novelRebirth (c)
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The baby's daily life felt incredibly boring. There was nothing to do every day except for eating and sleeping. Fortunately Ji Ran was an actor that had great adaptability, so he soon became accustomed to his new name "Xi Wei", and his new identity as the "First Prince". He had also figured out where the mechanized female voice he heard yesterday came from; it actually originated from Queen Anna's AI (Artificial intelligence) housekeeper, Bo Er.
The technology in this world was more developed than his original world, even beyond what he had imagined his original world's future would be like. The AI housekeeper, Bo Er, did not have any entity, she was only an invisible Intelligence Center that existed in Queen Anna's sleeping quarters to take care of the Queen's daily life. Every day she would follow a certain schedule to send a small trolley of nutritious meals to the Queen's bedside, and when someone approached the room, she would automatically activate a layer of electronic protection in front of the door, preventing them from disturbing the Queen. If other people wanted to visit the Queen, they must get the Queen's consent first. Only then would Bo Er open the door for them.
In addition, whatever activities the Queen wanted to do, Bo Er immediately tried to assist her master in doing.
For example, if the Queen wanted to go out with her child to bask in the sun, then Bo Er would help her to open the balcony door, as well as preparing a comfortable chair for her. If the Queen felt hot, then Bo Er would immediately turn the room's temperature down. If the Queen wanted to eat fruit, a trolley filled with chopped fruits would immediately be delivered to her.
Xi Wei thought it was quite amazing. Queen Anna lived a very enjoyable life, anything she wanted she could have, she lived everyday like a God. But on the other hand, she stayed in the palace all day, almost completely isolated from the outside world. Except for her occasional meetings with the King, she had no interaction with other people.
It was impossible for Xi Wei to learn more about this world, because every day he was being held in the arms of this isolated mother of his. So far, the only things he knew were: he was the first son of Queen Anna and King Trent, the First Prince of the Empire, and that he was an Omega Male. Anything else he still did not know, even the meaning of omega is still unclear for him.
***
Seven days after Xi Wei came into this world, the Queen's Palace finally had its first visitor.
At that time, Xi Wei was nestled in Queen Anna's bosom, drinking a bottle of nutritious milk, when Bo Er suddenly talked in her mechanized voice: "Queen, Prince Berg wants to see you."
Anna was surprised, and said: "Berg is back? Let him come in."
--Prince Berg? Who is this?
Xi Wei turned his head curiously, opening his eyes and looking towards the doorway. Soon, he saw a slender man come in. The man was dressed very casually, wearing only a simple white shirt and slacks, a gentle and kind smile adorning his face.
"Queen, I heard that Xi Wei was born early. I just returned to the palace, so now I have come here to see him." The man had a soft voice, he stood two meters away from the Queen, looking at the baby in her arms. Xi Wei thought the man looked very delicate, but without appearing weak in the slightest. He had that kind of gentle temperament that would made other people feel like they were being grazed by a spring breeze, so peaceful and calm.
The man turned his gaze to the Queen, smiled, and asked, "The Queen suddenly had premature delivery, is your body OK?"
Queen Anna smiled and answered: "I'm fine despite this premature delivery, although there were some accidents, but the child was born very healthy. Do you want to hold him?"
"Yes, please." Berg stretched out his hand to hold the child, then looked down at the baby who was now in his arms, and said, "This child has really big eyes and looks very lively."
Anna smiled: "Your brother King said that this child is a bit like you. Both of you are Omegas, but when you were born, your mental strength test results exceeded 100."
"Really? His test results are also so high..." Berg touched Xi Wei's head thoughtfully and asked, " Where's brother? "
"His Majesty has been very busy recently, it seems something is happening in the military, I have not seen him for several days."
"Oh." Berg looked down at the child, and fell silent for a moment, before saying, "Right, I have a little present for Xi Wei." He took out a silver necklace from his pocket, with a blue water-drop shaped pendant on it, it emitted a soft glow in the light, which made it look very beautiful.
"This is a protection charm, hopefully it will bring good luck to Xi Wei." Berg put the necklace on Xi Wei's neck, then returned the child to the Queen.
Anna hugged her son, grabbed his little hand, and said, "Xi Wei, thank Uncle for the gift."
