TCFGBH Chapter 103

a bonus chapter since I celebrated my birthday yesterday~

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The Xika Hotel has a total of sixty-six floors, with the top floor dedicated exclusively to a luxury suite. The environment is elegant and comfortable, featuring a hot spring pool, a cinema, a gym, and a fully glassed-in sunlit botanical garden.

The botanical garden is filled with many rare and precious plants, vibrant and full of life. A winding artificial creek runs through the central resting area, flowing toward an unknown destination.

A handsome young man with blonde hair and blue eyes is seated on the left side. The rose-red tea beside him has cooled to lukewarm. His eyes are half-lowered, his expression calm, though his gaze hints of impatience.

He glances at his assistant behind him, who immediately picks up on the cue, steps forward with a bright smile, and quietly asks, “Hello, it’s been fifteen minutes. When can we expect Young Master Xia Yan to arrive?”

The bodyguard’s expression is serious. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the authority to discuss the young master’s matters.”

“Of course, I understand your difficulties,” the assistant smiles and responds, “Young Master Grover is very busy with official matters. He specially took time out this afternoon to personally deliver the dinner invitation.”

He pauses for a moment and continues, “Lord Edward, the ruler of Planet HHX29, has specifically instructed that due to the presence of a very important guest at the banquet, every invitation must be personally delivered to the recipient.”

If Xia Yan continues to make excuses, after they leave, they’ll have to trouble him to personally visit Young Master Grover or Lord Edward to receive the invitation.

The assistant doesn’t elaborate, leaving the message implied.

The bodyguard hesitates for a moment, then whispers, “Please wait.” He turns and walks out of the botanical garden.

“…” The assistant’s mouth twitches. These people couldn’t even be bothered to pretend to be polite, and their attitude changed so quickly. Despite both Master Grover and Xia Yan Gardner being royal candidates, with equal status, Grover’s behavior was so dismissive.

Such an arrogant, annoying noble young master.

The assistant can’t help but silently complain.

Five minutes later, Xia Yan Gardner arrives, fashionably late.

He’s wearing a pure white loungewear set, his hair messy and spiked, with a faint red mark on his right cheek. Though he looks like someone who just woke up in a daze, his beauty is undiminished.
The sunlight filtering through the botanical garden casts a golden glow on him.

Grover is momentarily stunned.

Xia Yan… is he really this beautiful?

“Sorry for the wait.” The young man doesn’t even bother with the usual noble insincerity of apologies, brushing off his tardiness with a casual sentence, and confidently asks, “Where’s my invitation?”

“It’s—” here.

Grover’s hand trembles, almost accidentally handing over the invitation, but fortunately, he regains his composure. Under Xia Yan’s questioning gaze, he sips his tea and says indifferently, “Gillingham and the Xia family have been close for a century. It’s really heartbreaking that my cousin refuses to meet me.”

Xia Yan: “…”

Damn it! This scheming and rivalry again, this is exactly why I didn’t want to meet him!

Although Grover and the original owner share royal blood, their lineages are far apart. It wasn’t until Xia Yan suddenly revealed his golden eyes that anyone even thought of this.

The throne values seniority, and Grover, being two years older than the original owner, holds the advantage in age.

Every time the original owner gets upset by being called “cousin,” Grover acts like a tolerant elder, pretending to be magnanimous and forgiving. Everyone in the noble circle knows it’s intentional.

A scheming king isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s the impatient original owner who is the problem.
Unfortunately, no matter how Grover plots, the protagonist gong will ultimately claim the throne, the only son of the current emperor. The more they fight now, the harsher the emperor will be in clearing the way for his son in the future.

Xia Yan sits opposite Grover without responding, casually waving his hand, “I’m so tired, get me a coffee.”

“Yes, young master.”

The border area is remote, with high personnel turnover and complex situations. To protect Xia Yan, Duke Xia prepared a bodyguard team in advance. All the servants of the Moonlight Suite have been sent away, and the bodyguards manage everything for Xia Yan.

An S-class bodyguard, tall and exuding a bloody aura, is here only as a coffee boy.

Hidden in the shadows are one, or maybe two, S-class warriors, ready to serve Xia Yan at any time. Grover can vaguely sense their gaze.

The coffee is soon delivered, and Xia Yan takes a sip, unhesitatingly criticizing, “It’s terrible.”

The bodyguard specialized in killing: “…”

Grover: “…” Does he really treat his bodyguards like servants?

If these people ever joined the military, they could easily earn military merit and become leaders. They choose to be mercenaries simply to avoid being controlled, with a higher level of freedom. The stronger they are, the more their pride and self-respect grow.

Xia Yan’s treatment of him should make him angry… right?

Hmm???

The S-class bodyguard stares at the young man’s face, his cheeks flushed as he stammers, “I—I’ll make you another one.”

“Forget it, it’ll be over soon.” Xia Yan sets the coffee down, crossing his arms, “Grover, I’m already here, give me the invitation.”

No pleasantries, just a straightforward demand.

No matter what Grover thinks internally, on the surface, he has always acted as the gentle older brother. If he doesn’t want to tear their relationship apart, he can’t refuse the request.

He hands over the invitation: “You really are impatient, cousin.”

