Chapter 38: Royal Diplomatic Immunity

The instant the door swung open, the cold, damp wind of the late autumn morning swept into the warm suite like a blade of ice.

The air at the threshold seemed to hollow out in a single breath.

Silhouetted against the gray dawn light, four tall figures stood in a rigid row, their auras low and suffocating.

Gu Yanli was at the front. His black hair was styled with a hard, crushing precision, and when his dark eyes took in the living room, a violent black rage surged through them.

At his side, Theodore Vale kept up his flawless, elegant mask, though the knuckles of the hand holding his gold-rimmed glasses had gone faintly white.

Adrian Sinclair had draped his coat over one arm. Beneath his warm eyes lay a layer of meticulous, cold calculation.

Behind them all, student council president Ethan Hawthorne stood expressionless in the shadow, his brilliant blond hair catching a metallic glint under the cold light, the unbearable pressure of his status radiating from him.

These four top power holders of Saint Lester had entered, abrupt and entirely unannounced.

When their gazes passed Mateo, who was blocking the entryway, and landed on the sofa in the living room, their breathing turned silent and heavy at once.

It was a picture at once decadent and intensely arresting.

A boy was sunk into the dark green sofa, wearing an oversized cream-colored sweater that hung loosely over him.

The sweater’s neckline had slipped badly to one side, revealing a stretch of pale skin so fair it was almost glaring.

His complexion was as clean as new-fallen snow. The hollow of his collarbone drew a fragile, delicate line in the morning light.

And just below that collarbone, the faint red fingerprint Ethan had pressed there before lingered on his porcelain skin, painfully conspicuous.

Xu Zhou tilted his head back slightly. His messy black hair lay soft against his temples.

His peach-blossom eyes were half open and listless, still glossy with dampness. The faint red at their corners gleamed in the morning light like crushed rose petals.

What made the four men at the door contract their pupils was the boy’s right foot.

His slender ankle had slipped out from under the blanket and rested blatantly on the dark green wool carpet.

A band of black lambskin hugged the delicate skin, and a thin silver chain glinted faintly in the light.

At the seam where black met silver, a pale pink ring of chafed marks glistened under a layer of ointment, like a hairline pink crack across polished porcelain.

He looked cold, fragile, lazy, and, on top of all that, deliberately marked by wild animals.

That unconscious, breathtaking beauty radiated a lethal kind of sexual tension inside the cramped room and lit up the most possessive, violent instincts of every predator standing at the door.

Adrian was the first to break the silence. He smiled warmly and stepped across the entryway, his light amber eyes fixed on the pink ring around Xu Zhou’s ankle.

“Junior, it seems my ointment served you well. But that annoying chain is still in the way. As your private physician, I would not mind taking it off for you right now.”

“Save your trouble, Master Sinclair.”

Gu Yanli cut him off flatly. He walked in with long strides, his fingers tightening inside his silk gloves, his eyes dark and cold on the ankle ornament that belonged to him.

“The Discipline Office’s mark is not to be touched by anyone but me.”

“Is that so?”

Theodore let out a low laugh. His pale eyes were frozen behind his gold-rimmed glasses.

“The reason Xu Zhou junior is still sitting here today is that he used my Black Rose Society card. Junior, taking my things and then hiding in someone else’s room is not a good habit.”

“The student council needs to review the authenticity of the exemption closed loop.”

There was no warmth in Ethan’s voice. Those blue eyes studied Xu Zhou with cold detachment.

“Xu Zhou, come with me.”

Four waves of crushing pressure crashed toward the boy on the sofa.

Normally, Xu Zhou would roll his eyes in silence and fend everyone off with neat, corporate-style pleasantries. But today, looking at these four men who were clearly close to losing control, his lashes trembled and he sensed danger with sharp clarity.

If any of them took him away today, by next week he would be dead with not even bones left.

Xu Zhou lowered his lashes to hide the calculation that flickered through his eyes.

