Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 159: [Parallel World] Intimacy (2)

Kenji’s body trembled slightly, not out of fear, but from intense excitement and relief.

Their pheromones were a natural match. Even though it was just a temporary mark, both experienced an unparalleled pleasure, their souls trembling together.

Yuka infused her pheromones into Kenji’s gland, filling it to ease him through his heat cycle.

After marking him, Yuka softly kissed the reddened gland to ease any pain from the bite and to reduce the swelling.

Kenji lay on the couch, slightly dazed, realizing Yuka had completed the temporary mark. As she prepared to leave, he instinctively grabbed her wrist, not wanting her to go just yet.

Yuka took this as a normal reaction of a beta after being temporarily marked, who unconsciously relies on their alpha and craves more pheromones.

So, Yuka didn’t pull away. Instead, she sat on the armrest of Kenji’s couch, continuing to release her pheromones to comfort him.

Time passed, and as the heat subsided, Kenji regained his clarity.

Seeing the blush fade from Kenji’s face, Yuka knew he was back to normal. She politely withdrew her hand, asking with concern, "Are you feeling better now?"

Kenji’s fingers twitched slightly. He still longed for the scent of Yuka and the softness of her wrist but didn’t have the courage to keep her there.

"Much better, thank you," Kenji replied, his eyes downcast.

Now sober, Kenji lost the candidness of his heat cycle. He wondered if Yuka would have marked someone else in the same situation if he hadn’t been there without his suppressants.

He thought, unwelcomely, of those he had seen being close to Yuka. ’Would she have treated them with the same tenderness?’

He feared he was not exceptional, and his earlier thoughts of her singular affection and uniqueness seemed like unreachable fantasies.

Yuka blinked. She couldn’t help feeling Kenji seem a bit ungrateful now that the crisis was over.

He certainly wasn’t this distant just a moment ago.

Yuka left the underground bar with a mix of emotions. She wondered if her belief that Kenji had feelings for her was just wishful thinking. ’Did Kenji not care who marked him in that moment?’

Their silence, filled with unspoken thoughts, was a stark contrast to the intimacy they had just shared. An honest conversation could have resolved the tension, but both chose to remain quiet, lost in their own assumptions.

"You have classes tomorrow, right?" Kenji broke the silence first. "You should head back."

Yuka’s heart sank at his words. ’Is he really just rushing me to leave?’

"Then, goodbye." Yuka stood up, waved at Kenji, and said, "We’ll be in touch when there’s time."

Kenji responded, "Hmm. Be careful on your way."

After Yuka left, Kenji pressed the emergency call device in his pocket, signaling his subordinates to come in and clean up the aftermath, taking the surviving space pirates for interrogation.

One subordinate, passing by Kenji, thought he detected a whiff of roses. He nudged his colleague and whispered, "Do you smell something strange on Admiral Kuba? Like an alpha’s scent..."

"No," the other, a beta, replied irritably, pushing him away. "Move those bodies. How could an alpha get close to Admiral Kuba? They’d probably be taken down before they even got close."

"Yeah, you’re right," the subordinate agreed, nodding.

He thought to himself that even the best alphas in their squad couldn’t defeat Kenji, so it was impossible for any alpha to mark him. However, he overlooked another possibility —

What if Kenji willingly allowed someone to mark him?

Yuka left the underground bar feeling wide awake.

She was buzzing with excitement, her body practically urging her to do something. But the person she wanted to do it with was no longer there. So, she headed back to Nori’s lab.

Nori was a science buff and a workaholic. No matter when Yuka visited, she never found him resting. It was as if he lived in his lab.

Seeing Yuka, Nori surprisingly looked up and asked, "What did you do? You reek of pheromones."

"I gave Kenji a temporary mark," Yuka slumped into a chair and told Nori. "But he’s acting weird. I can’t figure him out. I don’t even know how to meet him next time."

Nori chuckled sarcastically.

He approached Yuka and measured her pheromone levels again. They were higher than before, perfect for extracting the substance he needed.

After a few seconds of silence, looking at the successful extraction in the test tube, Nori said, "This is good. Mark Kenji a few more times. Remember to come here right after. I need your high-concentration pheromones."

