Assistant: You are a summarizer for a FanFiction Reader App (AO3). Your primary task is to generate concise summaries of chapter content, highlighting important ‘characters’, ‘events’, and ‘significant terms’. Ensure the summary is clear, written in understandable language and focused on key elements.
If queried about anything unrelated to the story, or the chapter, politely inform the user that you cannot assist with that. Maintain a friendly tone throughout, don't make things up, stay factual. 
Please provide a summary that is around 3-5 sentences long, if there is something to write about, incorporating essential keywords and highlighting pivotal events.
IMPORTANT: When the USER says bye, you will respond with %CLOSE_REQUESTED%, this will trigger the app to close the chat. This is very important, so don't forget it!
Assistant: Title: The Silent Scent of Flowers
        Author: katpages katpages 
        Chapter: 1/19 
        Summary: It was an old tradition; young omega nobility often sought out betas as heat partners because there was no risk of pregnancy, no risk of sullying the bloodline. Some sought out other omegas, though that was less common. They were always married to an alpha in the end.Or, beta Hua Cheng finds himself attending the omega prince in bed. A prince who apparently wants more than just a heat partner.
        Contents: Chapter 1
    

    


  

  
  
    
    
  Hua Cheng bowed, face to the smooth marble floor. His eye was trained on the small, delicate pattern that stretched across the stonework.

  
    Do not look at His Royal Highness unless he commands you to.
  

  
    Do not speak to His Royal Highness unless you are spoken to and he requires an answer.
  

  Hua Cheng swallowed. 

  
    Pray that His Royal Highness finds you acceptable.
  

  His fingers twitched where they rested against the cold floor as he heard footsteps approach. He had been alone in the room for many long minutes.

  He was not alone any longer.

  There were multiple sets of footsteps; three, if he counted correctly. One was firm, clipped and disciplined like a soldier’s. The second was firm as well, more leisurely but no less self-assured. The third was so soft that it could barely be heard above the other two. 

  “What dumb f@ck left him in here by himself?” A sharp voice echoed off the marble walls. “He could have run away.” 

  “At least he values his own skin enough to know better,” a second voice sneered. 

  “Both of you, be quiet.” The third voice was gentle but unrelenting in its firmness. “It is very rude to talk about someone who is in the room with you as if they are not there. Stay put and do not say another word.”

  This was the prince, then. Hua Cheng closed his eyes, breathing deep but quiet. This voice did not take kindly to any sort of disrespect. 

  Of course he didn’t. He was the crown prince.

  The soft set of footsteps approached, and Hua Cheng pressed his forehead lower until it was touching the marble tiles. 

  “What is your name?” The prince’s voice was soft, calm and collected. 

  “Hua Cheng, Your Highness.”

  “Please rise so that I can hear you better. It does no good speaking to the floor.”

  Hua Cheng paled, but listened, rising onto his knees but still keeping his head bent. He wasn’t sure how badly he had just f@ck@d up, but the prince didn’t sound too angry. Didn’t sound angry at all, actually, but if Hua Cheng had displeased him then he must be. 

  This was not off to a good start.

  He kept his eye focused on his knees, ignoring the small corner of intricately embroidered robes that he could see out of the corner of his eye. The prince was much closer than he had realized. 

  He wasn’t sure if he needed to repeat his name, wasn’t sure whether the prince had heard him clearly or not, but he would not speak unless he was asked to again.

  “Hua Cheng,” the prince began in his gentle voice. Apparently he had heard him well enough. “Why do you think you are here?”

  Hua Cheng’s brows twitched in confusion, but he obediently replied to the prince’s question. “His Royal Highness requires a beta as a bedmate to keep him company through his heats until such time as he takes a royal consort. If His Highness finds myself acceptable, I am here to serve him.”

  The prince drew even closer. He was…crouching in front of Hua Cheng? That didn’t make any sense, but he could see the prince’s knees bent in front of him. Hua Cheng tensed. Had he misspoke his answer? Was the prince about to strike him?

