Qui Mei was Liu Wei's closest cousin, the two grew up together and for many years lived within a few meters of each other.
The young alpha was 23 years old and lived in Martana for much of her upbringing. Her mother, Queen Mother of the Shanyr Islands was Liu Hui's older sister.
Qui Mei had a sweet sandalwood pheromone and few omegas did not feel comfortable in the presence of the princess, her docile and cute personality was very attractive.
The alpha had a long history of romances with omegas and was a major concern to her mother who just wanted her to urgently marry someone.
One of the ways to control her was her constant activities as a representative of the royal family of the Shanyr Isles.
As the only daughter and heir to the throne, she was training for when she assumed the post and that was something she shouldn't since the king was in poor health and was already thinking about abdicating in order to rest.
Liu Wei and Qui Mei grew up together until they differentiated. They had a strong sense of brotherhood and there was no physical attraction between them.
But the intimacy created over the years made them seem so close that anyone who saw them talking would think they were looking at a young newlywed couple.
The alpha was a tall, thin woman, not very strong. She particularly hated anything that involved a lot of physical exertion and made her sweat a lot.
She always preferred reading a book to playing with other children.
Qui Mei is an intelligent woman of rare beauty. Her short hair together with her well-defined eyes made her look strong and attractive.
The alpha princess, seeing her cousin, approached almost running and made a point of hugging her like a koala. It was a little pathetic to watch. The alpha was supposed to be 10 cm taller than Liu Wei, but she loved being completely attached to her cousin.
"Weiwei!
Liu Wei laughed at her cousin's exaggerated way. "Meimei, what are you doing here?"
"Daddy's orders. It's my first time representing Shanyr inside Wang's country."
The omega laughed with satisfaction. She could smell the faint scent of sandalwood and feel comfortable, it was a familiar feeling of being at home.
"How are uncle and aunt?"
"The usual..."
Qui Mei had a funny tone and Liu Wei laughed.
"Do they still insist that you must get married?"
"Yes… But doesn't it seem like a waste? There are so many beautiful omegas in the world…"
The alpha pointed at the crowd as if she was pointing at the world and its abundance of omegas. Liu Wei laughed funny.
"You really haven't changed at all."
She hugged her cousin and felt her play with her fingers. The alpha looked a little thoughtful. "It's not a sin to like pretty omegas... In fact, you're very close to the queen."
Qui Mei had good eyes and knew Liu Wei like no one else, she could tell that her cousin was having something with the queen.
Liu Wei was never like Qui Mei, she never wanted to get involved in matters like romance or dating, she never fell in love with or showed any kind of interest in an alpha.
Qui Mei had a suspicion in her heart that Liu Wei wasn't attracted to alphas, but she didn't really expect her cousin to get involved with another omega.
"Well, is it so obvious?"
She nodded and looked briefly at the queen.
Wang Zheng looked like she had knives in her eyes ready to pierce and eliminate Qui Mei.
"She was looking our way with a terrible face. Am I messed up?"
Liu Wei laughed. "No, you look beautiful."
She subtly looked at the queen and she was now accompanied by Chen Fu. She sighed in her heart.
Qui Mei approached her cousin's ear and began to whisper.
"How about introducing me to some pretty omega?"
"I?!"
"You are almost the hostess, when you entered everyone stared at you more than when the queen entered..."
"Serious? "
Liu Wei found what she had said exaggerated. Did she get more attention than the queen herself?! Impossible.
Qui Mei nodded positively. "Seriously, if I weren't your cousin I would be interested in you… What do you think?"
Qui Mei had a dismissive tone and Liu Wei could almost vomit at the thought of the two of them together. She let out a loud laugh.
"Gee... It would make me have nightmares."
The alpha laughed along, really they would both have bad dreams if that happened. But she pretended to be hurt by her cousin's comment.
"So you hurt my feelings."
Liu Wei was still feeling funny, her cousin was always a good company.
"The only omega I have any intimacy with here is Li Zhang..."
Qui Mei looked thoughtful for a few seconds.
"Li Zhang… Why do I feel like I know this name from somewhere?"
"She's a famous author, don't you keep reading? Maybe she's the author of a book you like."
Qui Mei remained thoughtful until suddenly a thought came to her mind. Her eyes widened and she grabbed Liu Wei's arm in excitement.
"Wait… She who wrote Assassin of Hearts?"
Liu Wei didn't follow Li Zhang's work so she could only assume that this was one of omega's works.
"I think so?"
Qui Mei made a surprised expression and if she hadn't been in the midst of so many people she would have let out a loud scream. So exciting.
"Weiwei you need to get me an autograph!"
Liu Wei couldn't contain his laughter. "Stop acting like that, you're scary when you get excited about something."
Qui Mei didn't care and continued: "Please"
"I'll try.. Don't push me too hard."
"OK."
Liu Wei laughed funny, her cousin looked like a puppy getting her first toy. So cute.
The conversation lingered for a few more minutes and was only interrupted because the young alpha needed to greet some of the other people who were among those in attendance at the party.
The princess watched her cousin walk away as she sipped her wine.
She searched the huge hall for a few seconds for the silhouette of Wang Zheng and didn't find it, she felt a little disappointed. But she soon realized the strange rapprochement between Huan Yang and Anna.
They seemed to be talking about something important.
Anna in a few seconds was already close to her and whispered in her ear that the queen wanted to see her at that moment. She smiled satisfied.
She wanted to get another glass of wine and as she searched she could feel a strong sea pheromone next to her. Strong and coarse. It was a pheromone loaded with aggression.
When turning to see who was the owner of pheromones, she saw a pair of black eyes staring at her, Chen Fu was next to her with one of her employees.
The alpha subtly approached Liu Wei and his voice was as low as a whisper. "I hear you and the queen are very close."
She didn't like the way the man spoke to her and preferred to increase the distance between them.
"What does this have to do with you?'
He laughed in derision, in the alpha's mind he was the future owner of Wang Zheng. "I think as an alpha I'm better suited for this competition than an omega who's barely old enough to control pheromones..."
Liu Wei laughed at the attitude of the man in front of him and just by watching he noticed that his employee had an expression as aggressive as his boss. Really unpleasant.
Liu Wei knew that she shouldn't be around alphas with this kind of behavior, it would be very troublesome for some alpha like that to become susceptible to her pheromone and try to forcefully mark her. But she wasn't afraid to face a man like him, alpha or not.
When you are a princess you learn early on that non-intimidation is not something a person on the throne should feel, a representative of the royal family cannot back down from another.
"She who should decide that."
The man didn't like the young princess's attitude and was almost losing his patience.
Liu Wei could feel the saltwater pheromones rapidly spreading, so salty it made her feel mute and her throat dry. The alpha must be very angry.
"Your..."
Liu Wei would not admit such behavior, he raised his hand and in a gesture told him to shut up. "If I were you, I'd be very careful what you say... I'm still, after the queen, the most important person on the continent inside this palace."
Nobody in their right mind would try to intimidate Liu Wei, Martana was too important a country to have as an enemy.
The alpha knew that, but he didn't care.
"Do you really think it's that important?"
"I may not be the heir to Martana's throne... But I'm not just any idiot. Don't underestimate me."
Liu Wei spotted someone carrying several glasses of wine not far away and unceremoniously walked away from Chen Fu, so that he could continue talking to himself.
Her footsteps were steady and she could feel the pheromone drift away, but she knew in her heart that the alpha was very angry.
This was really problematic.