After Mistakenly Marking My Ex’s Older Sister, the Disabled Alpha Stood Up - Chapter 61

Beneath the vaulted ceiling of the banquet hall, the crystal chandeliers shattered into a thousand beams of light.

Jin Yunxi stood in the very center of the hall, drawing every gaze to herself.

When one is in power, the world bows in congratulations; when fallen, no one spares a glance. The lively chatter of the guests tonight was etched across stiff, insincere smiles.

Among the flow of attendees, young heirs clutched their wine glasses, hovering in hesitation. They longed to ingratiate themselves with Jin Yunxi, yet with the Queen present, they dared not approach. All they could do was force a smile and nod from afar.

Those who had once struck at the Jin family during her downfall were already drenched in cold sweat, terrified that the reborn Jin Yunxi might settle accounts. They all remembered—President Jin had been ruthless enough to cast aside even her closest confidante, Su Yuening. What mercy would she spare for outsiders?

And then there was the ex-wife—the woman who once shared her bed.

“Ha, Yan Qingruo held the reins for so long, and the moment President Jin returned, she seized everything back. I heard she even threw her out on the street.”

Now, the Jin Corporation rested firmly in Jin Yunxi’s grasp.

“That ex-wife didn’t get a single benefit out of it. You’d think, after all that effort, she’d at least deserve some recognition.”

The gossips behind her could not understand.

“An ex-wife is always just a passerby. Besides, wasn’t it Yan Qingruo who dumped President Jin first? Word is, she even has a child overseas with someone else.”

The whispered speculation wove through the banquet like an invisible net, spreading as wineglasses clinked.

People sighed—not only was the Jin Corporation changing hands, even Yatran had entered a new era.

Jin Yunxi now stood as the one closest to the Queen herself.

With Prime Minister Wei Ailun toppled, Jin Yunxi’s mysterious return from the dead, and the Queen personally hosting this welcoming banquet—who else could claim the position if not her?

A masked woman listened to the hum of voices. Fingers tightening around her champagne glass, her feline-shaped mask slid down to the bridge of her nose, revealing eyes tinged with red.

Where her gaze fell, her beloved was standing with her superior—the Queen herself—in an intimate tableau.

Lin Ruxi curved her lips into a smile laced with hidden meaning. Her fingertips brushed ever so lightly across the back of Jin Yunxi’s hand, making the other woman’s skin tense on contact.

The Queen let out a soft, mocking laugh.

“So nervous already? Then how are you supposed to bear children with me later, hm?”

Jin Yunxi faltered. “Your Majesty, please don’t joke about such things.” She discreetly withdrew half a step.

“Still keeping me at arm’s length?” Lin Ruxi arched a brow, a flicker of displeasure flashing in her emerald eyes.

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From the crowd, Su Yuening and Mo Sisi watched Jin Yunxi encircled at the center of attention. She no longer stood behind the Queen as before.

Mo Sisi, too, noticed something amiss. Now Jin Yunxi stood at the Queen’s side. To the unknowing eye, one might easily mistake her for the Queen’s partner.

And tonight, the Queen herself had chosen an unusually alluring gown—a jade-green fishtail dress, with a jade bracelet at her wrist that swayed lightly as she moved.

A thought slipped through Su Yuening’s mind: the Queen didn’t resemble an Alpha at all tonight. She looked more like… Jin Yunxi’s Omega.

It was the first time she had ever seen the Queen dressed this way.

Mo Sisi sighed. “Aren’t you supposed to be President Jin’s best friend? Why hasn’t she even looked at you?”

Su Yuening fell silent, lowering her head. An hour ago, Jin Yunxi had confronted her coldly in the corridor: Leave Jin Corporation.

She had then demanded, That acquisition of Yan Qingruo’s grandparents’ company years ago—that was you, wasn’t it?

The negotiator and executor had both been Su Yuening. But the signature on the private seal belonged to Jin Yunxi.

Her face drained white, lips trembling. “Yunxi, back then I didn’t have enough influence on my own, I had no choice but to…” —borrow your name.

“Enough. Don’t say another word.” Jin Yunxi cut her off, her voice utterly devoid of warmth. “I despise using power to oppress others.” Yet Su Yuening had leveraged her authority to recklessly devour company after company.

Had she not threatened her life in the car that day, Su Yuening would never have handed over the original contract.

“I’m sorry. This must have caused misunderstandings between you and Yan Qingruo. I can explain,” Su Yuening pleaded earnestly.

Jin Yunxi pressed her lips together. Two surgeries, years of aching legs and lingering pain—reduced to nothing but a cruel joke.

“No need. She and I… are over.” She paused, then added, “And your ties to the Jin Corporation end here as well.”

She despised Su Yuening. Deep down, she couldn’t admit it to herself—but if not for this, she might still have deceived herself into believing her bond with Yan Qingruo remained intact.

But nothing could go back.

