Chapter 47: The Secretary Finds a Little Secret

Luo Ran didn’t expect it.

He really didn’t expect that Lucas, the god of war, who was usually so straightforward…

Would counter him like this.

Luo Ran’s entire body stiffened. He watched Lucas sneer, get out of bed, and march towards him, all while looking like he wanted to eat him.

I’m in for a beating, Luo Ran thought.

Then he turned and ran.

“Get the fuck back here!”

Lucas didn’t even bother putting on his shoes before chasing him out.

Whoosh——

Luo Ran, feeling a gust of wind coming from behind, subconsciously turned and raised his arm to defend himself.

He crossed his arms to block Lucas’ punch, then struck with his elbow to push him back.

Luo Ran knew that he couldn’t beat Lucas and didn’t plan to stay. However, just as he turned to leave, Lucas’ fist came again to stop him. He was forced to reach out to intercept, but Lucas took the opportunity to seize him and flip him around.

Lucas’ strength was much greater than an ordinary person’s. No matter how good their skills, Lucas could simply use brute force to pin them down.

Right now, Luo Ran’s hand was trapped in Lucas’ grip and twisted behind his back, and his body had been forced into a half-kneeling position.

“Are you fighting or not!” Lucas said angrily. “Damn, little bastard, you even ran!”

“…” Luo Ran pursed his lips. He’d never won against Lucas before.

Luo Ran planned to give in and discuss things properly, but before he could do anything, he felt his whole body become weightless and leave the ground.

“Admiral…!” 

Lucas held Luo Ran like a sack of rice. He only needed one steel-hard arm clamped around Luo Ran’s waist to hold him in place, while the other was used to open the door.

With his belly stuck on Lucas’ shoulder, Luo Ran struggled to hit Lucas’ back.

Smack!

Lucas slapped Luo Ran’s behind.

“Stay still!”

“…”

Luo Ran, his face flaming red, didn’t dare move.

As soon as Lucas’ great strides brought him back into the office, he threw Luo Ran onto the bed, then bent down and grabbed his discarded tie to lash Luo Ran’s hands to the headboard.

“…!” Luo Ran’s eyes widened. “Admiral!”

Again, his face flushed to the point of bleeding.

Wh-What is going on…!

The dead knot Lucas made ensured that Luo Ran could only move side to side a little bit, not nearly enough to be able to escape.

“Admiral, don’t…” Luo Ran’s whole body softened when the scent of tobacco rushed over him. He buried his head in his arms as he pleaded, “Don’t do this, I can’t escape anyways.”

Lucas completely ignored Luo Ran in favour of lying down next to him.

“Don’t get up to anything,” he said. “Go to sleep.”

* * *

However, Luo Ran couldn’t sleep at all.

Although it wasn’t especially uncomfortable for his hands to be shackled like this, he was still nervous, not to mention Lucas was sleeping right next to him.

The bed was so saturated in his tobacco scent that Luo Ran felt as if he were cradled within Lucas’ aura.

Yet now that the temporary mark had faded, Luo Ran no longer felt comforted by it but… provoked.

It wasn’t the best feeling.

It was an absolute invasion, as if a lion had seized him for itself.

Silence fell over them for a long time as they lay there.

“Admiral…” Although his tied wrist prevented him from turning, Luo Ran could tell from the breathing coming from behind him that Lucas hadn’t fallen asleep yet. “Are you still awake? Can you untie me?”

After a brief wait, Lucas sighed deeply, then got up and released Luo Ran’s binds.

“It’s done.” He frowned. “Go to sleep.”

Luo Ran clutched the quilt and nodded. His wrists were marred with a band of red.

“Luo Ran.”

“Hm?”

“Can you always stay with me?” Lucas asked flatly.

In the silent darkness, a man’s deep voice exploded in Luo Ran’s ears.

Luo Ran gripped the bedsheets, stunned.

“Luo Ran?”

“…Yeah,” Luo Ran replied in a steady voice, “I will. I said it before — I will always be your secretary, until the day you are no longer the admiral.”

The two lay back to back as moonlight penetrated the window covered by wisteria flowers to shine softly on the bed.

Lucas soon fell asleep and Luo Ran didn’t want to keep talking about this anymore either, so he could only carry his chaotic mess of thoughts into his dreams.

He’d never thought that he would one day feel so awkward around Lucas, that his heart would race like this.

* * *

The next morning, Zhou Mingkai came over.