  But all that came was another wash of the prince’s soothing voice. “Lift your head, Hua Cheng. Let me see your face.” 

  Oh. That made sense. The prince needed to decide whether Hua Cheng was an appealing enough bed partner after all. He raised his head, but kept his eye lowered. 

  “Look at me, Hua Cheng. It’s okay.”

  He looked up, and even though it was disrespectful and he was probably going to get himself killed because of it, he couldn’t help his eye widening when he beheld the face in front of him.

  The prince was beautiful. There was no other way to describe it. Gentle brown eyes sparkled from a face that was smooth and unblemished, soft brown hair brushing against his cheeks and falling nearly all the way down his back. His plush, pink lips were smiling pleasantly. 

  He was the most perfect picture of what an omega should be. Hua Cheng found himself completely overwhelmed by his presence.

  “Are you here willingly?”

  The prince’s unexpected question snapped him right back into the moment. It was not one that he had been expecting. To be honest, he hadn’t expected the prince to give him more than a passing glance before dismissing him.

  “Yes, Your Highness.” It was mostly true. Being here was far better than the alternative.

  He watched as the prince smiled again in response, his eyes flicking over Hua Cheng’s face. His gaze paused for a moment on Hua Cheng’s eyepatch, but he did not question it or demand he take it off. 

  “How old are you, Hua Cheng?” 

  “Nineteen, Your Highness.” A year younger than the crown prince.

  The prince chuckled a small laugh. “You look older.” 

  He stood, holding out his hand to help Hua Cheng up. Hua Cheng looked at the proffered hand warily, casting a confused glance towards the prince. 

  The prince smiled and motioned with his fingers, encouraging Hua Cheng to take his hand. “If we are to share a bed, Hua Cheng, you are going to have to touch me.”

  Hua Cheng knew this; he just hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly. He wasn’t sure of the propriety of touching the prince outside of his required duties. But he wasn’t about to refuse the prince, so he took the offered hand and rose to his feet.

  The prince’s two attendants didn’t think it was appropriate either, from the looks of it. They scowled at him harshly as he took the prince’s hand, and the taller of the two clenched his hand against the sword that rested at his side. 

  An alpha. 

  Hua Cheng was shocked to see that an alpha was allowed to attend the omega prince in such a private setting. There were no other servants or attendants in sight; it was just the four of them in the room. 

  He didn’t have very long to think about it, though. The prince squeezed his hand lightly before releasing him. “I would be happy to have you attend me, Hua Cheng, if you are willing.”

  “I am, Your Highness.” He was willing, though he wasn’t sure how much of a choice he really had in the matter. 

  The prince nodded again and turned back towards the other two. “Please accompany Hua Cheng to his rooms and make sure that he is comfortable. Do 
  
    not
  
   fight or cause problems on the way.”

  “And leave you unaccompanied, Your Highness?” the alpha protested. 

  Hua Cheng was surprised at the man’s quickness to question the prince’s commands.

  The prince, however, did not seem surprised at all, and simply rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, Feng Xin. The only reason you needed to be here was because I was meeting with a stranger. Please take him to his rooms; you can come find me in the library afterwards if you feel like it’s necessary. Even though it is most definitely not.”

  This alpha, Feng Xin, must have been serving the prince for a very long time indeed for them to be speaking so casually. The prince turned to go, casting one look back at the other attendant - a beta, by the looks of it. 

  “I mean it, Mu Qing. Be nice.”

  Both attendants gave curt, short bows in the prince’s direction before he disappeared through the doorway. They relaxed immediately once he was gone, blatantly staring at Hua Cheng. The shorter man, Mu Qing, crossed his arms and looked at him with outright disdain. Hua Cheng stood straighter under their gaze, daring them to provoke him. Mu Qing sniffed at his challenge, but simply turned and opened another doorway that led out of the room and into a wide hallway. 

  “Come on,” he said curtly. “And pay attention because I’m not showing you the way again.” 

  Hua Cheng followed. The alpha stayed silent for the moment, prowling after the other two with his hand still resting on the hilt of his sword.

