[The moment Xi'an entered the bedroom, he saw Claire kneeling by the door wearing only a bathrobe.
To be honest, the freshly bathed Female Zerg with slightly damp hair looked quite beautiful. Clean and refreshing, like ice cream. But that posture still startled Xi'an.
“What are you doing?”
Xi'an hurried over to help him up.
“Serving you and waiting for you to enjoy me.”
Claire on the floor replied.
Strictly speaking, he should have been kneeling naked.
But this was their first night together. Claire didn't know Xi'an's preferences and feared that acting so boldly might instead make the Male Zerg think he was too frivolous.
So he cautiously took out a bathrobe from his space button and put it on.
Xi'an secretly covered his nose.
Speaking such erotic words with such a serious expression was way too seductive.
Still, he insisted on pulling Claire up.
“Get up quickly. We don't have rules like that in our house. If you're going to wait, next time you can just wait on the bed.”
That sounded like all he wanted was to sleep with his Female Zerg.
Like some lust-driven Male Zerg whose brain only contained those sorts of thoughts.
Xi'an hurriedly added:
“The sofa is fine too. You can stay wherever you want and do whatever you want.”
“Yes.”
Claire agreed, but what he thought was:
Did Xi'an mean he could go anywhere in this villa? Or did he mean he intended to enjoy him everywhere?
Either option sounded wonderful.
Claire respected rules and adapted to them, but he wasn't a conservative or rigid Female Zerg by nature. He didn't believe things absolutely had to happen on a bed.
Especially when the other party was Xi'an.
Even if Xi'an wanted to enjoy him directly on the floor, he would willingly accept it.
“Want something to drink?” Xi'an asked.
“Mhm, alright.”
Of course Claire couldn't reject a Male Zerg's suggestion, even if what he really wanted was to be devoured immediately.
Xi'an opened a nearby cabinet, took out a bottle of bright red fruit wine, poured a glass, and handed it to Claire, simply watching him drink.
Originally, his plan had been to share wine with Claire, enjoy a romantic candlelit dinner, and talk about their future and their past.
But Claire had just washed himself. He smelled wonderful, looked fresh and clean, his body still damp beneath the bathrobe, and stood before him looking irresistible. Xi'an realized he simply couldn't endure waiting any longer.
To hell with dinner.
Zergs could go days without eating anyway.
Under the Male Zerg's burning gaze, Claire drank the entire glass in one go. He drank so quickly that he couldn't even taste what kind of wine it was.
But that no longer mattered.
Because the moment he finished and a drop of wine slid down the corner of his lips, Xi'an leaned in and kissed him.
Alcohol couldn't affect Female Zergs.
But when those soft, warm lips landed on his own, and the faintly sweet pheromones accompanied the Male Zerg into his mouth, plundering all his reason, Claire felt drunk.
His body floated.
His mind grew hazy.
And only then did he finally recognize the taste of the wine.
Strawberry wine.
Xi'an pushed Claire onto the bed. Continuing to kiss him, he reached to untie the sash of his bathrobe, releasing his pheromones without restraint.
But the instant the high-concentration sweet pheromones filled the room, Claire's body suddenly went rigid. He bit through the tip of his tongue and simultaneously raised his leg, kicking at the Male Zerg above him.
Had Xi'an not reacted with his usual agility and quick reflexes, he really would have taken that kick.
Xi'an turned to look at Claire.
The atmosphere froze.
He could tell that Claire hadn't used much force. It wouldn't break his ribs, but at the very least it would have knocked him off the bed.
A Female Zerg softened by a Male Zerg's pheromones still being capable of kicking the Male Zerg in bed was already unreasonable enough!
Not to mention what that kick clearly represented.
Rejection.
Xi'an was furious.
“You kicked me? You don't want me touching you!?”
It was the first time he'd been rejected like this.
And that Zerg was Claire.
Humiliated and enraged, Xi'an clenched his teeth so hard he almost wanted to tear him apart with them.
Yes, Claire had indeed only married him for psychic soothing.
But they were already married!
Legally married spouses.
Military Female Zergs had notoriously difficult psychic domains. Male Zergs opening their bodies first before entering their psychic domains was a completely normal process. Usually no military Female Zerg would refuse.
