The female Zerg readers were practically withering away waiting for an update.
During that time, Instructor spread through a certain secret group chat within the Ninth Legion at astonishing speed.
It was a chat group made up entirely of admirers of His Excellency Xi'an.
Sevin was in the group as well.
After finishing the novel, he had been about to share it with his fellow fans when he discovered everyone was already discussing it.
〖His Excellency Xi'an Is My Male Lord〗: "Stop pretending. Which one of you is this 'An'? Come turn yourself in."
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Female Lord〗: "Seriously! I looked away for one second and some little seducer is already trying to steal my Male Lord! Who is it? Confess immediately!"
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Most Beloved Female Attendant〗: "Just because you've put 'Female Lord' in your nickname doesn't mean you're actually anything special. (eye roll)"
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Official Female Lord〗: "Stop derailing the conversation. Finding the author is more important."
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Official Female Lord〗: "The book is actually pretty good (though it'd be even better if the protagonist were a different female Zerg). We don't mean any harm. It's hard enough getting a novel this popular. It has the potential to become a legendary fandom classic. We simply wish to express our support and encouragement. (friendly smile)"
〖Washing My Male Lord's Underwear With My Warm Face〗: "Still nobody's admitting it? Does that mean there's someone involved who's not even in this group?"
〖My Male Lord's Muscular Delicate Wife〗: "Who else could it be? The answer is obvious. Colonel Claire isn't in the group."
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Most Beloved Female Attendant〗: "I never would've guessed! Claire looks completely frigid, like the words 'Male-Zerg-Hater' are written on his face. Turns out he's our love rival too!"
〖My Male Lord's Automatic Homing Hound〗: "Could there be some misunderstanding? In all those fantasy romance stories before, Colonel Claire was always portrayed as a villain."
〖I'm Here to Join This Family〗: "That's possible. It could also be someone who dislikes Colonel Claire and deliberately wrote a female-Zerg-abuse story with him as the protagonist."
〖My Male Lord's Muscular Delicate Wife〗: "What abuse? He's practically about to marry the Male Lord!"
〖I'm Here to Join This Family〗: "Hasn't happened yet, has it? Besides, there are plenty of ways to abuse a female Zerg after marriage. For a female Zerg who isn't loved and is hated by his Male Lord, marriage is hell."
〖His Excellency Xi'an's Most Beloved Female Attendant〗: "Tch. Better not end up being a reward for him. Fine, I'll trust your theory this once."
〖My Male Lord's Automatic Homing Hound〗: "Stop arguing! The mysterious author updated!!!"
The group instantly went silent.
Not a single message appeared afterward.
They all claimed to despise a story with Claire as the protagonist.
Yet the moment it updated, they rushed over faster than anyone.
Sevin, who had originally intended to defend his commanding officer a little more, immediately forgot what he wanted to say.
He hurriedly opened the novel page he had bookmarked.
...
【"Let's get married."
Xi'an said.
Claire froze completely.
It took him a long time to regain the ability to think.
"Your Excellency... are you... persuading me?"
"To go marry... a Male Zerg?"
By the end, his voice had become increasingly strained.
As he looked at the Male Zerg, there was a trace of stubborn desolation in his eyes.
The military female Zerg, who had always been resilient and powerful, now seemed to be letting out the sorrowful cry of a shattered blade.
Claire's expression left Xi'an confused.
Didn't he only want a Male Zerg capable of providing psychic soothing?
Any Male Zerg.
Any Male Zerg who could soothe his psychic domain.
Xi'an fulfilled both conditions.
"We'll get married, and I'll provide psychic soothing for you."
Xi'an repeated seriously.
Those words hit Claire even harder than before.
The constant buzzing in his head disappeared in that instant.
The world became so quiet that he could hear their breathing.
Claire's gaze stiffly settled on Xi'an's face.
He searched for something there.
At one point, he even suspected he had hallucinated the entire conversation.
Xi'an had already stood up.
Seeing Claire's dazed appearance only made him more concerned.
He cupped Claire's face in his hands and examined him carefully, looking troubled.
"You look completely broken..."
The soft touch of the Male Zerg's hands on his face...
The faint sweetness of his pheromones...
A violent shiver ran through Claire.
It felt as though tiny electric currents were racing through his spine and across his back.
A low gasp escaped his throat uncontrollably.
He immediately clenched his teeth, suppressing the embarrassing sound.
When he looked back at Xi'an, disbelief still filled his eyes.
"You and I... getting married?"
