Chapter 105 – Rebirth

Translator: ChuRen/ YuQiChen

Zheng Nian was imprisoned on Kuizhizi Star. Because he had been exiled as punishment—a deeply humiliating fate—he did not reveal his true identity.

Every day was unbearably dull, so he went out drinking with a few local upstarts.

“I heard that the number one beauty of the Imperial Star actually married that royal madman. How ironic—it’s really like a fresh flower stuck in a pile of cow dung.”

“That so-called number one beauty is so opportunistic. For the sake of power and status, he’d even marry a man like that.”

“Speaking of which, this number one beauty is actually a Beta. It’s been years since we’ve seen a Beta prettier than an Omega.”

“Young Master Zheng, what do you think? Have you ever seen that legendary number one beauty? Is he really that stunning?” one of them asked curiously.

Zheng Nian didn’t want to answer the question. He just coldly averted his gaze and drowned himself in alcohol.

For some reason, hearing others gossip about Tang Qing behind his back made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

The truth about Tang Qing’s marriage into the Xie family wasn’t what they said—some opportunistic scheme.

It was because Tang Qing wasn’t an Omega that Zheng Nian demanded to break off their engagement, forcing Tang Qing to marry that madman.

“I heard that before the royal madman, the number one beauty had two other fiancés. Both engagements were called off.”

“These good-looking types are all promiscuous. They act aloof and pure, but in reality, they’re just using their looks to marry into wealthy families.”

“If only I were royalty or nobility—I’d want to have a taste of that number one beauty too. That face, that figure… you can tell he’s top-tier.”

“Who wouldn’t? He’s so beautiful, yet he acts so cold and untouchable. And now even a disfigured, madman can have him.”

“I heard that madman is brutal in bed. I wonder how that delicate beauty acts beneath him…”

As the men delved deeper into the topic, their words grew increasingly vulgar and unrestrained. Just as they were getting heated, Zheng Nian—who had been silently drinking beside them—slammed his glass down and threw a punch.

“What the hell? Are you crazy?”

The group started brawling with Zheng Nian.

Back on Imperial Star, out of respect for his status as a duke’s son, everyone had treated Zheng Nian with deference and courtesy.

But on this desolate Kuizhizi Star, once everyone was drunk, such niceties were forgotten—they fought all the same.

After brawling with the others and getting beaten black and blue, Zheng Nian returned to his residence and collapsed straight onto his bed.

After breaking off the engagement, he had missed Tang Qing every single day.

Whether it was Tang Qing’s face, his figure, or that cool yet gentle temperament of his—everything about him was captivating.

Truth be told, it wasn’t that he absolutely had to break off the engagement with Tang Qing.

It was all because Tang Qing wasn’t an Omega—otherwise, he wouldn’t have given up such a stunning beauty and settled for Tang Shanshan instead.

Moreover, he never expected Tang Qing to agree without hesitation the moment he proposed ending their engagement.

If only Tang Qing had been more like Tang Shanshan, willing to act coy and say sweet, pleading words.

If Tang Qing had been willing to lower his pride and beg him, he would have definitely pleaded with his father to make an exception and allow them to marry.

After all, as long as he left behind one or two illegitimate children to inherit the title, his father would have eventually agreed.

But Tang Qing, true to his appearance, was always aloof, dignified, and unapproachable.

In the end, he would rather marry that royal madman than say a single soft word to Zheng Nian.

If not for Tang Qing’s overly proud and unyielding nature, they wouldn’t have been torn apart.

Tang Qing wouldn’t have had to marry that Xie Qingzhi, and he wouldn’t have had to marry Tang Shanshan either.

Lost in these thoughts, Zheng Nian drifted into a heavy, drunken sleep.

The next day, Zheng Nian woke up and stared at the calendar on the wall for a long, long time.

He had been reborn!

After living for what felt like an eternity in a parallel world, he had returned to this twenty-year-old body.

Sitting up in disbelief, he rushed outside, his heart pounding with urgency.

Looking back on his life, his greatest regret was failing to hold onto Tang Qing.

A few years later, he would catch Tang Shanshan in bed with her lover and overhear their conversation—only then would he learn that their entire meeting had been a carefully calculated scheme of hers.

