Chapter 86: The Inferior Tsundere Canary Alpha

When the phone rang, Li Huan was sitting on the edge of her bed, racking her brain for the quickest way to infuse the plush toy with her own pheromones. Her eyes were fixed intently on it, utterly absorbed.

The quiet room suddenly filled with a string of chimes, startling Li Huan so much that her body jolted. She realized whose ringtone it was just as her finger instinctively tapped to answer.

“Hello?” Li Huan’s breath caught in her throat.

She had set a custom ringtone for Jiang Li.

It stemmed from one particular incident during that month’s heat period.

Because Li Huan had missed her calls, Jiang Li had nearly ended it all right then and there.

They didn’t spend every moment glued together. Sometimes Li Huan retreated to her room to study, leaving her phone on the far side of the desk where she couldn’t see the screen.

By the time she finally noticed the string of missed calls, her face had drained of color. She rushed to Jiang Li’s room, only to find her so weakened that she could barely lift her eyelids to glare at her.

On the soft bed, the thin blanket had been kicked aside. Jiang Li’s white camisole nightgown was bunched up slightly as she lay curled there, her brows furrowed in a soft groan of pain.

A couple of faint murmurs drifted through the air. “Li… Huan…”

Her voice was a fragile thread, yet the room was saturated with the thick, overwhelming scent of epiphyllum. The air purifier hummed relentlessly, but it did nothing to dispel the aroma.

The pheromones had nearly solidified into a tangible epiphyllum bloom, transforming the room into a lavish display case that tugged at the heartstrings.

Li Huan, who had just stepped inside, felt her eyes sting and redden. Uncontrollably, a faint cedar scent wrapped around the epiphyllum petals, circling them endlessly.

She rushed to the bedside and scooped Jiang Li into her arms, panic lacing her voice. “Jiang Li.”

There was no response. Jiang Li couldn’t muster one.

Only after the cedar and epiphyllum had intertwined and melted together for a good while did Jiang Li slowly regain her senses from her delirious haze.

The first thing she did was question why Li Huan had left her alone to suffer through her heat.

It was phrased as a question, but whether from the feeble grip Jiang Li had on her or the low, husky words spilling from those pale lips, it felt less like an interrogation and more like flirtation between lovers.

That thought jolted Li Huan so badly that she momentarily forgot to release her pheromones, stunned by her own mind.

Jiang Li was the one who pulled her back to reality.

Afterward, the troublesome Eldest Miss Jiang issued a direct order to prevent any repeats.

With narrowed eyes and a frosty expression sharpening her delicate features, she watched Li Huan set the custom ringtone—and only then did she relent.

That ringtone hadn’t gone off again until today.

Maybe it was because Li Huan occasionally opened her phone at night just to listen to it, secretly tracing Jiang Li’s name on the screen with her finger. But when the tone rang out this time, Jiang Li’s name popped up immediately.

The squirrel plush she had been cradling tumbled from her grasp, suddenly dangling pitifully by its tail.

But Li Huan’s attention was already wholly captured by Jiang Li’s unexpected call. She had no spare thought for the toy.

Ever the dutiful canary, Li Huan took the initiative to speak despite her breathing being quickened by the sudden ring. “What are your orders, Eldest Miss?”

After all, Li Huan glanced at the time—it was lunch break now.

She assumed Jiang Li was calling because something needed doing at home, or perhaps she felt unwell and needed Li Huan to come find her at school right away.

But the words from the other end of the line left Li Huan utterly dumbfounded for once.

Was the person speaking to her so gently across the phone just messing with her? Or…

No, no, Li Huan forced a strained smile. Another suspicion bubbled up in her mind—one that seemed fitting for someone who sounded so amused.

That Jiang Li had suddenly chosen a new Alpha.

Out of the Eldest Miss’s usual sincerity and propriety—perhaps with a touch of wanting to amuse herself at Li Huan’s response—she had proactively called to ask for her opinion.

A sour ache bubbled fiercely in her chest. A flicker of hurt passed through Li Huan’s eyes, and the veins stood out on the back of her hand gripping the phone.

What good was asking her? Would Jiang Li really listen? The pampered, picky Eldest Miss of the Jiang Family heeding a mere canary? It would be laughable if word got out.

A thousand refusals screamed in her heart, but Li Huan’s voice trembled as she gritted her teeth and said, “Everything as you arrange, Eldest Miss.”

Tch… Jiang Li watched Zhou Chenyu’s ugly expression, her fingertip tapping her lips. “But I want to hear your opinion. After all—”

She dragged the word out, yanking Li Huan’s heart up with it. Li Huan held her breath, waiting for the rest.

Then came a playful remark. “After all, you’re my Alpha, right?”

My Alpha. My… my…

Li Huan’s face flushed crimson in an instant. Her lips parted for ages without a word, until she finally mumbled a terse “Mm,” falling silent.

Only a tuft of fluff from the squirrel’s tail, yanked loose and drifting in the air, seemed to suffer pathetically from the ordeal—and the overly forceful pinch.