It still felt like another hallucination caused by his damaged psychic domain.
But the red-haired Male Zerg stood before him, watching him seriously.
His pleasant voice brushed against Claire's ears.
"Mm. We're getting married."】
...
By this point, completely shattered female Zerg readers were already appearing in the comments.
[This is so fake! His Excellency actually touched his face and patiently repeated himself over and over! What kind of female Zerg who's never met a Male Zerg wrote this fantasy!?]
[But it's so good. If a Male Zerg looked at me like that and seriously told me he wanted to marry me, I'd die happy.]
[Just as expected. When a Male Zerg touches your face, the first thing you notice is the scent of his pheromones.]
[I don't understand. His Excellency literally called Claire "broken." Why is he still determined to marry him?]
[Don't be fooled by the words. No Male Zerg would truly like a female Zerg with a damaged psychic domain who once treated him roughly. This is just camouflage to lure prey into the trap willingly. Claire is already falling for it. Marriage will be the beginning of his doom.]
Once that comment appeared, readers largely stopped criticizing Claire or questioning the Male Zerg's decision.
Female Zergs were always like this.
They understood Male Zerg cruelty perfectly.
Yet they still clung to unrealistic fantasies.
Again and again, like moths flying into flames.
【His hair was as brilliant as a flame.
Claire stared at the dazzling red hair and suddenly felt an itch near the roots of his wings.
His wings had once been damaged on the battlefield.
A high-energy cannon from a Tenga flagship had nearly torn an entire wing apart.
Fortunately, the Zerg race possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities.
The injury had already healed during the return voyage.
But newly regenerated wings were especially sensitive.
Even the skin along his back would occasionally become unbearably itchy.
Claire couldn't remember how he ended up boarding the aircraft with Xi'an.
Everything felt dreamlike.
If this truly was a dream, he hoped he would never wake up.
Lowering his eyes slightly, Claire concealed the anxiety buried deep inside.
Xi'an had said he wanted to marry him.
But he still hadn't completed an online registration with him.
In Zerg society, taking a female attendant was simple and efficient.
Both parties submitted applications.
The registration could be completed online.
The entire process took five minutes.
As for female slaves...
They didn't even require registration.
The Imperial Era had ended.
The Federation Era had elevated the status of female Zergs.
Officially, female slaves were no longer recognized.
Yet among high-ranking Male Zerg households, female slaves remained common.
No registration.
No official recognition.
No social recognition.
That meant the law offered female slaves absolutely no protection.
Within family hierarchies, they occupied the lowest possible position.
To establish ownership and make distinctions easier, Male Zergs often placed collars with identification plates on female slaves.
Some simply branded them directly.
The brand might be the Male Zerg's name.
A family crest.
Or some other symbol chosen by the Male Zerg.
As these thoughts surfaced, the confusion and anxiety Claire had felt after hearing Xi'an propose gradually settled.
Of course.
So that was it.
If Xi'an intended to take him as a female attendant, Claire would consider himself too dangerous.
He wouldn't understand why Xi'an wanted him.
Their relationship wasn't good.
Xi'an should hate him.
But if he were being taken as a female slave...
Everything suddenly made sense.
He would wear a collar that suppressed Zerg pattern energy.
He would no longer be dangerous.
Combined with an electric punishment system connected directly to the spine, even a low-ranking Male Zerg could control him with ease.
And Xi'an's close-combat abilities were among the very best for Male Zergs.
He was a military Male Zerg.
Professionally trained in combat.
Without even using psychic power, he could fight an A-minus military female Zerg in an untransformed state.
Controlling a female slave wearing a suppression collar would be effortless for him.
As for becoming a Female Lord...
That possibility had never entered Claire's thoughts.
Colonel wasn't a low rank.
But it was nowhere near worthy of Xi'an's background.
Since the Federation Era began, the concept of nobility had disappeared.
Family influence was no longer openly emphasized.
Even the word "family" felt distant to ordinary citizens.
Something that belonged only in films or historical research.
Yet disparities in wealth, status, and background never truly vanished.
The son of Capital Star's Governor stood far too high.
Several thousand years ago, that identity would have been equivalent to a prince.
How could a military female Zerg Colonel born a commoner possibly stand beside a prince?
In the past, he had allowed himself a fantasy.
Perhaps after ten or twenty years.
After becoming a Major General.
Or a Lieutenant General.
Perhaps then he would have the right to stand before Xi'an and compete for the position of Female Lord.
