Chapter 229: Tianjia Prince × Mixed-Blood Military Female (14): 'You are his Female Lord. You should be by his side.'

[Yes! Saying the boldest thing imaginable in the most cowardly tone!]

[I never thought you’d dare dream this big, Caleb. I thought the most you’d do was pat him on the head or kiss him. I underestimated you!]

[The Prince doesn’t seem to like head-patting rewards (scratches head)?]

[Huh? Males don’t like that? Have we been doing it wrong all this time?]

[Not necessarily. What the Prince dislikes is that kind of reward bestowed by a superior upon a subordinate. He prefers interacting as equals. He is a member of the Imperial Family, after all, so he’s proud and haughty. It’s understandable.

Ordinary males still respond very well to this sort of thing. Without positive feedback like head pats and physical contact, males tend to become even more anxious and frightened. The reward-based treatment commonly used among the Tianjia was developed and passed down through generations of experience, so there must be some reason behind it.

In short, different males need to be raised differently.]

[Shouldn’t you be reflecting on why you make males afraid in the first place?]

[Try keeping up with the times (disdain). I seriously can’t stand you Tianjia.]

[Our males are all timid, well-behaved babies. They’re nothing like your arrogant, domineering, recklessly bold Male Zergs!

Raising males to be like yours is what really counts as ruining them!]

Sometimes the Tianjia also wished their own males could be a little bolder and less restrained at home, but whenever they thought of what the Male Zergs next door were like, they found the sight too much for their eyes and simply couldn’t accept it.

The Zergs’ Male Zergs were dazzling, certainly, and incredibly hot, enough to arouse the Tianjia’s desire to conquer them. But if you actually wanted to live with one, a Male Zerg like that was definitely out of the question. He’d need disciplining. Their own males were still better.

Their ideal types were males like His Highness the Prince and the Male Zerg Hill, as well as the Tianjia egg that had been picked up in the novel—Axel.

The Zergs thought the Tianjia were far too controlling, nothing but a bunch of perverted cold-violence manipulators.

Their Male Zergs were so much better. Even when they were being spoiled, arrogant little tyrants ordering Zergs around, they were breathtakingly beautiful.

[Caleb still hit the jackpot! (angry)]

[Saying he hit the jackpot isn’t quite right, is it? They’re already husbands and they’re married. If the female has decided he wants a hatchling, it’s perfectly normal for him to tell the male and start preparing for pregnancy and making an egg.]

[Caleb never explicitly said he wanted a hatchling before, but he never used contraception either. No contraception means you’re preparing for pregnancy, and the Prince never objected. This sort of thing is entirely up to the female.]

The Zergs simply couldn’t comprehend a culture in which females voluntarily used contraception.

As far as they were concerned, laying an egg and even having the Prince incubate it—how was that a reward for the Prince? It was obviously a reward for Caleb himself.

The Tianjia, however, considered it perfectly normal and reasonable.

If a female was willing to sacrifice time that could have been spent pursuing his career to have an egg, then either he liked hatchlings or he liked that particular male. There was nothing wrong with calling it a reward for the male.

Of course, most importantly, the female himself wanted to do it. Everything was done entirely according to his own wishes.

A species like the Zergs, whose females could only let Male Zergs mount them and didn’t even have the right to refuse reproduction, was the truly unreasonable one.

The two sides could reach no agreement on this point, but both were equally envious and eager to see Caleb and the Prince have a hatchling.

......

[“An egg?”

The Prince stared at him in astonishment, unable to understand how the conversation had suddenly veered into such a major life decision.

He didn’t even have time to pay attention when the game interface popped up with a notification that he had completed the mission with the highest possible rating.

“Of course. If you’re ready to have a hatchling...”

Although surprised, Prince Metis still responded immediately.

Having hatchlings after marriage was perfectly normal, even though Metis had never thought that far ahead before.

But he wasn’t opposed to it. He was willing to have a hatchling with Caleb.

He would do everything he was supposed to do. He would take good care of Caleb and provide their hatchling with the best possible living conditions and environment in which to grow. The tragedies that had plagued generations of the Imperial Family would never happen again.

