After coming to this world, Wang Luan had been responding to everything passively. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to pull herself together; it was just that this strange world had dealt her too heavy a blow, and for the time being she had no way to actively face life’s challenges.

Back when Wang Luan was still on Blue Star, she kept an appropriate social distance from all men in her life; the only one she could be a little close to was her own father. This had a lot to do with the fact that when she was in middle school, she had been chased and terrorized outside the school by an exhibitionist man.

The psychological shadow left by adolescence was too heavy; her disgust toward the male body had turned into a psychological problem.

In her original world, keeping her distance from men posed no problem at all for living a normal life. The problem was the world she now found herself in, and the body she now possessed.

This body had exactly the thing she had always found the hardest to accept! It was like someone who feared cockroaches having cockroaches grow on their own body—already suffocating enough—and later she would actually have to use this thing!

The object of use was sitting right across from her.

Like a stress response, she now felt uncomfortable the moment she thought of anything related.

No matter how smart Yan Qiongyu was, he could not guess what Wang Luan was thinking. He could only see that this Alpha had no interest in him, and even showed a somewhat fearful, evasive attitude.

He had spent more than ten years pretending to be gentle and harmless; what kind of Omega would anyone be afraid of, and afraid of him for what? Yan Qiongyu lacked nothing else—except that his curiosity was a bit strong, and he couldn’t help wanting to probe into this change in Wang Luan.

But there was no rush.

“Looking forward to our next meeting.” Before leaving, the Omega who had been neglected for over an hour was not angry; instead, he gently left behind such a courteous farewell.

Escorted back to their respective schools, the two betrothed parties’ first formal meeting could be considered barely completed.

Only, the Wang family head had taken time out of his busy schedule to look at the footage left by the surveillance, and he was very dissatisfied with Wang Luan’s performance.

“Tell Wang Luan to remember her identity, and remember what she is supposed to do!”

The butler answered yes, then said with a hint of hesitation, “Family Head, Miss Luan has been a bit different from before these past two days. Should we—”

The Wang family head was unconcerned, snorted coldly, and said, “She’s probably seen that I still control her and started dreaming again. Don’t mind her—that useless thing.”

The butler then swallowed back the suggestion of sending Wang Luan for a mental examination. Just as the Wang family head said, whatever changes this Alpha young lady Wang Luan had were not important; anyway, she was already finished.

What mattered most was to have her “properly” get along with her Omega, give birth to children, and contribute her final bit of value.

ততততততততততত

At the end of an exhausting day, Wang Luan sat in the washroom doing psychological preparation before bathing.

She used to love cleanliness, but after coming here, for two days in a row she had ended things with a hurried rinse. She didn’t want to look down, and didn’t dare wipe down there either. A three-minute rinse; ten minutes of psychological preparation before bathing.

Today was the same. After rinsing off, she lay down on the bed with a body full of moisture.

If there was one thing after transmigrating that could be considered good, it was this living environment. At least she was the daughter of a great noble family, and at school she lived alone in an entire dormitory building.

The building included living and leisure areas; downstairs there was also a warehouse storing mecha models and materials, a workshop for making models, and on the rooftop there was an entertainment area.

She was lying on the large bed spacing out when her wrist suddenly vibrated lightly; someone was contacting her on her smart-brain.

After coming here, Wang Luan had no mind for entertainment and had only gone online a few times via the smart-brain. A thin piece of the smart-brain was attached on her wrist; after biometric verification succeeded, a huge screen instantly spread out before her eyes, various functional panels floating and interweaving in front of her.

She rather unskillfully operated these functions and entered an exchange area.

In the online world of the Thorn Empire, entering each section required corresponding identity verification. For example, with Wang Luan’s identity she could enter Alpha-exclusive areas and public exchange areas, but she could not enter Omega-exclusive areas.

What Wang Luan entered now was a mecha model exchange area, which counted as a small hobbyist exchange spot. The original body had once posted sales information here for small mecha models she had made, and had even specially set message alerts. The slight vibration just now was because someone had bought the small mecha model she had listed.

The original body did not lack money, but to say she was very wealthy—that wasn’t the case either. After all, making mecha was a money-consuming hobby, and she wouldn’t proactively ask the family for money; her monthly allowance was fixed.

For someone like her, a noble child who had been cast aside, the money on hand could not be considered abundant.

However, the reason she had sold the mecha models she made anonymously online was mainly to prove her own value, to seek affirmation from others.

Browsing through the sales posts left by the original body, Wang Luan’s thoughts began to scatter… should she find a way to make more money?

Thinking about it, there was absolutely no way she could follow the Wang family head’s instructions and sleep with an Omega.

Setting aside whether she could overcome the psychological barrier—even if she could, then what afterward? If one time didn’t succeed, then countless times; if one didn’t work, then change to another, until she successfully met the Wang family head’s requirements?

So if she did not want to act according to the Wang family head’s instructions…

First, she would be unable to survive in this Thorn Empire controlled by nobles. She could not escape the identity of “Wang Luan”; the Wang family head could ignore her wishes and control everything about her.

Even if she had a great deal of money, with a single order from the Wang family head, she would be unable to use it. No matter what she did, the Wang family head could know; if he did not allow her to do it, then she could not do it. It was truly infuriating.

Wang Luan could not help imagining again—if the Wang family head were to suddenly die violently… hmm, she would not have a good end either. The collateral branches of the Wang family, the Wang family head’s brothers and sisters, were eyeing his position as family head with covetous intent; once they succeeded, she would probably only be able to die together with the Wang family head, and should not dream of any new life.

The main line withering while the collateral branches flourished—this was also why the Wang family head was so anxious to have her give birth to a high-aptitude heir.

