“Is that a Noble?”
“God, it really is a Noble!”
“Ah, ah, ah! I want to see too.”
“They actually managed to capture a Noble?”
“Why not? That is Admiral Keo!”
“The Admiral is just too amazing.”
A sharp pain shot through his temples.
When Eugene woke up, he found that he had already been brought aboard the enemy’s massive warship and thrown into a pure white holding cell.
The icy floor made him frown deeply. He tried to stand up, but his entire body was bound, rendering him completely unable to move.
His dull, aching brain could not recall the face of the enemy who had captured him. Among the fragmented images, only the other man’s slender back, straight legs, and impeccably tailored black military uniform remained.
He only remembered that the opponent was simply too strong.
Even though everything in his vision was blurred and spinning, the other’s figure remained straight and sharp, like a black blade that struck awe into anyone who saw it.
Fortunately, that terrifying Admiral was clearly no longer here.
Only three female insect soldiers remained in the detention area, peeking at him from outside his cell and whispering incessantly.
Eugene’s head was throbbing so badly that he soon closed his eyes again.
“Hey, what are you guys doing?”
The female soldiers were struggling to get a clear look at Eugene’s face and were growing anxious. Just then, another female soldier with thick eyebrows and a baby face walked up behind them, looking at them with dissatisfaction.
“Ah, Captain.” The soldiers felt a bit guilty, but their excitement was hard to conceal.
“The person the Admiral brought back is a Noble!”
“And a Prince, no less.”
“Is that why you are all gathered here?”
The baby-faced soldier’s expression turned even more disgruntled. He straightened his back and deliberately said, “Hmph, so what if he is a Noble? I do not care at all. With just a single word from the Admiral, I could kill this prisoner without even needing the Admiral to lift a finger.”
Hearing this, the other three changed their expressions, hesitating slightly. “How could you possibly kill a Noble Lord? He is even a Prince of the Bazz clan! He is a Highness!”
“What Highness! Since the Admiral said he is a prisoner, he is just a prisoner.”
The baby-faced soldier grew louder, his tone suggesting he wished he could find a Noble right now to test his blade on, just to prove he truly had the stomach to go through with it.
Lying on the floor the entire time, Eugene listened silently to their conversation, only feeling his head ache more and more.
“Excuse me…”
The conversation among the female soldiers came to an abrupt halt. They all instinctively looked toward Eugene, their expressions betraying their surprise.
Generally speaking, a Noble, especially a Noble of royal blood, would never use a word as polite as excuse me.
Eugene’s head was still pounding, and unaware of why they had suddenly fallen silent, he simply continued with a parched voice, “Could I please have some water?”
With his back currently turned to Eugene, the baby-faced soldier looked up and saw that all of his companions were staring straight at the prisoner behind him, their eyes wide and their faces flushed.
What is wrong with them? Is he not just a Noble?
He snorted through his nose, deliberately putting on a stern face to channel Admiral Keo’s imposing demeanor, but when he turned around and caught sight of Eugene’s raised face, he froze instantly.
How could such a breathtaking Noble possibly exist in this world?
Ordinary female soldiers like them usually only ever encountered lower-ranking Nobles. Most of them were short and frail, or else flabby, with facial features that could at best be described as merely present. Even so, those Nobles were constantly picking faults with female soldiers, acting bossy and superior, and looking down on them.
Yet this Noble before them, to put it without exaggeration, was every female soldier’s ideal type.
Eugene’s skin was as white as snow, complemented by a head of silver curls. His straight bridge of the nose looked as translucent as jade, and under the lights, his entire person was dazzlingly fair, possessing an unreal, striking handsomeness.
He wore an expensive white-and-gold military uniform. Although his cheeks were smudged and a small cut bled from his left temple due to his current predicament, it did nothing to detract from his appearance. Instead, it lent him a battle-scarred aesthetic that made the sight of him all the more heart-stopping.
Yet, despite his sickly appearance, Eugene was not petite. Even with his hands bound, it could not hide his wide shoulders, long legs, and superior head-to-body proportion. Once standing, he would likely be taller than even the baby-faced soldier.
“Of course.”
The female soldiers had never spoken to such a breathtaking Noble before. It took them a long time to finally snap out of it, and not daring to let their eyes linger on Eugene anymore, they nearly panicked and rushed toward the door.
“I will go get you some purified water.”
“Wait?”
Only then did the baby-faced soldier snap out of his daze. Feeling somewhat provoked and annoyed, he grabbed his companion back. “He is a Bazz, what reason is there for him to drink purified water?”
“But he is a Noble,” his companion instinctively whispered. “How can we let him drink…”
“Idiot,” the baby-faced soldier hastily interrupted. “The Admiral himself said he is a prisoner. A Noble, so what? We are his guards, not his caretakers!”
