, meeting a head of red hair and those fierce golden eyes.

Kaiser glanced at the comic content, and with one hand, he lifted the little princess by the collar like grabbing a chick.

Princess: "Ahhh, let me go!"

"I really should find Duke Jed someday and tell him what kind of trash the Empire's princess is reading."

"You can't go to that old man!" The princess turned pale with fear. "Wahhh, he's so mean, he'll punish me by hitting my palms. You mustn't tell him!"

Kaiser snorted, "That's not your call."

Seeing that her pleas were useless, the little princess instantly changed her attitude, waving her arms wildly. "You jerk! You deserve it!"

"That character in the comic isn't me, and that's not my wife either!"

The two, one big and one small, started bickering loudly in the vast library, making Yi Ye's temples pound. He sighed wearily, grabbed his books, and got ready to bail. As he turned around, he noticed the pile of books in the corner suddenly began to move, books cascading down like a mudslide.

Yi Ye: "There’s a ghost!"

The two squabbling kids also noticed the commotion, their eyes turning towards the pile of books. Then, the little princess climbed onto Kaiser's shoulder like a tree, clinging to him, her voice trembling, "Big jerk, there’s a ghost in the library—"

"Shut up."

Kaiser shoved the princess's head back and yanked Yi Ye up from the ground.

His muscular, tall body bent down, half-squatting, assuming a smooth yet awkward stance to hide behind Yi Ye.

Yi Ye: "...? No way, you're afraid of ghosts?"

Kaiser immediately retorted, "You’re the scared one, this is just self-defense."

But his hand gripping Yi Ye's hem grew tighter.

The little princess was so scared her eyes welled up with tears: "Hubby, I’m so scared, you’ve got to beat that evil ghost!"

Now, his shoulders were weighed down with a 1.9-meter tall man and a 12-year-old brat calling him ‘hubby,’ and Yi Ye had no choice but to stand there and endure, because that damn Kaiser had his hand gripping his waist!

Yi Ye: This feeling of wanting to curse but being too weak is so painful!

He turned his head with difficulty, looking towards the mountain of books.

Plop. Plop.

The book mudslide rolled more and more violently, and with a rumble, a green figure emerged from the pile of books!

A female ghost with cold green eyes swayed in the darkness, then a cold light flashed, staring directly at them.

The little princess wailed: "Ahhhh!"

Kaiser's inner thoughts: "Ahhhh!"

Yi Ye: Choking. Wishing he were dead.