When the Villainous Boss Acts as the Protagonist (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 14

At the moment he heard Chu Sicheng’s voice, Alex’s dark, uncertain green eyes brightened uncontrollably.

It was almost laughable; he actually felt a sense of security and stability from a male Zerg that he had never felt from his own family. It was as if, from the moment the other appeared, he was no longer a lone Zerg. Alex didn’t know if this was the influence of the male’s pheromones or the effect of the seductive words Chu Sicheng had spoken before. Regardless, at this moment, he truly relaxed his tight nerves for the first time because of Chu Sicheng’s appearance.

However, the other Zergs around him were not nearly as relaxed.

Philo and the others, who had personally witnessed Chu Sicheng’s ability to wreck a situation, immediately activated their highest defense mechanisms. They all stared at Chu Sicheng with wary eyes. As for his question, no one dared to answer lightly. After all, the result of his last interference in a meeting was that they failed to make Alex hand over management of Mogras; instead, he had scrambled the romantic pairings so thoroughly that it resulted in the current chaotic poly-tangle.

In the end, it was Elio, meeting Chu Sicheng for the first time, who spoke up.

“Oh, dear Lord Ryan. We were just discussing the witness issue you raised earlier. Since Alex and I still have an engagement, His Majesty and Marshal Saxon wanted to come and ask for our opinions.”

“So that’s how it is,” Chu Sicheng said, raising an eyebrow. “Then, what is your opinion?”

“Oh,” Elio smiled, then looked at Alex with deep affection and said tenderly, “I respect Alex’s opinion. No matter what he chooses, I will agree.”

As soon as Elio said this, another wave of gasps erupted from the crowd. All the Zergs were moved by this perfect male who was both gentle and respectful toward females. Some even clutched their hearts with both hands, looking as if they might faint from Elio’s overwhelming charm.

“Oh, is that so?”

Whether he was influenced by Elio’s tone or simply wanted to be annoying, Chu Sicheng suddenly adopted a matching, dramatic theatrical flair. “Then I wonder, dear Alex, what have you finally chosen?”

Alex was speechless. Although everyone’s attention was back on him, he still wanted to complain that this male Zerg acted as if he had a mental illness every single day.

Alex gave Chu Sicheng a speechless look. His lips parted, and he was just about to speak when he was interrupted by Marshal Saxon, who was worried he would say the wrong thing.

“With so many people here, Alex might be a bit too shy to speak. However, just now in private, he told me he didn’t want to break the engagement with Lord Elio. Right, Alex?”

Anyone could hear the reminder and warning in the Marshal’s words. He was reminding Alex of his earlier instructions and warning him not to say the wrong thing in front of the Emperor, using the same tone he always used when demanding Alex give up his interests.

The familiar feeling of suffocation rushed toward Alex. Instinctively, he turned to look at Chu Sicheng. However, the male, who was boredly playing with a fan, met his gaze and simply blinked.

“What are you looking at me for?”

He didn’t stand up for Alex like he did at the last meeting when Alex was being pointed at by a thousand fingers. He didn’t say “I disagree” for him. Instead, he just stood there quietly, waiting for Alex’s answer along with everyone else. It was as if he were truly just there to watch the show.

With the corners of his mouth turned up, Chu Sicheng snapped his fan open with a “clack,” hiding the lower half of his face while his blue-gray eyes crinkled at Alex. He seemed to be smiling, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He looked like an interviewer at a large corporation: politely smiling while quietly scrutinizing you, judging your every move to see if you were qualified.

In an instant, the male’s whisper seemed to echo in Alex’s ears again.

Alex, no Zerg will help you forever. Even for a trade, you have to show your sincerity. So, do you know what to do next? Do you know how you should answer now?

In his line of sight, the male lightly touched the tip of his nose with the fan. The color of his eyes flickered, looking like the two paths laid out before Alex, or perhaps the two choices the male had for a potential partner.

Cooperate, or be abandoned.

Alex froze. His fingers tightened on his wine glass. At that moment, the male seemed to grow bored and stopped moving. The fan rested against the bridge of his nose, and that blue-gray sea stayed entirely in the shadows. The light that had finally brightened seemed ready to be discarded by him.

No. He couldn’t let that happen.

Invisibly, a giant silhouette seemed to appear behind Alex. Countless threads connected the female’s fingers to the silhouette. His limbs were bound, his heart was entangled, and even his mouth was hooked by threads. It was as if his every move and every word could only be carried out under the control of this shadow.

