Ren Xiyang told his little jealous lover about his meeting with Cassiopeia and his own thoughts about increasing LGBT+ awareness and support.
As expected, Rian said, “Don’t worry, you can rely on me.”
“I don’t want to rely on you, I want to work together,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian hugged him. “Yes, yes, that’s what I meant.”
Ren Xiyang patted the arms around him.
“You can also rely on me to pass the magical history exam, so don’t give up,” Rian added.
Ren Xiyang suppressed a grimace. “I know…”
A night of memorising names, dates, and historical magical contribution awaited him.
On the next day, Ren Xiyang went back to the Rosewood house. There, he conducted a healing session with Prince Pollux, examined and approved new security features around the property with Prince Pollux and his guards, and met with Florence.
Although Ren Xiyang had been busy with other matters, Steward Conway had found several locations they could rent or buy in the Capital to grow microgreens. Florence had spoken with her mother and planned to go back to the Sage fief over the weekend to talk with some farmers about growing plants for their seeds.
Meanwhile, after class, Rian went to the Imperial Palace. After meeting with two members from the association of future leaders, he went to his Imperial Mother’s office. After Queen Mira quizzed him, he successfully obtained permission to try out for the exams for the alternative stream. On the way out, he briefly chatted with Alexius, teasing him that he couldn’t have dinner with Ayden/Ren Xiyang.
Unfortunately, Rian’s bragging failed when Alexius followed him to the Rosewood house to have dinner.
“Are you really moving into the Rosewood house?” Alexius asked Prince Pollux, eyes full of envy.
Prince Pollux nodded.
Alexius turned to Ren Xiyang. “Ayden, can I? Can I?”
Rian gave Ren Xiyang a warning look, but Ren Xiyang said, “If you wish, you simply need to ask Their Majesties for permission.”
Alexius had a determined expression on his face. “Very well! Oh, Ayden, I asked my Imperial Father if you could be my older brother, but he said no…”
Ren Xiyang patted him on the back. “That’s alright, we can be brothers in spirit.”
Alexius brightened up again, and then stuck his tongue out at Rian.
Rian scoffed. “Just you wait for this weekend. And so what if you move into the Rosewood house? Ayden is staying at the academy with me.”
Alexius said pitifully, “Ayden, Rian is being mean!”
Prince Pollux felt numb watching the two princes of Sedaveria bicker openly at the dinner table. On the one hand, it meant that both Prince Rian and Prince Alexius felt comfortable and trusted everyone sitting at the table. On the other hand, didn’t these princes have any awareness of their status as princes???? One of them was going to become the future king!
Hadrian ate silently, hoping that Prince Rian and Prince Alexius wouldn’t bother him.
Given that Ren Xiyang was frequently forced to ‘choose a side’, it was Florence who was the most relaxed. Prince Rian and Prince Alexius fighting over Earl Rosewood? Oh, that was nothing new.
After dinner, Rian pulled Ren Xiyang back to the academy to study.
Rian’s workload was more arduous than expected. Ren Xiyang didn’t learn well when he lectured directly. Instead, it was better if Ren Xiyang reviewed the content by himself, and then Rian lectured and tested him to reveal weak points and consolidate knowledge. But reading through several dense textbooks on history took a long time, and it was a lot faster if Rian distilled the core details first.
The work of Teacher Rian was no less than the work of Student Ren Xiyang.
Since Rian was preparing such materials anyway, Ren Xiyang asked if he could share them with other students. Rian agreed on the condition that students were careful not to reveal any content to the teachers—otherwise, those teachers could maliciously choose questions that weren’t in the materials.
The rest of the week went by, and a studious atmosphere enveloped the Imperial Magical Academy.
Many students were studying, which made other students who had no intention of taking the alternative stream also work harder. The duelling fields were completely booked out for both team-duelling practice and practice for magical combat class.
And while the students were busy, the teachers were also busy.
Almost all of the teachers, across all three year-levels, had to prepare advanced entry exams for the new alternative stream. They had over four weeks, which sounded like a lot, but really wasn’t—because Vice Dean Blewitt wanted to check all of them to make sure the difficulty was satisfactory, so there was a two-week internal deadline.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Pc j oijrt, atf kffxfcv jgglnfv.