Wang Luan shook her head, turned to the side, and looked out the window at the gloomy sky, at those faintly flickering stars.

As long as she remained in the Thorn Empire, continuing to be this “Wang Luan,” her fate seemed trapped in a ring, colliding left and right, unable to find a way out.

Then what about finding a way to leave the Thorn Empire?

This thought had never appeared in the original body’s mind. This place was indeed a rigidly stratified environment that left people powerless to resist and unable to breathe, but the original body had grown up here since childhood and had long been accustomed to it.

Moreover, the original body knew very little about anything beyond the Thorn Empire. In this regard, she was the same as most Thorn Empire citizens.

The Empire spanned hundreds of planets and dozens of star systems. Such vast territory was already something many people could not traverse in a lifetime—let alone explore beyond the Empire’s borders? Wang Luan only vaguely knew that at the Empire’s edges there were many rampant roaming bandits, as well as irregular spatial storms, extremely dangerous.

If she did not want to be controlled to death by the Wang family head, it seemed there was only one path left: discard her identity and become a drifter on a remote planet. Before that, she would also have to evade the Wang family head’s manhunt. No matter how she thought about it, it was no easier than killing the Wang family head and taking his position herself.

All of it was difficulty on the level of going to the Western Heaven.

Anxious about her future, the smart-brain—which had quietly dimmed because she had not been looking at it for a long time—suddenly bloomed like a flower, drawing Wang Luan’s attention.

Someone had sent her a message.

It was rare. For so many years, aside from the butler occasionally contacting her, basically no one ever sent her messages.

Opening it, a vivid and beautiful invitation card appeared. Virtual thorns and flowers encircled her, cursive lettering floating before her eyes.

Wang Luan skimmed through it roughly and discovered it was an invitation post inviting her to attend an evening party. The signature at the end was Qing Zhao.

Qing was a royal surname of the Thorn Empire. Qing Zhao was the seventh child of the current Emperor, a female Alpha.

Qing Zhao was about the same age as Wang Luan. Noble children of this age often organized and attended various banquets; gatherings were a very normal thing. What was not normal was that this time, they had actually invited Wang Luan.

Ever since the Wang family head had regarded his daughter as a disgrace, such status-conscious, high-class gatherings had tacitly ignored Wang Luan and never invited her.

So why invite her this time?

Rolling over once on the bed, Wang Luan thought of something. She reached into an Alpha exchange section within the academy, silently entered Qing Zhao’s name, and searched for information about her.

Sure enough, she quickly found what she was looking for.

The Emperor had not yet chosen an heir. Among her twelve children, aside from two Omegas, the remaining ten Alphas—regardless of gender—all had the qualifications to become the successor.

The Seventh Imperial Daughter, Qing Zhao, was one of the more outstanding among the princes and princesses. She had once publicly stated that she would choose the highest-ranked Omega as her partner, and had also expressed interest in Yan Qiongyu.

So, as expected, it was once again for that great beauty she could not afford to deal with.

Seen this way, Qing Zhao’s invitation for her to attend the evening party was absolutely a Hongmen Banquet¹Hongmen Banquet: A famous allusion from Chinese history referring to a banquet ostensibly held as a gesture of hospitality, but actually set up with hostile or dangerous intent toward the guest., without a doubt.

Her (not biological) father, the Wang family head, and her (future) partner, Yan Qiongyu—her life’s pain-manufacturing machines.

With the mindset of “I want to see just how many potential enemies I still have,” Wang Luan combed through the largest young Alpha exchange area back and forth, digging up a whole pile of rumors and gossip about Yan Qiongyu.

She discovered that Yan Qiongyu truly was a universal heartthrob. It wasn’t just the Seventh Imperial Daughter Qing Zhao—two other princes or princesses also seemed to have some interest in him, not to mention the sons and daughters of noble families of all sizes.

By the end, Wang Luan felt there was no need to keep counting. If she took one round through three Alpha schools, half the people would want to beat her up—that’s all.

Was the Wang family head’s power really that great, that even in such a situation with wolves surrounding them on all sides, he could still secure Yan Qiongyu for her, even snatching him from under the noses of princes and princesses?

In the process, Wang Luan inevitably saw a great many words cursing, mocking, and ridiculing her. Quite a few people wanted to “get a look” at her, this so-called lucky one.

Presumably, this sudden invitation was precisely the Seventh Imperial Daughter wanting to “get a look” at her.

Turning off the smart-brain, Wang Luan lay expressionless on the soft bed, staring at the ceiling, and spat out a single sentence: “To hell with it.”

With such obvious ill intent, who would go?

Wang Luan was not very good at handling situations that could give rise to conflict. With people she wasn’t familiar with, she didn’t even like to talk much at all. Going to a banquet to fight over affection and trade barbed words? Forget it.

The time on the invitation was the evening three days later. Wang Luan didn’t take it to heart. By the afternoon of the day of the banquet, when the butler arrived at the school with people and formal attire to pick her up, she was still in the dormitory warehouse working on mecha models.

Wearing a mask and gloves, she was escorted out of the workshop by two maids. Wang Luan looked at the butler.

“You mean… I have to go attend the Seventh Imperial Daughter’s banquet?”

“Yes. In addition, Young Master Yan Qiongyu is already prepared. Miss Luan, please change into your clothes as soon as possible and pick up Young Master Yan to attend the banquet together,” the butler said in a tone that allowed no refusal.

Footnotes

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  Hongmen Banquet: A famous allusion from Chinese history referring to a banquet ostensibly held as a gesture of hospitality, but actually set up with hostile or dangerous intent toward the guest.