Except perhaps those Female Zergs who received no psychic soothing after marriage and had to disguise themselves and seek underground therapists in the black market.
Yet Claire had rejected him?
Xi'an couldn't tell whether he felt more anger or more sadness.
But at that moment, he truly wanted to tear Claire apart alive.]
The sudden twist shocked Xi'an and also shocked the readers following the novel.
[???]
[What is Claire doing? Has he gone insane?!]
[That's an A+ Male Zerg! Sleeping with such an outstanding A+ Male Zerg is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he's actually refusing?!]
[Forget the rank. Lord Xi'an is his Male Lord. Refusing your Male Lord on your wedding night? If reform institutes still existed, Claire would've been thrown in immediately.]
[I'm dying from anxiety! Seriously! Claire, if you can't do it, move aside and let me take your place!]
For the first time, the comments section was completely one-sided.
The Female Zerg readers wanted nothing more than to drag Claire out of the story and replace him themselves.
Since that was impossible, their attacks on Claire became increasingly vicious.
[Claire has completely lost his mind!]
[Great. He's thoroughly enraged Lord Xi'an. Lord Xi'an is going to tear him apart alive!]
[Can Male Zergs even tear apart Female Zergs?]
[No problem if the rank difference isn't large. Besides, Lord Xi'an is A+, and Claire definitely isn't S-rank.]
[Lord Xi'an came from the military. He definitely understands anatomy and knows where to strike to kill and where to cause unbearable pain without actually killing. Oh, and don't forget inhibitors. Suppress his regeneration first, otherwise a high-ranking Female Zerg will recover in no time.]
[I had just started feeling a little sympathy and envy for Claire, and he immediately ruined it himself. Female Zergs like him deserve to be tortured in revenge!]
[Finally, the familiar post-marriage abuse arc. I expected it and yet I didn't. Claire's reaction is such a disappointment.]
Even the Male Zerg readers who had only recently started following the story were dumbfounded.
And, unusually, they agreed with the Female Zerg readers.
Such an ungrateful Female Zerg deserved severe punishment.
They had never been able to immerse themselves in Male Zerg protagonists from other novels. Those characters felt like aliens.
Xi'an was different.
They could feel his happiness and anger, his excitement and anticipation, his sorrow and rage.
They could feel how deeply he cared about Claire.
And so they felt that Claire wasn't worthy of him.
Claire's rejection and hurt felt like an insult to themselves.
[(Reward: Quantum Cannon ×1) End this farce already. It's time for him to understand his place.]
[Don't do it in the bedroom. Cleaning blood off the bed is annoying. Use the punishment room.]
[Sigh. That little Male Zerg is perfect in every way. His taste in partners is just terrible.]
[I hate these kinds of plots. They'll give me nightmares tonight. I'll just ask my Female Lord to tell me the ending tomorrow.]
The Female Zerg readers' attention, however, shifted in an entirely different direction.
[Wait, was that a Male Zerg just now? Male Zergs actually read novels? Aren't they supposed to dislike this stuff?]
[They all have Male Zerg identity verification marks. You can't fake those. Taking commemorative pictures from the front row.]
[As expected, no Male Zerg would truly like a Female Zerg like Claire. Lord Xi'an must've been bewitched.]
The comments section became even more lively because of the Male Zerg readers.
Meanwhile, the story itself continued...
[Claire's head buzzed.
The taste of blood and pain in his tongue brought back his sanity.
He had bitten his own tongue.
Fortunately, not Xi'an's.
Recalling what he'd just done, Claire was terrified and hurriedly checked Xi'an.
Xi'an slapped his hand away, his eyes blazing with fury.
He needed an explanation.
“I'm sorry, Lord... I... I don't know what happened to me...”
Claire was frightened and panicked.
The room full of high-level Male Zerg pheromones left his body weak and overflowing, yearning to be fiercely marked and possessed.
Yet somewhere within his instincts and subconscious, something screamed at him to stay away.
Do not touch.
Do not indulge.
Even approaching felt like an offense toward the other party.
Under the Male Zerg's pheromones, Claire couldn't even control his body's instinctive reactions.
“Please chain my hands and feet. Put inhibitors on me.”
His eyes were full of desperation and pleading, hoping to calm the Male Zerg's anger.
The suggestion only darkened Xi'an's expression further.
How was that any different from rape?
