Inside the safe house, the plump insect cub watched the female insect sleeping in the treatment pod for a moment. Even amidst the deep sleep induced by medicine and bodily healing, Eliotte’s brow remained slightly furrowed.
He always slept fitfully.
Separated by the thick energy shield, the cub gently touched the female’s brow. He placed the pristine white space button containing the mecha, which was the one the female had given him, next to the medical pod, then turned and walked into their kitchen, which was piled high with food and full of the warmth of daily life.
He prepared a sumptuous dinner for them, just as he always did. Yesterday, Eliotte had caught a lamb. Though its meat lacked energy and it was nothing more than an ordinary lamb, the cub had insisted on capturing it alive, and it had become the main course for tonight’s dinner.
In truth, the lamb had lost its mother and was not very sturdy. The cub had originally wanted to raise it for a few days, but today had turned out to be the best time to slaughter it.
He prepared the lamb, propped it over the fire to roast, and brushed it from time to time with a layer of diluted honey sauce. He did not let the organs and bones go to waste either. The bones were used to simmer a broth, creating a lamb scorpion hotpot base paired with thinly sliced beef and wild pheasant, rich with the aroma of meat. The organs were also meticulously cleaned and turned into a lamb offal soup.
The stocky cub stood on a high stool, seriously stirring the fresh, fragrant soup. Meanwhile, the skin of the whole roasted lamb propped up in the small courtyard had already turned golden-brown, and the robot modified by the cub was clumsily turning the meat. Translucent grease dripped into the fire, making a pleasant crackling sound.
When Eliotte opened his eyes, this was the scene he beheld. No matter how many times he looked upon it, his heart would always soften for this sight, and his soul could never resist it.
He did not make a sound for a moment. At this juncture, any words seemed redundant, and time itself appeared to slow down. Eliotte watched the cub without blinking as he lightly threw on a piece of clothing. But right then, he detected mixed, lingering energy and the strange odor of a starship burning fuel surging through the air, and his expression suddenly changed.
He gripped the mecha’s space button and ran swiftly toward the cub. Just as he was about to scoop the cub up, the other party turned off the stove fire, turned around, and said with a smile:
“Dinner is ready!”
“Who was here?”
“It was my brother, Adam.”
The cub patted his dusty little hands indifferently and had the robot bring all the food to the table.
“And my sister-in-law, Lim, you know, Adam’s female lord. My male father suddenly remembered me and wants me to go home for a visit. I will not be allowed to run around everywhere anymore.”
Eliotte’s face went completely blank. He stood before the cub, his usually sharp mind completely unable to process such simple information.
“It is fine, let us eat first. We can talk while we eat.”
Holding Eliotte’s hand, the cub landed nimbly on the ground, then led the female to climb onto a dining chair. The steam rising from the sumptuous food blurred the faces of the two insects. The cub’s chubby face fell for a brief instant. In countless split seconds, the thought flashed through his mind to use his own spiritual tentacles to rip open a wormhole, take Eliotte away entirely, and wander the universe. But he also knew that was nothing more than an unrealistic dream.
Because Eliotte could not bring himself to let go of all this. They had already been firmly bound by this chaotic world. If they did not tear open the dawn, their souls would never know peace.
The current path was the best choice and the optimal solution for Eliotte. As for Muris himself, he would face the trouble alone and then return to Eliotte’s side.
He only hoped that when the time came, Eliotte would be able to forgive his various deceptions. Thinking this way, the cub tilted his face up, returning to his thoughtless, optimistic demeanor.
“Eat up! This is my first time trying lamb offal soup. I do not know if I managed to capture the flavor of the grasslands!”
The cub shoved the spoon into the female’s palm. Watching the female listlessly take a bite of the food, he then pretended to say nonchalantly:
“You know my brother, Adam. His brain does not work very well, but he is not a bad insect. He said my male father is looking for me this time mainly because he does not want me wandering around outside. If I stay in the hunting grounds all the time, I will at least be under his nose. Right now, he is worried that I will flaunt myself everywhere and spread the word that he gave birth to a Fallen Species, which would make the Earl’s estate lose face entirely.”
“Your Highness’s words cannot be fully trusted. Even your male father and brother will not care whether you live or die.”
Eliotte suddenly raised a pair of golden eyes brimming with tears, uttering the most presumptuous statement, and the one most disparaging of male insects, since he and the cub had met. Under the dim light, those eyes were as beautiful as two setting suns, making Muris uncontrollably think of the evening glow of his hometown.
The plump cub gripped his utensils tightly and lowered his head to hide the excessive longing in his gaze, his heart sinking involuntarily. He knew that Eliotte was by no means one of those female insects who became even more devout after being abused and humiliated by males. He was inherently untamed to the bone, and this wildness, concealed beneath his submissive and elegant outer shell, was like thorns within a rose bush.
And these thorns were born from the agony brought by male insects. Muris knew his original concealment had been correct because if Eliotte knew he was a male, none of this beauty would exist.
But how long could a mirage built on lies truly last?
At least, it would not happen right now.