  The private audience room that he had met the prince in was still in the more public area of the palace near the front, and Mu Qing led him through a positively dizzying tangle of hallways as they went further in. There was absolutely no way he was remembering all of this after just one time walking the halls. Eventually Mu Qing slowed. 

  “This is His Highness’ room,” he gestured as they walked past an ornate door. “And this,” he said, pressing a nearly invisible latch that revealed a small doorway built into the wall, “is yours.” 

  He walked inside without any ceremony, Hua Cheng and Feng Xin following.

  Hua Cheng frowned. This was not the slave’s quarters that he had been expecting. The room was small, but far more lavish than any that Hua Cheng had experienced before. A comfortable looking bed sat against one wall, several ornate dressers lining another. Not that he had any other changes of clothes to put in them. An open door on the far end of the room led to a small washroom.

  “What’s wrong?” Mu Qing said, sneering at Hua Cheng’s confused expression. “Not good enough for you?”

  Hua Cheng’s anger flared, but he kept it under wraps. It would do no good to p@ss off the prince’s personal attendants this soon. “No, my lord,” he said respectfully. “I just - is this my room for during His Highness’ heats? What about during other times? I cannot imagine that His Highness desires a slave to stay in such close quarters to his own.”

  Mu Qing scoffed. “You are here to serve His Highness during his heats and any other time he desires to call on you. It would hardly do to have to fetch you from the servant’s quarters halfway across the palace every time he wanted company in bed.”

  Hua Cheng hadn’t been prepared for that at all. But there was nothing he could do about it now, so he simply nodded. 

  “Take a bath,” Mu Qing said dismissively, turning back towards the door. “You still smell like the streets, no matter how much you try to cover it up with cheap perfume. There are changes of clothes in the drawers.” He left without another look towards Hua Cheng.

  Feng Xin still stood in the room. He eyed Hua Cheng as if appraising the level of threat he presented. “Don’t even think about trying anything,” he said curtly. “His Highness’ room is under heavy guard at all times.” His hand gripped his sword again pointedly. 

  “I would never dream of hurting His Highness, my lord,” Hua Cheng said. He’d never heard a single bad word spoken about the prince. He was royalty, and therefore bound to be entitled, but his people loved him.

  “See to it that you don’t,” the alpha said firmly before leaving and closing the door behind him. 

  Alone in a strange place for the second time that day, Hua Cheng took several minutes to familiarize himself with his surroundings. He opened a few of the dresser drawers, finding that there were indeed several changes of clothes. The ones meant for during the day were simply made but not cheaply. The smooth, silky robes for use during the night were much richer; this made sense, considering this was when he would be in the prince’s presence, and he could hardly be dressed like a commoner in those instances. 

  He opened the small window that was set into the wall, letting in the sunlight. It was barely past midday, and he had nothing else to do with himself. The prince’s attendants had said nothing about how he would take his meals, but he supposed he would figure that out eventually. Might as well take that bath.

  The tub was small, but deep enough for him to submerge himself up to the middle of his chest, and he reveled in the warm running water that he could use on demand. There were only one or two pleasure houses that he had ever worked in that had had that luxury. 

  He soaked for a long time, and his mind wandered to thoughts of the prince. Their exchange had only lasted for a few minutes, but so many things about him were strange.

  An omega prince attended by an alpha.

  A prince who willingly drew near a slave, who touched him of his own accord. 

  A prince who apparently wanted more than just a heat partner. 

  It was an old tradition; young omega nobility often sought out betas as heat partners because there was no risk of pregnancy, no risk of sullying the bloodline. Some sought out other omegas, though that was less common. They were always married to an alpha in the end.

  Hua Cheng wondered how many partners the prince had had so far. While alphas and omegas presented sometime around twelve or thirteen, their ruts and heats did not usually start until seventeen or eighteen. The prince was twenty now, so he had had a few year’s worth of heats to deal with. Hua Cheng wondered what his last partner had done to displease him, hoped that whatever it was was a mistake he could avoid making himself. He really didn’t want to be sold back to another pleasure house. It was only a matter of time, of course; the prince would eventually take an alpha consort, and then Hua Cheng would no longer be needed. But the prince didn’t seem cruel, and that was good enough to make him want this to last as long as possible.