Xi Wei shook his small hand to express his thanks.
Anna couldn't help laughing: "Good boy, really clever."
However, at that moment, Berg's gaze suddenly turned focused, he looked at the child in Anna's Bosom and asked: "He can understand what we are talking about?"
Anna frowned: "How can it be? He was born only a week ago, there's no way he could understand anything."
Berg did not speak, he only kept on staring at Xi Wei.
Xi Wei suddenly felt a little regret. It seemed like this uncle wasn't very simple. Xi Wei was just responding subconsciously, but he was actually able to sense that something was not right? Thinking of this, Xi Wei immediately shook both of his hands, making a "wants to be hugged" gesture, reaching out his hands in his uncle's direction.
Seeing this silly but cute action, Berg also could not help but laugh: "Yes, maybe I'm thinking too much. Queen, I have to go back now, I'll come again another day to see him."
Only after his uncle left did Xi Wei finally feel relieved. He took his hands back, and snuggled into his mother's bosom once again.
He really liked the gentle scent coming off Queen Anna. Being in a mother's embrace somehow gave him a rare feeling of safety in this strange new world.
From the conversation between the two adults before, he could conclude that "Uncle Berg" must be the King's brother, his own uncle. He's also an "Omega, ", although he didn't look any different from other men except for his more delicate looks. So what was the point of being judged after birth? What is the difference between Alpha and Omega?
Xi Wei did not understand, and was too tired to think further about it, so he just closed his eyes and went to sleep.
***
For the next few days, Uncle Berg came to see him every day.
Once, Queen Anna was feeling sleepy and wanted to nap, so Berg offered to take Xi Wei outside. Queen Anna agreed without hesitation. After all, the palace was a very safe place, and the child also had Berg to look after him, so she didn't need to worry.
While his uncle was carrying him out of the palace, Xi Wei discovered that the Imperial Palace was actually much larger than he imagined. There were rows upon rows of magnificent looking white buildings, with a unifying sign on each of them—almost every building was decorated with a lot of shiny dots, which would form the shape of a constellation when connected. From time to time, people in white military uniforms would walk through the Royal Palace, presumably they were the "Royal Guards."
Berg brought Xi Wei to his palace. In Xi Wei's opinion, his uncle's palace was very special. It was a bit unusual because there was no luxurious decor there. Instead, the place was filled with many strange metal machines; it almost felt like walking into a manufacturing plant.
Xi Wei looked around curiously, and Berg took him to the couch, then sighed, "Xi Wei, to be born into the royal family, I really don't know whether you are lucky or unlucky."
Xi Wei pretended not to understand, using his small hands to play with the blue necklace hanging on his neck.
Berg continued: "If you were alpha, as the First Prince of the Empire, you would surely inherit His Majesty's throne. Unfortunately, you are an omega... You can only stay in the palace like me, and when you reach adulthood, His Majesty will choose the right alpha to marry and have children with you."
Xi Wei's hand suddenly paused--wait, did he hear it wrong?
Getting married and having children? Alpha and Omega can marry and have children? Who will be the one to give birth then? Since I'm an omega, it should be the alpha, right?
But Berg stopped at this critical moment, he looked down at the child in his lap and said: "Your eyes actually got wider, are you curious about what I was saying?"
Xi Wei: "..."
Berg continued: "If you understand, extend your right hand. If you don't understand, extend your left hand."
Xi Wei stretched out both of his hands.
Berg smiled, grabbed the child's hands, and whispered, "I wish you would grow up quickly, I wish you could understand what I'm saying, so that I can teach you about a lot of things, and maybe you will be able to accomplish the dreams that I failed to achieve."
Uncle Berg seemed to be lost in thought. Although he was smiling, it could not hide the lost expression showing on his face.
Xi Wei felt a little puzzled; he focused his ears and began to listen carefully.
Berg then went on to say: "I like you, your mental strength, incredibly, scored above 100. Ordinarily, even children from royal and military families usually only have around 60 mental strength. Do you know what this means? This means that if we were alpha, we would be able to manipulate the Empire's strongest S-class Intelligent Machine Armor. Those simple and muscle-brained alphas would have no strength to fight us."