The empire now uses electronic invitations, but only in remote border areas or certain private gatherings do they still use physical invitations, as some guests don’t want to expose their identities.

The banquet will be held tomorrow at 8 PM, as a prelude to the auction in five days.

Grover is unsure why Xia Yan came to the border, and today’s personal delivery of the invitation is also a way to probe him. “I’ve heard about what happened at school.”

“…” Xia Yan says nothing.

“Although I heard you came here just to unwind, when I booked the hotel half a month ago, I was told the Moonlight Suite had been reserved for a month.”

Xia Yan: “…”

Isn’t talking in circles tiring?

The young man raises an eyebrow, casually saying, “My grandfather owns 57% of the Xika Hotel’s shares, and this suite was initially prepared for our family.”

He paused for a moment, then curled his lips into a mocking smile and glanced at Grover: “Except for His Majesty, anyone else who tries to book the Moonlight Suite will be told it’s already reserved.”

Grover: “…”

Honestly, he knew that Lina Carter’s family was incredibly wealthy. Still, he didn’t realize that they were the largest shareholders of the Sika Hotel, which had branches across the entire galaxy and was well-known in the Federation.

Beyond that, how much power did they actually hide?

Xia Yan was a fool, easy to deal with.

But his backers, Xia Jiuqian and Lina Carter, were sly hunters, lurking in the shadows, ready to strike.

Grover’s expression darkened slightly: “So that’s how it is.”

“Although it’s not the top floor, the Starlight Suite on the 65th floor is also very nice,” Xia Yan stressed. “My grandfather cares a lot about the hotel and personally designed all the suites.”

Grover: “??!!” He designed them himself?

Xia Yan smiled subtly. For someone as calculating as Grover, staying in the enemy’s lair was like putting one’s neck in a beast’s mouth, a fact that would undoubtedly make him uneasy.

Perfect. He could leave as soon as possible, and that way, he wouldn’t bother him anymore.

Ahem… it seems like he was learning a bit of bad behavior.

Sure enough, when Grover heard this news, he lost all interest in probing further and quickly made up an excuse to leave.

–

The next day.

Not long after Xia Yan woke up, he received word from his mother. While Grover had not officially checked out, he had actually left in the middle of the night, leaving only an empty room.

[Got it, Mom.]

[Enjoy the banquet tonight.]

Lina Carter had a lot she wanted to say to her son, but she could only give him a brief reminder in the end. After closing her intelligence brain, she looked at her husband, troubled: “They know about the Xika Hotel now.”

Duke Xia’s expression was calm: “Yes, the secrecy wasn’t done well. Even without Xiao Yan, they would have found out eventually.”

“How about the transfer of the remaining assets?”

“The fake identities in the Federation are ready.” Xia Jiuqian took out several ID cards. “If Xiao Yan fails in the struggle for the throne, we’ll abandon everything here and head to the Federation.”

They had prepared enough wealth for Xia Yan to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Lina nodded: “I’ll also prepare another batch of jewelry and antiques, just in case.”

“Do you need help?”

“No, my dear brother is handling that.” Lina shook her head, a sly smile creeping onto her face. “After all… who would care about what a playboy is doing?”

There were three members of the Carter family in this generation.

The eldest daughter, Martha, was steady and intelligent, inheriting the core business. Her brother, Clay, had always been a charmer, wasting money on women. The youngest daughter, Lina, had entered into a business marriage with Duke Xia, uniting their strengths.

Lina was very satisfied with the marriage.

Xia Jiuqian was young, handsome, and held power. He was calculating and capable, playing political games without being controlled by desire, and cared more about his family than wealth or power.

Beneath the calm surface, currents stirred.

As night fell, the streetlights gradually lit up. Inside the grand and luxurious mansion, men and women dressed in opulent attire mingled, glasses clinking, and laughter filling the air, which had a strong scent of alcohol.

People gathered in small groups, chatting quietly.

“I heard that the mysterious Mecha Master D is coming to the banquet?”

“I think so? Does anyone know D?”

“…”

Everyone exchanged looks, but no one said anything.

D was a brilliant mecha designer who had emerged a few years ago, and every year he revealed impressive designs. It was said that his latest mecha design could revolutionize the entire mecha industry.

Everyone was very curious and eager to get a taste of it.

“Ah… Grover is here.” Someone whispered in surprise.

As one of the heirs to the throne, Grover was well-known in high society. People either openly or secretly watched him, with families that had already pledged their support stepping forward to talk to him.

But many others were still observing.

Grover didn’t mind and maintained a polite smile. Most people who reached his level were very shrewd; they wouldn’t act until they were sure.

As long as they remained neutral, he was confident he would surpass Xia Yan.

Grover was full of confidence.

The next moment, as the door opened and footsteps approached, the entire hall suddenly fell silent.

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TN: sorry for the late updates guys.. im super busy preparing my jlpt test (and celebrate my birthday hehehehe) and done my test today (wml..) anyway Ian and Xia Yan will meet soon HAHAHAHAHA Ian acts like he doesnt want to be with Xia Yan in real life but wait until he see him>:D lololol also i really love the Xia parents, their familial love is really warm~