The cub swallowed the tasteless food and continued speaking in his usual cheerful voice:
“I know, but I have to go home eventually. Do not worry, once male father has seen me and confirmed that I have not used the Earl estate’s reputation to flaunt myself, he will forget about this matter. You know how males are; they do not remember things very well.”
“If it were that simple, why did Lord Adam come to find you in person?”
Eliotte had been steeped in the imperial court for many years. When he grew sharp, he was not that easy to fool. “Is this related to the riot during the Road of Shame? My thoughts were chaotic that day, but it was not as if I noticed nothing. Tell me, did it have something to do with you?”
The cub let out a soft breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his voice remained completely devoid of gloom:
“It was done by the males my brother Adam recruited. Do not worry, I am just a female cub and cannot accomplish anything. I was just worried about you, so I took the opportunity to take you away. Do not ask about Adam’s reasons for doing that; it is nothing more than males fighting for power and profit, and the Road of Shame was just a pretext.”
“Actually, today my brother also brought news from the Capital Star. His Majesty the Insect Emperor is benevolent and has forgiven the crimes of the First Army. You have been granted a special pardon and do not need to walk that Road of Shame; you can return directly to the capital to report on your duties. This is a good thing, right? Perhaps next time, we can meet on the Capital Star.”
Muris had already thought it through. Given the current situation, it was impossible for him to take Eliotte away because the tables had turned. Eliotte had been pardoned, while he had become a wanted fugitive. As long as Earl Schmidt did not get what he wanted, he would keep sending law enforcement teams to hunt him down. This time it was the easily fooled Adam who came, but that might not be the case next time.
He knew that with Eliotte’s personality, if he knew the truth, he definitely would not hand him over to the Earl, nor would he abandon him. And that would only bring the female more trouble.
The way things were now was the best arrangement, the one that could protect Eliotte the most.
No matter what Muris would face at the Earl’s estate, it would not affect Eliotte fulfilling his mission and seeking a way to survive on the Capital Star.
Reason caused his thoughts to settle down, but the dull ache in his chest still churned. The college student, who knew absolutely nothing about medicine, always felt that there was something wrong with this body’s heart. Whenever he spent time with Eliotte, it would flutter nonstop, like a thousand butterflies flapping their wings at the same time. Right now, it throbbed with spasms again, as if it would tear apart in the very next second.
“I will go find you, trust me.”
The cub suddenly spoke the most sincere words of the evening. Tilting his little face up, he looked with a pair of emerald-green eyes at Eliotte, whose eyelashes were trembling:
“You said before that your royal brother would not kill you, right? He will find a matching male for you to cure your pheromone deficiency. These are things I cannot do, and I cannot stand by and watch you suffer. When the time comes, I will definitely go find you. We will only be separated for a tiny bit of time.”
The cub used his plump hand, which was the one not holding utensils, to measure out a tiny distance. But Eliotte suddenly stood up. The black hair he had nursed back to being soft and lustrous over the past month cascaded down, making his face look startlingly pale:
“You promised! You clearly promised. You said you would never leave me.”
The moment the words of near-accusation left his mouth, the female insect seemed ashamed to the absolute limit. He abruptly turned his face away. On the half of his face exposed to the light, a translucent tear hung from his exquisite jawline, sliding down the jaw to his chin like a diamond in a display case.
“I am sorry, I lost my composure. I should be the one taking good care of you.”
The cub’s heart felt as though it were being torn to pieces by that diamond-like tear. His little fleshy hand clutched his chest in bewilderment, while his other little hand reached out for Eliotte’s fingers.
“You have taken very good care of me, but I have to go home. Otherwise, if male father flies into a rage, it will not be good for me after all.”
Muris spoke words that went against his heart:
“Besides, the First Army is setting out tomorrow, and they have been looking for you like crazy. This time they are not forcing you down the Road of Shame, so this is a good thing too, right? Although your injuries have recovered, the male pheromone deficiency is a difficult matter to solve. Only your royal brother can help you. He does not want to kill you, right? You still have value to him; he will help you resolve this issue.”
Listening to the cub’s almost naive words, Eliotte nearly wanted to laugh miserably. Resolve? Yes, Coleen would resolve this issue. He would not let him die because he had not had enough of playing with him as a toy.
But the price for this was something he was unwilling to pay for eternity.
He would rather die to keep himself clean.
But he could not. If he died, the truth would never surface, and the controlled military insects of the First Army would only meet their inevitable deaths in darkness and ignorance.
The cub was right. Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, the Mother Goddess had already arranged everything. The beautiful and commendable part of his destiny had come to an abrupt halt tonight. He had his mission to complete, and everything with the cub was nothing more than an overly beautiful, almost illusory dream.
He was the one who had been too indulgent to wake up.
“Yes.” Eliotte heard his own voice sound like a newly deceased ghost:
“Royal brother will arrange everything for me, you do not need to worry. These days have been the most beautiful days of my life. Thank you.”
He spoke in a hollow voice, as if reciting a chant, allowing a single tear to dry up inside his eyes.