Chapter 53: The Secretary’s Promise

Luo Ran was transferred to the warship’s intensive care unit. As Lucas looked at his sickly pallor and the many needles piercing into his arm, then at Shen Xiluo and the other busy doctors, his hands which were resting next to his thighs slowly clenched into fists.

The fighting outside was already over, Wang Qiuyang and Freeman were in charge of cleaning up the stragglers and counting their losses.

M4 had also been recovered. Most of the UNK were either destroyed during the fighting or snatched back by Lucas’ army, only a small portion was taken away by the fleeing pirates.

The Empire had a good harvest this time. Although they hadn’t been able to capture many pirates, at least they hadn’t allowed them to steal many UNK.

And the bitter-cold mine on M4 had also been destroyed during the operation.

“Sir, Secretary Luo’s condition has stabilised.” Seeing that Lucas hadn’t moved, Shen Xiluo took a step forward. “If you’re busy, you can do that first, we still need some time here. There’s still a while to go before the medicine takes effect.”

“Yeah.” But Lucas still stood there, not shifting his gaze from Luo Ran for half a moment. After a short silence, he asked, “Does it hurt?”

“What?”

“Is Luo Ran in pain right now?” Lucas asked in a low voice.

“No,” Shen Xiluo replied honestly, “he’s unconscious. He’ll only feel it when he wakes up.”

Shen Xiluo constantly observed the displays on the instruments monitoring Luo Ran’s state as he adjusted Luo Ran’s medicine, while a nurse gently massaged Luo Ran’s head.

They’d already wiped his ears clean of blood, but his face was still pale.

Lucas had never seen such a Luo Ran before — weak, powerless, and covered in IV needles.

After a long while, Luo Ran finally regained some consciousness and made a soft noise. He occasionally twitched and seemed to be very uncomfortable.

Lucas subconsciously gripped his hand.

Luo Ran’s brows furrowed as cold sweat dripped down.

“Increase the dosage!” Shen Xiluo shouted, pinning Luo Ran’s shoulders down. “Use the red grade!”

Still holding Luo Ran’s hand, Lucas released some of his pheromones.

A mild tobacco scent surrounded Luo Ran, giving a completely different feeling from usual. Maybe no one knew that Lucas’ pheromones could be so gentle.

Having been marked, Luo Ran finally fell into deep sleep amid his alpha’s scent and strong drugs. Soon, the numbers on the instruments monitoring him also stabilised.

“It’s fine now,” Shen Xiluo said as he put away the syringes, “he just needs rest. If anything happens, Admiral can use your pheromones to soothe him. Only use the medicine if your pheromones don’t work.”

Shen Xiluo left Lucas a pile of painkillers and mental stabiliser drugs rated from green to yellow to red, to be used according to the situation’s severity.

“Mn.” Lucas received them, and looked through them carefully before putting a few into his pocket.

The doctors had all left but the room was equipped with an emergency call button, and moreover if anything happened the monitoring instruments would also alert Shen Xiluo.

The room returned to silence.

After a short hesitation, Lucas went forward and pulled Luo Ran into his arms again to guard him.

He leaned Luo Ran against himself so he could use him as a pillow, while with his other hand he turned his terminal on to contact Wang Qiuyang and Lu Cheng.

The current situation was that of Lu Cheng holding down the fort in the capital and Wang Qiuyang in command on the battlefield. The two had solved quite a few trivial matters for Lucas, allowing him to accompany Luo Ran.

Lucas sat there on the bed until deep into the night.

Luo Ran still hadn’t woken up.

It was only when Lucas saw that he really had stabilised that he left, but not before calling a nurse to keep watch over Luo Ran. As for Lucas himself, he went to the control room to debate their next steps with his adjutants.

Currently, their flagship was parked at M4’s spaceport and Lucas’ officers were assisting in cleanup and rebuilding.