In the days after his divorce, he missed Tang Qing more and more—his reserved elegance, his poised dignity, his graceful composure.

Although Tang Qing would never act coy or play weak like an Omega, he never used his beauty to accept advances from any Alpha or engage in ambiguous relationships with others.

Tang Qing remained faithful only to his marital partner.

Zheng Nian had never been able to forget Tang Qing. He never married again and spent his whole life searching desperately for Tang Qing, yet he never managed to get him back.

“Tang Qing!”

Given a second chance at life, he was determined to hold onto the one he truly loved.

…

Early that morning, Tang Qing lay obediently on the bed, allowing the man behind him to caress and nuzzle the skin on the back of his neck.

“Madam, you smell so fragrant, even right after waking up,” the man behind him murmured, his hands continuously stroking Tang Qing’s neck, the stiff mask pressing against his back.

By now, Tang Qing had grown accustomed to this: Duke Xie Qingzhi needed to inspect his prized possession every morning upon waking and every night before sleep.

Well, Xie Qingzhi’s prized possession was Tang Qing himself.

All he had to do was relax and pretend to be a large, emotionless cat.

“Your Grace, Tang Shanshan is set to become engaged to Zheng Nian at the end of the month. Will you have time to attend?” Tang Qing asked softly, turning slightly.

“Zheng Nian is coming back on Imperial Star so soon? Didn’t I tell Zheng Shixun to keep him locked up a bit longer?” Xie Qingzhi asked discontentedly, noticing the slight distance now between himself and that pale neck.

Tang Qing chuckled. “I suppose Zheng Nian must have been driven half-mad by the confinement, which is why he agreed to an early engagement with Tang Shanshan—probably just to leave Kuizhizi Star sooner.”

Tang Qing knew that although Zheng Nian had been involved with Tang Shanshan for some time, their relationship had never been formally defined. Most likely, Zheng Nian still looked down on the Tang family’s influence.

But now that Tang Qing had married into the royal family, and after his father and the Empress had engaged in considerable power exchanges, the Tang family’s status had risen sharply—enough for Zheng Nian to finally consider Tang Shanshan worthy.

“Madam, what do you think?”

“I think it’s fine. A cracked pot deserves a cracked lid—let them marry soon. That way, when I visit home in the future, I’ll see Tang Shanshan less.”

Xie Qingzhi nodded indifferently.

“By the way, Your Grace, could you spare a room in the residence for me to use as a painting studio?”

“Sure,” Xie Qingzhi casually pointed to a room, “that one over there has been sitting empty.”

“Thank you, Your Grace. I have one more question—may I paint you?”

Tang Qing was a bit nervous as he asked this.

It had been a long time since he practiced portrait painting. Lately, aside from painting his elder brother, he had only painted himself, and he was growing tired of it.

“No,” Xie Qingzhi said coldly. “There’s nothing worth painting about this icy mask.”

“Your Grace, you can choose to keep the mask on or take it off—either is fine,” Tang Qing gazed at him with anticipation.

After these past few days together, he wasn’t as afraid of Xie Qingzhi anymore.

So what if he liked to treat him like a cat and nuzzle him?

No big deal, really.

In truth, he was quite curious about the face beneath the mask of his nominal husband. Whether it was ugly or beautiful made no difference to him.

He just wanted to know what the person sleeping beside him every night actually looked like.

“No,” Xie Qingzhi replied coldly, then turned and walked away.

He touched the mask on his face, his eyes clouded with unspoken emotions.

If he still had his original face, he wouldn’t mind being captured in his wife’s paintings.

But now…

He still remembered when he was first disfigured at six years old—how his own dear mother, Katarina, took one look at his rotting face and fled in terror.

She left only the maids to care for him and never came to see him again.

Later, after some investigation, he discovered that his disfigurement was actually his father’s doing.

Hah. All because a disfigured prince could no longer contend for the throne. To secure the crown prince position for his beloved eldest son, his father had sent people disguised as enemy soldiers to ruin his face.

Someone like him, despised by his own parents from birth—no one would ever truly care about him.

Even with the mask on, he was eerie and frightening.

Let alone what lay beneath it.

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