After Being Transmigrated into a Cannon Fodder Scum Alpha - Chapter 48

During dinner, Lin Chen handed the freshly bathed snowy owl to her daughter.

“Xiao Xue is so white today!” Lin Xi whispered happily to her mama while hugging the bird.

“That’s because Mama just washed the ‘little dirtball’ until she was squeaky clean,” Lin Chen said, appearing to be in high spirits.

“Coo-coo!” Hearing Lin Chen call it dirty, the owl hooted back in protest. It groomed its own feathers every day! It was a very clean owl!

“Still fussing? You refused to get in the bag when we were coming back—it took several people combined just to stuff you in. And you were splashing around so much during your bath that you soaked my clothes.”

“Coo… coo.” It sounded a bit guilty, mixed with a hint of defiance.

“I know to come home every day as soon as it gets dark. Xiao Xue needs to be obedient. At night, there are big gray wolves outside that specifically eat cute little owls,” Lin Xi lectured the bird like a little adult.

“Coo, coo.” It can fly; wolves can’t.

The owl puffed its chest out proudly. If the ceiling in that room had been a bit higher, that “scary older sister” never would have caught it.

The joys and sorrows of people are not shared. While the Omega, Lin Xi, and the owl were full of laughter and chatter, Yun Qi sat on her side eating in silence.

Lin Chen had been very happy since she returned—Yun Qi noticed this—and she wasn’t clinging to her anymore. In the past, the Omega was fearless in the face of Yun Qi’s feigned coldness; she could always find a topic to chat about, acting spoiled in a soft voice and looking at her with dewy eyes. Today, she spent the entire time talking to Xi’er or the owl, seemingly ignoring her on purpose.

Or maybe she’s done something guilty and doesn’t dare look at me. For some reason, a complaint from a gossiping colleague in her past life surfaced. That colleague loved trending dramas and had noticed something was off with her boyfriend; after a secret investigation, she found out he was indeed cheating.

When Lin Chen returned from seeing Nan Yue before, she hadn’t acted like this. And regarding the owl… if it had struggled with all its might, two Omegas shouldn’t have been able to catch it. Furthermore, there were clearly only two of them, so why did she say “several people”? Doesn’t “several” usually imply three or more?

A suspicious Yun Qi felt Lin Chen’s behavior was becoming increasingly dubious.

“If you’re eating, then eat. Be quiet. Your noise is giving me a headache.” The Alpha was annoyed by the commotion; she had been busy almost the entire day.

Grand Duke Yun Lan had been watching his niece’s transformation. He felt Yun Qi wasn’t idling her life away as much as before and was now willing to listen to his advice. Therefore, once Yun Qi recovered, he assigned her some investigative tasks he was handling, hoping to train her and perhaps win her some praise from the Emperor to restore her father’s former glory.

In the original plot, the host was also forced by the Grand Duke to do these things and achieved a bit of success, which gave him some comfort. Since there were many major plot lines related to this direction, Yun Qi agreed. However, she hadn’t expected there to be so much work; there was hardly any time to rest.

Combined with the changes in the Omega, Yun Qi was irritable, but she restrained her temper. Softening her tone in front of Lin Chen had become something of a habit.

Actually, Yun Qi had noticed the changes in herself. Since transmigrating, she seemed to be adapting more and more; her personality was edging closer to the original host’s—not the cruelty, but the natural disdain for others. This was not a good sign. She didn’t want to be “remodeled” unknowingly during her trip. She had asked Little Scum about it before, and it said these phenomena would disappear once she returned. Unable to stop the changes, she let things take their course, figuring these might just be residual emotions left in the body.

Curiously, this disdain vanished whenever she faced Lin Chen. Yun Qi felt this must be her own personal emotion overpowering the original host’s remnants.

“Alright.” Hearing her partner’s impatient complaint, the Omega obediently shut her mouth. Lin Xi and the owl also quieted down, stopping their bickering.

Silence spread throughout the room. Yun Qi wasn’t as happy as she had imagined; this wasn’t the result she wanted. Usually, after she spoke, the Omega would just switch topics and continue pestering her, rather than actually becoming silent.

The Omega was actually avoiding her partner. Now, whenever she saw Yun Qi, she couldn’t help but wonder why the Alpha had murmured Mu Yu’s name in her nightmare, which led her back to Mu Yu herself. That strange sense of trust made her uncomfortable, and perhaps there was even a sense of familiarity.

Lost in her own emotions, Lin Chen didn’t notice the awkward silence or the Alpha’s subtle shift.

In the Bedroom—

“Hug~~” Lin Chen did as she usually did, sitting on the bed with her arms open, waiting for her partner who had just come out of the bathroom. They couldn’t do anything during the first two months of pregnancy; the doctor said the placenta was still developing and the fetus was unstable.