From the moment she overheard Yan Qingruo’s conversation with Song Mei, everything had been brutally laid bare. The schemes had begun not with the Rhine, but even earlier.

Su Yuening’s heart ached. She lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Yunxi.”

“Su Yuening, go. I’ll see to it you’re compensated for your years of service.”

The instant money changed hands, so too did all friendship dissolve into nothing.

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“Has Qingruo arrived?” Mo Sisi asked in a hushed voice.

Su Yuening’s eyes lingered on Jin Yunxi, who was just then accepting a wineglass offered by the Queen. Her throat tightened as she swallowed the bitterness.

“She’s here.”

After meeting Jin Yunxi, she immediately pulled out her phone and sent off the draft message she had been hesitating over.

“Qingruo, you must come tonight. If you don’t, there will be no more chances.”

Now, at Jin Yunxi’s side stood the Queen.

And once seated on the Queen’s throne—whether Alpha or Omega—whatever she wanted, Jin Yunxi had no choice but to give. Unless she was willing to abandon the Jin family, forsake power, or even… her very life.

Wei Ailun’s sudden downfall only heightened Su Yuening’s unease. What price had Jin Yunxi paid, that such a powerful figure could be toppled with a flick of her fingers?

She sighed and murmured to Mo Sisi, “The one who suffers most right now isn’t us—it’s Yan Qingruo.”

Mo Sisi, however, could see clearly: the Queen’s attitude toward Jin Yunxi was unmistakably possessive, as though she had already decided she must have her.

And Yan Qingruo—so breathtakingly beautiful. Compared to either of them, Mo Sisi knew she could not hope to compete. Her quiet feelings for Jin Yunxi had already extinguished the moment she first laid eyes on Yan Qingruo.

“Secretary-General,” Lin Ruxi smiled, her voice laced with a subtle softness at the end, “will you grant me the honor of your first dance?”

Her hand, gripping the scepter, lifted in a graceful arc beneath the glittering chandelier.

The hall instantly fell silent.

Her gown swept across the polished marble floor as she extended an inviting hand toward Jin Yunxi.

Seeing Jin Yunxi momentarily stunned, Lin Ruxi turned to the crowd and added, “Tonight’s dance is a group performance. Whoever ends up with the Secretary-General for the final dance will be rewarded with the chance to dine with her.”

That was what the Queen said. But really—who would dare challenge her?

Under countless watchful eyes, the Queen’s elegant hand came to rest lightly on Jin Yunxi’s shoulder.

Jin Yunxi’s muscles tensed involuntarily at her approach, the light behind her gold-rimmed glasses dimming.

She caught a faint trace of the Queen’s pheromones. Though the woman wore suppressant patches, that sweet, cloying Omega scent surged over her like a tide, drowning her senses.

For the first time, she was confronted with an Omega’s scent that did not belong to Yan Qingruo. And, as expected, her instinctive reaction was revulsion. A bitter thought flickered through her mind: only Yan Qingruo was the exception.

As the music rose, their steps intertwined. Lin Ruxi’s skirts flared and Jin Yunxi’s turns flowed in perfect rhythm—seamless, dazzling, and at once the center of the room.

The guests, initially hesitant, soon drifted into the dance floor.

The violins sang. A great circle began to form in the hall, with the Queen and Jin Yunxi caught at its radiant center.

In the shadows of a corner, a woman set down her champagne flute, fingers white-knuckled from the grip. She stared at the clasped hands in the middle of the floor, at the smile curving the Queen’s lips as she tilted her head, and drove her nails deep into her palm.

The champagne fizzed and burst in fragile bubbles, mirroring her emotions on the edge of collapse. She tipped the glass back in one sharp motion, amber liquid sliding down the taut line of her throat.

As Jin Yunxi guided the Queen across the dance floor in an elegant arc, another figure moved. Her long black gown swept outward like a blooming rose of ink.

To the astonishment of the crowd, a masked woman spun gracefully into the center of the dance floor.

In an instant, Jin Yunxi’s partner shifted—from the Queen to the stranger. The woman’s arms locked around her neck, her body pressed close as she rose on tiptoe, forcing Jin Yunxi to bend toward her. Their posture was intimate, like lovers whispering secrets.

Jin Yunxi’s gaze froze. Her eyes lowered to the glint of a familiar wedding band on the woman’s trembling fingers—pink-knuckled, pale as jade—overlapping with memories of hands clutching desperately at rumpled sheets.

Her voice came out cold as ice:

“What are you doing here? Oh… should I call you President Yan? Miss Yan? Or the most dutiful daughter of the Song family?”

“I’m sorry, Ah Yun… I’m sorry for everything.” Yan Qingruo’s voice broke, choked with tears. She clutched Jin Yunxi’s hand, her fingertips shaking. “I’ll even apologize on my mother’s behalf. Please, Ah Yun—I beg you. Don’t dance with the Queen.”

Whether the first dance, or the last—

They all belong to me. Won’t you let them be mine?