Chapter 214: Tianjia Prince × Mixed-Blood Military Female (1): In the Garden of the Tianjia Imperial Palace, the Most Beautiful Golden Bird Is Kept in Captivity

An Ruo began preparing his new novel.

His terminal was obviously terribly inconsiderate. It hadn't brought out the epic masterpiece he'd written in his dream.

He clearly remembered writing an enormous amount in his dream. His inspiration had exploded, and he'd come up with peerless plot ideas and sweet romance, yet after waking up, his mind was completely blank.

What made him even sadder was that the terminal, which had automatically generated a recording of Ulysses hatching, hadn't generated any of his manuscript.

This terminal was far too inconsiderate!

An Ruo shed noodle-wide tears in his heart.

Only after hugging the video of Ulysses hatching and watching it a hundred times to soothe his wounded heart did he finally open a blank document and start writing from scratch.

......

The readers on StarNet had long since been howling for food.

[One day without reading An-shen's novel feels like three autumns have passed.]

[What a confusing concept of time (scratches head). Does your planet rotate that fast?]

[I still want to see Tianjia Emperor and Carl's double eggs (loud sobbing). An-shen, write some more. We'll do anything (begging).]

[Yes, they'll do anything (begging for scraps).]

[Little everyday stories with the Marshal would be fine too (shy). I want to read those.]

[An-shen has definitely written those, but that doesn't mean he'll necessarily post them.]

[I can't even imagine how well the Marshal eats every day.]

[No, I'm genuinely jealous about this. Even if the Marshal has an S-rank male Zerg, I can live with that. But if the Marshal gets custom-written stories exclusively from An-shen, the kind he keeps to himself and privately enjoys, I'm seriously going to cry.]

[An-shen's protagonists are always so deeply in love and eat so well. The Marshal must get the same treatment as the protagonists. I'm jealous.]

[The only question is whether he gets Iso's treatment or Tianjia Emperor's treatment (whispers).]

[What's the difference?]

[Iso's treatment means eating extremely well, a flash marriage with a hatchling included, plus the cozy 1v1 little-family setup. Tianjia Emperor has it rougher. Getting pheromones is difficult at the beginning, he has to go through an entire box of raincoats, and there's a separation arc, but he gets to carry two eggs!]

Ulysses hit dislike.

What Iso? What Tianjia Emperor?

His god had never used punitive things like raincoats on him. An had simply released on his body instead of inside his egg sac. How could those possibly be treated as the same thing?

As for hatchlings......

An didn't want hatchlings yet. He believed their relationship hadn't reached that stage, and Ulysses respected his decision.

In his eyes, the male he already knew and loved was far more important than some unknown hatchling.

He would continue moving their relationship forward as well. He believed that one day, An would fully accept him and be willing to have hatchlings with him.

Ulysses was just about to leave the page when he suddenly received a notification from his special follows.

An had started a new novel.

So soon?

Another pair of protagonists?

Ulysses could already foresee that if An continued writing at this pace, years from now he would be facing an entire legion of protagonists.

An outstanding male naturally attracted plenty of love rivals. That was perfectly normal.

It was just that his particular love rivals were rather unusual. They included female Zergs, male Zergs, Tianjia, and even hatchlings. Practically every possible category was represented.

With a grim expression, Ulysses opened the new novel to investigate his newest love rivals in advance.

【Once a Tianjia male reaches adulthood, he becomes merchandise available for selection. Even noble males can do nothing more than try their best to find themselves a better buyer. It is an enormous gamble, and they may end up losing everything.】

【He calls me his Female Lord, but in my heart, he is the one who is my lord.】

Ulysses: "?"

The readers: [???]

An-shen had started a new novel, but something seemed a little off.

The Zerg were the first to condemn it:

[You Tianjia are outrageous! Treating males like merchandise to be selected! They don't have any rights at all!]

The Tianjia instinctively retorted:

[Why would Tianjia need Zerg rights?]

[Only by having males marry as early as possible can we ensure that more females receive Psychic Soothing. This is the optimal choice dictated by the development of our era and society!]

[Besides, our marriages involve mutual selection. If a male clearly resists a female who applies for him, he won't be forcibly assigned to marry her. The Imperial government also gives full consideration to the male's wishes.]

[Oh, spare me. No matter how prettily you dress it up, males are still the ones "being selected."]

[Still better than you people who can't even get married or receive Psychic Soothing.]

[Oh? Your lower-class citizens can get married? You mean when a dozen or so females pool their entire life's savings to share one low-ranking male? Group-buying a male?]

[And how are you Zerg any better? Lower-class female Zergs without assets like you can't even marry out (rolls eyes).]

[Who says that? As long as you don't have lofty ambitions of becoming a Female Lord or marrying a high-ranking male Zerg, it's still pretty easy to marry as a Female Attendant to a male Zerg of the same rank.]

