The Married Alpha Who Refuses to Be a Heartthrob (A/B/O · Alpha POV) - Chapter 3

Kaes tucked the Queen’s letter into his coat. He needed to speak with Long Shi face to face. He summoned his aide.

“Where’s Commander Long Shi?”

“At the docks, sir.”

“I’m heading there.”

“Governor, wait!” the aide called out as a small entourage rushed to join him. One handed him a strange patch, flesh-toned and soft.

“What’s this?”

“A pheromone barrier patch,” the aide explained, gesturing to the back of Kaes’s neck. “It blocks most scent signals. Just in case an Omega in heat gets too close.”

“Even an SSS-rank Alpha like you isn’t immune,” another added.

This world is wild, Kaes thought. People go into heat in public? Like animals?

He pressed the patch to his neck. The Alpha gland was barely noticeable. It was just a faint bump if you really searched for it.

Kaes mounted his horse, ten guards trailing behind. He wanted to go alone, but clearly that was not an option. He was not an ordinary man anymore.

Lanqi was a bustling port city. As he passed, civilians whispered:

“Look, it’s the Governor!”

As he rode, he opened his intelligence terminal to check something that had been bothering him. The “SSS” level the servants had mentioned.

[Classification System]
All three genders (A, B, and O) were divided into six grades: C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.

The grades didn’t reflect pheromone strength but actual ability.
SSS equaled Tier-0; SS equaled Tier-1 are both extremely powerful, especially Tier-0.

C-levels were ordinary civilians, the most common.

These levels were determined by genetics at birth. That’s why marriage was so crucial here cause people cared about pedigree, power, and rank.

Professionally, gunmen dealt the highest damage but had the smallest range.
Mages, in contrast, had wide-ranged but weaker attacks.
An SSS-level mage’s output was equivalent to an SS-level gunner.

By that logic, Kaes realized he was no mere soldier since he was one of the continent’s top-tier elites. In terms of power, he was tier-0. If this world worked like a game, most enemies would drop after one shot.

And mages? All that chanting and casting time are inefficient. Guns were instant, precise, and lethal.

In this world, the gun system was practically a cheat code. And if monsters here really dropped loot, then he’d hit the jackpot every hunt.

He smirked to himself. A lifetime as a broke cop, and now one pull of the trigger could be worth a fortune.

No wonder Keith was interested. In a high-magic society, nobles clung to power. A lone sniper was a game-changer. He thought to himself.

The sea stretched endlessly before him when he reached the docks. Patrols moved along the piers, and in the distance, Lanqi’s warships gleamed in the morning light.

Long Shi stood at the water’s edge, tall and straight in his black uniform. When he heard the clatter of hooves, he turned, his expression unreadable.

“Wait here,” Kaes told his guards and approached alone. For a long moment, the two men simply faced each other. Their eyes locked, tension sharp. Long Shi’s face was still clouded with anger.

“I want to speak privately,” he said.

“Why not here?” Long Shi’s tone was cold. He still hasn’t forgiven Kaes for waking up beside a mage from the enemy empire. It was a betrayal that burned.

“Then at least look at this.” Kaes pulled out the queen’s letter and handed it to him.

Long Shi read it, his expression shifting. “You told her you liked a Beta? She’ll know it’s me. She’ll never let us be together.”

Kaes studied him. “Forget her for a moment. Why didn’t you accept me?”

Long Shi flushed. “Our families are worlds apart. Yours are the nobles while mine are the retainers. You’re the heir while I’m just a guard.”

“That’s it?” Kaes frowned. The original host and the first transmigrator wasted years chasing this guy.

“And you’re an Alpha. I’m a Beta. We can’t have children.”

Betas had a one-percent chance of conceiving. S-rank Alphas couldn’t reproduce at all. Thankfully, the population was balanced.

Kaes shrugged. “I don’t care about children.”

It was the truth. Children were the last thing he wanted in this world.

Long Shi blinked, caught off guard. His ears reddened. “Then… what about that mage? The one I saw in your room?”

“Nothing happened,” Kaes said flatly. “He offered to help treat my eye. We drank a little. He fell asleep. That’s all.”

