After Mistakenly Marking My Ex’s Older Sister, the Disabled Alpha Stood Up - Chapter 74

The Queen… is pregnant?

Jin Yunhan’s pupils shrank in shock, the glands at the back of her neck trembling uncontrollably. Instinctively, she pushed herself backward, the chair beneath her skidding with a sharp clatter.

But before she could escape, the Queen’s wrist moved with effortless grace. A light tug, and the swivel chair spun neatly back into her embrace.

Lin Ruxi’s lips carried the faintest smile, cool at the edges, yet her breath was still warm as it brushed against the Alpha’s ear.

“What now? Not planning to take responsibility?”

“Y–Your Majesty jests.” Jin Yunhan let out a few dry laughs, her gaze flickering to the woman’s lower abdomen—only to dart away almost immediately.

In an instant, her memory dragged her back to that night: the chaos of tangled sheets, the unrestrained union without a single barrier, and Lin Ruxi’s intoxicating grip around her neck at the height of passion.

Cold sweat broke out along her forehead.

Her mind went blank for a few seconds, then—after a long “ah” of realization—she snapped back quickly, blurting:

“Congratulations, Your Majesty. Truly, congratulations.”

Lin Ruxi’s lashes lifted slightly. Rippling emerald eyes glimmered with an unreadable light, her curved lips holding a depth that was hard to grasp.

Jin Yunhan’s thoughts were a tangled mess, looping endlessly. Then, as though possessed, she blurted out:

“Your Majesty must be joking… After all, that night, I wasn’t the only one serving you.”

“You—!” The young Alpha nearby nearly burst out in outrage.

But the Queen merely waved her hand. The amusement in her eyes faded, and even the heat she had been directing at Jin Yunhan cooled. She gave a dismissive, chilly laugh.

“Mm. I was lying to you.”

Jin Yunhan’s tense frame slackened at once. But deep within Lin Ruxi’s gaze, a shadowy undercurrent surged—so faint it was almost imperceptible. A trace of disappointment lingered there, one she herself had not realized.

She hadn’t clarified what, exactly, had been a lie. Was it the pregnancy itself—or the child’s connection to Jin Yunhan?

Jin Yunhan bit her lip, but in the end… she didn’t ask.

The office hummed faintly with the drone of the air conditioner, yet the sound could not drown out the tangle of their breaths.

Finally, Lin Ruxi lifted her chin slightly and gave a soft, mocking chuckle—

“Come along, little A.”

The office door clicked shut. Jin Yunhan’s shoulders slumped as tension drained away. Still, she felt the sting of the young Alpha’s complicated gaze, sharp as thorns against her back.

That look—it was as if Jin Yunhan owed her several million. Within it, Jin Yunhan could read a distinct “hate iron for not becoming steel.”

Sunlight streamed through the blinds, slicing her shadow into fractured, mottled shapes.

On the desk, the proposal remained open on the very page the Queen had praised. That single “Not bad” still echoed in her ears, circling endlessly.

Lowering her lashes, Jin Yunhan sat in silence for a long while before reaching toward a drawer deep within the office desk. With a careful tug, she pulled it open.

Inside lay a pendant belonging to Lin Ruxi. When tilted in the light, the reverse revealed not just a portrait, but also an honorary medal.

Though Atlans was a constitutional monarchy, reverence for the monarch—especially this Queen—was etched into the people’s very bones.

Unlike the Queen of Country Y, who was little more than a ceremonial mascot, Lin Ruxi—the legitimate daughter of the Wisteria royal family, the sole heir of the late Queen—carried the weight of true royal blood.

Her existence was like the nation’s stabilizing anchor, the pillar of Atlans’ peace and prosperity.

For the sake of political stability, once Lin Ruxi reached adulthood, the late Queen had released an S-Class Alpha differentiation forecast in her name.

Thus began Lin Ruxi’s near twenty-year masquerade.

Jin Yunhan pressed her lips together. She recalled that her first encounter with the Queen hadn’t been at a banquet, but during her first-year military training at sixteen. Because of her outstanding performance, she had received an honorary medal directly from the Queen.

Her fingertips unconsciously brushed the faded scar at her collarbone—the mark she had gained during training while rescuing a pregnant Wisteria Eagle. As the royal family’s totem and national emblem, the eagle was exceedingly rare; the entire country had but a handful.

