Pregnant with the Empress’s Alpha Heir - Chapter 18

Fortunately, the demon was just a girl about ten years old. Yu Zhi exerted some effort and managed to hoist her onto her back.

With the surrounding threats cleared, she carried the demon girl step by step toward the palace.

She had no idea how long it had been in the dream, but she finally brought the demon back to the dilapidated flower shed.

The demon had actually regained some consciousness along the way. When placed on the bed, she let out a pained whimper.

Seeing her awake, Yu Zhi sighed in relief. “Are you okay?”

The lower half of the demon’s face was visible, her lips deathly pale—clearly not the picture of someone who was fine.

As Yu Zhi searched for medical supplies, the girl asked, “Why did you save me?

“If you’d left me there, maybe I would have died, just as you all wished.”

Yu Zhi felt a headache coming on.

Playing the adult card, she poked the girl’s forehead. “Don’t talk about life and death like that! I went through a lot of trouble to save you!”

After scolding her, she sighed and asked, “So, how do we treat these wounds?

“Most of them have stopped bleeding, but we can’t just leave them like this, right?”

The demon turned her face away. “There’s no way to treat them… Don’t bother with me.”

“That’s not an option,” Yu Zhi said, sitting beside her. “Do you remember our earlier agreement?”

The demon girl turned her head back.

She seemed puzzled. “Is that your goal? Intruder, what exactly do you want?”

Yu Zhi lifted her chin. “I just want to confirm my suspicions!”

With that, she slowly reached toward the visor covering the demon girl’s face.

This time, the demon didn’t dodge.

When the visor was removed, Yu Zhi wasn’t all that surprised to see a face that matched her expectations.

After all, she had already guessed as much earlier.

After a moment of silence, she asked, “So, what should I call you?

“Ah Jiu, or Xiao Jiu…”

The demon girl before her was indeed a younger version of Ah Jiu.

If the little princess Xiao Wu in the palace represented Ah Jiu’s childhood, then the demon was Ah Jiu in her teenage years.

Unlike Xiao Wu’s adorable features, the demon’s face had lost almost all traces of childishness. She had shed her chubby baby fat, her frame now slender from growth.

The ten-year-old Ah Jiu already bore four or five parts of her adult appearance, offering a glimpse of the striking, cold beauty she would become.

The demon girl was stunned. “You… know my name?”

Yu Zhi looked even more surprised. “You’re really called Xiao Jiu?”

Honestly, because of Xiao Wu’s existence, she hadn’t been sure what this younger Ah Jiu was named. But judging by the demon’s reaction, it seemed she had accidentally guessed right with the two names she’d just thrown out.

The girl shook her head.

She corrected concisely, “Ah Jiu.”

Yu Zhi was even more confused. “Ah Jiu? You’re Ah Jiu? Then who is Xiao Wu?”

She had always assumed Xiao Wu and the demon girl were both Ah Jiu, just from different periods.

But if the demon girl was Ah Jiu, then that clearly wasn’t the case—

It couldn’t be that both the adult and teenage versions were called Ah Jiu, while the childhood version was named Xiao Wu.

The next moment, the demon girl answered her question.

She frowned. “I’m me, Xiao Wu is Xiao Wu. Are you confusing us?”

Yu Zhitao felt a bit embarrassed by her words.

Covering her mouth, she coughed lightly. “But… you look exactly alike…”

The young girl, Ah Jiu, hesitated for a long time before speaking. “…Because we’re twins.”

“Twins?” Yu Zhitao was puzzled.

Then she laughed awkwardly, trying to ease the tension. “How could that be? Don’t tease me. You’re sisters, right?

“You look about ten years old, while Xiao Wu… well, she’s at most five?

“How could you possibly be twins?”

Ah Jiu gazed at her quietly.

“It’s true,” she said.

Yu Zhitao’s laughter stopped abruptly. “Then why…”

Ah Jiu lowered her head.

