8.1 The Prophecy

Qiao Chen woke up to the feeling that he was in bed. However, it wasn't like the other times he had woken up. His body felt very sore. It was like he had gotten beat up. There was a shrill female voice talking loudly beside him and it made him dizzy.

"Still running in the middle of all of this? The wedding will be held in a few days. If you die, then you're hurting the entire family."

A slender, mean looking lady in a dress scolded Qiao Chen. She loudly said in an unhappy tone, "I have taken good care of your young master these days. He's not allowed to take one step out the door. If he wants to die, then he can do after he gets married and has children."

Qiao Chen looked at the lady with a blank expression as he lay on the bed. The lady glared at him as she left once she finished her reprimand.

"Young master, are you okay? Would you like to have some water?" The servant beside the bed asked in concern.

Qiao Chen gently shook his head no. "I'm okay. You can go now."

The servant replied. "The doctor left behind some medicine for you before he left. Please take it and have a good rest."

The servant helped Qiao Chen sit up and take the medicine. Then he lay back down and stared at the ceiling. Qiao Chen began the process of once again remembering what happened in this lifetime of his.

It was another interstellar universe. There were three genders in this world too. Qiao Chen found that besides the first world he joined, he was never just a man. He was always a gher or something similar.

The woman who scolded him just now was his oldest aunt. His parents left this world early, and he was an orphan. His parents left a large inheritance to provide food, clothing, and shelter. Unfortunately, he was too young at the time. Those assets and properties never reached him. Even if he wanted to take them back when he was older, it was impossible.

His father was the third eldest in the family. There were two other brothers who older than him. His paternal grandfather was Count von der Wood. Qiao Chen's father did not have this title. He wasn't interested in politics, so he ventured into business while he was young. However, because of the accident, his mother and father never returned.

He was known as Jovin (the pinyin is similar to his original name: Qiaowen) van der Wood. He had a pretty decent life when his grandfather was still alive. However, his grandfather has passed a few years ago and moved to live with his uncle's family. His eldest aunt was constantly jealous of Jovin's mother while she was alive. This meant that she especially disdained Joven for being her spawn. She never let him live easy while she was around. This became even worse once his grandfather passed away.

Jovin's wedding was set to take place within a few days. He will marry the sole prince of this empire. Over the course of the decades, the von der Woods were considered to be a declining middle-class aristocratic family. They both incapable and held no real power. This meant that this lowly orphaned aristocrat would typically never be in line to marry the prince.

As for how Jovin was able to marry the sole heir and prince of the empire… the story could be traced back to the initial circumstances of how this empire came to be.

The previous emperor was a hedonistic man. His ability to lead and govern wasn't hampered by his pursuit of pleasure. Once his reign ended, the present emperor came into power. This emperor was influenced by his father and was also hedonistic. However, he only had the ability to pursue pleasure and no capabilities to rule or govern. This meant that the nobles and officials under the sitting emperor were naturally the same.

Therefore, this empire was like a tree hollowed by tree borers. The branches and exterior seemed to be strong and sturdy, but the foundation within was filled with holes and weakness. If the empire wasn't able to fill up the holes in the tree, then it wouldn't be long before this seemingly thick and sturdy tree collapses from within.

There was a temple in the empire's capital. This temple was known for their prophesies. It was said that the prophesies were all knowing and all encompassing. This temple's divinations were what shaped and expanded this country for tens of thousands of years.

However, fulfilling the conditions of a prophecy was no simple task. It was divined that only the royalty with the energy of a true or absolute emperor would be able to set the prophesy in motion. There had been emperor after emperor in this empire who failed to "activate" the prophesized event- five emperors in a row who did not fulfill the condition of absolute emperor.

The current emperor was old and weak. He was bedridden nearly all year round, so power was given to the queen. In order to prevent her son from inheriting a dying nation, the queen did everything within her power to set the prophecy in motion.

The temple's high priest read and reviewed the classic literature in their library until they finally found the common denominator in the emperors who were said to have the true energy of an emperor. The people who gave birth to the true emperors were all people who had a fertility rating of 5 and traits of the 'emperor's yang energy' running in their gene.

Therefore, the queen began the search for people who met the requisites to fulfill the capital temple's prophesy. She began with nobles' and officials' daughters and ghers. Every single person with a level five fertility needed to be examined.

Jovin's fertility level five was recorded in the imperial hospital. He was quickly examined, and they found that he also had the emperor's yang gene in his DNA. The queen was very happy to grant Jovin an audience with Her Highness. Then she immediately confirmed his marriage to the prince.

Even though Jovin was set to marry the prince and gain the title as the future queen, his eldest aunt still had a poor attitude towards him. This was because Prince Farley had a lover named Mandy. They were supposed to be married, but once Jovin's 'emperor energy gene' was discovered, the prince now had to marry Jovin.

The nobles of the capital planet all knew that Prince Farley deeply loved Mandy. He publically refused the marriage to Jovin several times. However, the Queen was unwavering. Farley was required to marry Jovin. His first child must also be conceived and borne by Jovin as well. Therefore, even though Farley and Jovin had even yet to marry, Farley hated Jovin with every fiber of his being.

Jovin was only marrying the prince to produce an heir. It was hard to say whether he would even be able to step foot anywhere near throne let alone sit on it once his 'task' was done. Even if Jovin did become the empress, he wouldn't be able to hold much power when his own emperor husband hated him. Jovin's aunt wasn't afraid that he'd be able to retaliate once he married the prince, so she continued to treat him poorly.