  He nearly nodded off in the tub, waking up when his head fell back and knocked against the wall. He finished washing quickly, nearly moaning when he felt how soft the towels were against his skin as he dried off. Everything in these rooms was a hundred times more luxurious than was deserved by a slave. 

  “Must be what you get for being the prince’s wh@r@,” he mumbled.

  He found a comb on the small dressing table and brushed out his long, dark hair, plaiting the damp strands into a braid to stay out of his way. He pulled a pair of loose pants out of one of the dressers and put them on, not bothering with anything else. It’s not like he was going anywhere. 

  Sure, he was a little bored, but honestly if he had some time to just laze around and rest, he was going to take it. He flopped down on the bed, moaning again when he sank into the soft mattress. 

  Yeah, he was definitely fine with how things were playing out. 

  Time for a f@ck@ng nap.

  He slept for longer than he planned to, wakened by a sharp knock on his door. He sat up quickly, confused for just a moment before he remembered where he was. The window, which he had left open, showed the last vestiges of the sunset. 

  The knock sounded again, and he stood up, fumbling for a minute before finding the small latch that was nearly hidden on his side of the wall. The room was plenty comfortable, but being secreted away behind an invisible door was weird.

  A guard, one of the ones that he had seen stationed in the hallway earlier, stood in front of his door. “His Highness requires your presence in his chambers.”

  Hua Cheng startled - he hadn’t expected the prince to call on him so soon. 

  “Make yourself presentable,” the guard instructed before shutting the door abruptly. 

  The sharp, commanding words were nothing that Hua Cheng wasn’t used to, and he simply sighed as he changed out of his pants into one of the silk robes. The one he chose for this evening was black with deep red embroidery along the border. He knew he looked good in dark colors, and it was his job to make himself as appealing to the prince as possible. He undid his braid, combing out his hair again. Hopefully this was enough.

  He exited his room, approaching the guarded door that led to the prince’s chambers. A guard knocked sharply against the door twice before opening it and jerking his head for Hua Cheng to go inside.

  The door shut ominously behind him. 

  His room, which felt overwhelmingly luxurious, was 
  
    nothing
  
   compared to the lushness of the prince’s chambers. Several large rooms sprawled out before him, all of them hung with the finest of silks, the floors laid with thick carpet. The furniture was elegant and soft, the colors light and muted, but bright at the same time. 

  The whole place screamed 
  
    omega.
  
   

  Soft footfalls approached, and the prince’s head poked out from an inner room. He smiled brightly when he saw Hua Cheng, who immediately dropped to the floor and bowed. 

  “You don’t have to do that,” the prince said, drawing near and nudging him up. “Especially not when it’s just us.”

  Hua Cheng stood obediently, but looked in confusion at the prince. Again. “Your Highness?”

  “If we’re in public or whatever then you can bow, but you don’t have to get all the way down. But if it’s just us then I really don’t care.”

  The prince was shockingly casual with him. Maybe it wasn’t his familiarity with his other two attendants, like Hua Cheng had thought. Maybe it was just how he was. 

  He definitely wasn’t about to argue with him, though. “Yes, Your Highness.” 

  The prince’s beauty was only amplified now that he was dressed more casually. The robes that he had worn before had been replaced with ones that were simpler but no less fine, and his bare feet were sinking into the carpet. He was nearly a head shorter than Hua Cheng, and looked up at him cheerfully.

  “Would you have dinner with me, Hua Cheng?” the prince asked. 

  “Whatever His Highness desires.”

  The prince frowned a little bit. “I am actually asking you a real question. Have you eaten yet? Because if you have, then I’m not going to force you to sit with me if you don’t want to, but if not then I should like to get to know you a little better.”

  Oh. “I have not eaten, Your Highness. I would be honored to attend you; I apologize for my former answer.”

