Chapter 74
74 THE DOMINANT TRUE ALPHA
The Emperor did not directly invite him to come to Zuigao Hall today. Instead, the lord of Dong Lang Empire simply ordered his servant to come to Bai Chen’s palace and left a message to Ma Qiao that he wanted to meet Bai Chen today at the Imperial Palace.
It was an unwritten invitation, and Bai Chen wouldn’t know who he should bring to see the Emperor today. It wasn’t like the Emperor had given him an invitation letter with the name of the person invited on the letter, so he didn’t know that he had to bring his ‘lover’ today.
Even if Zhu Ge was not his real lover, Bai Chen knew that it would be impossible to clear the misunderstanding at this point. Bai Renshu had seen how ‘intimate’ he was with Zhu Ge yesterday, and Zhu Ge had even said that they were ‘lovers.’
Perhaps the news about the dirty Prince of Dong Lang finally finding a lover had been heard by everyone in Dong Lang even though it was only yesterday that Bai Chen found a ‘lover.’
Perhaps Bai Renshu’s character was like some women who liked to gossip, and when he had material to ‘discuss’ with others, he didn’t hesitate to pass it on even though he knew that the material wasn’t always accurate.
Bai Chen suddenly felt that he was a celebrity or something. In his past life, he knew some rumors about celebrity dating scandals, and if the rumors were not true, the stars would clarify the rumors to the public before they started to lose their fans.
Perhaps if Bai Chen was indeed a celebrity in the modern world, he would also explain to the Emperor that the rumors about him were not true and that he did not have any relationship with Zhu Ge.
With an official statement issued by his company with the help of a manager, he would easily clear up the rumors before they could bother him any further.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t a celebrity now, he didn’t have a manager with him, nor did he have a company that would help him take legal action.
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Currently, he lived in a world where people believed that his color was black, and even if he insisted on saying that he was white, no one would believe his words.
He lived in a world where people loved the Crown Prince more than him, and those people would definitely believe in the Crown Prince and wouldn’t care even if he gave them an explanation.
Not only would Dong Lang’s people not believe him, but even the Emperor would pretend as if he was deaf when it came to his second son. Therefore, Bai Chen told himself not to waste his energy explaining to the Emperor, and he would only prove his worth with actions.
“Did you invite me today because of that, Your Majesty? You didn’t state clearly that I should bring my lover today, so I asked my beloved to wait in my palace,” instead of answering the Emperor’s question, Bai Chen dared to ask back, and he even dared to blame the Emperor indirectly.
Perhaps his question sounded arrogant, and that was why the Emperor immediately frowned at him. “Do you think this matter is simple, Bai Chen?” In a dignified tone, the Emperor questioned the young Prince.
Now Bai Chen knew why the man named Bai Guowei was the Emperor of the Dong Lang Empire. Even his voice was enough to give him goosebumps, and he could feel the domineering aura from the man even though they weren’t close to each other.
‘Is it because he is a True Alpha?’ Bai Chen also read about the term True Alpha from the book he read yesterday.
While the Kings and Queens of the realms within the Dong Lang Empire could only be Alpha, the Emperor of Dong Lang was a True Alpha. He was the strongest werewolf in the empire, and Bai Chen could feel the power even if they weren’t fighting each other.
“I know it’s not a simple matter, Your Majesty,” Bai Chen replied, trying to hold back the pressure to keep his voice from shaking. “But I’m an adult now, so can’t I have a lover?”
Bai Chen spoke seriously, but the Emperor ended up laughing at his question. “Do you think the Dong Lang Imperial Prince can get a lover?” He asked amidst his laughter as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
Now, Bai Chen’s confidence was fading little by little. He could be stupid sometimes, and he could also be very forgetful.
He was no longer in his past life where human rights were something that no one could interfere with, and people in his past life could date anyone freely.
Indeed, same-sex relationships were still not common in his country, but other countries were starting to open up to accept such relationships. Because of that, he ended up forgetting that this world was not the same as his previous world.
He lived in a world where the system currently in use was feudalism, and the people in the empire couldn’t even elect the Emperor directly. People’s freedoms were restricted in this world, and courtship matters should be the same.
‘This is really Zhu Ge’s fault! He was just an ordinary person in the human empire, and maybe the rules in that empire were different from here! How will the Emperor punish me after this? Will he slash his sword at my neck? Or will he ask me to drink the poison?’ Bai Chen’s mind was tangled, and he even thought about how he would die at the hands of the Emperor.
“Even your half-brother doesn’t have the right to marry any girl he wants, but you think you can choose your own partner?” Not noticing the troubled expression on Bai Chen’s face, Bai Guowei continued to reprimand the young man.
‘How do I know that the Crown Prince has no right to marry any girl he wants?’ Bai Chen almost rolled his blue eyes when he thought about that.
He didn’t know about the Crown Prince’s personal affairs, nor did he care about it. He just read from the book yesterday that Bai Renshu got married not too long ago, but he didn’t care about his wife or how the man met his wife.
‘Bai Renshu isn’t a celebrity or anything like that. Why should I care about his private life?’ Again, Bai Chen could only grumble in his heart for not daring to go against the Emperor head-on.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. But I’m only dating someone now, and I won’t be marrying that person right away,” even if he was very nervous, Bai Chen still dared to argue with the Emperor.
He argued politely, but the Emperor ended up glaring at him once more. “No one in this palace has the right to date anyone. Don’t you know about it? If you want to date someone, you’d better leave the palace and start living as an ordinary person.”
Bai Chen’s heart dropped. It could be said that he only had half the blood of the royal family in his body, and that fact alone was enough to make it even more difficult for him to achieve his goal of becoming the Dong Lang Emperor.
Hearing how the Emperor had suddenly asked him to leave the palace if he wanted to continue dating Zhu Ge, he didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry.
‘It’s not like I’m dating him for real. Do you think it will be difficult for me to make a choice?’ He sneered inwardly.
“I understand, Your Majesty,” replied the young Prince verbally. “I won’t continue dating that person, and I’m just going to play casually with that person like I used to do in the past.”
Not wanting to seem out of character, Bai Chen still tried to act as if he was the real Bai Chen. He assumed that the real Bai Chen would not easily give up his hobby of playing with male prostitutes. Even if that strange hobby put him in a difficult situation, the real Bai Chen wouldn’t stop playing with those men.
‘The real Bai Chen was still playing with those guys even though he knew the consequences. I believe the reason behind that behavior was that he wanted to rebel against his father. He knew that his father did not care about him but could easily order him around, so that must be the reason why he still did that bad behavior even though his father didn’t like it.’
That was why the current Bai Chen would not agree if the Emperor asked him to abandon his behavior. That was the real Bai Chen’s behavior, but he couldn’t just leave it if he didn’t want to get an OOC warning.
“I don’t care about your bad hobbies,” replied the Emperor. “You can always play with those guys behind closed doors, but after the Beast Hunting Event, you must marry the girl I have chosen for you.”