She clearly knew what Yu Zhitao wanted to ask, her fingers unconsciously tracing circles on the ground.

“…It was because of me.”

“…All her misfortune was caused by me.”

Yu Zhitao was utterly confused.

She wanted to ask more, but her consciousness began to blur.

Faintly, she realized she was about to wake up.

Without another thought, she grabbed Ah Jiu’s hand. “Focus on recovering first. We’ll talk about the rest when I come back next time.”

Ah Jiu frowned slightly. “Where are you going?”

Before she could answer, Yu Zhitao’s vision faded into darkness.

When her consciousness returned, she stretched comfortably.

The bizarre dream hadn’t affected her sleep or mood at all. Opening her eyes, she was immediately greeted by the fresh scent of wood.

It felt as if she’d spent the night in the safety of a primeval forest.

But the next moment, she noticed the person who should have been beside her pillow was gone. She was alone in the rented apartment bed, where another person should have been. Now, only a softly snoring kitten occupied that space.

Yu Zhitao was instantly wide awake.

Looking outside, she spotted Ah Jiu’s tall figure as expected, which eased her mind.

Resisting the temptation to stay in bed, she picked up the still-sleeping kitten and decisively got up to wash.

Ah Jiu had already warmed breakfast, and the two of them plus the cat gathered at the table.

Because of her bold advances the previous night, Yu Zhitao found it unusually difficult to face the other person.

But perhaps because she was in a good mood, the usually bland nutrient drink tasted just right today—not nearly as hard to swallow.

“You’ve got some on your lips,” Ah Jiu said.

Yu Zhitao, who had been enjoying her drink, looked up in confusion.

The next moment, Ah Jiu reached out and gently wiped the nutrient drink from her lips.

Yu Zhitao blushed from head to toe in an instant.

Flustered, she grabbed a tissue from behind her and handed it over. “Th-thank you.”

They finished breakfast in a somewhat ambiguous atmosphere. Yu Zhitao should have gone to practice piano, but instead, she made a detour to Ah Jiu’s side.

Ah Jiu was browsing the StarNet and looked up in puzzlement. “What is it?”

Thinking a direct question might be too forward, Yu Zhitao rolled her eyes and found a random topic. “Ah Jiu, have you noticed your pheromones smell different today?

“When I woke up this morning, I didn’t smell that decayed scent at all.”

Ah Jiu instinctively turned her head to sniff her own shoulder.

“Nothing’s changed,” she concluded after a moment. “The decayed scent fades quickly. You woke up late, so all you smelled was the wood fragrance.”

“Is that so?” Yu Zhitao leaned in and sniffed at the back of her neck.

Exposing one’s scent gland to another was actually quite a dangerous act.

Ah Jiu’s body stiffened momentarily, but she didn’t pull away.

After a moment, Yu Zhitao withdrew.

She rubbed her nose. “It must be my imagination from smelling it for too long.”

Having spent so much time with Ah Jiu, she was sure she had almost become immune to her pheromones—just like how she couldn’t smell her own.

But the confirmation just now made her certain that the damp, decaying scent after rain still lingered. Only… it seemed slightly fainter than before.

Yu Zhitao’s senses weren’t sharp enough to discern the difference.

“But still, it smells just as good!” She beamed.

This wasn’t the first time Ah Jiu had heard her say her pheromones smelled pleasant, but in the past, Yu Zhitao hadn’t been this clear-headed.

“You,  really think this scent is pleasant?” Ah Jiu asked.

Yu Zhitao nodded emphatically. “Of course!”

She tapped her chin. “I was even thinking of searching the star-net to see if there’s any perfume with a similar scent. I’d love to have this fragrance too.”

Ah Jiu stared at her intently before suddenly leaning in close.

Yu Zhitao froze. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t know?” Ah Jiu countered. “Ever since we’ve been together, you’ve… always carried this scent.”

She had always despised this decaying wood-like aroma.

But strangely, perhaps due to some inexplicable chemical reaction with Yu Zhitao’s cherry-cream pheromones, the scent didn’t seem unpleasant on her.