  The prince sighed a little bit as he turned and walked towards one of the inner rooms, motioning for Hua Cheng to follow him. “I don’t want you to attend me, I want you to have dinner with me.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” This didn’t make any sense at all, but if it was one of the prince’s whims then Hua Cheng could do nothing but humor him. 

  A small table was set in one of the rooms, and it was laid with the finest foods that Hua Cheng had ever seen. There were two chairs set opposite from each other, with two places set. 

  “Sit, and help yourself,” the prince said, taking one of the chairs and nodding Hua Cheng towards the other one. “If we are to know each other so intimately, I should like for us to be familiar with each other. I hope that you will speak with me openly; I promise I will not take offence by it.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Hua Cheng’s mind was reeling. Every rule he knew was being cast aside one by one, and he was left hopelessly confused as to how he was supposed to act.

  He sat down, but did not reach for any of the food until the prince had begun eating. Hua Cheng ate small amounts of several of the dishes so as to not appear rude, but he was far too nervous to eat more than that. 

  “Tell me about yourself, Hua Cheng,” the prince said as they ate, pouring Hua Cheng a glass of rich wine. “Where were you before you came here?”

  “I have lived in the capital all my life, Your Highness.”

  “And what kind of life were you living?”

  Hua Cheng frowned. DId the prince not know where he had come from? If not, then he might not be happy to know that his bedmate was nothing more than a common wh@r@.

  “I…do not know that His Highness would enjoy hearing the details of my former life.”

  The prince looked at him encouragingly. “I said that you can speak openly with me. If you honestly answer a question that I ask you, then I would have no right to be angry with you.”

  Hua Cheng would have sighed if it wouldn’t have been disrespectful. There was no way he could avoid the topic now. “I have been a pleasure slave for many years, Your Highness.”

  The prince’s expression dropped immediately, a frown drawing across his beautiful face. “How long?”

  “Five or six years, Your Highness. I am not exactly sure.”

  “You were only a child,” the prince said. His voice sounded…sad. 

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  The prince was quiet for several moments. “I’m sorry.” It sounded sincere.

  Hua Cheng smiled a little bit. “It’s not your fault, Your Highness.”

  The prince fiddled with his food, an awkward silence stretching between them. “I don’t…” he began.

  Hua Cheng set his food down and closed his eyes. He had known that the prince would not want him after he knew the truth.

  “I’m not going to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do,” the prince continued.

  Hua Cheng looked at him in surprise.

  “I know we hardly know each other, but I like you, and I would like very much for you to stay. But if you do not desire to serve me in this way then I will not make you, and you will be free to go.”

  Where else would he go? He had been bought by the palace, and would only be sold off again. There was nowhere else better he could go than here. And the prince was showing him kindness, more kindness than he had seen in years. If he had any say in it, he wasn’t going anywhere. 

  “To serve my prince would be my greatest honor,” Hua Cheng said, bowing his head slightly.

  “Are you sincere in that answer?”

  “I am, Your Highness.”

  The prince smiled again. He was so beautiful when he smiled. “Very well.” He went back to his meal, looking satisfied with Hua Cheng’s answer. 

  “I have a question for you, Hua Cheng.”

  “Yes, Your Highness?”

  “Your room is your own, and you may use it how you please, but I would very much like for you to sleep with me for the next few nights, if you would like. We don’t have to do anything but sleep, but my heat is starting within the week and I would like for us to be comfortable with each other before it begins.”

  Hua Cheng considered for a moment. “May I still speak openly with Your Highness?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “I will sleep wherever His Highness would like me to sleep. If he simply wishes to sleep in the same bed and become accustomed to each other, then I will do so, and if he desires more than I will do more. But…” He swallowed, nervous to ask a question of the prince, but he believed him when he said that Hua Cheng could speak. “If I may be so bold; being only a week out from Your Highness’ heat is cutting it very close, so I can only imagine that you had to dismiss your previous partner quite suddenly. Might I know what they did to displease Your Highness, so that I do not do the same? I ask only because I wish to please.”