Though Xi'an might never look at him.
And even if he did, it would probably be with mockery.
Their relationship had always been terrible.
But after his psychic domain was damaged during the expedition...
Even that final fantasy disappeared.
Female Lord was impossible.
Female attendant...
Apparently wasn't acceptable either.
That left only one possibility.
Female slave.
Claire thought about many things.
In the end, one question surfaced in his mind:
Where would Xi'an place the slave brand?
His forehead?
The corner of his eyebrow?
Those locations were prominent enough that anyone could instantly recognize him as the property of a Male Zerg.
A female slave unworthy of appearing in public.
Or perhaps his neck?
A brand near a fatal point would feel more symbolic.
A mark of eternal submission.
Most slave brands were placed in obvious locations.
But some Male Zergs came from old family traditions and preferred more restrained methods.
They disliked flashy displays.
Such Male Zergs often left their marks in more private places.
The chest.
The waist.
The inner thigh.
The buttocks.
Or even the wings...
A female slave's brand always carried humiliation.
But if it was Xi'an...
Claire realized he wasn't nearly as opposed to the idea as he should have been.
Xi'an already hated him.
At the end of his life, he was willing to offer himself up.
If doing so could calm Xi'an's burning hatred.
...】
The story had finally returned to the familiar territory of suffering and humiliation that readers recognized.
It was like having a bucket of cold water dumped over their heads.
The female Zerg readers who had been arguing endlessly suddenly fell silent.
For the first time, the comment section became astonishingly unified.
[So that's how it is. His Excellency Xi'an never intended to marry him.]
["Marriage"... so he meant becoming a female slave. I'm crying.]
[This is much more realistic. So why does my chest hurt? Why do I suddenly want to tear something apart?]
[Forget it. I'm going to find someone and start a fight.]
[Exactly what I predicted. This is the familiar development. Any female Zerg who believed the earlier chapters was living in a fantasy. This is reality.]
[His Excellency said he wanted to marry Claire, yet he wouldn't even complete an online registration. I can already see what's coming. Slave branding. Suppression collars. Punishment chambers. Chains. Whips. Blades. Blood.]
[If it's His Excellency Xi'an... honestly, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. At least the Male Zerg doing those things would be noble and beautiful. He's an A-rank military Male Zerg with excellent physical fitness. He's definitely impressive in that area. If he'd give me even a little pheromone exposure, I'd die happily even if it hurt.]
[??? Have you lost your mind? Female slave! Once you become a female slave, your future is over. Even if you're promoted to female attendant later, the slave brand never disappears. You'll always be beneath everyone else. If you have a child, even the child won't be able to hold their head high.]
Zerg society cared deeply about offspring.
One reason female slavery had been rejected so quickly during the Federation Era was concern for children's futures.
Still, exceptions always existed.
For a high-ranking Male Zerg from an exceptional family like Xi'an, even children born to a female slave would have tremendous opportunities.
Their starting point could easily be a destination many Zergs would never reach in an entire lifetime.
Some female Zergs and sub-female Zergs began arguing over that point.
Meanwhile, readers who had already turned the page had no attention left for the debate.
They stared at the text.
Wide-eyed.
Almost convinced they were hallucinating.
€€€€Marriage Registration Office.
【The aircraft landed in front of the Marriage Registration Office.
After being tense the entire journey, Xi'an secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He stood up and adjusted his clothing.
Smoothing wrinkles that didn't actually exist.
It was his first time doing something like this.
Quite possibly the only time.
It deserved proper seriousness.
Xi'an felt somewhat annoyed that he hadn't commissioned formal attire in advance.
There simply hadn't been enough time.
The outfit he wore now was also custom-made and expensive.
But it wasn't the same.
For two seconds, he hesitated between changing clothes and immediately taking Claire home as his spouse.
Without hesitation, he chose the latter.
A sense of ceremony was important.
But Claire was more important.
When he turned around, he discovered Claire still standing there blankly.
Xi'an knew Claire's brain wasn't functioning properly.
In the literal sense.
With a silent sigh, he reached out and took Claire's hand.
Leading him off the aircraft.
Following behind Xi'an, with those long fingers holding his own, Claire felt as though his entire body were floating.
Taking a female attendant only required online registration.
There was no need to personally visit the Marriage Registration Office.
Female slaves required no registration at all.
A Male Zerg merely chose a location and branded his mark upon the female Zerg.
Only when taking a Female Lord did one need to come to the Marriage Registration Office in such a formal manner.
...】