The next second, he shrank back into the sofa, as if frightened by the overwhelming scene, and gripped the oversized sweater in a helpless way.

His damp peach-blossom eyes widened a little. The ankle with the rose-colored mark pulled back under the hem of the sweater.

“Senior…”

Xu Zhou turned his head and looked at Mateo timidly.

His voice was very low, carrying the huskiness and softness of someone just waking up.

Like a kitten caught in a rainstorm, sending out a faint cry toward the only shelter it could find.

“They’re so mean.”

He reached out a pale, almost translucent finger and softly tugged at the hem of Mateo’s house clothes.

His wet peach-blossom eyes reflected the prince’s figure, full of instinctive trust and pleading.

“My ankle hurts… I don’t want to go to the Discipline Office. I don’t want to go to the Black Rose Society, either.”

Crack.

The thin thread called reason in Mateo’s head snapped in that moment.

It was a soft “senior” and a tug so faint it was nearly imperceptible. But for the crown prince of the Gulf, who had been raised on the finest royal education and was proud to the bone, with an almost pathological need to protect those he considered his own, it was a fatal catalyst.

Xu Zhou was asking for his help.

This pretty cat, who was always cool and indifferent to everyone, had pulled only Mateo’s clothes when facing those madmen.

That coldly gorgeous, almost unreal face was now full of dependence on him.

“f*ck.”

Mateo swore under his breath. A wave of unfamiliar heat and fury shot straight to his head.

He whirled around, his wild red hair burning like a flame in the morning light.

He closed his hand around Xu Zhou’s icy fingers and pulled the boy firmly behind his broad, tall shoulder.

Mateo turned his head, two fierce, noble fires burning in his dark brown eyes as he stared down at the four men in the living room.

“Gu Yanli. Vale. And your two friends.”

His voice, low and hoarse, carried the unquestionable authority of the Reyes family. He smiled coldly and pointed one finger at the air in front of him.

“This is the top floor of Arden House. My private territory. And Xu Zhou is now under the protection of the Reyes royal family.”

“Reyes, Saint Lester is not your Gulf fiefdom.”

Gu Yanli stopped, his eyes as cold as ice as he stared at where Mateo was holding Xu Zhou’s fingers.

“So what?”

Mateo lifted an eyebrow. His arrogant, handsome face was full of disdain and dominance.

With one hand in his pocket, he slowly pulled out a golden seal engraved with the Reyes double-headed eagle crest and slammed it onto the stack of exemption documents on the coffee table. A heavy thud echoed through the room.

“Under the supplementary terms of the International Diplomatic Immunity Agreement, and the special treaty Saint Lester signed with royal houses at its founding,”

Mateo raised his chin, pride and arrogance filling his eyes,

“I am now formally declaring royal diplomatic immunity for the special-admissions student Xu Zhou. From this moment on, all of his attendance records, disciplinary checks, and personal placement at Saint Lester are consular jurisdiction of the Reyes royal family.”

He let out a cold snort, and his eyes sliced across Theodore and Gu Yanli, whose faces had changed slightly.

“Anyone who dares to take him by force will be openly provoking a diplomatic incident. Discipline Office? Black Rose Society? If any of you wants to represent your family, go ahead and fight a lawsuit against the Reyes family trust and foreign affairs department. Hm?”

This was the first time since entering Saint Lester that Mateo had exercised the royal family’s absolute privilege in a public statement.

And all of it was only to shield the special-admissions student behind him, whose shirt was half open and who was not even wearing shoes.

The air pressure in the living room dropped to freezing point in that instant.

Theodore looked at the golden double-headed eagle seal. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes narrowed dangerously, and the elegant smile on his lips finally turned cold and sinister.

“Diplomatic immunity…” Theodore murmured, his gaze traveling past Mateo’s shoulder to Xu Zhou, who was shrinking back behind the prince with a satisfied glint in his eyes.

“Prince Mateo, do you think this seal can protect him for now? Can it protect him all the way to graduation?”

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