[And after marrying, you serve the male Zerg every day and let him walk all over you, yet you still don't receive Psychic Soothing. Either you endure it until you finally enter Psychic Riot and get sent to prison, or you can't take it anymore, run away, and become a star pirate.]

Both sides knew far too much about each other, especially the darker aspects deliberately selected and publicized by their respective governments and media. Even though this sort of rhetoric had become less common lately, as long as something had happened before, it could always be dragged back out and used as ammunition.

By the end of the argument, both sides were battered and bruised.

The Tianjia still felt they'd won, though. At least they didn't have to live on their knees like female Zergs.

But when they looked at the new novel's synopsis again, something still seemed wrong.

[What does the second half of the synopsis mean?]

["He calls me his Female Lord, but in my heart, he is the one who is my lord"...... Did one of us Tianjia infiltrate the Zerg as an undercover agent???]

[That shouldn't happen. If a Tianjia female infiltrates the Zerg, it's a mission and a trial. Seeing the miserable lives of female Zergs firsthand would only make him even more devoted to serving the Tianjia. But if a Zerg undercover agent came to Tianjia and experienced such a wonderful life, able to straighten his back and live proudly as a female, wouldn't he defect in minutes?]

[You Tianjia really do have faces as big as washbasins.]

[These fake Zerg aren't even pretending anymore. Report them and get their accounts deleted.]

[Don't! The new chapter just appeared! Let me finish reading first! I just got muted by the Imperial StarNet administration for ten years. I can't lose this account too!] (This user has been banned)

......

【In the garden of the Tianjia Imperial Palace, the most beautiful golden bird was kept in captivity.

The Tianjia revered order, and even the design of the palace garden emphasized symmetrical beauty, with the entire garden laid out in a square.

At its very heart was an enormous circular pool containing elaborate fountains and waterscapes.

If one crossed the walkway running through the pool and passed through curtains of spraying water, one would see a golden palace constructed in the shape of a birdcage.

This was one of Tianjia Emperor Chaos's twisted little amusements.

The moon hung directly overhead.

The military female arriving to take over the watch stood beneath the shadow of the corridor, seemingly merged with the night itself.

The male inside the cage was curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapped in a pure-white blanket that covered his head, leaving only a few strands of beautiful long golden hair exposed.

The male had maintained this position for a long time without moving.

A birdcage palace exposed to the wind on all sides and surrounded by pools and fountains was far too harsh an environment for a physically frail male.

Especially on a cold night.

The military female standing guard beneath the corridor stepped out of the shadows and silently approached the golden birdcage. With his back toward the cage, he adjusted his position and angle according to the direction of the wind, hoping to block at least some of it.

Naturally, the effect was negligible.

Perhaps spreading his wings would help. They could shield a much larger area.

But as a military female standing guard, he had no reason to do that.

If anyone discovered him, he wouldn't be able to explain himself.

The black-haired military female's brows drew together slightly.

When he heard the male tossing restlessly beneath his blanket in the night wind, he spread his wings anyway.

It wasn't until the sky had begun to brighten and the military female's shift ended that the male finally sat up beneath his blanket and looked in the direction the military female had left. A trace of exhaustion and confusion lingered in his magnificent purple eyes.

He was a weak, powerless male. Faced with a high-ranking military female who had spread his wings and exposed his weapons, how was he supposed to sleep peacefully?

He'd thought this newly arrived military female had some outrageous nerve and intended to use the cover of darkness to coerce him into doing something.

Yet in the end, he'd done absolutely nothing.

He'd just displayed his wings all night?

Inexplicable.

The attendant delivering breakfast arrived and placed the tray on the table in the center.

The attendant entered with his head lowered and left with his head lowered, never once daring to communicate with him.

The male looked at the food on the table.

Once again, it was just a few delicate pastries, like treats tossed to reward a pet. The portion was so tiny that it couldn't possibly fill his stomach.

Even the morning air was cold. The male didn't want to leave his bed, but after a considerable internal struggle, he finally got up with the blanket still wrapped around him and ate the few pastries.

If he didn't eat them, they would eventually be taken away, and then he'd have to starve until his next meal.

Assuming there even was a next meal.

The male lay back down.

That little food could only be considered a meal for maintaining basic vital signs.

If he didn't want to suffer until his stomach felt glued to his spine from hunger, he had better move as little as possible and reduce his energy consumption.

He went back to sleep.

The best outcome was sleeping all the way until his next meal. On bad days, he would encounter certain disgusting visitors.

Even when hunger left him without strength, he still had to force himself to stay alert and deal with them, or they would torment him even worse.

