The moment Xiaochuan crossed the threshold into the dressing area, Yuanli was hot on his heels.
"You clumsy, pathetic brat!" Yuanli's voice shrieked, slicing through the panicked murmurs of the other dancers. She stormed toward him with her blue silks rustling like a gathering storm around her. "You ruined everything! Days of practicing, all of it gone because you couldn't even tie a simple hood!" She screamed in his face.
Xiaochuan, still shaking from the eye contact he'd shared with the Emperor, tried to find his voice. "It… it was an accident, Yuanli. I didn't know the tie was loose. It caught on to the-"
"I don't care about your excuses!" she barked, her face contorted with rage.
"This was our moment to win the Imperial Favor, and you turned us into a laughingstock! We won't win now, and it's all because of your stupid hair!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Xiaochuan snapped back, his own fear turning into a defensive font. "I didn't want to be a Shadow anyway!"
SLAP.
The sound of Yuanli's hand hitting Xiaochuan's cheek echoed like a whip crack through the hall. Xiaochuan's head snapped to the side and his skin started blooming with a painful, hot red welt.
"Enough!" Feiying's voice boomed as she stormed into the hall and marched toward them, her face was pale with stress. She grabbed Yuanli's wrist before she could strike again. "Both of you, stop this madness! The Emperor is still on the throne, and you are behaving like street rats, do you want us reported?!"
Feiying turned her gaze toward Xiaochuan with an expression that wss a mix of pity and frustration. "Xiaochuan, your hair…I told you it would be a problem. Why didn't you-"
She was cut short when the heavy silk curtains at the entrance were swept aside by a gloved hand, and the sound of armored boots hitting the floor brought a chilling, immediate silence to the room.
A Royal Guard, draped in the red, black and gold livery of the Emperor's personal division, stepped into the light. His hand rested on the hilt of his blade, and his presence alone made the Omegas in the room instinctively stand up straighter in respect.
The guard's eyes scanned the room coldly. "Good evening." He greeted first, and all the omegas in the room gave mumured greetings in return.
"His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Xiao Chengyuan, has requested an audience with one of the dancers from the Azure Moon troupe."
Yuanli's breath hitched and her anger vanished, suddenly replaced by a surge of arrogant triumph. She smoothed her expensive blue silks and stepped forward with a practiced, graceful smile forming on her lips.
"Of course," she said, her voice dropping into a honeyed, submissive tone. "I am Yuanli, the lead dancer of the-"
The guard didn't even look at her. He simply shook his head and his gaze shifted past her until it locked onto the boy standing in the corner with the bruised cheek and the messy, pink hair.
The guard raised a gauntlet covered hand and pointed a finger directly at Xiaochuan.
"Not you," the guard said to Yuanli, before looking back at the boy. "The one with the pink hair. Come with me. Now."
————
It worked.
The thought echoed in Xiaochuan's mind, sweet and sharp like sugar. As he walked stiffly after the Royal Guard that was leading him to the grand hallway of the palace, to the Emperor no doubt. The thought made his heart hammer against his ribs in a dangerous way.
What was the Emperor planning to do him? He honestly couldn't wrap his head around it.
Though he highly suspected he was here for sexual reasons, but he didn't want to get his hopes too high.
Finally, they reached a pair of towering oak doors doors. As the guard pushed them open, the sounds of low laughter and the clink of cups spilled out.
Xiaochuan stepped inside, and for a moment, the sheer wealth of the after party took his breath away. The room was bathed in the warm, golden glow of a hundred beeswax candles. The walls were lined with intricate jade carvings, and the air was thick with the scent of expensive wine and roasted meats. He'd never smelt anything like this, he gulped slightly and he could already feel his stomach grumbling lightly.
Except for the snacks Feiying gave all the dancers after the final practice in the afternoon, he hadn't eaten anything else since then.
But as his eyes adjusted, his awe soured into a cold, hard knot in his stomach. The grumble in his stomach died down, replaced by a hot sudden anger.
There, scattered around the room, were three other omegas. One was kneeling by the feet of a wealthy, pudgy Alpha, peeling grapes with her small fingers. Another was pouring wine for King Zhou Yiran, her head bowed so low her forehead almost touched the table. The last one, a male omega, was sitting on the thighs of the second Alpha I didn't recognize, he didn't look uncomfortable, but he didn't look happy either.
The sight triggered a visceral reaction in Xiaochuan. This was the reality he had tried to ignore while dancing in the dirt. In this world, an omega's value was either of two things, you were either a dog in the street or a bird in a golden cage. Both were owned and both could be bruised.
To the riches, omegas are beautiful, breathing ornaments meant to be leaned on, played with, and discarded. And to the poor, omegas were pretty useless thing you could use, physically and sexually abuse and none of the other poor wolf's would bat an eye.
