Chapter 231: Tianjia Prince × Mixed-Blood Military Female (16): For the First Time, the Future Was Something Worth Looking Forward To

[Tianjia, get out here and take your scolding! A male, an Imperial Prince, and his greatest wish is actually just to have enough food and warm clothes. Look at what you’ve done!]

The Tianjia said they hadn’t known either.

There had indeed been rumors that a Tianjia Emperor had imprisoned an Imperial male inside a golden birdcage, but to ordinary citizens, those were nothing more than distant rumors and stories. Who could have imagined that the former Emperor had gone this far?! Not letting a male eat his fill, making him live somewhere exposed to the wind on all sides and suffer from the cold—was that something a female could even do?!

[The former Emperor committed every evil imaginable!]

[It’s a novel. Everyone calm down.]

[You can only say that on the Zerg StarNet. Post it on the Tianjia network and your comment will immediately be deleted, your account muted, and officials will come knocking on your door to give you an ideological education. The current Imperial Family has made its position perfectly clear. There’s no need to whitewash the former Emperor.]

[Holy shit! Are you saying the things written in the book might actually be true?]

[It definitely uses some fictional techniques, but there’s probably a certain factual basis behind it. Even if it’s only chasing rumors, there has to be some wind to catch and some shadow to chase.]

[Exactly. Stop whitewashing the former Emperor and those deceased Imperial Family members. That’s basically putting yourself in opposition to the surviving Imperial Family. You think the Imperial Family shares common interests, but in reality, they probably wished all the others would just die off.]

[I realized that too late (sobbing)! I got muted for three hundred years on the Tianjia network! Even insulting Ulysses on the Zerg StarNet never got me muted for that long (crying)!]

[Well... go in peace. Half a lifetime will pass before you know it.]

[@StarNet Administrator, what the hell are you doing? Didn’t you see this Tianjia openly admit to insulting the Marshal? And they’re complaining the punishment wasn’t long enough! Give them the heavy sentence! Arrange the permanent 999-year ban package!]

[Exactly! They deserve at least the same treatment as Lord Annor!]

......

[Caleb took the Prince, who possessed only his memories from several years ago, away from the Tianjia Empire.

Away from the Tianjia Empire that existed within the male’s Psychic Domain.

As Metis watched their position on the star map move farther and farther away, he breathed a genuine sigh of relief.

He had finally escaped that cage.

Although he didn’t know whether his choice was equivalent to stepping into another cage, at least at this moment, he felt completely liberated.

But now that they had escaped, it was also time for the military female to claim his reward.

Metis took a shower and changed into comfortable clothes.

He still instinctively resisted this sort of thing. Any female could give him a sense of danger.

Yet this particular military female seemed to be some sort of exception. Metis didn’t feel any disgust toward him. Even when he imagined sleeping with him, he found that he wasn’t particularly unwilling.

After mentally preparing himself, Metis went to find Caleb.

Caleb was in the kitchen studying recipes.

Now that he was the only one taking care of the Prince, he had to be even more attentive. There was a robotic Tianjia responsible for cooking, but Caleb didn’t think that was enough.

The Prince’s experiences made his heart ache, and he wanted to do everything within his power to give him the very best of everything.

Seeing the Prince approach, Caleb handed him a plate of freshly made pastries and asked him to try them.

They didn’t look particularly good. The shapes weren’t refined enough and there was still plenty of room for improvement, but the taste should be all right?

He wanted the Prince to see whether they suited his palate.

Metis, who had come here to offer himself, somehow ended up holding a plate and eating pastries instead.

His cheeks puffed out as he ate.

“Mmm, delicious!”

He thought practically everything tasted delicious, especially food that was still piping hot from the oven.

Seeing that he liked it made Caleb happy too.

“There are others. Please try these as well.”

Caleb brought over all the presentable food he had made that evening. The Prince graciously tried every single dish and showered them all with praise.

Caleb was delighted, yet his heart ached at the same time, and his eyes began to sting.

He turned around and continued making something new.

Only after Metis had eaten and drunk his fill did he remember why he had come here in the first place. He looked at the female still bustling around the kitchen and raised a hand to rub his full stomach.

He had eaten too much and felt a little stuffed, but it was comfortable.

A full stomach, plenty to drink, and comfortable clothes made him very happy.

Metis’s favorability toward this military female skyrocketed, and he became willing to do some naughty things with him.

“Stop making those.”

Metis walked over, wrapped himself around the military female’s arm, and said, “Come do me.”

Caleb’s mind went completely blank for an instant, and it took him half a beat to react.