Long Shi’s shoulders eased. “I see. I… misunderstood. I’m sorry.”

Waves broke gently against the rocks nearby while seagulls are crying above.

Kaes hesitated, then said, “I’ve decided to marry an Omega from Bain-Perella.”

Long Shi froze, staring as though struck. “What? Why? To get back at me?”

“Why would I want to?” Kaes’s voice stayed calm, unyielding. “To prove loyalty to the queen. That’s all. If I don’t, both our positions are at risk.”

Long Shi’s throat tightened. He said nothing for a while, then, in a rush of emotion, seized Kaes by the shoulders. “No. I won’t let you. I love you. You can’t marry someone else.”

Caught off guard, Kaes stumbled. Long Shi’s grip was strong, too strong even that for a moment,Kaes nearly fell backward off the dock. He steadied himself and pushed the man away, jaw tightening.

Long Shi didn’t stop. He grabbed him again, drew close, and his face dipped dangerously near.

Kaes turned sharply; Long Shi’s lips brushed a lock of his hair instead of his mouth.

“Calm down,” Kaes snapped, gripping his shoulders and forcing space between them. “We’re keeping our distance. That’s final.”

“I just…” Long Shi’s voice cracked. “I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for a stranger. Don’t you see how wrong this is?” His eyes glistened.

Kaes exhaled. The man’s pain wasn’t his to carry. “I’m sorry. My decision is made.”

“You’d really do this?” Long Shi’s hands trembled. “You’d marry one of them? The people who killed your father? Who turned your homeland into a colony?”

He was shaking now, half in anger, half despair. “You’re Kaes Lanqi. This land was your family’s before Bain-Perella took it! And now you’ll marry their kind? Have you forgotten revenge?”

Kaes’s gaze chilled. “I haven’t forgotten.”

Long Shi’s fingers brushed the edge of Kaes’s eyepatch. “That wound, you got it five years ago. I thought you died back then…” His voice softened. “I was so sure you were gone.”

The words hit something deep, but Kaes kept his expression unreadable. That blind eye felt nothing now. There was no pain, no warmth, not even Long Shi’s gentle touch.

To be taken down as an SSS-rank gunner… he thought bitterly. That’s both rare and shameful.

“Who was it?” he asked aloud, tightening his grip on Long Shi’s wrist.

“An SSS-level male gunner named Aither. ABO status unknown. He’s one of the Queen’s hounds and the Guardian of the Royal Crypt. Almost no one’s ever seen him and lived. You were one of the few.”

“I see,” Kaes murmured, expression unreadable. His mind, though, was already turning. That was a name worth remembering.

Long Shi stared at him, dismayed. The man before him was no longer the bright, mischievous boy he’d grown up with. The warmth was gone, replaced by iron.

“You’ve changed,” Long Shi said quietly. “You used to be sunny, funny… You told me you loved me. Now you’re like a stranger.”

“Then stop loving me,” Kaes said, voice like steel. “Whatever we had, it ends here.”

He left the dock without looking back.

He didn’t deny he’d changed. In his last life, he’d been over thirty when he died. He was pragmatic, cold, painfully straightforward.

If Long Shi was disappointed, so be it. Better this than being entangled in meaningless sentiment.

He had a bigger mission now. Love had no place in it.

If he failed to kill the Queen within two and a half years, he’d vanish just like the last host.

He wasn’t about to waste the life he’d inherited.

Back in his office, Kaes resumed signing documents, the system chirping annoyingly in his head.

[System: The host just broke the storyline! I might bug out! I can’t predict anything anymore!]

“You can predict the plot?” Kaes raised an eyebrow. “Then predict.”

[System: You’re impossible! Fine, fine, give me a second…]

The scratching of his pen filled the room. Ten minutes later..

[System: Ding! Prediction complete! The host is destined to become the consort of three kings!]

Kaes’s hand froze mid-stroke. The pen cracked, ink spreading across the paper like spilled blood.

“Three kings’ consort?” he repeated flatly.

He was a straight-as-steel, loyal-to-the-grave Alpha so how the hell did his fate turn into that?