“Now that M4 is dealt with, should we go back to the capital?” Wang Qiuyang asked. “But Old Lu said that it’s pretty chaotic over there right now. The two princes completely broke off relations, they’re not keeping up peaceful appearances anymore, much less talking it out. Yesterday they even fought openly in front of the research institute.”

“So what do you think?” Lucas raised an eyebrow. “You want to bring Luo Ran back when it’s like that?”

“Of course not! But the first prince… his people sent us a lot of messages,” Wang Qiuyang said.

“Let him send it if he wants.” Lucas rolled his eyes.

In any case, it wasn’t as if the first prince would ever dare to openly drag them back, nor ask to meet Luo Ran face to face.

Lucas suspected that the second prince did it on purpose. Although the first prince was desperately suppressing the news, their recent movements were so big that it was harder for the media and citizens to not find some clues.

No one dared to gossip about the royal family too much, they could only piece things together from various places.

It seemed that the problems began with the UNK, which needed an omega’s spiritual power to refine.

The first prince advocated letting omegas try in the hopes of finding a solution, whereas the second prince advocated stopping all usage of UNK.

Then Luo Ran somehow got involved, causing Lucas who had been fighting on M4 to make a special trip back to pick him up.

As a result, various versions of the story came out, leading to a variety of opinions.

Why did Lucas rush back from M4 just to take Secretary Luo away? Was it to protect him from something… or someone?

Some said it was because the first prince oppressed him, some said it was because the admiral just didn’t want to join the power struggle, and still others said that it was because Secretary Luo had spied on and grasped some secrets of the UNK.

There were also others who took the opportunity to make trouble, cooking up all sorts of conspiracies on how the army wanted to overthrow the monarchy.

But no matter what, the first prince wouldn’t dare to bring all this out into the light unless he was absolutely sure of his victory.

After all, in the eyes of the public and the media, UNK was a complicated and confusing thing. Everyone had their own views, but no matter how wildly they speculated, they would always stand on Lucas’ side.

Lucas was their god of war, the one who protected the Empire. He’d never once taken the initiative to participate in politics; his entire life was devoted to battle.

His existence itself symbolised public opinion, everyone supported him and would believe whatever he said.

This was also why the Lucas/Luo Ran ship was so popular — people liked their grumpy admiral, so they would also like the gentle secretary who was always by his side.

If the first prince wanted to succeed the throne with any modicum of popularity and not immediately face the people’s hatred, he could only choose to suppress this matter.

“Then we’ll stay at M4, saying we want to help rebuild and to reorganise the army. If the first prince has the guts to hurry us up, we’ll just expose his evil deeds!” Wang Qiuyang said, full of enthusiasm.

Freeman patted him. “You’re thinking too simply! What, do you really want a war to break out between our admiral and the royal family?”

“Our admiral fears neither heaven nor hell, are we afraid of him?!” Wang Qiuyang shouted.

Freeman also burst into anger, snapping back, “Are there only muscles between your ears! Things’ll be much more complicated if the media gets involved!”

“Okay,” Lucas interjected, waving his hand, “stop fighting. It’s not our problem, we’re not going back to the capital! Let’s chase the pirates as far as we can and beat them into the ground!” He turned to the map on the projected screen and gestured with a laser pointer. “From M4, we’ll go in the capital’s other direction and chase the pirates towards Phainon* until SAT-12, then make camp there!”

SAT-12 was one of the Empire’s important military strongholds.

“Yes sir!”

They had the ability to go further, but it wasn’t necessary. It wouldn’t be good for the Empire if they chased too hard and forced the pirates into a desperate last stand.

Because at that time, they would no longer be humans but frenzied beasts and devils, and humans couldn’t win against devils.

If you couldn’t destroy them in one blow, it would be better to leave them a few breaths and not push them into a corner.

“The mecha repairmen are already working on Lion One,” Freeman continued, “but some parts can only be found on SAT-12, so we may have to wait until then for it to be fully repaired.”

Lucas nodded, not really caring.