Was the Prince inviting him?

He turned his head stiffly and stared at the Prince. At a complete loss, he wiped his hands on his kitchen apron, still not daring to touch the Prince directly, and asked nervously:

“You want it? Right now?”

What did he mean, Metis wanted it?

Metis found the military female’s choice of words strange.

Wasn’t this sort of thing usually something the female wanted, while the male cooperated?

Metis himself thought he was simply fulfilling the purpose for which this military female had rescued him. It was the exchange they had agreed upon beforehand.

Besides, he was genuinely in a good mood right now and didn’t feel nearly as resistant to the idea.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “We can do it now, but you have to be gentle.”

Metis had always felt that this sort of thing must be painful and unpleasant, so he was still somewhat uneasy.

“And I just ate...”

He didn’t want to throw it all up.

Hearing the Prince say that, Caleb’s gaze moved downward to his waist and abdomen.

Of course he couldn’t possibly make the Prince exercise vigorously at a time like this. Moving around right after eating would make him uncomfortable, wouldn’t it?

He gently and steadily lifted the Prince into his arms and carried him back to the bedroom.

Metis was laid flat on the bed. Just when he thought everything was about to begin, the military female instead let him rest his head on his lap, held him in his arms, and began gently rubbing his stomach.

Metis: “?”

Was this some strange ritual they had to perform beforehand?

Metis caught the hand resting on his stomach. Unsure whether he should push it away, he asked in confusion, “What are you doing?”

“Helping you digest your food so you’ll feel more comfortable,” Caleb said.

Would that really make him comfortable?

Although he could eat his fill now, Metis still instinctively disliked the feeling of food being completely digested. Having a full stomach was what felt most comfortable.

Metis rejected the military female’s digestion-aiding activity and asked him to just do it directly.

Caleb looked very hesitant. If they did it right away, the Prince might feel uncomfortable. Even if Caleb could control his strength with extreme precision, once the Prince’s pheromones rose, they would trigger reactions throughout his body. One thing would affect everything else.

In the end, he asked the Prince if they could watch a movie first.

Metis assumed he needed a movie to get himself in the mood. He remembered some of the disgusting images of tangled bodies Chaos had shown him to provoke him. His expression became rather unpleasant, but he reluctantly nodded, willing to cooperate.

Then Caleb turned on a food documentary.

Metis stared gravely at the females and males cooking on the screen, constantly expecting them to suddenly embrace and start doing it.

Instead, they just kept cooking.

“?”

Metis looked at the movie in bewilderment, then at the female holding him.

“What is this?”

“A food movie.” Caleb lowered his head to look at him and asked in surprise, “Don’t you like it?”

When he and the Prince spent time together in their daily lives, they often watched movies together. Over time, Caleb had discovered that the Prince wasn’t interested in romantic storylines between females and males. Instead, he would watch food and cooking scenes with intense concentration.

So Caleb had specifically begun choosing those sorts of movies to watch with the Prince, preparing snacks, fruit, and drinks for them to enjoy at the same time. Whenever they watched like that, the Prince was usually in an excellent mood.

Metis was still confused.

What he actually wanted to ask was why the military female would watch a food movie.

Perhaps this was simply the military female’s hobby?

Remembering that Caleb also enjoyed studying recipes and cooking, Metis suddenly understood.

It was an extraordinarily rare hobby among females, but an interesting one.

At the very least, it didn’t make Metis feel threatened.

Perhaps living with a female like this wouldn’t be so unpleasant.

For the first time, the future was something worth looking forward to.

They watched the entire food movie, which lasted two full star-hours. Even at the end, Metis was still energetic, discussing with the military female which dishes in the movie looked especially delicious.

Caleb memorized every single one.

He planned to stay up all night studying them and do his best to have them ready for the Prince by the next morning.

In the end, they still did it.

Metis voluntarily wrapped his arms around Caleb’s neck and explored the mysteries of life with him. He discovered that physical contact with a female wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as he had imagined.

On the contrary, it felt extraordinarily good.

Almost too good.

Even long after it ended, he still hadn’t completely recovered his senses.

Finally, the female carried him away to wash, changed the bedding, then placed him back into bed, clean and refreshed, letting him sink into the soft, warm covers.

Metis rested both hands in front of himself, clutching the edge of the blanket, and belatedly realized that spending time and sleeping with a good female could actually be this comfortable.

The female lay down beside him. His strong body, still carrying a trace of moisture, felt warm to the Tianjia. There was no sense of oppression. Instead, it made him feel safe.

