For a long moment, Emperor Li said nothing.
He paced slowly across the open space before the throne, his steps uneven, his hands clasped behind his back.
His eyes swept across the hall, over the rows of Alphas, over the guards lining the walls, over the three seated before him, but never once did he look at the two men kneeling on the floor.
It felt intentional, as if looking at them would make something snap.
The silence stretched, heavy and uncomfortable. It was the kind of silence that made people shift in their seats even when they tried not to.
The kind that made everyone wonder whether what was coming next would be words… or something worse.
Xiao Feng watched him move, his chest hollow with unease.
Even before Emperor Li spoke, something had already become clear to him. The pieces fit too easily. The presence of every Alpha. The anger in the room. The two betas dragged in like criminals.
Xiao Feng knew the two men had done.
Or at least, he thought that's what it looked like.
And despite everything, despite how obvious it seemed, he hoped with everything he had that it was not true. He wished that, that wasn't the case.
"I did not know something like this existed until this morning."
Emperor Li finally stopped pacing. His voice carried through the hall, calm on the surface but strained beneath it, as if disbelief alone could no longer hold back what lay underneath.
For a moment, he said nothing more. It was as though he was searching for words that refused to come.
No one moved. Everyone seemed to be even holding their breath.
"I have ruled this empire for many years," he continued slowly. "I have seen betrayal, rebellion, greed, and cruelty. I have judged crimes that tore packs and families apart. But this..."
He stopped again, his jaw set tight.
"This is something I have never heard of in my entire life."
His gaze lifted then, not toward the kneeling men, but toward the three seated before him.
"Perhaps you are young," he said. "Perhaps you have seen or heard things that I have not. Maybe you have seen this. Times change. People seem to be changing too.."
His eyes settled briefly on Li Yue, then shifted to Wang Yuan, and finally to Xiao Feng.
"But in all my years," he said, "this is the first time."
Xiao Feng felt his stomach drop.
"This morning," Emperor Li continued, his voice growing louder with each word, "while others were training, two men requested permission to leave the grounds. They claimed they needed the washroom."
A murmur rippled faintly through the hall, quickly silenced by the Emperor's raised hand.
"And yet," he went on, "what was found was not what anyone would expect."
He turned away again, as if disgust alone could not be contained.
"What kind of world allows two men," he said, his voice rising, "to touch each other the way a husband touches his wife? What kind of thinking allows two men to let each others' lips to touch as if it were natural?"
The room seemed to shrink around them.
Xiao Feng's hands curled slowly in his lap. His thoughts scattered. His heart pounded so hard it felt impossible that no one could hear it.
He knew no one knew about him.
He knew no one had proof that he felt that kind of desire toward a man.
But sitting there, hearing those words spoken aloud, he felt bare. As if something private had been dragged into the open and placed under the light for everyone to stare at.
Emperor Li turned sharply and his eyes landed on Xiao Feng first.
"Alpha Feng."
The sound of his name echoed.
"Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
For a second, Xiao Feng could not speak.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Fear climbed through him, fast and uncontrollable. His mind screamed at him to stay still.
He panicked inside uncontrollably because he falt exposed, he felt like he was the one kneeling down there, being judged.
He shook his head once.
"No," he said, finally, his voice was forced to sound firm.
Emperor Li's gaze shifted.
"Wang Yuan?"
Yuan did not answer.
"And you, Yue Yue?" the Emperor asked.
Li yue's face matched all the others in the room.
Disgust.
She didn't hesitate to answer, her voice loud enough. "No."
Emperor Li straightened, his eyes sweeping across the entire hall.
"Who among you," he demanded, "has seen or heard of such behavior? Maybe I am the only one who is living in his own world"
Silence.
Not a single person spoke.
"Not one?" he asked again.
Still nothing.
Only then did he turn to the two men kneeling on the floor.
One of them was trembling openly now, his head bowed so low his forehead nearly touched the floor. His shoulders shook, whether from fear or shame, it was impossible to tell.
The other knelt straighter, his jaw clenched, his eyes fixed on the ground ahead of him. He looked tense, but not as much as the other.
Emperor Li stared at them for a long moment.
His eyes flickered between green and red.
Everyone in the room noticed it. Everyone always did. That change in his eyes always meant the same thing. It was the moment right before something terrible happened.
But no one ever understood why his eyes had shade of Green. All the Alphas had red eyes when their animalistic side surfaced.
That was normal.
But Emperor Li's were different. Alongside the red, there was always that hint of green, flashing through.
No one truly knew why. Some said it was because of the power he held over every pack in the empire. Others believed it was the mark of the Moon Goddess herself.
Whatever the reason, it was feared.
His claws lengthened, longer than those of any other wolf would.
But he suddenly turned away from them.
The motion was fast, almost abrupt, as if he were stopping himself at the last possible second. As if whatever stirred inside him was pushing too hard, urging him toward something he did not want to do yet.
The disgust on his face was unmistakable. So was the anger. And beneath it all, something closer to disbelief, as if what stood before him went against everything he believed his world to be.
His fingers curled and relaxed again, slowly, as if he were testing how far he could still hold himself back.
Anyone could see that he was thinking of the worst thing he could do to them, something they would never forget, something that would stay in the minds of anyone else who might ever think of doing the same.
Even in the middle of his panic, even while feeling exposed in a way he had never felt before, Xiao Feng couldn't stop one thought from forming at the moment..
Why had Emperor Li summoned all the other Alphas if he was just going to make all the dicisions by himself?
It made no sense.
Besides, he never did this.
Emperor Li never asked for opinions. He never gathered leaders to discuss judgment. He decided, and everyone else accepted it.
The Alphas usually only heard that something had happened after it was already done, and they were never given a voice in it.
So why did he call them this time if he was still going to do the same thing?!
Emperor Li finally spoke again, and this time his anger was no longer held back.
"If two men choose to act like this," he said loudly, his voice echoing through the hall, "then are you trying to destroy and kill my empire?"
His eyes flared again, green flashing through the red.
"Where are children meant to come from?" he demanded. "What future is left when men turn away from women? Is this not an insult to the Moon Goddess herself?"
The room remained silent, frozen.
"She gave permission for choice," he continued, his voice rising, "not for madness. Not for people to choose anything without thought. Where is the dignity of men in this empire?"
His anger spilled freely now.
"There is no punishment that feels equal to this kind of disgrace," he said. "Even death feels too small for what this represents."
He paused.
"But small or not," he went on, this time he sounded cold and final, "death is what will happen. Because I want to erase this and never hear of it again."
He turned sharply toward the gathered Alphas.
"And you," he said, his gaze sweeping across them. "This did not happen in a void. If men under your rule reach a point where they abandon all sense and touch another man as if it were acceptable, then you have failed."
His eyes hardened.
"You are weakening."
A murmur threatened to rise, but no one dared speak.
"Which pack do these two belong to?" Emperor Li demanded. "Who is their Alpha?"
The tension in the room climbed even higher.
Xiao Feng's thoughts raced.
Was he going to punish the Alpha as well?
The question sent a chill through him as he waited to see just how far Emperor Li intended to go.