Beside him, Marshal Saxon increased the volume of his voice, urging Alex to make a choice since Chu Sicheng had chosen to stay out of it. They all thought that since no one would help Alex this time, he would have to nod again and agree to the decision that made everyone happy, including Philo and Friedrich, who thought their backup plan wouldn’t be needed.

The shadow gently moved its fingers. Fate seemed headed toward the established timeline. However, at that moment, Alex’s lips moved, and the word he spat out was, “No.”

Marshal Saxon froze. “What?”

“I said, no.” Alex looked up, staring expressionlessly at the father who had never once chosen him throughout his life. He repeated himself. “Things are not as you said. I agree to break the engagement. After all, only then can His Majesty fulfill his promise to Lord Ryan, right?”

The female smiled slightly, his face showing a level of defiance and arrogance that Marshal Saxon had never seen before. “His Majesty is the sky of our Empire. To realize His Majesty’s sacred words, what does sacrificing my engagement matter?”

The threads hooking his lips seemed to snap. The fan hiding the male’s face was closed. Chu Sicheng gave a light laugh, and when Alex looked back at him, he raised an eyebrow.

Then, happy cooperating.

The lit firecracker was thrown into the already boiling oil, exploding everyone around them until they were unrecognizable. Yet the culprit was already comfortably lying on a sofa, peeling a fresh orange from the coffee table.

Alex looked up at the varied expressions of the crowd in the distance, then turned to Chu Sicheng. “Next, Philo and Friedrich should be making their move.”

“What? Are you scared?”

Alex gave a short laugh. “If I were scared, wouldn’t it have been easier to just agree with Marshal Saxon just now? Why would I go to the trouble of refusing? Do I think my reputation is too good right now?”

“Besides,” Alex leaned back on the sofa, his beautiful green eyes flicking toward Chu Sicheng as he spoke softly, his tone matching their first meeting. “I dared to carry out a death sentence on a male. What does a reputation matter to me?”

The male who had nearly been executed by Alex raised his eyelids. Seeing the clear teasing in Alex’s eyes, the smile on his face only grew. “True. What reputation could a female have left after falling into heat in front of all the citizens of the Empire?”

The smile on Alex’s face stiffened. “That was because of you!”

“But you were going to kill me. You can’t expect me not to fight back, can you?” Chu Sicheng said in an exaggerated tone. “That would be far too overbearing of you.”

Alex sighed. “Can you please be normal?”

“I have always been normal,” Chu Sicheng said. He removed the last white string from an orange slice and pinched it between his thumb and index finger. His other three fingers were tucked into his palm, and he pointed the tip of the orange slice at Alex like a gun. His tone was even more dramatic than before. “The one who isn’t normal is not me; it’s this world!”

Alex thought, he really is sick, isn’t he?

Furthermore, Alex’s gaze fell on the orange in Chu Sicheng’s hand. Aside from labeling the male as mentally ill, he also added “narcissistic.” After all, what kind of sane Zerg liked eating the flavor of his own pheromones so much?

“What’s wrong? You want to eat it too?” Seeing Alex’s gaze fixed on the orange, Chu Sicheng held it out toward him. “If you want some, just say so. It’s not like I won’t give you any.”

Chu Sicheng was talking about the orange, and Alex knew he was talking about the orange. But as that citrus scent drew near, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander. His mind involuntarily drifted back to the hospital room, to the sight of the male’s thin but deep collarbone exposed as his collar slipped down.

The male’s skin was so fragile, and he had bitten so deeply back then. He wondered if the wound had healed. Alex’s gaze dropped to the male’s collar. His fingertips twitched as if he were about to reach out and unbutton it, and then…

Alex froze, realizing what he was thinking. When Chu Sicheng leaned closer, he reflexively bounced up from the sofa.

“What’s wrong with you?” Chu Sicheng asked, feeling baffled as he had simply wanted to give him a slice of orange.

“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Alex obviously couldn’t tell him the truth. “I just want to go to the restroom.”

Without waiting for an answer, Alex turned and walked quickly toward the restroom. The influence of the male’s pheromones seemed to be getting more and more severe. Perhaps it was because he had been deprived of pheromones for too long, causing him to be unable to quit now that he had tasted them. He was becoming more desperate, more addicted.

Biting his lower lip, Alex pressed his hands against the sink. His face, wet with water droplets, showed an abnormal flush. His rapidly rising and falling chest indicated he was having trouble breathing.

A shadow shifted in the darkness. Then, that sweet, familiar citrus scent enveloped him from behind.

However, the male who appeared in the mirror along with the pheromones was not Chu Sicheng.

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