Anyways, he could still use Lion 01 even though it was missing a hand.

Lion 01 had already become his second skin, he understood it even better than he understood himself.

After discussing troop deployment, their route, and various other matters, he hurriedly gulped down a few mouthfuls of food and showered before returning to his room.

Seeing him, the medical staff who were observing Luo Ran tactfully left.

Lucas sat next to the bed and began flipping through his documents.

Now that Luo Ran had collapsed, he was the only one who could deal with a lot of the paperwork.

For example, reports from the investigation team in the capital, which included not only the current situation but things regarding Princess Zhou Mingzhu.

Luo Ran had been the one in charge of looking into Zhou Mingzhu, and now the responsibility had fallen to Lucas.

Princess Zhou Mingzhu and that prince seemed to have been in love for a long time, and now that they were in agreement, their wedding would be put on the agenda sooner or later.*

It looked like Zhou Mingkai’s efforts and plans weren’t in vain.

However, anyone with discerning eyes could tell that Princess Zhou Mingzhu hadn’t been entirely indifferent to Prince Mou Kadi, she’d only needed Zhou Mingkai’s helpful little push.

And they’d also discovered the identities of the three women who met with the princess — they were prostitutes from the Empire’s Underworld.

A proper dignified princess, how could she have met with prostitutes?

For the specific reason, they still had to wait for the investigation team to go to the Underworld and catch the culprits.

Lucas considered it for a moment, then instructed the team to hurry up.

They had to uncover who that night’s person was.

On the one hand it was for Luo Ran. After all, Luo Ran was an omega, he would definitely mind if he thought about it more.

On the other hand, this might involve party disputes. The bastard who climbed into his bed must’ve had impure motives, and the struggle between the two princes had now reached a white-hot stage — he had to grasp the situation as soon as possible.

Fuck.

When Lucas thought of how his mark was first given to that thing and the mark on Luo Ran had been put on someone else first, he felt disgusted all over.

Smack! Lucas tossed away the terminal, rubbing his temples.

He couldn’t read any more.

He turned to look at Luo Ran, who hadn’t woken up yet and was still lying there peacefully.

Reaching over to take him into his arms, Lucas used both his posture and his pheromones to embrace him.

As day turned to night, silence fell.

When would he wake up?

As he quietly held Luo Ran close, Lucas suddenly thought of past events.

Perhaps Luo Ran would also dream of it?

He’d been asleep for so long.

Might he be dreaming of what happened in the past?

* * *

Six years ago.

This was the first year after Admiral Alton passed away, and also the first year after Lucas left the battlefield. He was young and proud with it, and still carried sharp edges which society hadn’t yet blunted away.

At the same time, this was Lucas’ official return to normal society and he would soon have to alternate between running a company and the army — thus, he needed a personal secretary.

Smack!

Lucas dropped a thin folder of papers in front of his newly-appointed secretary and said angrily, “I asked you to sort out the documents and check what weapons the army needs, not for you to copy and paste!”

His personal secretary had a head of short silver hair, it would be very beautiful if he grew it out.

But it was a pity that Lucas thought this secretary of his didn’t have enough brains.

He’d never seen someone so stupid before!

“You spent half a day to give me this? The meeting’s starting soon, at the speed you’re going, you won’t even be able to eat hot shit!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Luo Ran picked up the papers with a lowered head. “I’ll be faster, I’ll work hard to improve!”

* * *

“How do you not know how disgusting this coffee is?!”

Lucas threw the coffee away, shattering the cup and staining the carpet with coffee dregs.

“I’m sorry…!” Luo Ran didn’t dare to look at Lucas at all.

“I’m warning you,” Lucas said with his back towards Luo Ran as he looked for clothes in his closet, “if you keep being this useless, I’ll fire you.”

He’d obviously been chosen from among thousands of applicants and received two months of special training as a royal secretary, why could he still not keep up?

Too stupid!