Fortunately, those Tianjia didn't truly dare do anything to him. They still had to worry about the Emperor inside the palace who held ownership over him, as well as his twin younger brother, who was away on campaign and whose influence within the military continued to grow.

They were simply annoying.

Extremely annoying.

So disgusting he wanted to vomit.

If his stomach hadn't been empty, he probably would have vomited countless times already.

Today, he was relatively lucky. There were no visitors.

The male peacefully ate his meager few bites of food and endured until evening.

The biggest problems at night were the cold and the hunger that came whenever he couldn't sleep.

The male rubbed his stomach, wishing he could fall asleep faster.

That military female came again, standing in the shadows beneath the corridor.

For a male imprisoned here, with only limited contact with Tianjia every day and a life so monotonous it bordered on unbearable, naturally he could remember every one of his guards.

That military female was a recent arrival, yet his rank was the highest among all the military female guards.

Tianjia females respected strength. The other military females treated him with great respect and obeyed him.

So whenever he was on duty, the other military females remained around the perimeter while he alone came inside.

It seemed like a privilege reserved for someone of high status.

And he was that privilege.

The male had long since grown accustomed to it.

Tianjia males were declared from birth to be benefits and rewards for females, something they could obtain as long as they worked hard enough.

If they couldn't obtain one, then clearly they hadn't "worked hard" enough.

That was how Imperial propaganda had always framed it.

Tonight's dinner consisted of a single pudding. The male was too hungry to sleep, so he sat leaning against the bed, wanting to see what that military female intended to do.

Was he going to display his wings beneath the moonlight again and make a show of his strength?

But the other merely stood in the shadows, avoiding meeting his gaze and doing nothing.

Sometime after midnight, the male passed out from hunger.

That was worth celebrating. Once he was asleep, he wouldn't suffer anymore.

When he woke the next day, there was a strange sweetness lingering in his mouth, something like fruit yet also like dessert.

The male smacked his lips, savoring the aftertaste, and concluded that hunger had probably made him hallucinate.

Fortunately, today's breakfast was comparatively generous, enough that for once he could eat until he was half-full.

This was Chaos's way of tormenting him—keeping him like a pet in a magnificent birdcage, feeding him exquisite yet pitifully small portions as though he really were some pet bird that could survive on a few sips of nectar.

Tonight, the wind came from the southeast, and it was particularly fierce.

The male sat on the floor hugging his knees, using the bedside cabinet as a windbreak with the blanket wrapped tightly around his body.

Sleeping while sitting wasn't particularly comfortable. He kept waking at intervals, drifting in and out of sleep countless times throughout the night.

Eventually, he grew hungry again and habitually rubbed his stomach.

At some point, the military female had appeared behind him.

Only the golden bars of the birdcage separated them. They were almost close enough to touch each other.

The male sensed him, and his body stiffened for an instant.

He had finally managed to find a spot sheltered from the wind. If the other intended to harass him here, he would have no choice but to move somewhere else.

The military female bent halfway down and reached one hand through the bars, placing something beside him, right against his blanket.

Only after the other had left did the male lower his head in confusion and look beside him.

What was this?

A package wrapped in oiled paper?

The male didn't understand and remained somewhat wary.

He suspected that something dangerous might be inside.

A bomb, for example?

That probably wasn't very likely. But the military female had deliberately found an angle hidden from the surveillance system to give it to him, so whatever it was, it had to be contraband.

The Tianjia Emperor had already forbidden any Tianjia from interacting with him, much less passing things into his cage.

Whatever it was, it was contraband.

This military female certainly had nerve.

The male wondered what might be inside and whether being discovered with it would cause him trouble.

Suddenly, a fragrance reached his nose.

A warm, steaming fragrance.

His eyes went slightly blank.

All his meals consisted of various pastries, and most of those were cold.

Hot food was rare.

The male stiffly lowered his head and stared at the oiled-paper package beside him.

The aroma was coming from inside.

He swallowed.

His mind rapidly weighed the advantages and disadvantages, but his hand had already slipped out from beneath the blanket and quietly pulled the package underneath it.

His fingers immediately felt its warmth. As he unfolded the oiled paper, the aroma grew even stronger.

It was a piping-hot meat pie!

Damn it. Who knew what this military female was plotting?

Maybe he wanted to bribe him with a little food and trick him into offering himself.

But there was no reason not to eat a pie that had already fallen into his hands.

If the other tried to demand payment afterward, he'd simply avoid him.

The other couldn't get inside anyway. As long as he stayed farther away from the edges of the birdcage, the military female wouldn't be able to touch him.

Even if the military female became furious from embarrassment afterward, he had been the one to break the rules first, so he certainly wouldn't dare make a fuss about it.

Using the bedside cabinet as cover, the male opened his mouth and took an enormous bite of the pie.

Delicious!

......】