On the award stage, sixteen-year-old Jin Yunhan stood tall and straight. Below, teachers and students stood in tidy formations. The rotor wash of helicopters swept across her hair. Through the shimmering heat, she caught sight of a noble violet gown, fragrant with violets, moving steadily toward her.

Nearly thirty, Lin Ruxi strode in ten-centimeter heels, every gesture exuding elegance. Amidst salutes and gazes of admiration, she approached—step by deliberate step—toward the breathless, tense teenager.

“Raise your head.”

The Queen’s voice was like silk chilled in ice. Before Jin Yunhan could react, cool fingertips tilted her chin upward.

“What is your name?”

The brim of her cap shadowed the Queen’s features, but the fragrance that clung to her was undeniable.

Forcing her heart to steady, Jin Yunhan lifted her gaze. In that instant, she fell into emerald eyes brimming with interest—eyes more scorching than midsummer sunlight.

She opened her mouth to answer, but something interrupted before she could.

Soon came the final stage of the ceremony. Jin Yunhan saluted with solemn precision, and Lin Ruxi extended slender fingers with lacquered nails. As she draped the ribbon of the medal over her, her touch brushed Jin Yunhan’s collarbone.

“Little one, does the wound hurt?”

The Queen leaned close. Taller than the high schooler, her breath brushed against the tender scar.

In that moment, sweat beaded down Jin Yunhan’s back, soaking her camouflage uniform.

“No… it doesn’t.” The girl’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Good girl. So brave.”

Her movements were gentle as she fastened the medal—its reverse engraved with Lin Ruxi’s likeness.

That night, after the exhausting day’s training, Jin Yunhan lay in bed, body heavy with fatigue. Slowly, almost reverently, she lifted the medal, pressing the Queen’s portrait against her collarbone wound.

Moonlight poured through the window, illuminating the longing in her eyes.

At that moment, she saw her future—standing at the peak of excellence, under the Queen’s gaze, becoming someone like her elder sister.

Over a decade later, Jin Yunhan placed the medal back down, thoughts snapping back to the present. Today in the office had been the third time the Queen had praised her.

The first—at sixteen, during the award ceremony. The Queen’s “So brave” had made her nervous heart skip a beat. That noble gaze was brighter than the summer sun.

The second—on a bed in disarray, drowning in passion. The Queen’s pleasure had ebbed and surged, scolding and praising her by turns.

The flavor of praise had changed.

At sixteen: “Little one, so brave.”

Over a decade later: biting her ear, murmuring, “Too big… don’t be so fierce, hmm~”—then, eyes reddened and tear-misty, gasping, “Pull out!”

From “little” to “big.” From “so brave” to “don’t be so fierce.”

Contradictory, teasing, and utterly enchanting—words that left her flushed to the tips of her ears.

Growing up, she had always been an outsider in the Jin family. Her mother, scorned as a mistress in high society, had become her sister Jin Yunxi’s stepmother. The legitimate heirs had looked down on her, the second daughter.

Held against her elder sister as a constant standard, subjected to their father’s strict demands, and starved of praise—she had strained every nerve to prove herself, only to receive meager acknowledgment.

So the Queen’s rare words of praise were like pearls found on the seafloor—treasures she clutched tightly.

So precious that she could not forget the oath she once shouted beneath the Queen’s statue during training:

“I swear my life to the Queen! Loyal to the Queen—thinking what she thinks, fulfilling what she needs! The Queen’s order is heaven’s mandate, the Queen’s eyes the only truth!”

At sixteen, clad in camouflage, standing tall beneath the Queen’s likeness, saluting with devotion—she could never have imagined that one day, she would be the one to press her body against the Queen’s…

Or that she would one day sow the seeds of life within her womb.

Covering her face, then her ears, Jin Yunhan wished she could vanish like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.

But half a month later, news reached her.

“They say Her Majesty has summoned flocks of handsome Alphas and beautiful Omegas into the palace to serve her day and night. The palace lights never dim—especially the ones with lemon and mint pheromones. They’re the most favored!”

Special Assistant Jin’s words were like a stone dropped into still water—shattering Jin Yunhan’s fragile calm.

She, who had been lying stiffly flat on the office couch, sprang upright as though struck by lightning.