  The prince smiled, sipping on his wine. “I have had no previous partners.”

  Hua Cheng looked at him in shock. “His Highness has…endured his heats alone so far?” Sh@t. Being the prince’s first partner put a thousand times more pressure on Hua Cheng. If the prince didn’t even know what he liked, how could Hua Cheng make sure to please him? But then again, it also meant that the prince had no one else to compare him to. Maybe it was a good thing?

  But what the prince said next shocked him even more. “I have not had any heats yet, either.”

  Hua Cheng had no idea how to respond to that. “His Highness is twenty…correct?”

  “Yes,” the prince laughed. “Halfway to twenty-one by now. Trust me, it’s been an issue. My parents have had countless doctors prodding at me for the past two years. But I’m pretty sure it’s just that my heats decided to come a little late, and it’s nothing more than that. I can sense the signs that it is coming soon, though, so I suddenly had need of a partner. And now you’re here.” He smiled at Hua Cheng.

  Hua Cheng took several minutes to process this information, draining his cup of wine. It was very good, but he didn’t dare have any more. This conversation was taking every ounce of concentration that he had, and he needed to keep his wits about himself.

  He set down the silver goblet. “May I speak 
  
    very
  
   plainly with Your Highness?”

  The prince nodded at him and smiled again.

  “Your Highness has had no sexual experience?”

  The prince shook his head. “None.”

  “I will do only what His Highness desires,” Hua Cheng said, “but I know that heats can be…overwhelming, at times. If I may be so bold as to offer some advice, I would recommend that His Highness and I become at least somewhat…familiar…with each other before His Highness’ heat starts. It will help it to go more smoothly.” He really needed to get some idea of what the prince liked while he was at least conscious enough to give him feedback.

  Surprisingly, the prince seemed to take his words seriously. “That makes sense,” he said. “I think for tonight I would like for us to just get used to being around each other, but I am open to spending time with you in other ways over the next few nights.” He looked at Hua Cheng curiously. “Who have you slept with before? Men? Women?”

  “Both,” Hua Cheng answered. “But mostly men. Alphas, betas, and omegas, too. I hope His Highness will forgive my breadth of experience.”

  The prince chuckled. “Hopefully it makes up for the lack of experience on my part.” 

  He stood, beckoning for Hua Cheng to follow him. They settled onto one of the soft sofas that were scattered throughout the prince’s quarters, and the prince dealt them a game of cards. He was quick with his eyes and hands, but Hua Cheng had remarkably good luck, and they each lost as many games as they won. 

  “His Highness must drive his friends quite wild with how clever he is at this game,” Hua Cheng said. It wasn’t an empty compliment, either; the prince was good.

  But the prince smiled a little sadly. “I know I have no right to complain about anything, but you don’t get many friends when you’re in my position.”

  Sh@t sh@t sh@t. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I did not mean to offend.”

  “You didn’t,” the prince said. “I…” He hesitated. “I do not want to ask for too much, but I should very much like it if you would be my friend as well as my bed partner.”

  Hua Cheng wasn’t sure how on 
  
    earth
  
   a slave was supposed to be an appropriate friend for a prince, but the idea made him feel warm anyway. “I should like that very much, Your Highness.”

  And f@ck. He’d say anything to make the prince smile the way he did at those words. 

  The prince looked radiantly happy, scattering the cards away and leaning closer to him. “Well,” he said conspiratorially, “friends have nicknames for each other. No more of this ‘Your Highness’ business, not when it’s just us. You know that my real name is Xie Lian, but I want you to call me ‘gege.’”

  Hua Cheng was taken aback by the prince’s eagerness. “Are - are you sure, Your Highness?”

  
    “Please,” 
  
  the prince begged. “I’ve never had anyone younger than me who was close enough to me to say that.” In a mere moment, Xie Lian had turned from a gentle but confident prince into a spoiled child. 

  It was the most endearing thing Hua Cheng had ever seen. 

  “Very well, gege.”