"Right now, in the entire Empire, there are only few people who can control S-class armor, and except for His Majesty, all the other ones are military generals. Unfortunately, omegas can't join the military. Even if you are a prince, you still don't have the qualifications to get an advanced level machine armor, the only thing you can do is to study about them secretly..."
Xi Wei finally understood the reason behind his uncle's bad mood; it was probably because of his wasted "talent". He was very interested in "machine armor", and those odd metals in his room were the "machine armor" he had developed. According to him, only a few people could have S-class armor, the highest level of intelligent machine. The development process of those S-class armors must be very complex. His uncle who was working alone obviously would be unable to complete it, and that was why he felt lost? Because his talent became useless? And that's only because he was born as an omega?
Xi Wei suddenly had a bad feeling.
According to Uncle Berg, an Alpha Prince can inherit the throne, while an Omega Prince's only option was to marry and have children when they entered adulthood. He is also an omega, so wouldn't he be like Uncle Berg? In the future only able to stay in the palace until the day His Majesty arranged a marriage for him? Wasn't that the same as becoming a tool for a political marriage?
But it doesn't matter, Xi Wei thought optimistically, I'm only a newborn right now, far from adulthood. He was sure that later he could use his accumulated life experiences and his ability to understand the conversations around him, and slowly look for opportunities to change his destiny.
***
One afternoon, one month after Xi Wei was born, a strange woman came to the palace to visit Queen Anna.
In contrast with Queen Anna's black hair, dark eyes, and gentle temperament, the woman who had just arrived had a long blond hair, eyes as blue as sky, and a very decisive voice, obviously a really straightforward person.
Anna seemed delighted to see her. She immediately took her to the sitting-room, and asked the AI Housekeeper to pour a cup of hot tea and prepare a table full of fruit for her.
Strangely, the woman also held a child in her arms. When Anna's sight fell on the child, she quickly rushed to hold him, the expression on her face was so full of love, as if she was looking at her own son, "Grace, this is your and Admiral Byron's son? So cute! "
Grace smiled and answered, "Yes, he was born on the same day as His Majesty the Prince, only 5 minutes earlier. I would have liked to bring him here earlier to visit the Queen and the First Prince, but was unable to find the opportunity. However, I remember that today the king and all the generals would go to have dinner together, so I think the Queen must be quite bored, that's why I took him here. We are not disturbing you are we? "
"There are only two of us here, you don't have to be polite." Anna smiled and said, "Right, what's his name?"
"His name is Klaire."
"Klaire, that sounds good... He's an alpha, right? I'm sure he will grow up strong like his father, and become a good general in the future." Anna held Klaire in her arms for a while until her arms finally became tired. She then put him in Xi Wei's crib and went together with Grace to eat some fruits.
The two of them ate and chatted, exchanging experiences of giving birth to and caring for their children.
Xi Wei did not have any interest in this topic, so he was bored. He turned his gaze to the little guy lying next to him and, at the same time, Klaire also turned to look at him. Their eyes met, and Xi Wei found himself thinking how beautiful this child's eyes were, the color as blue as the sky, just like his mother's eyes.
Klaire, on the other hand, seemed to think the child in front of him looked very cute, so to express his affection, he took the initiative to go over and kissed Xi Wei's face.
Xi Wei, "......"
Too lazy to care about this little guy, Xi Wei turned away and ignored him.
As a result, Klaire, in order to make the other boy acknowledge his existence, actually came over and gave Xi Wei another kiss, this time right on his mouth.
Xi Wei finally had had enough; he quickly pushed Klaire away, and gave him a convenient punch with his fist.
Little Klaire, who was beaten, immediately opened his mouth and cried: "Woaaa Wooa hoo.."
The two mothers, who were eating fruit, looked back in surprise. They saw Klaire, who was crying with his nose flushed red, while Xi Wei was sleeping with his eyes closed next to him.
The two mothers looked at each other, silently wondering what could have happened.
Meanwhile, Xi Wei secretly thought in annoyance, Whose child is this, can you hurry and take him away?
T/N: I've changed the king's name to Trent since Trand really doesn't sound like a name, and it's more convenient for those who have read ABO Cadets (a story from the same universe as this).
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