Every time she sensed the Omega enveloped in her own scent, Ah Jiu felt an odd sense of satisfaction.

“Huh?” Unaware of her thoughts, Yu Zhitao blinked in confusion.

She tugged at her collar and took a deep whiff. “Mmm… I can’t smell it.”

Ah Jiu pulled back slightly.

Her gaze grew distant as she recalled unpleasant memories from the past.

After a pause, she spoke. “A decaying scent symbolizes a weak Alpha. It’s not considered a desirable pheromone.”

Yu Zhitao protested. “That’s not necessarily true.”

“Is there really a standard for what makes a pheromone ‘good’ or ‘bad’?”

Ah Jiu nodded. “Yes.”

“For example, Yu Zhihuai’s pheromones are exceptionally strong.”

Last night, when they had clashed, their pheromones had collided.

From the icy aura emanating from Yu Zhihuai, she could glimpse the young man’s extraordinary potential.

“Who says that?” Yu Zhitao puffed her cheeks. “I think your pheromones are the best.”

Ah Jiu was taken aback. Just as she was about to respond, Yu Zhitao spoke again.

If she continued debating with Ah Jiu, she feared she might forget the main point.

So, propping her chin on her hand, she awkwardly changed the subject. “I wonder how Yu Zhihuai is doing after last night.”

Ah Jiu averted her gaze. “You’re worried about him?”

“Ahem.” Yu Zhitao shifted in her seat. “Not really. He doesn’t need my concern.”

“I just meant, having a brother like him is exhausting.”

Seeing Ah Jiu’s neutral expression, she paused before continuing. “Speaking of which, Ah Jiu, do you have any siblings?”

Ah Jiu visibly stiffened.

Just as Yu Zhitao held her breath, waiting for Ah Jiu to nod so she could confess about her recent series of vivid dreams that felt like a drama series, Ah Jiu shook her head.

“No,” came her typically brief reply before she turned her attention back to the smart screen.

Yu Zhitao murmured, “No?”

This completely contradicted her expectations!

Last night in the dream, the demon girl had clearly admitted that she and Xiao Wu were twin sisters.

Although Yu Zhitao hadn’t understood the meaning behind the girl’s last two sentences, the demon wouldn’t have lied about them being sisters.

So she had speculated that perhaps Ah Jiu really did have an older or younger sister in real life.

But now, Ah Jiu had denied her assumption.

One of them must be lying.

Was it Ah Jiu in reality who wasn’t being truthful, or was it the demon girl in the dream who had deceived her?

Yu Zhitao was utterly perplexed for the moment.

Ah Jiu turned her head. “Why do you ask?”

Yu Zhitao’s smile stiffened.

After hesitating for a while, she licked her lips and finally said, “I’ve been having a dream these past few nights.”

Ah Jiu raised an eyebrow.

Yu Zhitao scratched her head and continued, “In the dream… there was someone who looked a lot like you, and they told me you had a sister.

“So…”

Ah Jiu’s expression remained completely normal, even reaching out to smooth the hair Yu Zhitao had ruffled.

“You know you were dreaming, right?

“Don’t confuse dreams with reality.”

Yu Zhitao nodded, her face reddening.

She had already searched the star network earlier. Lucid dreaming was actually a common phenomenon; almost everyone had experienced it, whether passively or actively. And while serialized lucid dreams like hers were rare, they weren’t unique.

One blogger had documented several months of her lucid dreams, their strangeness and brilliance rivaling science fiction novels—far more intense than Yu Zhitao’s dreams.

Now, because of a few inexplicable dreams, she was probing Ah Jiu, which made Yu Zhitao feel somewhat embarrassed.

“I’m going to practice the piano,” she said casually as she got up from the sofa.

Ah Jiu nodded. “Go ahead.”

Yu Zhitao hopped off the sofa, not daring to look back, so she didn’t see Ah Jiu’s clenched fist.

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