Yuka, speechless for a moment, replied, "...He has to agree, you know."

Nori scornfully said, "Can’t you be more proactive with him? Gosh... You’ve inherited none of Hideki’s talents. When your dad pursued your mom, it was a huge deal. They got married in less than a month. Your dad also had a knack for business, being the richest man for years. But look at you, not smart enough, even struggling to chase someone."

Yuka glared at him, "What right do you have to say that, a bachelor like you!"

Nori just smirked.

Yuka didn’t want to argue with Nori since she couldn’t win; she left the lab and went back to school.

Her roommate Ayoi, still awake, rubbed her eyes and asked Yuka, "We have a banquet at the governor’s family next week. I want to invite you, and oh, Alex invited you too. Will you go?"

The butler timely reminded Yuka, "Master, Vivian, whom you saved before, has also invited you."

"I’ll go," Yuka decided after a thought.

After all, a banquet was just about eating and drinking. She wouldn’t be involved in the governor family’s internal struggles. She just had to sit back and watch.

Five days flew by in Yuka’s lax attitude, and her grades were dropping. She knew she was close to switching her major. She thought carefully about all the majors at UUA, eliminating those with heavy workloads and lab requirements. After some hesitation between history and planetary management planning, she chose planetary management planning.

She heard that the history department, known for being the easiest, was planning a reform. Choosing it might mean she wouldn’t graduate easily with her laid-back attitude. But the planetary management planning department was different; it had always been a breeze. The knowledge taught there was based on owning a planet, but owning a planet worth billions was rare. Students in this major were like wizards trained in dragon slaying but knowing full well there were no dragons in the world—impressive in theory but not in practice.

Yuka remembered on her coming-of-age birthday, Hideki had given her a small planet. It would be perfect to experiment with once she transferred to the planetary management planning department.

On Saturday, Yuka and Ayoi went to Ayoi’s house to get ready for the evening’s banquet.

Ayoi hesitated looking at Yuka’s pink outfit. It wasn’t that Yuka didn’t look good—in fact, she would look beautiful in anything. The thing was, Ayoi knew alphas generally preferred darker colors like black, which seemed more serious and powerful. Even female alphas rarely wore skirts, let alone pink bows like Yuka...

Yuka didn’t care how the butler dressed her. She didn’t see why alphas couldn’t wear skirts. Flicking her pink pearl earrings, she turned to Ayoi, "When does the banquet start?"

Ayoi was dazzled by the shimmer on Yuka’s face, thinking how Yuka seemed like those delicate, beautiful betas, naturally deserving of pampering. But Yuka was an alpha, and by alpha beauty standards, she seemed a bit too delicate, which was why those arrogant mainstream alphas looked down on her.

Ayoi believed, though, that if Yuka showed her true strength, many betas would want to marry her, and those alphas who scorned her would deeply regret it.

Yuka tilted her head, repeating her question. Ayoi snapped back to reality and answered, "It’s about to start. Let’s go."

They got into a Lev and headed to the castle where the governor’s family banquet was being held.

The castle’s interior was lavishly decorated, obviously very expensive. But Yuka, used to such opulence at home, found it boring and headed straight for the food area to check out the chefs’ skills.

Ayoi and Alex were pulled away by family elders for socializing and couldn’t look after Yuka. They watched her hurry off, hoping she wouldn’t run into any troublesome alphas.

As Yuka was tasting a slice of layered cake, Kenji, who had also been invited, stepped out of his Lev and entered the castle. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

He deliberately chose to wear a black suit, avoiding the colors preferred by betas, to make a statement about his disinterest in arranged marriages. He hadn’t wanted to attend the banquet, but with his last mission over, he had no excuse to refuse General Fleet Admiral’s suggestion.

Donny Horn, whom he had been set up to meet before, was reportedly engaged now. However, General Fleet Admiral hadn’t given up on arranging a marriage for him with a governing family.

Knowing that too much pressure would backfire, the Admiral had invited Kenji to this banquet under the guise of letting him choose, but it still felt coercive. Kenji knew this pressure would persist until he became General Fleet Admiral himself, unless...

He married someone not from a governing family.