It was very early. Luo Ran was in the middle of making coffee for Lucas, and hadn’t groomed himself yet.

Thus, Zhou Mingkai easily spotted the ambiguous red marks on his wrist.

He could see at a glance that it was from being strangled with something.

Oh ho.

Zhou Mingkai’s pupils trembled and the macho man blushed as he turned shy.

Eeeeeeee! There’s hope for the next generation of the Empire!

“Good morning, Your Highness.” Luo Ran casually handed Zhou Mingkai a cup of coffee. “Are you here for anything? The admiral isn’t awake yet.”

“Oh, it’s the same telling it to you, I was going to look for you originally anyways,” Zhou Mingkai grinned. “It’s Mou Kadi, he asked me to help him get together with Mingzhu. He even threatened me!” he exclaimed resentfully. “Saying that if he couldn’t marry the princess, he’d marry me instead.”

Zhou Mingkai really couldn’t help getting agitated. Marriage or whatever, just leave him out of it.

“So Your Highness plans to be a matchmaker? How?” Luo Ran went to heat up some bread as he resisted the urge to laugh.

“I can’t think of anything either. I wanted to get them to go out and play, but it’d be too strange to be just the two of them, there’s no way Mingzhu would agree. So, I might set up a family outing with my brothers and Mingzhu, then pull Mou Kadi along.”

Luo Ran nodded. “Good idea, you can also take this chance to relax.”

“But it would also be strange if Mou Kadi was the only outsider,” he continued, “so I thought of calling other friends along, like you and the admiral.”

Luo Ran thought for a bit. “Where are you going?”

“It’s a cruise that’s leaving tomorrow morning. We’re just eating good food and taking in the sights, very relaxing. They probably wouldn’t want to go if they’d have to exercise a lot. My brothers also have a lot of paperwork to do, so they can bring those onto the ship.”

Smiling, Luo Ran said, “The admiral has never liked this sort of gathering, and he might not be able to leave right now with the mecha exhibition only halfway through. Why don’t I take his place to go with you?”

“Okay!”

Luo Ran thought that this was a good chance to avoid Lucas for a couple of days without falling behind on his work.

Perfect.

Let Lucas calm down a bit, and him as well, he also needed to calm down.

“You can get to know Lu Bei.” Zhou Mingkai clasped his hands together. “Oh thank heavens, you two can do your work together and Lu Bei’ll care less about me.”

“Is that the new representative for the royal family?” Luo Ran asked curiously.

“Yeah! My royal father and big brother told him to keep an eye on me and stop me from embarrassing the imperial family or something, so annoying.”

The imperial family had appointed a new representative, Lu Bei, who would speak on their behalf. His speeches would often involve the military, so Luo Ran communicated with him often.

Lu Bei was also responsible for maintaining the imperial family’s image — and since Zhou Mingkai was the biggest black hole in this endeavour, he had no choice but to stick to him closely.

Luo Ran sincerely admired this representative in his heart. Although he looked like a gentle scholar who stuck his head in books all day, was younger than Zhou Mingkai, and was an omega, he could still manage Zhou Mingkai very well.

The previous imperial family representative was an alpha, and it was rumoured that once, he was so annoyed by Zhou Mingkai that they physically went to blows. Perhaps a young dandy prince like Zhou Mingkai just refused force but not coercion. 

“Remember to call me when you’re about to leave tomorrow.”

In this way, Luo Ran concluded a secret transaction with Zhou Mingkai.

Luo Ran still had to give Lucas a report on the progress of research into the UNK, so he made a trip to the UNK Special Research Centre.

At the research centre, neither Xia Zhi nor Shen Xiluo looked very happy.

According to Xia Zhi, the use of UNK on human bodies was beginning to show undesirable side effects.

The first to show symptoms were the alpha and omega injected with UNK, who began to develop mental disorders and spiritual riots. Although it wasn’t serious yet, this was a bad omen. Xia Zhi and Shen Xiluo immediately called a halt to the experiments and gave treatment.

For alpha and omega, it was a very serious matter for them to be injured mentally.

The stronger they were, the more vulnerable they were. For example, Luo Ran’s mental wound from a few years ago couldn’t be considered severe, yet it was only barely healed now. Lucas was even more prone to going berserk, and constantly required drugs and aromatherapy.

This wasn’t the only problem. The research institute had transferred many omega with strong spiritual power here in order to refine UNK, and one of the weaker Grade A omega had begun to have hallucinations.

