The Empire’s Twelve Stars refer to the twelve most exceptional Alphas in the Empire, spanning twelve major fields including medicine, literature, business, and politics. They are the Empire’s brightest rising stars. Moreover, these twelve individuals all come from the Gu family and are blood-related brothers.

But they aren’t just twelve brothers. The Gu family has thirteen children, with the youngest being a useless Alpha. His twelve brothers and parents raised him as if he were an Omega, but he unexpectedly presented as the lowest-grade Alpha, with a weak milk-scented pheromone.

Gu Zeyu sat in a giant teddy bear’s embrace, clutching a milk bottle, watching his brothers discuss his marriage in a circle. His bottle originally had a nipple, but after the doctor, Sixth Brother, showed him dozens of pictures of buck teeth, it was changed to a straw.

The brothers’ discussion was incredibly heated, peppered with professional terms Gu Zeyu didn’t understand like “pheromone compatibility,” “rut,” and “delayed heat.” His big eyes darted around, and he timidly tugged at Second Brother, the businessman, closest to him, asking, “Second Brother, what are you talking about?”

Second Brother, holding a calculator and rapidly punching numbers to calculate the optimal ratio of betrothal gifts and dowry, listened to the mechanical female voice dryly reporting numbers.

“We’re discussing how much it’ll cost to buy you an Omega.”

Frightened, Gu Zeyu shrank into the teddy bear’s belly, his whole body sinking into the soft cotton. He shook his head, saying, “Tenth Brother said buying people is illegal. He’d lock me in a prison without milk and force me to operate a sewing machine.”

The designer, Ninth Brother, shot him a cold glance, his star-like eyes and sword-like eyebrows slightly raised as he said, “Looking down on people operating sewing machines?”

Gu Zeyu lowered his head, obediently shaking it. Then he heard Ninth Brother continue, “I’ll personally make Xiao Yu’s wedding suit and the Omega’s wedding dress. Don’t choose someone too ugly; it’d be a waste of my designs.”

The IT expert, Seventh Brother, swiped the holographic projection to add the designer’s request. Finally, combining the twelve brothers’ diverse criteria and matching them through big data in the system, a 5D surround true-person holographic image appeared.

Imperial War Star, Lu Yunian.

The twelve brothers let out a gasp of surprise. The senator, Third Brother, clicked his tongue twice and said, “To think General Lu is an Omega. He’s kept it well hidden.”

Gu Zeyu peeked out, saw the bulging biceps of the man in the holographic image, tossed his milk bottle, and ran towards his room, crying as he went, “I won’t marry the black bear spirit!”

When the judge, Eldest Brother, entered the room, Gu Zeyu was crying so hard the whole room was filled with his milk-scented pheromones. Eldest Brother reached into the cotton-soft blanket to pull him out, coaxing him, “Every Alpha must find a highly compatible Omega to marry after coming of age. Otherwise, the backlash during rut will be a thousand times more painful than getting a shot. If you really don’t want to marry him, we can have him marry into our family instead. How’s that?”

Hearing “shot,” Gu Zeyu’s eyes swelled up even more. Eldest Brother rubbed his fluffy hair, sighing, “Xiao Yu, don’t forget, you’re an Alpha.”

He hiccupped from crying, whimpering softly, thinking that if Eldest Brother hadn’t reminded him, he would have forgotten this fact.

Convincing Gu Zeyu wasn’t difficult; convincing Lu Yunian was the real challenge. But no one could withstand a collective boycott from twelve fields, so Lu Yunian agreed to marry Gu Zeyu.

On the wedding day, the twelve brothers had only one requirement for Gu Zeyu: no crying. He was so scared his mouth puckered, tears welling up in his eyes. But when he saw the designer, Ninth Brother, wielding large scissors near his dolphin pillow, his tear ducts immediately shut off.

When Lu Yunian made his entrance, he was wearing sixteen-hole military boots, cargo pants with pockets everywhere, cinched at the waist with a brown leather belt, and a well-fitted camouflage shirt that accentuated his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The senator, Third Brother, clicked his tongue again and turned to ask the designer, Ninth Brother, “You call this a wedding dress?”

Ninth Brother stroked the sharp blade, its gleam reflecting onto Third Brother’s lower eyelids, and said coldly, “I’m responsible for making it, Eldest Brother for persuading him to wear it. Why don’t you ask Eldest Brother what happened?”

The judge, Eldest Brother, his pupils narrowed to slits, hands in his pockets, glanced at the Empire’s strongest Omega striding towards Gu Zeyu on stage and said, “Just convincing him to attend the wedding in person required reading through the entire Marriage Law.”

When Lu Yunian stood beside Gu Zeyu, it was the first time he saw the Alpha he was marrying. He was already a size larger than the average Alpha, and Gu Zeyu was a size smaller. Standing together, their size difference was two full sizes. Lu Yunian had to suppress the urge to pick up Gu Zeyu, spin him around twice, and toss him off the stage.

Moreover, he despised weakness. On the battlefield, weakness meant death. He never imagined his future partner would be a weakling whose pheromones couldn’t even overpower an Omega’s. Just one glare from him made the little Alpha’s eyes redden, trembling as he inched further and further away, as if he wanted to dig a hole on stage, jump in, and bury himself.

As the ceremony was about to begin, Lu Yunian, despite his disgust, had to reach out and grab the Alpha’s waist to pull him back. But even this simple action caused Gu Zeyu to faint in his arms. He had no choice but to carry his Alpha bridal style in front of everyone and continue with the wedding proceedings.

Finally, when the officiator asked if they were willing, Lu Yunian said sternly, “I’m not willing.”

Looking down and seeing Gu Zeyu still unconscious, he added, “He’s not willing either.”

The twelve brothers stood below the stage, applauding with moved expressions as they watched the bride carrying the groom. The IT expert, Sixth Brother, said, “It’s fine, we can mute this in post-production and bleep out the ‘not’ part.”

The ceremony concluded, and they were sent to the bridal chamber. Gu Zeyu was still unconscious. Lu Yunian wanted to throw him down but saw twelve intense gazes fixed on him.