Reborn: The Female Monarch Is My Life’s Greatest Love - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Making a Move

Leave time was brief, lasting only two days. After seeing Nathaniel off, Constant packed his clothes for the week, preparing to return to the training center. Just as he was about to pull the door open, there was a knock.

Opening the door, Constant saw Bai standing there with his head lowered, hand still frozen in a knocking motion. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he noticed a red handprint blooming across one of Bai’s cheeks.

“What happened to you?” Constant wasn’t sure if he should even broach the subject given the state of Bai’s face.

“My Father Sovereign hit me.” Bai’s voice sounded muffled. When he looked up at Constant, his reddened eyes were plain to see.

As for the reason, it was likely due to that blind date this morning…

“How was the date?” Constant started to reach out to check the injury but quickly pulled back as he realized what he was doing. Those muscle memories from my past life… I still haven’t managed to shake them.

“A refined scumbag.” Bai didn’t actually care much about the date himself; in fact, because the man had dodged his consecutive attacks during their meeting, the image of him in Bai’s mind wasn’t entirely terrible. “His reflexes, his judgment… they were all decent.”

“And your Father Sovereign (the female parent)?” Constant gestured for Bai to come inside and poured a glass of water. He handed the glass to Bai, who sat on the sofa, and followed it with an ice pack wrapped in a towel. “He couldn’t have just watched you get hit.”

“He saw it.” Bai touched his swollen cheek with his fingertips. “But he didn’t have time to stop it before Father Sovereign (the male parent) slapped me.”

After a pause, Bai spoke again: “So, Father Sovereign ‘fell’ down the stairs this afternoon. I took advantage of the chaos to run out.”

Constant nearly spat out his tea at Bai’s answer. “You’re just telling me that?” Under the Male Protection Act, a female is strictly forbidden from harming their Master for any reason, otherwise, they risk being forced into surveillance shackles by the court.

“They’ve been like this for years.” Bai calmly finished his water and turned to Constant. “Even if the court asks, Father Sovereign will just say he tripped.” To Bai, such occurrences at home were nothing out of the ordinary.

After all, his Father Sovereign had spent hundreds of warships and a warehouse full of rare military rations just to win his Father Sovereign’s hand back in the day. He wasn’t about to send his spouse to prison over something like this.

“You aren’t talking about the Battle of Gacher Port, are you…?” Constant remembered learning about this in Zerg history class. At the time, due to a resource shortage, the Zerg were divided into various squabbling families, leaving the military without sufficient support and forcing a series of retreats.

Then, a family controlling interstellar orbital resources assisted General Nate, who was the Imperial General at the time. From that day on, the tide turned, eventually leading to a total victory against the enemy forces.

“Probably.” Bai put the glass on the coffee table and thought for a moment. “Every time my Father Sovereign mentions that port, he smiles very happily. So we go there once every year.” That was the only day he could see a rare smile on his Father Sovereign’s face.

By the time the two returned to the training center, it was nearly evening. The swelling on Bai’s face had subsided significantly thanks to the ice. Just as they were trying to slip back to the dorms under the cover of moonlight, a sudden cough sounded behind them, making them spin around in fright.

Garcia, a Captain who had retired from the front lines due to injury, was standing there watching them with authoritative eyes.

“You two seem quite energetic. Why don’t you go run a few more laps to burn it off?” Captain Garcia said, tapping his cane against Constant’s head. “What are you staring at? Move!”

“And you! Don’t think being a Nate gives you an exception. Keep up with Lex’s pace!”

Neither Constant nor Bai could defy Garcia’s orders. He was the top-ranking Captain at the training center, so they had no choice but to obey.

Under the moonlight, Constant and Bai ran around the field without stopping. Every time they slowed down, Garcia’s bark echoed out, doubling their remaining laps.

Finally, Bai was the first to collapse, face-first onto the ground. Constant, thanks to the extra training he had been doing lately, managed to finish one more lap on pure willpower.

“See that, young master of the Nate family?” After Bai went down, Garcia sat down beside him. “You came here together, but now he’s surpassed you.”