But the people injected with Ua didn’t have any issues, so the UNK side effects should only affect people with pheromones.*

Xia Zhi quietly dragged Luo Ran, who was the first to successfully refine UNK, home to examine him, and only when everything turned up normal did he relax.

In summary, the UNK brought no great revolution to the Empire, and instead gave a whole bunch of problems, making the scientists very distressed.

Leaving these problems for the professionals to worry about, Luo Ran now turned to the task of making arrangements for the interstellar pirates caught near the border with Luobing.

After capturing the many pirates, they had to put them somewhere. The stubborn ones could only stay in prison, but the more cooperative alpha, and the lower-ranking beta and omega who did miscellaneous work on the pirate battleships were sent to various agricultural areas.

This matter intertwined a lot of factors, and there could be no mistakes for fear of causing a riot.

Luo Ran was so busy that he worked all through the night in the office. He was able to snatch a few hours of sleep by napping on his desk before the sun rose in the blink of an eye, and the time he and Zhou Mingkai agreed upon arrived.

“Wake up.” Lucas frowned as he knocked on Luo Ran’s glass desk, making a crisp sound as he did so. “Why didn’t you go inside to sleep?”

“Hm…” Luo Ran dazedly raised his head from his arms and blinked.

Lucas smiled. “Go to the ship and sleep, it’s time to go.”

“Oh.”

Luo Ran went through all his personal grooming and changed clothes before realising something when he caught sight of Lucas still standing there in casual clothing.

“Admiral, you… you are also coming?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“…”

Luo Ran froze.

Lucas turned towards him and smirked. “What, you want to carry me there? I’ll be keeping an eye on you for the next few days, don’t think of making any trouble!”

“…” Luo Ran’s lips twitched into a dry smile. “I thought you wouldn’t like this sort of thing. You’ve always disliked places with too many people, not to mention going on a vacation cruise.”

“Really?” Lucas raised an eyebrow but didn’t keep talking, instead he went downstairs.

Luo Ran hardened his nerves and followed.

Zhou Mingkai was surprised to see Lucas, as was Zhou Mingzhu. She pulled him aside and asked, “Didn’t you say the admiral isn’t coming?”

“Maybe it’s because Secretary Luo is here, heheheh.”

“Ah.” Zhou Mingzhu blinked.

The group boarded the cruise ship Zhou Mingkai booked. There were no other guests on board, only the staff and musicians. Zhou Mingkai led everyone to the open-air restaurant on the main deck, where a band began to play.

The deck had amazing views. You could see the blue sky, the river, and buildings on the shore, and it wasn’t so late in the day that it was too hot.

“Your Highness, here, this tastes good.” Mou Kadi smiled politely as he sat opposite Zhou Mingzhu with offerings of treats.

But the young lady remained indifferent and was very resistant to him.

“Your Highness, do you prefer apple juice or watermelon juice?” Mou Kadi held one in each hand.

“Neither,” Zhou Mingzhu replied coldly.

Mou Kadi sighed but didn’t take it to heart. He only asked if she wanted to eat salad, he could help get it for her.

Elsewhere:

“Secretary Luo, this crab is a local specialty, it’s impossible to get it in the capital,” Eldest Prince Zhou Mingyu smiled as he served Luo Ran a small crab. “Smaller crabs have more flavour.”

Luo Ran blinked. “Thank you.”

“Eat this one.” And with a smack, Lucas dropped a bigger crab into Luo Ran’s bowl, then said in a strange tone, “You need to eat big crabs to get enough flavour!”

Luo Ran: “…”

Luo Ran smiled widely. “They’re both good, each has its own taste.”

“What each has its own taste, there’s always a better one,” Lucas scolded. “Is the big crab better or the small crab better?”

Luo Ran: “…”

“Of course the one the admiral chose is better,” Zhou Mingyu said.

Luo Ran smiled.

Lucas: “…”

Lucas felt that he somehow came worse off in this comparison, how did he seem both childish and petty?

He expressionlessly started eating again.

Upon noticing Lucas’ mood, Luo Ran hesitated, then picked up a lobster, peeled it, dipped it in sauce, and placed it in Lucas’ bowl.

“Admiral, here.”

Lucas paused, and desperately suppressed the corners of his lips from rising. “Hmph! It’s not like you don’t know that I only eat rice, not these.”