“I’m sorry…” Luo Ran, gripping the corner of his clothes, said anxiously, “P-Please, please don’t fire me… I really need this job! I’ll work hard, I’ll work really really hard!”

* * *

Night fell, everyone left the office, and darkness filled every corner. Only Lucas’ office and the secretaries’ office still shone with light.

Thump! Thump!

Luo Ran, unable to bear it anymore, hit the sofa in the company’s break room twice.

How can there be such a person?

Lucas worked intensely and vigorously, completely different from ordinary bosses.

He worked for almost the entire day, going between military HQ and the office as if he had infinite stores of energy. Luo Ran’s work would only be more cumbersome than that, since he was responsible for organising and arranging everything.

If it were just that, then fine.

But Lucas was way too short-tempered, unable to tolerate even the smallest grain of sand in his eye.

Luo Ran had never seen such a sharp person before.

He seemingly had no idea how to get along with ordinary people. He snapped, yelled, and barely tolerated their presence.

Was he an island?

Luo Ran took a deep breath, but in the end still went into the kitchen to make coffee.

If he tried a few more times, used a few more methods, he’ll definitely succeed eventually.

“Admiral…”

“Who let you in…?!” Lucas picked up the papers in front of him and threw them at Luo Ran, who barely dodged and spilled half the coffee in the cup in doing so.

Only then did Luo Ran see Lucas’ mechanical fingers, not covered by gloves.

He had few remaining fingers made of flesh, most were now metal.

From the blank paper and pens on the table, as well as a pile of filled paper, Lucas seemed to be practising writing.

The paper was filled with wobbly words which looked quite ugly.

Luo Ran stopped in shock.

“Scram!” Lucas picked up his discarded glove and moved to put it on.

“Sir…” Luo Ran hesitated, then said, “I can help, may I teach you?”

“What?”

Following this, Lucas gripped the pen stiffly while Luo Ran carefully supported his hand — of course, he only touched the ice-cold metal and took care not to brush against Lucas’ skin.

It was much easier to control his movements with help.

The tip of the pen drew a crooked line on the paper, and left a splotch of ink at the end.

“Admiral…” Luo Ran hesitated, but still couldn’t resist asking, “Does it hurt?”

Lucas lowered his eyes. “No.”

“Oh…”

It was night, yet Lucas hadn’t turned on all the lights. In the dimly lit office, one was trying to adapt to his fingers, and the other was whole-heartedly concentrating on helping.

The scene looked a little comical.

Later, Luo Ran gradually realised that Lucas was unable to do many things easily due to his mechanical fingers, such as writing.

It turned out Lucas couldn’t sleep at night, he couldn’t adjust, he even had nightmares.

It turned out Lucas would occasionally have headaches and his pheromones would go out of control.

It turned out Lucas couldn’t relax after leaving the battlefield, he instead became more irritable.

* * *

On another night, Lucas had just returned from the military HQ when he saw that the office kitchen’s light was still on. He raised an eyebrow.

Oh?

Was his secretary stealing a bite to eat in the middle of the night?

With his curiosity piqued, Lucas lightened his steps and silently sneaked to the kitchen door, where he then froze.

Luo Ran faced the coffee machine with his back towards him, and on the table nearby were ten or so cups of freshly brewed coffee, as well as various types of coffee beans.

He was very focused as he brewed another cup and examined some coffee beans in his hands.

Then he tried the cups of coffee one by one and recorded his observations.

Lucas turned and left without saying anything.

This guy really was too stupid.

* * *

A package arrived at the office.

“What is this?” Lucas, who’d come back early today, bumped into Luo Ran who had just signed for his package.

His entire desk was filled with packs of incense, to the point that it seemed as if it would collapse under the weight.

“They’re… incense.” Luo Ran looked down and muttered with embarrassment, “It’s for you, I wanted to see if there’s a scent that’s suitable for you.”

“Why?”

“No reason, I just want you to be a bit more comfortable.”

Luo Ran couldn’t help much with Lucas’ PTSD, so he thought that he could at least make his life more comfortable, however little.

