"I'm sure that the only reason why your father wants to give the throne to you is because he knows that you are capable and that you are someone who he can trust,

" Lu Xingyan continued.

"But so are your brothers, Han Xukun and Han Yehan. I know that he is being biased towards you but we all know that uncle Han will not stop until he makes you king. If he died without giving you the throne, what do you think will happen? Those who are coveting the power that the Han family has will be snatched by them,

" she further explained.

Lu Mengjie eyed her husband and noticed his eyes narrowed. His jaws were clenched tightly and the air he was emitting only became heavier.

"Now that you know the situation. I'm proposing a solution. Brother Yizhou, I think you should accept your father's offer,

" she suggested as she gazed back into the older man.

This time, Yong Liwei didn't blatantly reject her suggestion. Back then, he may not care about the throne and the responsibilities that came along but now, he has something he has to protect; his family, he couldn't just brush away the idea. He felt a quiver in his heart when he thought that Lu Mengjie would be put in danger again if he did nothing about the conflict in the Azure Republic.

"After you have taken the throne from him, if you still decide that you don't want it, then you can hand it over to Han Xukun. Unlike you, he is more than willing to rule the Azure Republic.

"

Among all the Lu children, Lu Xingyan was the smartest. Lu Mengjie had always admired her cousin for being able to see through the situation faster than others.

She turned to her husband and smiled a bit as she tried to convince him this time.

"She's right, Liwei. I think you should consider this.

"

"You don't have to decide right now.

" Han Xukun stood from his seat.

"But remember, the old men in Azure are not the only ones after the throne. Someone is creating his own forces in this country.

" He looked at Lu Mengjie, meaningfully.

She pursed her lips at what he said. Lu Mengjie already had an idea of who that person might be. If it was the old her, she wouldn't have believed that Si Guanlin would conspire against the Han family but now that she thinks about it… he has always been a tool of his family's elders.

"Well then, we should get going. We only came here to check on you. Be careful, brother. Now that father has decided to make you his successor, my mother will not sit still. I'll try to hold her back as much as possible.

"

After the couple left, only Lu Mengjie was left with her husband in the room. He had been quiet ever since Lu Xingyan spoke. He probably was thinking about the next move he should take. She went and sat at the side of his bed. She held his hand as she looked at him, flashing a small smile.

"We're going to do this together. For now, why don't you finish up your food? Here, I'll feed you.

"

Later that day, Lu Mengjie signed the discharge papers. Spider was in the passenger seat as they entered the car while Scorpion was in the driver seat. She ordered them to pass by her parent's place first to pick up Little Peanut.

This time, two black cars followed behind them. One car belonged to Yong Liwei's men while the other belonged to Han Qinshan's men. Ever since what happened the security around Yong Liwei tightened.

Yong Liwei was tapping on his phone, sending a message to his assistant concerning the documents that Han Xukun has yet to work on.

Lu Mengjie took a peek from the side and when she saw that he was planning on working while he was reciprocating, she knitted her brows together.

"No working while you're at home.

"

He lowered his phone to look at her, blinking a few times.

"I'm not badly injured.

"

She rolled her eyes.

"Are you even a human? Your wounds are deep and it will take a month to fully recover.

"

"You'll have to tie me up if you want me to listen to you.

" He pressed a button from the side and the separator behind the driver began to slide up, giving them the privacy they needed.

Lu Mengjie narrowed her eyes at him, her cheeks flushed.

"I didn't know that you're actually into that kind of stuff,

" she teased.

Instead of being flustered, the man beside her flashed her a sexy smirk as a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. He moved his face closer against hers to which she unconsciously shrank back.

As he inched closer to her, she continued to shrink away until she reached the corner of their seat. He pressed his palm against the glass window.

"W-What are you doing?

" She tried to stay calm but her stutter made it obvious to him that she wasn't. His devilishly handsome face was so close against her's, it was making her heart race like crazy.

"Hm? What do you think I'm doing?

"

When she saw that he was about to lean to occupy the rest of the space between their faces, she subconsciously shut her eyes and waited for the kiss.

Yong Liwei paused and stared at her adorable reaction. She even puckered her soft-looking lips as she waited for his kiss.

She squinted her left eye open to check on why he wasn't kissing her yet. She was already prepared to have another kissing session with him.

As she peeked, she saw him back on his seat. He was tapping on his phone again, probably messaging his assistant about work. Her face went dark red not because of embarrassment but because of her anger.

"Yong Liwei!

"

He turned back to look at her with a clueless gaze,

"Hm? Yes, Mrs. Yong?

"

She straightened her back as she puffed out her blushing cheeks upon hearing his endearment. She was supposed to be mad but the captivating smile that appeared on his lips made her heart jump.

Something felt different. She couldn't differentiate who was who. Han Yizhou may have said his goodbyes to her but at that moment, she felt him there but at the same time, another part of her was telling her that it was Yong Liwei who was with her that moment. Was this what he meant when he said that he would be living as Yong Liwei? The two alters merging as one?

She inwardly sighed as she shook her head from the thought that entered her mind. She flashed him a smile. Instead of saying a word, she grabbed his phone out of his hold.

"I'll be confiscating this.

"

He raised a brow at her.

"What if there's an emergency?

"

"I'll be sticking with you 24

/7 so you don't have to worry about that. Also if you have calls or messages, you'll only be able to check them if it's urgent. I'll install Kuro on your phone so that he'll be the one notifying us.

"

"Kuro?

"

"Oh yeah, you haven't met Kuro yet.

" She took out her phone from her bag.

"Kuro, why don't you introduce yourself to my husband?

"

In an instant, a silhouette of a cat's head appeared on Lu Mengjie's phone screen.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Sir. My name is Kuro,

" he greeted and introduced himself.

Yong Liwei eyed his wife in confusion so she further informed him about what Kuro was.

"He is an artificial intelligence that was created by my mother but I upgraded him to my own liking. His real body is in my dad's place together with his brothers, Sebby, Kenma, and Seiju. My brothers took Sebby and Kenma as their own so Seiju is currently in charge of my parent's defense system. You can say that he is the real-life version of TStark's JARVIS. I would like to connect him to our place's security system and also to the place itself. We can connect him to all our technologies, including this car. I can only upgrade him but for me to make another him, it will be a very complicated process. I don't know how my mother managed to create them in the past.

"

"I was supposed to say the secret keyword to him so that he could contact others for help. It's just…

" she lowered her head and clenched her fists.

"I panicked... so it never entered my mind. I'm sorry, Liwei.

"

"You don't have to apologize for that. Besides, it's already been taken care of.

" He held her chin and made her look at him. His eyes landed on the bandaid that was over her cheek. He had been quiet about it but every time he looked at the bandaid, he felt guilty. What he did to Hunter was not enough. He should have done worse to that bastard and his companions.