“Are we going to start preparing for pregnancy?”

Metis asked, seriously considering it.

“As for time... I’ll need to get off work earlier from now on and arrange my working hours more efficiently. I’ll also need to adjust my sleep schedule. Diet too—I can’t eat certain unhealthy foods anymore. And exercise...”

Caleb listened blankly as the Prince earnestly listed one thing after another, never having imagined that the Prince would genuinely consider having a hatchling with him.

He and the Prince were already married, but he had never dared think that far ahead.

Could he and the Prince really have a child who carried both of their bloodlines?

If the Prince knew that he...

Caleb’s lips moved soundlessly, and his eyes grew hot.

Emotion and panic mingled together, leaving him frozen in place, incapable of reacting.

“What’s [N O V E L I G H T] wrong?” Metis looked at him in confusion, not understanding. “Didn’t you say you wanted a hatchling?”

“We’re the same rank, so there’s a very good chance we can conceive a hatchling,” Metis reassured him.

“Okay...”

Caleb stepped forward and embraced the Prince. Closing his eyes, he murmured beside his ear, abandoning every other worry for the moment.

“We’ll start preparing for pregnancy. I’ll come back earlier every day. I’ll adjust my diet and sleep schedule and make an appropriate exercise plan. And also... sleep with you...”

Metis wanted to tell him that, given the female’s formidable constitution that allowed him to eat practically anything, the restrictions on Caleb actually weren’t that strict. The important thing was getting the male’s physical condition into its optimal state. Still, having Caleb accompany him through all of it sounded rather nice.

Forget the game. It was time to log off and go to bed.

Metis chuckled softly and gave Caleb’s waist a gentle push, telling him to log off.

After climbing out of their game pods, Metis and Caleb’s eyes met, and they naturally gravitated toward each other. Both could feel the other’s desire.

At some point, their pheromones had begun intertwining. Entangled together, they fell onto the broad bed.

Metis was particularly proactive this time. Since the goal was conception, they needed to focus on the gestational sac, and he did everything he could to maximize their chances.]

Another Tianjia was going to be carrying an egg.

Ulysses had no interest in reading any further.

He still had plenty of military affairs to deal with. He had no time to watch the Tianjia’s egg-making activities.

Until his male was released from prison and began focusing his efforts on Ulysses’ gestational sac, Ulysses had no intention of offering any opinion on the matter.

Ulysses finished writing the application inviting his male to his residence. Through the eyes of the robotic Zerg, he inspected the room he had prepared for his male several times. After confirming that absolutely nothing had been overlooked, he remotely ordered the flowers replaced with fresh ones before finally switching back to his terminal interface.

He saved the application and scheduled it, planning to send it as soon as his male finished writing this book. The exact time would still have to be adjusted according to when his male completed the novel.

Meanwhile, Tianjia Emperor Ares had begun his journey home as soon as he learned that remnants loyal to the former Tianjia Emperor were causing trouble.

He also brought along the newlywed gift Carl had prepared for his imperial brother.

Most of those remnants weren’t capable of stirring up much trouble. Anyone genuinely capable of causing chaos had already been thoroughly dealt with by Ares. The ones left were nothing more than useless cowards without either ability or nerve.

But they had actually dared wait until he was away to make a move against his imperial brother...

Apparently, these bastards still hadn’t learned their lesson.

Ares returned to Tianjia carrying murderous intent with him.

The journey took some time. By the time he arrived at the palace, he couldn’t find his imperial brother and soon received news that the Prince had developed a high fever and wouldn’t wake up.

A high fever?!

Ares immediately rushed toward the Prince’s chambers.

Everyone knew males were physically fragile, but exactly how fragile they were was something strong and healthy females simply couldn’t imagine.

All they knew was that illness in a male was a serious matter. If anything went wrong, it could even endanger his life.

He had been perfectly fine before. Why had he suddenly developed such a high fever?

......

[Caleb discovered during the night that the Prince had developed a high fever.