Beyond that, the Omega actually preferred the intimacy of a hug or the unspoken atmosphere of mutual understanding. At night, being held together was the happiest thing in the world. During the day, they didn’t even need physical contact or to do the same activity; just being in the same room—one reading, one playing—was enough, as long as she knew the person she loved was there.

Lin Chen believed that those “negative distance” physical acts were partly driven by pheromones rather than pure intent, but a warm hug was driven entirely by the heart. Because of love, simply holding each other wasn’t boring; because of love, having another person in the room who didn’t speak a word wasn’t awkward.

She liked this, but the Alpha was either shy or stubborn and hadn’t accompanied her in these things before, so she had previously relied on pheromones. Since the pregnancy, the Alpha seemed much closer and less guarded.

After meeting Mu Yu, she felt a joy akin to having gained a trustworthy partner, so she really wanted to be affectionate with her Alpha to express that happiness.

As usual, the Alpha had a look of disdain on her face, yet she still came over and held her. Lin Chen nuzzled her face against Yun Qi’s chest.

“Your bath was for nothing.” As if gloating that her unwashed self had dirtied her freshly bathed partner, Lin Chen ran off to take her own bath immediately after nuzzling.

Acting like I’m so dirty just because I haven’t showered yet. Yun Qi found this lively version of Lin Chen quite cute, but the realization that she was livelier than usual cast a shadow over her mood.

Lin Chen didn’t seem to have noticed the scent of the other Alpha’s pheromones on her yet, and Yun Qi didn’t know how to bring it up. Perhaps the Omega herself didn’t know? Or maybe some blind Alpha had secretly left a mark. Yun Qi was certain she hadn’t smelled that particular scent before; it wasn’t from anyone she knew.

She didn’t want to ask Lin Chen directly; it might hurt the Omega’s feelings or create a rift between them. Yun Qi used to despise people who became paranoid and questioned their partners just because they went out. Even for two people who were intimately close, there should be some personal space, right?

Or perhaps, she was simply afraid of hearing an answer from the Omega she didn’t want to hear.

Besides, Lin Chen was very normal and affectionate when she asked for a hug just now, wasn’t she? Maybe she was just overthinking everything. Lin Chen went out with her friend Nan Yue; two beautiful Omegas together would naturally draw eyes, and some low-life Alpha might have secretly brushed pheromones onto them to satisfy a disgusting psychological urge.

It was all just overthinking.

When Lin Chen came out, she saw the Alpha sitting there silently, in the same posture she had been in before Lin Chen entered the bathroom. She remembered that Yun Qi had seemed much quieter since she returned. In the past, the Alpha was so stubborn, loving to go against her with words while her actions were always honest.

“What’s wrong?” She walked over and hugged Yun Qi.

“Let go. So clingy… you don’t actually think I’ve fallen for you just because I’ve been a bit nicer lately, do you?” The Grand Duke broke away with feigned disgust, the tips of her ears turning slightly red. Even though they had been intimate many times and had much deeper contact, her heart still raced at the Omega’s touch.

“I hope you realize that everything I do is because I need an heir. It has to be an Alpha. If the one in your belly isn’t an Alpha, I think you know what I’ll do next.” Seeing that Lin Chen didn’t seem to react to the first part, the Duke added another cruel sentence.

“I know,” Lin Chen said, having heard her perfectly. She climbed onto the bed and leaned close to the Alpha.

Yun Qi tried to dodge to the side, only to have Lin Chen pounce on her.

“What you’ll do next is… you’ll have a third child with me,” the Omega’s voice murmured into her ear.

Along with the lovely scent of lilies.

Just now, while Lin Chen was holding her, Yun Qi couldn’t help but use her own pheromones to overwrite the stranger’s scent on the Omega. Fortunately, the Omega didn’t seem to smell what she was emitting.

A fragrant Lin Chen, a Lin Chen without the scent of another Alpha, a Lin Chen she had secretly marked—this realization made her very happy.

As for the Omega’s bold words and behavior, she didn’t know how to respond. She opened her mouth to say something hurtful that would fit the original host, but the words wouldn’t come out, as if she were mute.

“Hmph.” The Alpha let out a sneer, as if mocking the Omega’s wishful thinking, or perhaps just masking her own shyness.

Yun Qi felt she really had overthought things earlier. How could a Lin Chen like this ever like someone else? As for the child being an Alpha or an Omega, once it was determined, she’d just find an excuse to fool Little Scum. Anyway, the Empire would be gone later, and the distinction wouldn’t matter. There might not even be a need for an heir by then.

With her worries gone, the exhaustion of the day flooded back. Holding her own fragrant Omega, Yun Qi fell into a weary sleep.