Chapter 216: Tianjia Prince × Mixed-Blood Military Female (3): He Was Willing to Sacrifice the Rest of His Life for a Command from Him

[Wait? Caleb? Is that the Caleb I know?]

The Tianjia readers were startled and suspicious.

[Who else could it be? There's only one high-ranking general with that name.]

[Lieutenant General Caleb, the highest-ranking commander of the Imperial Capital Military Region.]

[That military female who helped the Prince was Lieutenant General Caleb?! (shocked)]

[It actually matches. Lieutenant General Caleb once served as captain of former Emperor Chaos's personal guard and was responsible for guarding the Imperial Palace.]

[Huh? But wasn't the Lieutenant General supposedly an inside agent planted in the previous Emperor's palace by the current Emperor? That's why he was immediately entrusted with important responsibilities after His Majesty Ares took the throne. Before His Majesty left Imperial Capital Star, he even made an exception and promoted Caleb to Lieutenant General, temporarily appointing him the highest-ranking commander of the Imperial Capital Military Region. That's a position reserved for the most trusted of confidants.]

[Based on the novel's description, you could actually interpret it another way. His Majesty was leaving Imperial Capital Star, so ensuring the Prince's safety after his departure became the highest priority. The Prince didn't trust anyone else, so His Majesty chose Lieutenant General Caleb, whom the Prince did trust, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Capital Military Region while simultaneously commanding the Imperial Guard.]

[I feel like we've uncovered the truth.]

[This is just a novel, hey! Don't take it seriously! Stop using a novel to analyze reality!]

The Zerg: [...What are you all babbling about? Isn't it weird for a bunch of Tianjia to discuss military affairs on Zerg StarNet? You're making my hands itch. I want to go fight you.]

[Itchy hands +1]

The male Zergs didn't understand any of it.

The male Zergs only wanted to read about the romance between the male and female protagonists.

As for positions, military ranks, and all that, they had barely managed to remember "Lieutenant General." They didn't care about the rest.

The closest they'd ever come to learning about a female Zerg's job was during uniform play.

......

【Prince Metis arranged to meet Lieutenant General Caleb in the palace garden.

The flourishing plants complemented the magnificent sculptures, creating an intensely artistic scene that looked like something from an oil painting.

The original fountains and waterscapes had been removed, leaving only the plants and architecture meticulously designed by master craftsmen.

Footsteps stopped behind him.

The newcomer called out, "Your Highness," in that same familiar voice.

Prince Metis turned his head to look at him. His gaze swept over the female's black hair and military uniform before he invited him to sit.

Caleb was no stranger to meetings like this.

During the period when His Majesty had been missing, he had often come to report the situation to the Prince. Sometimes the Prince summoned him to the audience chamber, sometimes to the study, and when things were less formal, they would meet in the garden or dining room.

But this was the first time they had sat directly across from one another at a small round table in the garden.

Lieutenant General Caleb sat somewhat stiffly.

He waited for the Prince to issue an order or question him about military affairs.

Instead, the Prince merely studied him, his gaze roaming over Caleb with an expression he couldn't understand.

It made him restless, and he began wondering whether something about his military appearance was improper.

But he'd checked and straightened himself several times both before leaving home and upon entering the Imperial Palace.

While he was still feeling uneasy, he heard the Prince say, "Lieutenant General Caleb is young and accomplished, yet you have never married... Ordinary military females begin looking at prospective males once they become officers. Those with higher standards usually submit applications after becoming senior generals. Why has the Lieutenant General remained unmarried for so long? Do you have some concern?"

Caleb hadn't expected the Prince to ask about his private marital affairs. For a moment, he was at a loss and didn't know how to answer.

He had been born at the bottom of society, but he wasn't stupid.

When the Imperial Family asked a question like this, it meant they intended to arrange a marriage.

Perhaps it was the Tianjia Emperor's idea.

Perhaps it was the Prince's.

Either way, they intended to arrange a male for him.

Any ordinary female would already be expressing gratitude for the favor.

But he......

Caleb pursed his lips and lowered his eyes, avoiding the Prince's gaze.

"I don't intend to marry for the time being... I'm quite comfortable on my own. It's freer this way."

"Oh, I see..." the Prince replied before falling silent.

Caleb raised his eyes.

The Prince's beautiful brows were slightly furrowed, as though something was troubling him.

Caleb couldn't bear seeing him troubled.

"If..." Caleb suddenly said, "if it is Your Highness's command, I will carry it out."

Perhaps the Prince intended for him to marry some male.