On Saturday, Ren Xiyang went back to the Rosewood fief again—he needed some work to break up the monotony of study. He also had a stack of materials from Rian that he needed to review.
Ktlr Vjaegvjs jirb tjqqfcfv ab yf atf vjs Uglcmf Ubiiez kjr wbnlcu lcab atf Ebrfkbbv tberf.
Ljvgljc rabbv cfza ab Uglcmf Ubiiez lc rlifcmf, bnfgrfflcu atf rajoo wbnlcu atlcur lc.
Prince Pollux had chosen the quarters next to his. He couldn’t tell if it was because he had made a good impression on Prince Pollux, or if Prince Pollux simply liked that location best.
Standing in silence felt increasingly unbearable. Hadrian’s hands felt sweaty as he forced himself to speak.
“…Your Highness, the staff seem to have everything under control. Do you want to get some fresh air outside?” Hadrian said.
“Very well,” Prince Pollux said.
Hadrian was relieved. They went down via the lift and outside. Several guards followed them, in front and behind.
Hadrian had shown Prince Pollux around previously, so there was no need to act as a tour guide again. Now that it was mid-autumn, many trees had turned red, orange and gold, and this made the evergreen trees look ever more deeply green. Combined with various patches of autumn-blooming flowers, the sights were beautiful and no less colourful than spring.
“…Do you think you’ll go back to Angio over the winter?” Hadrian asked.
“No,” Prince Pollux said. “It takes too long. I’ll go back over the summer. How about you?”
“I don’t know.” The Terra fief was at the border, so travelling there would take less than two weeks. And Hadrian wasn’t attending the university, so he had much more freedom.
He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss his family.
However, it wouldn’t feel right to leave Prince Pollux here alone.
“—Ah! Woops, sorry!” came a young voice.
“Watch your step,” one of the guards replied coldly.
A teenager had bumped into one of Prince Pollux’s guards, as his eyes were focused downward on his burden in his arms.
Hadrian looked over.
The teenager had an armful of kittens. At the moment, they were meowing; one tried to climb up the teenager’s clothes, and another was wriggling and successfully jumped out of his arms.
The kitten that had jumped down was very confident. It blinked at the guards and then walked forward in the jerky manner of kittens.
“Oh, hey!” the teenager called.
This made the kitten go faster. It wasn’t that fast, but the teenager had an armful of kittens slowing him down, not to mention the guards who were frowning hard and blocking his way.
Thus, the kitten soon reached Hadrian and Prince Pollux. It blinked at Hadrian, then blinked at Prince Pollux. Then—it jumped onto Prince Pollux’s foot.
Hadrian: “…”
Prince Pollux: “…”
Guards: “…”
Teenager: “…”
The kitten started to claw its way up.
Hadrian immediately squatted down and reached for the kitten. “Get down, that’s His Highness,” he told it sternly.
“Meow!” In a burst of desperate strength, it scurried up Prince Pollux’s leg and onto his lap. From there, it turned around and meowed defiantly.
Hadrian felt like he was being despised by the kitten.
“This…” Prince Pollux raised a hand, but hesitated.
“That means she’s adopted you! You can touch her, pet her gently!” the teenager called out from behind the guards.
“Who are you?” the guards demanded.
“My name is Wolfgang Titian from the Titian family. I’m a first-year student at the Imperial Magical Academy,” the teenager said promptly. “These are the kittens from my family home, I was taking them out to play.”
Hadrian glanced at the teenager, then back at Prince Pollux. “Your Highness…”
Prince Pollux’s hand descended. The kitten raised her head, accepting the light touch with a meow. Prince Pollux’s eyes became soft as the kitten nuzzled his hand.
“Lord Titian—” Hadrian started.
“Call me Wolfgang,” the teenager said.
“Wolfgang, do you mean to say that this kitten now belongs to His Highness?”
Wolfgang startled. “Ah, Your Highness! Good morning, Your Highness! Yes, yes, now that Lady Sasha Titian has chosen you, please look after her well. Well, Princess Sasha Lūpiter now!”
“And what matters do I need to be aware of?” Prince Pollux asked.
“Oh, looking after cats is easy! All you need is—” Wolfgang listed a dozen things in one breath, and looked like he was going to list a dozen more, if it weren’t for the kittens squirming in his arms.
Prince Pollux’s lips curled up. “Wolfgang, I suggest you acquire a basket in which to carry your charges around.”
Wolfgang brightened. “That’s a great idea, thank you, Your Highness! Um, please excuse me first, it looks like Oda Titian needs to go to the bathroom soon!”
“You’re excused,” Prince Pollux said.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
The guards stood aside and let Wolfgang rush off.
Because of one small kitten, the rest of the day at the Rosewood house was completely changed. Prince Pollux and Hadrian did not continue their walk and instead went back to the Rosewood house. The Rosewood steward saw the kitten and immediately set about organising several items.
Prince Pollux hadn’t slept in his new quarters yet; and now, there was a cat nest, a cat food bowl, litter box, a cat scratching post, and a box full of cat toys.
The new ‘Princess Sasha Lūpiter’ spent her time surveying her new territory from Prince Pollux’s lap, Prince Pollux’s arm, and even Prince Pollux’s head.
Her favour towards Prince Pollux was really unfair. Although Hadrian preferred dogs, Sasha wouldn’t even let him pet her.
“Now, now,” Prince Pollux reprimanded Sasha. “I must attend university during the week. During those times, Lord Terra will look after you, understand?”
“Meow,” Sasha said. It wasn’t clear if she understood or not.
Hadrian could only resign himself. He had to watch from a distance when one of the cat-owning Rosewood staff showed Prince Pollux how to care for the kitten; he had to watch from a distance as Prince Pollux played with the kitten.
Prince Pollux’s eyes were brighter than ever, and he even smiled. Hadrian felt that was very good. Prince Pollux should be happier; he was just a young man.
Oh, Hadrian suddenly realised. This sense of protectiveness must be because he felt as though Prince Pollux was his younger brother!
As Pollux was getting ready for bed that evening, he felt like he was floating.
A new wheelchair, new direction, new university, new quarters, new kitten, new friends; and even, new body.
He was happy.
And none of this would have been possible without Ayden.
Ayden gave him the floating chair (technically Prince Rian), and Ayden defeated King Augustus (technically with Prince Rian), Ayden invited him to Sedaveria (technically Prince Rian), Ayden gave him an office in the Rosewood house and now these quarters, Ayden was his friend and the person who introduced him to other people who were now also his friends (such as Hadrian and Prince Alexius); and Ayden was the one who could heal his body and allow him to walk again.
He was deeply grateful for Ayden. He should give Ayden a gift to express his thanks.
Princess Sasha Lūpiter meowed, interrupting Pollux’s thoughts. She didn’t want the small cat bed, she wanted the big bed!
“Your Highness…” the servant said uncertainly.
“It’s fine, you may leave now,” Pollux said. He used the levitation spell to lift Sasha up onto his new bed and went to sleep with a slight smile on his face.
When Ren Xiyang returned to the Capital on Monday, he dropped by the Rosewood house first to tend to his mushrooms and microgreens and harvested some of both by the way. He didn’t expect that Prince Pollux had picked up a kitten.
The little kitten seemed quite comfortable on Prince Pollux’s lap.
“Perhaps you could get a second kitten to keep it company,” Ren Xiyang said.
Prince Pollux said he’ll consider it, and then gave Ren Xiyang a box of pastries from one of the famous patisseries in the capital.
Ren Xiyang carried the box along with the harvested mushrooms and microgreens back to the academy, where Rian awaited him.
Rian gave him a look of suspicion. “You didn’t have time to line up to buy those,” he said.
“Prince Pollux gave them to me.” Ren Xiyang set down the pastries and showed Rian the mushrooms and microgreens. “I brought some dried mushrooms too, so we can have mushroom noodle soup tonight.”
“Why did Prince Pollux give those to you though?”
Ren Xiyang sighed and went over to his luggage to retrieve a small box. “For you.”
Rian brightened. “Oh?” He opened the box to reveal an intricate golden hair piece, shaped into leaves and petals and dotted with a few blue sapphires the colour of Rian’s eyes. “I love it,” he said happily. “Help me wear it tomorrow.”