Lucas glanced at the many weird and wonderful packages of incense, then at the reference books piled up behind Luo Ran’s desk, paused, and turned to go back into his office.

“Boring, superfluous.”

* * *

Thump!

“You stayed at the office and didn’t go home because of this guy?” Under the light of the moon, Lucas stomped on the back of a brown-haired man whose face had been beaten black and blue. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“…” Luo Ran stood without speaking. His hands still shook.

“He stalked you every night, wanting to do unspeakable things to you?”

“…” He still didn’t say anything.

“Aaahhh–” The man let out a sharp screech, because Lucas had just broken his wrist. “Ah… Ahem…” The man wriggled on the ground against Lucas’ foot until he could glare up at Luo Ran. “You… silver-haired monster! I’ll never let you go… ugh…”

A single kick from Lucas caused him to roll his eyes and pass out.

“Silver hair?” Lucas leaned closer and picked up a lock of Luo Ran’s hair. “They bullied you because your hair is ugly?”

With a face paler than his hair, Luo Ran stood without saying a word.

“I think it looks good.” Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Are they blind? Silver hair is quite rare, it’s cool.”

Lucas rarely praised anyone. “Really…?” Luo Ran asked in a daze.

“It’d be even better if it’s longer.” Lucas rubbed his chin, then gave a judgement based on his straight male characteristics: “Yes, long silver hair paired with your white uniform, it’d be beautiful.”

Luo Ran lowered his head.

“Idiot, why so stupid?” Lucas took off his jacket and draped it around Luo Ran’s shoulders. “Say something next time, don’t keep it to yourself. You’re my secretary now, I’ll protect you.”

Luo Ran buried his head into the jacket, then Lucas’ words made him start sniffling.

It was very quiet, and very restrained.

Lucas cursed to himself, then turned away. “What’s a grown man crying for, you’re not allowed to cry! Suck it back up!”

It was the first time in Lucas’ whole life that he’d encountered something like this, so the mighty admiral panicked for a moment.

“…”

“Stop crying! I told you to stop,” Lucas said, rubbing his nose. “I’ll promise you, alright? In the future I’ll make sure that no one bullies you.”

The youth hugged the jacket and choked out, “I’ll protect you too.”

“Heh,” Lucas sneered arrogantly, “Just you? I can take you with one hand.”

He didn’t say it for nothing. Even if he forgot this vow, he still did what he promised.

He hadn’t thought that Luo Ran was the same.

And it was because of this that Luo Ran still wasn’t awake.

Little bastard.

Lucas hugged Luo Ran tighter, thinking he really was a little bastard.

And it had never occurred to him that Luo Ran might be an omega.

Even after the debacle with the UNK, Lucas had only wondered if Luo Ran might be an alpha masquerading as a beta.

His secretary was, after all, different from those sweet and soft omega who needed protection. He was excellent, strong, could perfectly handle all his official and private affairs, could protect him from all the hidden dangers of the capital, and could advise him on the battlefield.

How could he be an omega.

…Why didn’t he know that he was an omega.

If he knew…

If I knew, Lucas thought, I could’ve protected him and treated him how an omega deserved to be treated.

Little bastard.

He lied.

He dared to lie to him.

And it was such a big lie!

“I hate people lying to me the most,” Lucas said in a low voice. “See how I’ll deal with you as soon as you wake up!”

Lucas encircled Luo Ran with one hand and stroked his waist with the other. “No one who’s lied to me has ever got off lightly, you’re finished.”

Translator:
Your five chapter notice that I’ll be dropping this after c58! I have my eye on a couple possibilities for my next project… (^.^)-☆

Footnotes:
1. Phainon [土星]: 土星 actually means Saturn, but… no. I refuse. Instead I’ve chosen to use Phainon for Φαίνων which is what the planet was known as during ancient Greece, since Saturn is named after the Roman god.
2. Second couple due to the banquet get ✓