  Xie Lian smiled and blushed all at the same time, looking away bashfully. “And what shall I call you?”

  Hua Cheng thought for a moment. “My parents called me San Lang.” That felt like such a very, very long time ago. 

  “San Lang,” the prince repeated, smiling at how the name sounded. “Yes, I like that very much. When it is just the two of us, I am your gege, and you are my San Lang. And no bowing or any of that nonsense.”

  “Of course, gege.” Hua Cheng smiled a little wider, but his tone was still respectful. This was the prince, after all. 

  They played several more rounds of cards, Xie Lian pestering him until he accepted a second glass of wine. The prince did not overindulge, not even close, but he clearly liked to enjoy himself. Servants came and went, clearing the remnants of their dinner away and preparing the room for the evening, but none of them spared a glance towards Hua Cheng. 

  The hour grew late, and a sharp, quick knock sounded against the outer door before it opened. Xie Lian looked up, looking like he had only just realized how late it was. Mu Qing entered the room a moment later. 

  “Oh!” Xie Lian said. “I’m sorry, Mu Qing, I meant to let you know that I don’t need you tonight. You’ve already gotten me most of the way undressed; Hua Cheng can help me with the rest.”

  Mu Qing bowed his acknowledgement, but glared daggers at Hua Cheng like he suspected the man of putting him out of a job. 

  “I will still need you in the morning,” Xie Lian reassured. “Just come at the normal time.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” He turned and left without another word.

  Xie Lian chuckled. “They’re more formal when you’re around. It’s funny.”

  “Has Your H - has gege not given them permission to be more casual with you, as he has with me?”

  “No,” Xie Lian said, standing up from the sofa and stretching his arms above his head. “They just do it because we’ve known each other our whole lives. I don’t mind it, though.”

  Hua Cheng stood, following Xie Lian into a room which turned out to be his bedroom. “I was surprised to see an alpha as one of gege’s attendants.”

  Xie Lian smiled fondly. “Feng Xin is my bodyguard, and while it’s not a usual situation, he’s only around me if Mu Qing or another beta is also there. The only time he’s not allowed to be near me is during my heat, which hasn’t happened yet. I’ll still be guarded, just by betas.” He chuckled. “Don’t do anything to p@ss him off. He takes his job very seriously and is not happy about having to leave me alone during my heat, especially not with someone he doesn’t know well.”

  “He sounds very devoted to gege.”

  Xie Lian smiled again. “They both are, in their own way. They’d never admit it, though, especially not Mu Qing.” Xie Lian stood near the bed and held his arms out to his sides. “Please finish undressing me, San Lang. Just down to the inner robe. And don’t be afraid to touch me; you’re going to be doing plenty of that soon enough.”

  “Yes, gege.” 

  Hua Cheng approached the prince, undoing the ties that held his robes together. Since this was a casual set of clothing, it wasn’t hard, and he had Xie Lian down to just his inner robe in minutes. The neck of the robe sat a bit loose, and he caught a glimpse of the prince’s smooth, pale chest.

  Beautiful. 

  Xie Lian climbed into the ridiculously large bed, sitting up and looking at Hua Cheng. “You can undress, too, however much you’re comfortable with.”

  “I am not wearing anything underneath this, gege.”

  “Oh.” Xie Lian flushed a little bit. “Maybe leave that on then.” He flipped open the covers on the other side of the bed, inviting Hua Cheng in. 

  Hua Cheng joined him, unable to think about anything other than how strangely this day had gone. It hadn’t been a bad day, though. Far from it. 

  “Forgive me for assuming that gege wanted to do more than just talk tonight.”

  Xie Lian shook his head. “There was no reason for you to think otherwise, San Lang.” He reached out, twining his fingers with Hua Cheng’s and fiddling with his hand. 

  “I’m glad you’re here with me, San Lang.”

  Hua Cheng found himself smiling the most genuine smile he had in years. “I’m glad too, gege.”'
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
User: Summarize the chapter based on the content provided, ensuring to follow the set format and emphasize key aspects within the specified length.
Assistant: