"Are we good now?" With Victor's words, he dispersed his pheromones, as if he had never done so in the first place. "Then I'm glad, let me begin myself."

Victor stepped away from Lucius, situating himself as he looked at his fellow soldiers, the ones who he were to train.

"I know that among you alphas, there are also betas mixed in. I do not and will never treat any of you differently from one another unless you disobey my orders. I may be a prince, but I also have seen my fair share of wars, enough to know about combats. I know that as I have just recently return, there are some of you who are speculating my real ability. I won't say that I am the strongest, but I have been personally trained by General Luther." Victor smiled so brightly, it was hard to tell that just moments ago, he was close to beating someone up.

"General Luther?!"

"That General! I thought he retired already?"

"To be personally trained by him was my dream. He was the alpha who led the W nation to victory with only two thousand soldiers under his command."

Mark raised his eyes up to Victor when he heard the name that came out of his mouth. Upon his cold exteriors, his eyes seemed to glimmer under the light. His eyes looked from Victor to the crowd of soldiers before it returned back to looking at Victor, the man who stood so tall without a hint of worry or fear. Mark couldn't smell anything from Victor, and he didn't like it one bit. For the first time, he felt like he was inferior. Something that he had never felt after becoming a general. 

It wasn't that he was arrogant about his abilities or that he looked down upon his comrades, it was just that, growing up in a big family did something to you. Growing with five siblings, Mark had to make sure he stood out among his peers, else, he would've been treated worse. As the youngest, it felt like you were given this burden to achieve as much or even more than what your older siblings did. 

So looking at Victor who could smile so brightly, even Mark couldn't help but admire him. It wasn't hard to tell that a bright light seemed to glow from Victor, and...it was interesting.

"For the next few weeks, I will be overseeing your training. I will leave it to your leaders to decide what they want you to work on, but I will add my piece of advice every now and then. I'll do my best to teach you about everything I know and in return, I hope that you all can learn to think of me as one of your own. I have been living abroad for so long, it will be hard to get use to the role of a prince, so there will be no need for formality. If there are any questions, I will try my best to answer." Victor finished his short speech with a lot of good points. He first tried to gain their trust while also getting closer to them, all the while, talking about the role he would be partaking.

Lucius couldn't help but look at Victor, as if he was looking at a different man. He had heard about his father speaking about Victor's combat skills, but he never did know just how powerful he was. Lucius almost couldn't believe that his stupid brother was so powerful. Well, at least he had something to rival that stupidity of his...

The room was silent after Victor's sentence before someone finally spoke.

"My name is Raven Blaxe, son of the Prime Minister. Prince Victor, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any opinion about getting omegas involved in the army?" Raven's voice was clear, not with strength behind it, but more of slyness.

This was definitely his first encounter with the main character and Victor could say with one hundred percent that he hated him. It was the first meeting between them and Raven was already trying to dig a hole for him to get buried in. But being the great actor that he was, Victor merely replied as if he was already prepared for the question.

"I believe that the question can only be answered by omegas themselves. Lucius, do you have an interest about entering the army?" Victor wasn't going to let himself fall into a pit, so he let Lucius answered. This way, Lucius could also displayed his authority and what he had to say.

With the conversation suddenly turned to him, Lucius couldn't help but be startled for a second. Calming himself as he hid his glare towards Victor, he replied, "As an omega myself, I don't have any interest on entering the military. Although I don't, I am sure that there are many omegas that do wish to. But, I don't understand why you would ask this question when A Nation does not forbid omegas from entering the military. After all, I had always thought that A Nation had the least restrictions put on omegas than any other nation out there."

"Raven Blaxe, let me tell you something. My brother may not care about your lack of respect towards him, but that doesn't mean that I don't. I'm sure that you know best what you were trying to do with that question. Unlike my brother who is easygoing and much kinder, I won't hesitate to call out your schemes. For trying to put a barrier between my relationship with my brother, you should be glad that I am still delighted from my brother's visit, else, I wouldn't have hesitated to punish you." Lucius didn't hold back, his words sharp and also threatening, so much that even the alphas looked at him in alarm. 

Lucius may be loved as a prince, but it was undeniable that growing up in such a position would impact him too. With Victor disappearing for nine years, Lucius basically took over his position and dealt with the schemings of the officials. Although an omega, he took over as if he was an alpha, not shrinking away from the harsh responsibilities of carrying the title as a prince. 

Lucius hated it most when people schemed against him. It was merely a show of his own power as a prince, but it also showed his authority as a higher ranking person. It was a way of saying that even if Victor didn't raise a hand against them, that didn't mean that he wouldn't. 

Raven's face didn't change as he heard Lucius' response, as if he wasn't affected by the answer. He wasn't angered nor was he pissed off, he merely nodded his head. He didn't seem like any of the main characters Victor had encountered before.

Victor merely smiled as if he didn't care, but his eyes had become sharp undercover. Like a tiger laying in wait for its prey to come, as if it was waiting to pounce on its defenseless prey, his smile suddenly appeared dangerous. But...turning to the cold and stiff man by his side, his eyes melted like the warm spring breaking away from the harsh winter wind.

"General, are there any words you would like to add?" Victor couldn't help it as his heart somehow warmed while looking at Mark. Mark's eyes felt like Daniel's, and even though they were so cold, Victor felt like he could see Daniel from within them. Victor wondered what had happened to Daniel...

His heart squeezed in pain, and his smile stiffened lightly. Why was he thinking about this now? But looking at the image of Mark standing so cold and distant, Victor thought about the gentle and kind Daniel, the man who had held onto his hands so lightly, whose smile was bright whenever he looked at him. It all felt like a beautiful dream, the encounter that he had with that man. For the first time, Victor felt as if he knew what the meaning to love was. 

But Daniel was already gone, just like how Andy had disappeared. He had left Daniel behind, and moved on from the past. 

Refocusing, Victor looked at Mark, his eyes somehow warmer than it was before.

Mark looked at the image of Victor staring at him, calming his heart as he saw the warmth within Victor's eyes. Victor's eyes were penetrating, and now that he had a closer look at them, Mark felt as if he could see a story being unfolded from within them. Just what was Victor's past?

"The meeting is now over. General Noah and Ryle will be instructing you first about the the use of daggers and swords." Mark's stern face remained the same, his thoughts weren't displayed on his face. His cold eyes remained frosty as he spoke, his voice like the sudden breeze on a cool day.

"Prince Victor, may I speak with you?" As soon as the soldiers began moving, Mark turned to Victor as spoke to him. 

Victor sent a lingering gaze at Lucius before finally nodding his head. "Stay here for now, I will speak to General Mark first." 

Lucius merely rolled his eyes as he listened to his worry brother. It wasn't like he was a nine year old anymore, he was already grown enough to realize when there was a scheme laid out. 

Seeing that Victor had agreed to his request, Mark walked out the doors with Victor following. As they entered an office, Mark turned to Victor. "How is General Luther doing?" 

Victor chuckled a bit before he replied, his chuckle was light and sweet. "He is doing well. Still the same bitter man he has always been but he is doing better now. He talked a lot about you. Said that you were one of the most promising students he taught and I'm not surprised now that I see you." Victor didn't pretend to have a princely air around him, he just simply didn't care.

Mark nodded, his stoic face didn't drop but he was glad. "I'm glad, he has always been so apart from this world. To think that he is now finally settling and stopping his dangerous missions, it seems like a shock after everything he had done. When he was my teacher, he was always a strict person."

To that, Victor couldn't help it as he laughed, tears forming from the corner of his eyes as he heard the words Mark said. "General Luther is still the same strict man. When he first became my teacher, I would always hide from him."

A string of laughter entered Mark's ear, and he could barely suppressed the light smile that wanted to arise. It wasn't normal that he could talk to someone so carefree like this. He was surprised about Victor's character, but he felt like he understood now. Surprisingly, Mark found him likable.

Staring at the image of Victor, it felt like he was seeing someone else. A man with gray hair, gray eyes that were colder than the frosty snow. And it disappeared. In his eyes again was Victor, whose smile could light up the world. 

[Male lead's love percentage is at 3%.]

Fei Qianchi, no, Baicheng smiled so cruelly, yet it was also one of relief as he stared at the dagger in his hands, blood dripping from it. Then, staring at the body of Zhu Longwang encased in a barrier, he couldn't help but tilt his head. As his eyes turned to look at the image of Zhu Luishui staring at him with burning hatred, he merely laughed.

"Hello, Lord of Suzhou. Did you enjoy your visit to the Evernight Prison? I apologize for not being able to invite you to this lively play, but I did leave a present for you. It's so amusing, in his last moments he must've thought that Fei Qianchi was the one who killed him. How interesting? So this is what love is? Now I remember, it has been so long since I felt something like that but...it's not like I care." Baicheng's voice was smooth, a voice that sounded so gentlemanly.

Zhu Luishui tried to hold back the flame bursting within him as he stared at his brother, whose breath had already ended. This foolish brother of him went and destroyed his soul, scattering it into a thousand pieces to call upon the force of the ten thousand lightning. And for what, to save the man who didn't love him? How foolish he was, sacrificing everything for a pointless love?

"Baicheng, you've won. You have successfully gotten your revenge, you have destroyed Fei Qianchi and took away my only brother from me. You have finally succeeded in your plan after sacrificing so many lives. You have won the battle, but that doesn't mean that you have won the war yet. So long as I am alive, I will bring back by brother, even if it means sacrificing the blood of my own, I will bring him back. Because my brother is the only person who can go against you now." Zhu Luishui's voice was eerily calm, not of defeat even as he spoke, but of a strong statement.

"Then I will wait. I will wait until you fail, I want you to watch as everything gets destroyed before your very eyes. I want you to experience the feeling of losing everything, just like what you did to me. I want everything in your life to be ruined, shattered into a million pieces. This is life, Zhu Luishui, not some childish game. It's about time you awaken to the real world, because, this is how our lives are like. Love is dangerous, merely a stupid game for the foolish. A stupid game that I was tricked into playing." Baicheng's eyes glimmered as he smiled a cold smile. He walked towards the frozen Zhu Luishui, turning his eyes to look at the body of Zhu Longwang.

Baicheng let out a laugh, a cruel and dangerous laugh. Stopping in front of Zhu Luishui, Baicheng gently touched his face. "You can kill me right now, you can stab right through this dead heart of mine now if you wanted to. But you can't, you can't because that heart of yours still loves me. Just how deceitful is this face of yours?"

Between these two, a greater story beholds. Because in this story, there is no real villain within it. And there was so much to their past, one that involves so much pain, a story that was full of love and betrayal. One that told of Baicheng's road to becoming who he was today. One that told of how Zhu Luishui rose to become the Lord of Suzhou.

Maybe, their story might be even more painful than Fei Qianchi and Zhu Longwang's.