With that, the baby-faced soldier puffed out his chest as if psyching himself up, turned around, and grabbed a cup of water.
The prison was a pure white square, and the side facing the corridor consisted of a special electromagnetic force field barrier. However, these female soldiers had the clearance to temporarily deactivate a portion of the barrier and restore it afterward.
Without encountering any obstacles, the baby-faced soldier walked right up to Eugene with the cup and thrust the water toward him.
“Let me tell you, do not expect any special privileges while you are here. If you want to drink, tap water is all you get!”
The upheld cup shook slightly, and a droplet of water accidentally splashed onto Eugene’s face.
Eugene raised his eyes to look at him.
At this close range, the baby-faced soldier suddenly realized that beneath those dense eyelashes, Eugene possessed a pair of pale golden eyes that were brighter than the sun, more translucent than gemstones, and completely devoid of any impurities.
Golden eyes represented the royal bloodline of the Arch-Insects.
The baby-faced soldier had never interacted with a Noble at such close range, let alone seen eyes of such pure gold.
This female soldier, who had just been boasting that he could easily kill a Noble, now stood completely rigid, his ears turning stubbornly red.
After listening to this, Eugene did not fly into a rage as the soldier had expected. He remained silent for a moment, then somewhat laboriously sat up and tilted his head up toward the rim of the cup.
The baby-faced soldier froze in place. His entire face turned uncontrollably red, and before he even realized what he was doing, he hurriedly dropped to one half-knee, accommodatingly feeding Eugene the water.
The tap water carried a slight trace of impurities that Eugene had never tasted before, and because of the baby-faced soldier’s nervousness, quite a bit of water slipped down his throat.
Eugene frowned slightly, but he still drank it all down. Afterward, he lowered his head, letting the strands of hair across his forehead shadow his face.
“Thank you.”
This expression of gratitude hit the other female soldiers like a gasp of shock, leaving their faces burning red and making them even more restless and ill at ease.
The caste system of the Hashu clan was far more rigid and severe than that of the Bazz. Every Noble Lord held a status far superior to that of any female soldier, to say nothing of royalty.
Not only had this handsome Noble drank tap water, but the clothes across his chest had even gotten wet. Yet despite all this, he had not grown angry and had actually thanked them. This was something they had never witnessed before.
“I will go get you a towel.”
One of the female soldiers ultimately felt too embarrassed, his instincts compelling him to take care of Eugene.
Once someone set a precedent like this, the other female soldiers followed suit one after another. “I will go get you some purified water after all!”
“Right, right, for when you are thirsty tonight.”
“You guys…” The baby-faced soldier gripped the cup in his hand tightly and stood up with a peculiar expression, though he ultimately said nothing more.
When the female soldiers returned with the items they had each gone to fetch, they practically surrounded Eugene.
Only then did Eugene raise his head once again.
“Um, could you help me take off these handcuffs?”
Before the other female soldiers could speak, the baby-faced soldier abruptly blurted out, “Wait!”
His expression was conflicted. “These are handcuffs put on him by the Admiral! How can we just take them off casually?”
The other soldiers hesitated and stopped in their tracks. It was clear that the Admiral still held the highest position of authority in their hearts.
Eugene’s gaze swept over the multiple layers of encrypted doors outside, as well as the countless sensor monitors surrounding the cell. He lowered his gaze and looked back at them.
“I have no way of escaping,” he said softly. “My hands are already numb, and I cannot even drink water like this.”
“That is true. The handcuffs were only because he was outside earlier, but now he cannot get out.”
“We cannot just keep him bound forever and deny him any movement.”
Meeting Eugene’s eyes, several of the female soldiers felt a bit dizzy. Without thinking further, they crossed the boundary of the cell, walked inside, and reached out to remove the handcuffs from his wrists.
Looking conflicted, the baby-faced soldier watched as they brought water and food to Eugene, crowding around him to wipe his face and hands with a damp towel and treat the wound on his forehead. Where on earth was this active and careful attitude resembling how one treated a prisoner?
The baby-faced soldier kept his jaw clenched, but looking at Eugene’s pale complexion and excessively delicate profile until his own face turned red, he still could not bring himself to say a single word.
Once the soldiers finished tending to him, they received another thank you from Eugene before being shooed out by the baby-faced soldier’s hurried prodding, retreating with flushed faces.
As soon as they were out of his line of sight, Eugene raised his head once again to glance at the surveillance camera in the detention area. Supporting his sore limbs, he slowly backed into the furthest corner of the room and, using a posture as natural as possible, slid his hand into the back collar of his shirt.
He felt around inside until his fingers brushed against a tiny, chip-like blue device. Grasping it tightly, his expression darkened.
Following the intense wave of headaches just moments before, Eugene felt his mind suddenly clear up, bringing with it the realization of many things he had not known before.
For instance, the world he was currently living in turned out to be a book.