Ren Xiyang gave an inward sigh of relief. “Of course. Help me cook.”
“Okay.”
The two of them had a meal together, and then Rian called Gary in to clean up. And then, it was time for Rian to test Ren Xiyang on his magical history knowledge. Rian had no mercy, not even for his lover.
Hadrian: Oh, for some reason I feel like Prince Pollux is my younger brother!
Pollux: I’m so grateful to Ayden!
Rian: …
Thank you to Miyo for the gift idea for Rian—a hairpin with a jewel of his eye colour!
Thank you so much for everyone’s comments and support, we’re definitely going to have more than 200 chapters >w<
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Universal cat distribution system is at work! Good job👍🏻!
Also for Hadrian there is a door itching to open. Is it brotherhood? Is it love? Is it loyalty and lifelong friendship? Cannot wait to find out.
Also i hope that kitten fellow returns, it was a short appearance but lovely. Maybecome one of my favourite characters
🤣🤣🤣 I looked up cat distribution system, so amusing!
Gotta progress Hadrian’s story a bit 🤭🤭
Having Wolfgang appear again is a good idea hahaha
And now I want everyone to have a kitten… Cassiopeia, Alexius, even Hadrian (talking of which; yeah, no. It’s not that you think of Pollux as your little brother. But no worries; you’ll get there eventually🤭)
Of course, Rian & Xiyang should also raise a bunch …but given how busy they are, it’d probably just add to Gary’s duties. And we all know how Gary feels about that! 🤣
HAHAHAH
I had originally thought that Ren Xiyang should get a cat (human heater Ren Xiyang?), but correct, they’re too busy 🤣🤣
Aaaah the princess Sasha Lupiter is just too cute !!! And Hadrian you’re just liying tout yourself, you don’t just think of Pollux as your little brother (i didn’t know Hadrian was older than Pollux) but you want to protect him and is slightly jealous of the kitten princess
Thank you for the chapter ^^
Hadrian is the eldest son of Marquis Terra, I think I vibe him as at least 25, while Pollux is 18.
Thank you for reading!
Wow i didn’t think that Hadrian was so much older than Pollux, when you read their interactions you wouldn’t think that they have a 7 years age gap
I think it’s because Pollux is mature 🤔🤔🤔🤔 while Hadrian still suffers from being not so great at social interactions and also not being a genius 🤔🤔🤔
Mwahahhaah the cat distribution system! I friggin love that Prince Polux went with the entire lady and princess Sasha with Wolfgang, even calling them his charges wgahgwghahaghahshbaha
Prince Pollux was in a good mood 😆😆
kitteeeeeen!!
+1 my feelings exactly. So cute…. ❤❤
🥰🥰
about time I introduced a kitten into the story 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you for the chapter! I was holding one of my cats the entire read😄
awwwwwww so cute 🥺🥺🥺
AAAAHHH Prince Pollux playing along with Wolfgang & his kitties is so cute! It also shows how much he’s grown! If it had been a few months ago, he would’ve maybe awkwardly accepted Sasha (to find her a new home later or something). And he definitely wouldn’t have let Hadrian get so close to his legs while he was trying to assist!
Ooooooooohhhh, I like your analysis/interpretation that Pollux has grown! Pollux is much more relaxed now, and much more familiar with people, especially Hadrian 😏
Yeah, that’s how it works! The cat chooses you, not the other way around! 🤣
It’s really a great idea, Pollux needs all the happiness he can get.
Thank you for the update.
😆😆😆😆😆😆
I’m glad you like Pollux getting a cat!!
Thank you for reading!
damn Sasha was on a mission!!!
Sasha: 😇😇😇😇
Pollux: under the cat spell
Kitty: I’m royalty now. World domination is a go!
And Hadrian, you sure that it’s only ‘brotherhood’? I see you might also be one who will be enlightened by those new laws, if you haven’t seen the gay couples in the Rosewood estate yet.
Cats sure are evil 😆😆😆😆
Hadrian will be enlightened eventually~
🤣 it’s so easy to coax Rian
But also, Rian is probably acting like that in order to get coaxed 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Aaaawww, thank you for the kitten add
opting the Prince 🥰🥰🫠❤️
I’m glad you liked that!!