Caleb thought silently.

He knew that the Prince had arranged for males to receive an education, and he also knew that the Prince had close relationships with many married and unmarried males throughout the Imperial Capital.

Perhaps there was some male who needed to marry out and required protection.

He couldn't do much, but if all that was required of him was to provide a male with a peaceful, stable home, he could at least manage that.

As for afterward......

He probably wouldn't be able to give the male intimacy or companionship.

If the male fell in love with another female, Caleb could invite that female to form a "family" with them, allowing the other female to also become the male's... Female Lord.

Arrangements where multiple females shared a single Male Lord were quite common among ordinary Tianjia.

But in the highest circles of Tianjia society, a female who fell so low as to share a male would be mocked.

Caleb had always worked very hard to integrate into Tianjia society, but truthfully, he didn't care much about things like that.

Before this, he had never considered forming a bond with any male.

The only male he'd ever felt a vague affection for could never become his male in this lifetime.

As for anyone else, it didn't matter anymore.

Caleb quietly gazed at the Prince, willing to sacrifice the entire second half of his life for a command from him.

When the Prince met the military female's gaze, he unexpectedly felt as though something had pierced and scorched him.

His brows drew together slightly.

A male's acute psychic perception allowed him to sense Caleb's deeper emotions.

It was a feeling of......

Silent sorrow.

He was sad.

He didn't want to marry.

He didn't want to marry a male.

The Prince had never encountered such a difficult situation.

If he didn't want to get married, he could simply say so. There was no need to say something like he'd do it if the Prince commanded him......

It wasn't as though the Prince would force him.

The Prince abruptly rose to his feet and pulled his coat more tightly around himself, despite the lingering chill he felt even beneath the blazing sun. Turning slightly away, he said:

"Let's end this here. There's no need to force yourself. Pretend I never said any of this today. No one will force you into marriage. You're a female. You have the right to choose your own marriage."

With that, the Prince left immediately.

Caleb instinctively stood and took a step after him, only to stop.

This was the rear garden of the Imperial Palace. In terms of palace territory, it belonged to the inner palace. Even as commander of the Imperial Guard, he couldn't wander around freely without reason.

The Prince seemed dissatisfied with his answer.

But Caleb didn't know what else he could do to please him.

Making males happy had never been a subject Tianjia females needed to learn.

And the inherited memories from the other half of his bloodline hadn't left him any useful knowledge either.

......

Over the next several days, the Prince summoned several unmarried generals.

The results were exactly as he'd expected.

No matter how capable a female was at work, the moment males became involved, the arrogance they displayed and the unmistakably female way they looked at him made it impossible for him to continue interacting with them.

His physiological aversion to females only amplified the discomfort.

The meetings went terribly.

The Prince leaned over the desk with his forehead supported by one hand, rubbing his temples as he tried to calm himself.

The Tianjia Emperor, who had been staying in the palace these days to nurture his eggs, saw him like this and tried to comfort him.

"There's no reason to rush. If you haven't met anyone you like, then don't marry."

The Tianjia Emperor added, "There's nothing wrong with living in the palace for the rest of your life. This was always our home. There used to be all those irritating bastards in the palace, but they're gone now, so we should enjoy ourselves even more. What kind of palace do you like? Want to build another one for fun?"

The Prince didn't want to talk to him.

But he couldn't stand watching him grin foolishly either, so he sighed.

"In another few months, your pregnancy will start showing. The public will assume they're our eggs."

The Tianjia Emperor stopped talking.

His expression darkened, his brows drawing together as he considered the possibility.

Then he realized that, considering how completely devoid of boundaries generations of Imperial Family members had been in this regard—and how consistently they'd behaved that way—the chances of the public actually reaching that conclusion were frighteningly high!

And once they believed it, explaining the truth would become extremely difficult.

Once the public accepted a falsehood as truth, then the actual truth would look like a lie in their eyes.

"I'll issue a public statement," the Tianjia Emperor said.

"A statement saying that you're carrying the eggs of a male Zerg?" the Prince asked in return.

"......"

The Tianjia Emperor fell silent for a while, then stubbornly continued with a grim expression:

"The parentage of a Tianjia egg doesn't depend on its male father."

In Tianjia society, where females held supremacy, all that mattered was confirming that the hatchling had been born from the female. No one particularly cared who the hatchling's male father was.

This was even more true among the highest-ranking nobles, who had numerous Male Lords and Male Attendants.

A Female Lord could lay an egg and casually hand it to a favored male to incubate without caring whether that male was even the egg's biological father.