“Because he’s a female.” Bai felt a pang of resentment at the result, but he froze the moment the words left his mouth.

“It seems you’ve realized the problem with that sentence.” As a soldier who had once followed the Nate family’s General, Garcia didn’t buy into such rhetoric. “The Zerg divide us into three ranks: Males at the top, Military Females next, and Sub-females at the bottom. I’m sure your subconscious believes this too.”

“But even within that structure, there is hierarchy. A male with a powerful family is closer to the top than one without, and the same goes for females.” Garcia used his cane to steady himself as he sat by Bai. “Status-holding females have the right to choose their males, and for the sake of their families, they often choose males with lower social standing so they can maintain control.”

“But it is not our gender that determines our status.”

Garcia patted Bai’s shoulder. “Young master of the Nate family, I trust you won’t disappoint your Father Sovereign, right?”

“I will uphold the glory of the Nate family!” Bai’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Garcia, filled with hope for the future. “One day, I will stand as a Sub-female where my Father Sovereign once stood!” He would even surpass him and become the pride of the Nate family.

As Bai finished speaking, Constant finally gave out on the track, collapsing to the ground. His every breath tasted of rust.

After helping Constant up, Bai propped him up and headed toward the dorms under Garcia’s watchful gaze. Exhausted by the sudden training session, both of them fell into a deep sleep the moment their heads hit the pillows.

Warship Island —

Upon returning to his military deployment zone, Nathaniel called Sass and Ward into his private meeting room.

When Ward pushed the door open, Sass was already standing at Nathaniel’s desk waiting for him to speak.

Seeing that everyone was present, Nathaniel projected his handheld screen onto the large display behind him. “Sass tells me the reason we couldn’t track his movements this time was due to interference from a ‘Hidden Blade’ (deep-cover agent).”

“While we can’t rule out that possibility, what we need to do now isn’t just increase security.” The screen behind Nathaniel shifted to show a photograph. Though the image was slightly blurry, the person’s mannerisms made their identity instantly recognizable.

—Salisbury Christian, the current Imperial Marshal.

“If you recognize him, then you surely know his Female Sovereign, the late William Clark.” This member of the Clark family had been declared dead five years ago after failing to respond to treatment.

As the image changed, Ward saw a new photo on the screen. Pale flaxen hair lay softly against the subject’s shoulders. The female in the photo was looking directly at them with soft pink eyes and a gentle smile.

Gentle yet elegant…

That was Ward’s first impression.

The photo was indeed beautiful—the kind that would make even Nathaniel pause when he first saw it. But what surprised him more was that he had seen this person recently. Though it wasn’t the person himself, he was certain that individual was a ninety-percent match for the late Imperial Spouse on the screen.

And that person, coincidentally, was the one his Master had once been involved with.

Shelley Clark, Constant’s former lover.

Same hair color, same eyes—a breathtaking beauty that could make anyone give up everything for just one smile. The only difference between Shelley and the late Imperial Spouse was his eyes—they lacked the quiet, watery calm of William’s and instead shone with arrogant, willful pride.

Nathaniel hadn’t originally cared much about Hidden Blade’s little games. He thought they were just a childish game to try and pull him down from his position because he had stepped on their toes.

But as the facts slowly surfaced, he finally noticed something wasn’t right.

If not for Constant’s recent actions making him suspicious, he wouldn’t have even thought about the connection between Shelley Clark—the one once nestled in Constant’s arms—and the current Imperial Marshal.

“Recently, the young Sub-female of the Clark family, Shelley Clark, appeared before me and my Master.” Nathaniel paused, then pushed a folder of documents toward the two of them. “I thought it was just a coincidence at first, but it turns out that isn’t the case.”

Shelley Clark had approached Constant with a specific purpose from the beginning.

And all of this was inextricably linked to Constant’s former family.

The Al Lex family, once the top supplier of interstellar minerals, held enough resources to supply the Zerg energy system for at least fifty years. At the same time, some of the rare minerals they mined were the raw materials for many types of heavy weapons.

And yet, that very family was destroyed in a single night…