Yet despite saying so, he picked the lobster up, shook it side to side, and ate it with satisfaction.

Zhou Mingyu: “…”

Zhou Mingyu lowered his head, obscuring his expression.

Zhou Mingkai, nearby: “…”

Even disregarding the weird atmosphere… Why did he feel a little extraneous?

He couldn’t help but glance towards Lu Bei, and saw a scholarly, glasses-wearing youth chatting with his second brother Zhou Mingjing about politics, about literature, and about military logistics. There was very obviously no place for him there.

Zhou Mingkai: “…”

Zhou Mingkai, the organiser of this whole trip, sullenly ate a piece of fish.

—— XXXX ——

After sunset, Luo Ran was just about to return to his room to rest when the eldest prince Zhou Mingyu stopped him.

“Secretary Luo, can I speak with you for a minute?”

“…?”

They strolled along the deck. A soft evening breeze blew, causing a thousand ripples to form on the river surface.

“Secretary Luo, do you remember when we first met?” Zhou Mingyu chuckled. “It was a romantic night just like this, and we ran into each other in the back garden of the hotel where a banquet was being held. At the time, my brothers and I were still young, and me and my second brother were having a fight in the garden. You didn’t know we were princes and thought he was bullying me, so you rushed up to protect me.”

Luo Ran, surprised, was torn between laughing and crying.

They had all been hot-blooded youths then, and with the second prince Zhou Mingjing having been in the army, of course there was no way for the eldest prince to fight back. He’d been pressed into the ground and given a thorough beating.

Luo Ran naturally thought that Zhou Mingyu was being bullied, and immediately went up to defend him from the second prince, receiving not a few wounds of his own in the process.

It was in this way that Luo Ran got to know Zhou Mingjing. Zhou Mingjing was already friends with Lucas, and now he appreciated Luo Ran even more.

Zhou Mingyu and Zhou Mingjing never got along, Luo Ran thought, when they were kids they’d physically fight, and now that they’re older, they’ve only moved their rivalry under a thin veneer of peace.

“I didn’t expect Your Highness to remember, it was such an embarrassing thing back then,” Luo Ran said in an amused voice.

“Of course I remember, I started to like you since then.”

“…?”

Zhou Mingyu smiled. “I really do like you, not because of politics or the admiral. Do you believe me?”

Luo Ran froze on the spot as he rapidly processed the information passing through Zhou Mingyu’s lips.

After a moment, he lowered his eyes, quirked his lips, and smoothly changed the subject. “Your Highness must be joking, I also admire you and His Highness the Second Prince, as well as the admiral.”

Zhou Mingyu smiled as well. “Mn, I admire you. You’re an amazing secretary, absolutely perfect,” he said. “Mingzhu came because of the admiral, and I came because of you.”

Luo Ran wasn’t exactly disturbed, just… surprised.

It was unclear if Zhou Mingyu truly liked him for himself or for the sake of politics. After all, he and Lucas were known to have a good relationship with Zhou Mingjing, it wouldn’t be unusual for Zhou Mingyu to be anxious.

But at this moment, Luo Ran was more concerned about another thing.

“Princess Mingzhu came because of the admiral…?”

“Yes,” Zhou Mingyu answered, shaking his head, “Mingzhu’s had a crush on the admiral for a long time, but she’s never dared to confess, and she also has the pride of being a princess, so she’s only taken a few more looks by using Mingkai. This is also why she rejected the Zerg prince.”

“So that’s it.” Luo Ran nodded, thinking that Lucas was indeed the man who topped the list of ‘The Empire’s Most Eligible Alpha Bachelor’ for several consecutive years.

“Can I invite you to a meal later?” Zhou Mingyu asked warmly. “As friends is fine.”

“Apologies, I’m too busy with work. …And the admiral doesn’t like it when I eat out with others.”

“I see.” Zhou Mingyu looked down.

“It’s very late,” Luo Ran commented gently, “I’ll go back first.”

He felt that he’d made things clear with Zhou Mingyu.

No matter if Zhou Mingyu was joking or not, no matter if his true aim was him or the military, Luo Ran still felt that he had an obligation to unequivocally express himself.

He thought of Yu Han.

After reaching his room, Luo Ran opened up his chat with Yu Han, planning to explain that he couldn’t go out with him any more.

He sighed. With how Lucas would react, he might as well hold off on any future blind dates, and in any case, whether or not he dated didn’t make much difference in the end.