During this period, the Prince had even been joining him for morning exercise. They ate nutritious meals intended to prepare them for pregnancy together, the Prince came home from work earlier than before, and after their bedtime exercise, he also went to sleep earlier. His condition had visibly improved compared with the past.

Yet he had suddenly developed a high fever in his sleep.

Caleb immediately summoned the imperial physicians. When he touched the Prince’s feverishly hot skin, he panicked so badly that he completely lost his composure.

The physician arrived quickly. After examining him, he said the Prince was not in immediate danger. He was simply about to advance in rank.

If he endured it successfully, he would advance to S-rank. If he failed, however, his psyche might suffer damage and he could become seriously ill.

This was something the male primarily had to endure himself. All the other Tianjia could do was provide him with a stable environment, companionship, and support.

To avoid disturbing the Prince, the medical team set up monitoring equipment and psychic source crystals to soothe the male’s mind, then withdrew outside, leaving only Lieutenant General Caleb in the bedroom to accompany him.

Caleb held the Prince’s hand and remained beside his bed without closing his eyes once, yet the Prince’s condition showed no sign of improvement.

Enduring pain and breaking through one’s own limits was a process every Tianjia experienced.

Females did not fear pain. They were even grateful for pain that signified transformation.

But watching the Prince lying in bed with his brows tightly furrowed, his hand clenching restlessly and fine beads of sweat covering his forehead as though he were trapped in a terrible nightmare... Caleb’s heart twisted painfully, and panic stripped away all his reason.

He even wanted to pray to some unknown deity, begging it to transfer the Prince’s suffering onto him in exchange for letting the Prince pass safely and painlessly through his transformation.

But no unknown deity answered his prayer.

On the morning of the third day, after Caleb had spent two days and three nights beside the Prince’s bed, he received news that His Majesty the Emperor had returned.

Caleb abruptly came back to his senses. He looked at the Prince, who still showed no sign of waking, then stiffly rose and went outside to receive the Emperor.

Ares had already learned on his way there that the Prince was undergoing a rank advancement, but he was still startled when he saw Caleb looking as though his very soul had left his body.

“Is his condition that bad?” Ares asked gravely.

“His psychic fluctuations are extremely unstable. This is the first case in thousands of years of a Tianjia male advancing to S-rank. The physicians have no experience with it either...”

Caleb was so distracted that his expression was completely blank, and he hardly knew what he himself was saying.

Ares instinctively stepped forward and reached the doorway, only to stop.

He took a step backward, his brows drawing tightly together, then turned around to question the physicians instead. The answers he received were all essentially the same: the Prince could only rely on himself to endure it.

Caleb stood nearby with his mind completely empty. When he saw His Majesty return after questioning the physicians, yet still make no move to enter the room and instead sit down in a chair with a grave expression to wait, he couldn’t help asking:

“Aren’t you going inside to see him?”

“That wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Ares frowned.

Advancing in rank was often accompanied by the release of pheromones. Females outside the marriage could only remain outside the room and wait. The one who should be inside right now was Caleb.

At that thought, Ares raised his eyes and looked at Caleb, who was still standing there, puzzled.

Lieutenant General Caleb looked terrible, but the problem was primarily psychological. For a female, going half a month without sleep or rest was hardly an issue.

Even if Ares told Caleb to go rest now, he probably wouldn’t leave.

No Female Lord could calmly walk away to rest while his Male Lord was undergoing a rank advancement.

And that remark from Caleb about Ares going inside to see him...

No matter how Ares looked at it, something about it felt strange.

Ares stared at Caleb with an odd expression for a moment before saying:

“You are his Female Lord. You should be by his side.”

Caleb looked up in slight surprise.

Of course he wanted to stay beside the Prince, but he was afraid the Prince might want... His Majesty’s company more.

Since His Majesty himself had said it, Caleb naturally couldn’t refuse. He lowered his head in acknowledgment and was just about to return to the room when His Majesty’s voice came from behind him.

“My imperial brother despises the unspeakable traditions of the former Imperial Family. All of that ended along with the lives of a great many members of the Imperial Family. Whatever you may be thinking, never entertain thoughts like that again.”

......]