He could indulge Claire's tastes and play some bedroom games with him.
But absolutely not under circumstances where the other party was resisting with his entire being.
Looking at Claire's panic, his reddened eyes, his forced composure and desperate struggle to remain conscious amidst the pheromones, Xi'an remembered his terrible mental condition and let out a sigh.
He decided to spare him for now.
“First I'll perform psychic soothing. We can talk about the rest afterward.”
Xi'an pushed him down again.
Leaning over him, his hand rested upon the abdominal muscles hidden beneath the bathrobe. Feeling the muscles tense so violently, sensing that obvious resistance—
“Hmph.”
Xi'an snorted coldly.
Claire hurriedly said:
“Inject muscle relaxants, please—”
“Shut up!”
Xi'an glared at him furiously.
“I'm not interested in raping a corpse!”
“Once your psychic domain problem is solved, you'd better explain yourself properly. If you don't have a reasonable explanation, you're finished!”
His powerful psychic power surged into Claire's mind, forcefully breaking into his psychic domain.
“...”
There had been practically no resistance.
Claire's body wouldn't let him touch it.
But his psychic domain had opened its doors wide to him.
Xi'an ground his teeth in anger.
Once again confirming that Claire only wanted psychic soothing and had no desire to sleep with him.
He wasn't even willing to fulfill the most basic marital duties.
He should've bitten him to death just now.
Suppressing his anger and hurt, Xi'an entered Claire's psychic domain and found his mental landscape.
It was...
A mech.
Not Claire's personal machine.
But Xi'an's exclusive mech.
Xi'an froze.
Before entering, he'd imagined seeing the Ninth Military Region, which Claire regarded as home.
He'd imagined battlefields, warships, or perhaps Claire's own mech.
But why his?
Why did Claire's mental landscape take the form of his mech?
Xi'an's psychic power entered the damaged machine and, following old memories, made its way straight to the cockpit.
There, he saw himself curled up in the pilot seat.
And Claire, sitting in the co-pilot seat, concentrating entirely on controlling the mech.
On the enormous screen ahead were the mech's status indicators—
And behind them—
The pursuing Tianga forces.
Xi'an suddenly remembered everything.
It had been his second year in the Ninth Military Region.
He'd gone on a patrol mission with the troops under Claire's command.
The military prohibited Male Zergs from entering battlefields, but low-risk patrol missions were still permitted.
Unfortunately, they encountered a Tianga fleet.
Even low-risk missions could become disasters when fate decided otherwise.
Their starship suffered damage under Tianga bombardment, forcing them to break through in mechs.
It was Xi'an's first real combat in a mech.
Throughout the battle, Claire's mech stayed in front of him, while the other military Female Zergs formed a protective circle around him.
Protected by his comrades, Xi'an gradually found his rhythm.
With his superb marksmanship and psychic power, he destroyed several Tianga mechs from long range and even blew up several small pursuit vessels.
Completely focused, he devoted all his psychic power to combat and coordinated with his teammates to break through.
Perhaps it was the pressure of danger.
Perhaps his psychic power reached some critical threshold.
In any case...
He broke through.
From A-rank to A+.
Into the super-A category.
But the timing couldn't have been worse.
They were still on the battlefield, with the Tianga fleet in pursuit.
And the breakthrough triggered a violent fever that left him barely conscious.
Xi'an remembered nothing afterward.
He only knew that Claire abandoned his own mech, boarded Xi'an's machine, took over control, and brought him safely back to the military region.
That's what the doctor told him after he woke up in the Ninth Military Region's infirmary.
Claire wasn't there.
He couldn't find him.
Even when he asked the Legion Commander, the other party merely gave him a complicated look and said Claire was undergoing special isolation training and wouldn't see anyone—
Especially him.
No matter how much Xi'an pressed, the Legion Commander refused to say another word.
Xi'an waited in agony.
Three months later, Claire finally reappeared before him.
Yet contrary to Xi'an's overflowing joy, Claire treated him with unusual distance.
Deliberately keeping him at arm's length.
To the point that he refused almost any physical contact.
Even Xi'an's mere approach made him frown.
Xi'an had always believed that Claire became cold because he had held him back.
He had burdened Claire on the battlefield.
He had become dead weight.
And because of that—
He had been hated.
...]