Luo Ran: Mr Yu, I want to talk to you about something.

Ding!

[System: apologies, as you are no longer friends with this person, you cannot send messages]

Luo Ran: ???

Realising something, he tapped Add Friend, but it rejected him.

Luo Ran: …

He was, once again, inexplicably blocked by a blind date.

With no rhyme or reason.

In the past, he’d thought that it was because he himself somehow presented himself poorly, but with it happening over and over again, he couldn’t help but doubt that conclusion.

And thinking back to Lucas’ behaviour yesterday, could it be…

Luo Ran frowned. He considered calling his parents to get in contact with Yu Han that way, but on second thought, he’d rather not cause them anger or worry over this. Besides, since he was already blocked, it would be inappropriate to disturb Yu Han.

But Luo Ran was still curious, and didn’t intend to let it go so easily.

Therefore, he contacted Xia Zhi.

Luo Ran: Can you add back the date you rejected before? I want to go on a date with them.

Xia Zhi: …

Xia Zhi: ?????

Xia Zhi: Yes…?

Luo Ran was determined to get to the bottom of this, to know once and for all if this was the result of Lucas’ actions.

Although…

He frowned again.

Why would Lucas do this?

Just because he wanted Luo Ran to focus wholeheartedly on his work?

As he held the terminal in his hands, Luo Ran became a little lost in thought.

Lucas was very possessive — his things could only be his.

For example, the crabs today; for example, the blind dates; for example, the rut some time ago; for example…

Luo Ran, as if possessed by a ghost, opened Holonet,* navigated to the CP forum, and posted something.

False Truths: Do you think the admiral likes the secretary?

Replies soon poured in.

XXX: OP change your ID!! How dare you doubt this wonderful love?! Their feelings are stronger than anything, even the admiral’s 38cm!

XXX: OP, let me give you a summary [link]

Luo Ran ignored the other replies in favour of tapping on the link.

[The 50 Secrets of Lucas Aldor That Luo Ran Doesn’t Know]

He seemed to have seen this type of article before, it was probably a trend…? There could be both truth and lies inside, but everyone nonetheless seemed to enjoy reading them.

1. In every media photo, the admiral’s eyes are on the secretary

Just the first one shocked Luo Ran.

Huh…?

Curious, Luo Ran searched for Lucas’ photos on the Holonet.

Five minutes later…

Luo Ran came back to the article with a flaming red face.

2. The admiral secretly takes photos of the secretary, and the only photos on his terminal are of the secretary

3. The admiral likes to wear couples clothing with the secretary, he deliberately matches his clothing with the secretary’s

4. The one exception to the admiral’s mysophobia* is called Luo Ran; everyone else is dirty, including professional bootlicker Zhou Mingkai, but the admiral likes to hold the secretary’s waist or grab his wrist

5. The admiral’s wallet is called Luo Ran

6. The admiral gets jealous super easily

It even included images.

In a gif, Lucas and Luo Ran were standing together for an interview, and Lucas’ face immediately darkened when Luo Ran turned to speak with someone else.

The more Luo Ran looked, the more he blushed.

It seemed that many of these small actions became habits as he and Lucas spent time with one another.

He couldn’t help but think back to how they interacted before.

But it was too long ago.

They had walked next to each other for such a long time.

After a while, Luo Ran couldn’t bear to keep reading. With the way he felt like exploding, there was no way he would be able to endure until the 50th secret.

Just as he was about to go offline, his terminal sent out a notification chime. Someone had replied to his thread.

Luo Ran took a look.

False Truths: Do you think the admiral likes the secretary?

Lucas: Likes.

Luo Ran, stunned, looked at the ID’s data.

It was Lucas.

Then, Luo Ran really did explode.

Translator:
I admit my interest in this story is waning, but I’m not dropping it. We haven’t even reached my favourite part yet!

Footnotes:
1. This part is unclear: 但是注射了Ua都没有问题，所以UNK的辐射和副作用只会针对拥有信息素的人。
2. Holonet: previously starnet, basically the interstellar version of the internet; since I already ripped off hyperlanes from Star Wars, why not this as well?
3. Mysophobia [洁癖]: lit. addiction to cleanliness; I don’t like using the word mysophobia because it’s a real thing which doesn’t seem like what’s happening here — mysophobia manifests as a fear of touching dirty things whereas Lucas (and, let’s be real, every other ML who must save themselves for the MC ahem ahem) shows more of a disdain for touching others