Jiang Li fell quiet on the other end. Li Huan twisted her fingers together, eyes turbulent with struggle, before forcing out a stuttered reply from her throat. “Yes… yes, yours.”

Still no response, but Li Huan could swear she heard Jiang Li’s delighted chuckle, followed by an unfamiliar woman’s admiring voice, and perhaps her own muffled yelp.

Jiang Li seemed to chat with them, stirring unease and hidden displeasure in Li Huan’s heart.

Wasn’t she on the phone with her? Why talk to others?

But Li Huan couldn’t muster any words to interrupt. She simply set the phone to speaker, cradling it in front of her as she stared at the ticking timer. Her heart pounded in booming rhythm.

This sense of anticipation felt so strange, and Li Huan knew she was strange for it.

She hated the delicate, troublesome Jiang Li—or at least she should. Yet that hatred always dissolved into something ethereal in her presence, rearing its prickly head only when truly stung.

But whenever Jiang Li spoke to her softly, that faint dislike vanished entirely from her mind.

She was fickle beyond measure.

She couldn’t control it, though. So she blamed it on their 99% compatibility pheromones instead.

After a month of their scents entwining, it was only natural that her subconscious barbs softened toward Jiang Li.

Yes, it was the pheromones. Li Huan told herself as much.

Her anxiously awaited reply finally came after an eternity of fluttering.

“Mm-hmm, good girl.” The teasing lilt in her voice rang with evident cheer, the smiling end of the sentence turning Li Huan’s ear tips pink.

A pause followed, stalling Li Huan’s heartbeat too. Then the next words detonated like fireworks in her chest, engulfing her entirely without warning.

“Mm—If you’re this good,” It felt like an age had passed, landscapes shifting. She heard Jiang Li’s low laugh before she continued, “I’ll send you a reward soon.”

The lingering, soul-stirring cadence lifted all of Li Huan’s emotions and plucked out the tiny thorn from her brief neglect.

A soft Omega wielded the power to steal souls with mere words, like a spring tide surging in.

Especially an S-grade Omega like Jiang Li, with their 99% compatibility to her.

The moment “reward” left her lips, Li Huan’s heart was already tethered far away to the unreturning Jiang Li.

Li Huan’s gaze softened, a subtle ripple in her usually cool eyes laced with expectation. Submissively, she said, “I’ll wait obediently for you to come home.”

The call ended.

The floating emotions froze with the red icon on the screen. Her hand released the plush tail as if scalded.

Your Alpha… wait obediently for you to come home…

Aaaah!! What had she just agreed to? What shameful words had spilled from her mouth?!

Her cheeks buried deep into the bedding with a smack. Li Huan shoved the plush she’d been clutching to the other side, refusing to face it.

Shame and regret flickered in her eyes.

Something was wrong. She was deeply wrong.

From that one call, Li Huan felt like her heart had been utterly ensnared by the other woman—even… even!

Her fist slammed into the mattress in fury. Li Huan’s brows knotted in anger as she recalled Jiang Li’s deliberate, ambiguous words on the line.

Just like when she’d left that morning.

They were captor and captive plain and simple, weren’t they?

She was an Alpha kept solely to accompany Jiang Li through her Omega heat period.

Jiang Li’s exclusive canary.

Li Huan pressed her face into the bed, as if trying to smother her budding extraneous feelings. Her fist on the sheets tightened until it dug crescents into her palm.

She reminded herself over and over: Don’t fall into Jiang Li’s trap. Don’t entertain extra thoughts about her. You can’t afford to play, you can’t afford to lose, you can’t fall in love…

Eldest Miss Jiang was fragile and noble; she herself had neither wealth nor power.

It was the chasm between pure clouds and dark mud.

Her cedar scent wafted through the air, shifting with her turbulent emotions—from cool certainty to notes of unease and turmoil.

The second before, Li Huan had resolved to keep her distance from Jiang Li.

The next, her long lashes quivered, mind ensnared—

What reward would she give me?

A few knocks sounded at the door, unanswered. Steam wafted faintly from the bathroom.

This body of hers was pathetically frail; even holding her schoolbag for long drained her arms with aches.

No one answered, but the gift in Jiang Li’s hands was growing too heavy to hold.

After ten seconds of thought, she decisively pushed the door open and stepped inside, face calm.

She swore she’d just drop the reward and leave—no peeking at Li Huan’s privacy.

She set the gift on the table and turned to go when her gaze swept over the bed. Her feet halted.

Hm? What’s that…

It clashed adorably with the room’s stark minimalism, especially against the pure black bedding.

Curiosity drew Jiang Li closer. She bent down, eyes fixed on the squirrel plush propped against the pillow.

After a quick glance at her clean hands, she reached out and picked up the soft, cute squirrel by its vividly upright tail.

Jiang Li smiled happily.

Unaware of the footsteps behind her.

Until droplets of water soaked the shoulder of her shirt, and humid, heated mist enveloped her from behind.

A hoarse voice asked, “What are you doing?”

Laced with panic.