Unless the male had particularly poor paternal instincts, he generally wouldn't refuse to incubate it.

As for the hatchling......

Hatchlings and males could both sense blood relationships through their lineage. A hatchling would instinctively feel closer to its biological male father and would be more inclined to cuddle up against him.

But that was about it.

What the Tianjia Emperor said made sense.

As long as the hatchlings were born from the Tianjia Emperor, the identity of their male father didn't matter.

Whoever he was, it wouldn't prevent them from being Imperial Princes or heirs to the throne.

Even if their father was a male Zerg.

The logic was sound.

Actually putting it into practice, however, wasn't nearly so easy.

Especially when relations between the two species were far from harmonious and they'd regarded each other as enemies for so long.

Revealing the truth would mean the hatchlings would be born carrying even greater pressure. The public would judge them by different standards. They would have to be better than other Tianjia, more Tianjia than the Tianjia themselves, before they could earn acceptance.

If diplomatic relations had already been established between the two nations and they were on friendly terms, there would be no problem.

But right now, it wouldn't work.

The Prince also knew Ares had another concern.

That male Zerg......

He cared about what that male Zerg thought.

Whether it was publicly announcing their relationship or allowing the public to misunderstand the hatchlings' bloodline, he cared about that male Zerg's feelings and his choice.

"My getting married is still the best option," the Prince said.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason.

The Prince had many reasons for choosing marriage.

There was the Tianjia tradition that males married after reaching adulthood, the outside world's intense scrutiny of the marriage prospects of the Imperial Family's only adult male, and his own desire to secure stable allies and support within the military rather than relying entirely on Ares......

He couldn't put all his eggs in one basket.

If the impossible-to-rein-in Ares really did get himself killed someday, the Prince still needed to be capable of stabilizing the situation and protecting himself......

By comparison, Ares's pregnancy and the possibility of the public misunderstanding it were merely one of many reasons.

At most, they were the catalyst.

Even without this situation, the Prince would still have entered a marriage in the near future.

It was merely a question of sooner or later.

But his marriage partner had to be selected with extreme care.

He was looking for a path toward a more advantageous future.

He wasn't looking to get himself killed.

He could endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens for the sake of his goals, but if the marriage was destined to give him none of what he wanted and only make everything worse, then there was no reason for that marriage to exist.

He wasn't that desperate.

......

The Prince eventually grew sick of looking at the list and tossed it to the Tianjia Emperor, telling him to find someone for him.

The Tianjia Emperor could fall asleep while reviewing profiles of males for himself, but when it came to choosing a spouse for his older brother, he was remarkably serious.

He carefully flipped through the profiles.

Suddenly remembering something, he quickly flipped backward and forward through them again before asking in confusion:

"Where's Lieutenant General Caleb? Why isn't he here?"

The Prince said nothing.

Of course he'd bring up the one subject the Prince didn't want mentioned.

"He doesn't intend to marry for the time being," the Prince said.

Ares raised his eyes and glanced at the Prince.

He'd only said that Caleb didn't intend to marry.

He hadn't said anything about what he himself thought.

That alone said quite a lot.

Ares closed the files.

"Since when does it matter whether he wants to marry? If he's told to marry, then he'll marry."

"Don't do anything reckless," the Prince said unhappily.

He didn't want to force Caleb to do something he didn't want.

Besides, marrying an Imperial male was practically equivalent to marrying into the Imperial Family.

If they really married, Caleb would inevitably face all kinds of restrictions afterward. Marrying additional Male Attendants would certainly become impossible, and even his everyday words and behavior would be restricted. He would have no choice but to become deeply bound to the Imperial Family.

If Caleb himself wanted that, then it would be another matter.

But if he didn't want it and they forced him anyway, that wouldn't be a marriage.

It would be making an enemy.

Even if the Tianjia Emperor successfully arranged the marriage, there would be no point if Caleb treated the Prince respectfully on the surface while becoming emotionally distant and estranged from him underneath.

The Tianjia Emperor couldn't understand it either.

How could Caleb possibly be unwilling to marry?

A female with no blood relation to a male had guarded him like that.

What other reason could there be?

Loyalty?

His gaze settled on the Prince's strikingly beautiful face as he concentrated on government affairs.

After staring at him for a while, Ares suddenly asked:

"Imperial Brother, did you actually tell him that the one he'd be marrying was you?"

Of course the Prince hadn't.

If the other party didn't want to marry at all, what would be the point of telling him that?

Saying anything more would have been meaningless.

......】