Qiao Chen's body was in pain. The soreness was because he was abducted and beaten when he was out visiting his friends.

In the entirety of the empire, there wasn't anyone else who would dare abduct and assault the future empress like that besides Farley. Prince Farley wanted to prove his devotion to Mandy and had Jovin kidnapped and beaten in front of Mandy's eyes.

In Jovin's original life, his marriage to Prince Farley was a barrier between him and his true love. The prince couldn't wait to get rid of this dead wall. He couldn't blame his own mother, so he vented all his anger and hatred to Jovin. He never once hid his hatred and disgust. Once Jovin gave birth to the child, Prince Farley poisoned Jovin.

Qiao Chen recovered his memories for this lifetime and sneered. The was a cloud of darkness in his eyes. It was already enough that you had to disgrace my body by conceiving a child. Why should I be wiped off the face of the planet after receiving so many scars- especially since these scars were all from you?

As Qiao Chen recovered, he devised a plan. There was still some time before the wedding.

It was a rare day of good, sunny weather. Qiao Chen lay in the recliner on the balcony and absorbed the sun's rays. His servant, Richie, brought out a blanket and placed it on him.

"Young Master." Richie said worriedly. His young master Jovin had become very different ever since his injury. "Are you really going to marry the prince? He hates you so much. I'm afraid that if you marry him then…"

Qiao Chen looked at the blue sky and said, "It's not something I can decide. Even if I say that I don't want to get married, no one will listen to me."

Whether it was Jovin or Qiao Chen neither one wanted to marry that Prince Farely. Jovin wasn't able to escape from his arranged marriage. However, Qiao Chen wasn't going to leave just yet. His previous life was so miserable. It would be letting them off to easy if he just ran off and left them alone.

The door swung wide open. The visitor quickly walked to the balcony and looked at Qiao Chen leisurely laying in the sun. The man sarcastically mocked, "You're quite free. Do you really think that everything will be fine once you marry the prince? Do you think you can live a life of happiness there?"

Qiao Chen turned his head to glance at the man. This was his eldest uncle's gher, Mordecai. Mordecai only had a level one fertility. Jovin's level five fertility was always something he considered as the thorn in his eye since childhood.

Mordecai initially grit his teeth in jealousy when he heard that Jovin was set to marry the prince. He was unwilling but didn't dare to speak ill of Jovin. However, once the prince publically denounced and rejected the marriage, Mordecai was giddy with joy. He began to mock and laugh at Jovin's misfortune.

Jovin knew that the prince didn't want to marry him and he the same. However, he wasn't able to resist. Even the prince himself was unable to break the engagement. Jovin was depressed for a period of time. His eldest aunt scolded him for being hypocritical and ungrateful. There were so many people who wanted to marry his Royal Highness, but were even unable to catch of glimpse him, yet here Jovin was sad and whiny over it.

Qiao Chen looked at Mordecai and suddenly laughed. Mordecai was puzzled by his sudden laughter and snapped, "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing because all you do is concern every second of your free time with me but seem to neglect yourself. It must be so hard on you."

"What do I need to be worried about? And who said I'm concerned about you? Furthermore, I'm here to laugh at you. The worse off you are, the happier I'll be."

"You're a gher with a fertility level of one. You have no hope or capacity to bear your own child, but you still have the time and the mood to laugh at other people's misfortunes? I really admire you. If you were a man, then you wouldn't really have to worry, but you're a gher. Even the Charlottes, who don't even carry a title wouldn't want to marry their children to you. Is it even possible for you to be married in your entire life?"

"You…" Mordecai didn't expect that Jovin would know about the Charlotte family's refusal to marry him. He was angered beyond angry with the rest of Qiao Chen's words. He lifted his hand, ready to hit Jovin, but Jovin's cold and fierce eyes stopped him dead in his tracks. He was frozen, and couldn't budge.

Qiao Chen took his time to stand up from the recliner. Then he walked over, raised his hand, and slapped Mordecai's face. A clear and crisp sound rang out through the air.

"How dare you hit me?" Mordecai clutched his face and exclaimed as he stared at Jovin in disbelief.

Qiao Chen though inwardly that this line was just too old-fashioned and over used, "If you dare to hit me, then why wouldn't I dare hit you back?"

Mordecai's entire body trembled. He wouldn't be able to swallow his anger anyways. He raised his hand again to slap Qiao Chen in the face.

Qiao Chen stopped Mordecai's hand with one arm and slapped him again with the free hand.

Mordecai nearly went mad with anger once he realized that Jovin slapped him twice. He rushed forward to jump on Qiao Chen, but Richie held him back. He couldn't even reach the corner of Qiao Chen's shirt.

Mordecai wasn't resigned to let Jovin win like that. He left the room and ran to his mother to complain. When Qiao Chen's eldest aunt came rushing in to interrogate him, he threatened that he wouldn't go through with the marriage if they laid even a single finger on him. If worse came to worse, then every single one of them would have to go down with him.

Qiao Chen's eldest aunt had lived for several decades now. She wouldn't lost control of her emotions as easily as Mordecai did. She knew that the Queen would never let the family go if Jovin didn't marry the prince. Therefore, all she could do was persuade Mordecai to bear with it for a while. They'd have the last laugh once Jovin married the prince.