And finally, after ignoring the heat that spreaded on his skin the moment he walked in, his eyes instinctively drifted to the center of the room, where Emperor Xiao Chengyuan sat. The Emperor looked relaxed, his outer robe has already been discarded and his dark eyes tracked Xiaochuan's entrance with a hunger that made the air feel heavy.
He had to tighten his palms to a fist to ground himself. Cause why the hell was he feeling like a bitch in heat, just at the sight of the alpha looking effortlessly ravishing.
A new, bitter kind of hate flared in Xiaochuan's chest. Despite the heat flaring deep inside him, he didn't look at the Emperor with the soft eyes any omega would, to at least get his attention. No, Xiaochuan regarded the Emperor with cold eyes, he wasn't a stupid omega that would lust after an Alpha ans fall in love like an idiot. He was here for the money.
Use me. Take what you want from this body. But you will pay for every second of it. I am just an Omega to you, and you are nothing but a gold mine to me.
Oh, only if Xiaochuan knew.
He stopped a few feet from the Emperor's low table and bowed slightly. He didn't even wait for the Emperor's command to lift his head before he straightened back up again, making eye contact with him. Something xiaochuan knew he shouldn't be doing.
Making eye contact with the higher ups was considered disrespectful, especially if you were just a commoner. Being a commoner and an omega even made it worse.
The tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. Xiaochuan knew every Alpha in the room had their eyes on him, but Xiaochuan didn't flicker his gaze. He didn't look at the omegas in the room nor the powerful King Zhou Yiran.
He looked only at the Emperor.
Xiao Chengyuan sat with one arm draped over the back of his chair, a cup of dark wine forgotten in his other hand. His obsidian eyes were narrowed, tracing the line of Xiaochuan's throat, the curve of his jaw, and finally, the defiant spark in his eyes.
"What is your name?" the Emperor asked. His voice was a low, vibrant baritone that seemed to vibrate right through the floorboards and into the soles of Xiaochuan's feet.
Xiaochuan remained silent. He tightened his jaw and pressed his lips into a thin, pale line. He didn't even know where he got the courage from, but he couldn't help but be defiant.
Oh his mother would go nuts if she finds out.
"Perhaps he is mute," Zhou Yiran suggested from the side, leaning back with a lazy, amused grin. The omega that was pouring him a drink earlier was now sitting by his side. At least the King cared enough to let her sit, unlike the pudgy Alpha that made his omega kneel. He already hated that one.
Xiaochuan didn't blink. He maintained a deadly, unwavering eye contact with Chengyuan. He wouldn't lie, he was terrified and his heart was a frantic drum against his ribs, but beneath that fear, a stubborn, stupid pride held him upright, a pride that might lead him to his death.
But despite the hate simmering in his gut, that traitorous heat continued to coil in his lower belly. Up close, the Emperor's Alpha pheromones were staggering, sandalwood, a scent so intoxicating and overwhelming that it made Xiaochuan's head swim. He hated how his body responded to the Alpha's presence, how his own pulse quickened not just from fear, but from an undeniable, magnetic attraction to the predator sitting before him.
That was the betrayal of the omega biology.
The emperor slowly stood up and took a step toward Xiaochuan, who instantly took a step back. His heart was racing wildly in his chest, and the way the Emperor's thick, overwhelming scent filled his senses only made it worse.
He still maintained eye contact, though he wondered how he was able to do that without falling to his knee. Emperor Chengyuan was a powerful man, his scent alone could send Alphas to their knees, talkless of an Omega, like him.
Xiaochuan noticed his hands slowly reaching out to his face and he froze, he didn't know what to do in such moment.
However, a sudden rough, agitating voice interrupted them.
"How dare he?" one of the other wealthy Alphas at the far table bursted out loudly , slamming his cup down. Xiaochuan flinched away from Chengyuan's fingers at the sudden sound. And he could immediately see the change in expression of the alpha.
"The boy is standing there like a statue! Your Majesty, such rudeness from a commoner deserves discipline. He's making you stand up to touch him, he hasn't even bowed properly!"
The Emperor didn't turn his head. He simply cast a single, razor-sharp look toward the Alpha.
The Alpha's words died in his throat instantly and he paled, sinking back into his seat as if he'd been struck and the room went dead silent.
Chengyuan looked back at Xiaochuan, a deep, rumbling chuckle vibrating in his chest. He seemed delighted by the omega's show of defiance and wide-eyed cluelessness. It was new to him, Omega were rarely this bold. That alone made Chengyuan impossibly more obsessed with the Omega.
"Discipline?" Chengyuan murmured, his eyes darkening as they dropped to Xiaochuan's trembling hands. "No. I think I shall find my own ways to handle this one."
He beckoned the Royal Guard standing by the entrance, the same one that had brought the omega to him. "Take him to my private chambers." He commanded softly and the guard bowed before turning to walk away.
Xiaochuan gave one last bow to the Emperor and another one directed at the king before walking out after the Royal Guard, ignoring the other two Alphas in the room.
He gave one last look just as the doors were closing and met those obsidian dark eyes again. Those eyes…..