Metis finally remembered to ask:

“What’s your name?”

Caleb froze slightly, then laughed helplessly. He once again solemnly introduced himself to this Prince who seemed to have lost part of his memory:

“My name is Caleb. It means... loyalty.”

“Hmm?” Metis’s eyes widened. “Loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor?”

“No.”

Caleb gently embraced him, pressed his lips to the top of his head, and left a kiss there. Then, in the context of this conversation, he voiced a thought that sounded practically treasonous, yet came directly from his heart:

“Loyalty to you.”

Metis blinked.

Females nowadays were terrifying.

They had actually become this good at saying sweet things.

Good enough to deceive even a male who feared females into wanting to marry them.

Metis buried his nose and mouth against the female’s firm yet yielding chest, breathing in his warm scent mingled with Metis’s own pheromones. Then he raised his eyes and softly asked:

“Then... are we considered married now?”

They had already left the Tianjia Empire, so naturally they couldn’t hold a wedding ceremony. Metis didn’t care about those things anyway.

So after sleeping together, that should count as formally establishing their relationship and getting married, right?

Caleb chuckled softly and held the Prince close.

“We’ve been married for a long time.”

His voice carried helplessness and happiness, along with deep satisfaction and a hint of gratitude.

Metis didn’t understand.

He simply assumed Caleb meant that, from the moment Caleb rescued him from the Imperial Palace, they had become permanently bound together and therefore counted as married.

He didn’t argue.

He was satisfied with their relationship.

Hugging the military female back, he enthusiastically imagined their future:

“From now on, we’ll travel everywhere in the universe. You’ll pilot the ship and prepare the food, and I’ll work hard to make myself useful too!”

“You don’t need to work hard to do anything,” Caleb said. “Just do whatever you want. It’s enough for you to live happily and enjoy yourself.”

But what Metis wanted was precisely to make himself useful—to use his abilities and become an indispensable member of their little team.

If he did absolutely nothing and simply let Caleb support him, how would that be any different from Chaos imprisoning him in the birdcage?

It would merely be a more comfortable cage.

His trust in Caleb had not yet reached that point, and he desperately wanted to find something he could do.

Males possessed formidable learning abilities. Metis believed there was nothing he couldn’t learn or do.

But what could he do right now?

After thinking it over repeatedly, the only thing that came to mind was the natural abilities of a male.

That was a male’s strength. Even if society had attached countless shackles to that ability, there was no need to reject the ability itself.

Metis said to Caleb:

“Do you need Psychic Soothing? Let me soothe you once!”

“...Can you do that?” Caleb wasn’t entirely certain.

If his guess was correct, they were currently inside the Prince’s Psychic Domain, and this entire world was constructed from the Prince’s Psychic Power.

Could the Prince perform Psychic Soothing on him here?

“Of course I can!” Metis thought Caleb was underestimating him.

The inhibitor around his neck had been removed by Caleb on the very first day after they escaped from the Imperial Palace.

He was a genuine A+ rank male. What kind of Psychic Soothing could he possibly be incapable of performing?

Seeing how determined the Prince was, Caleb agreed.

But he still said, “My mental condition is very good. There’s actually no need to do it. You can simply try. Don’t exert yourself too much.”

Metis could sense that Caleb’s mental condition was indeed quite good.

Unless a young female was fighting desperately on a battlefield and recklessly consuming his core energy without regard for the consequences, his mental condition generally wouldn’t deteriorate too badly as long as he paid some attention to himself and rested when appropriate.

Mental depletion could be controlled.

It was simply that many military females fighting life-or-death battles or enduring prolonged wars of attrition had very few opportunities to exercise that kind of self-control.

Caleb was probably strong enough that he rarely encountered battles requiring him to go all out and exhaust his core energy. He was also extremely capable of managing his own mental condition.

He was a very cautious and self-disciplined Tianjia.

Yet such a cautious Tianjia had actually taken such an enormous risk to get Metis out.

Metis couldn’t decide whether Caleb was simply full of contradictions, had temporarily lost his reason, or was...

blinded by lust.

Metis chuckled softly and extended his Psychic Power, beginning to perform Psychic Soothing for Caleb.

The moment his power touched Caleb’s consciousness, before he had even truly begun, Metis caught glimpses of several memories.

This was something that often occurred during Psychic Soothing.

Females who cared greatly about their privacy would refuse to expose their memories, remaining tense throughout the process and making the soothing difficult. Some would even refuse Psychic Soothing altogether.

Tianjia females were particularly concerned about such matters.

Therefore, among the Tianjia, Psychic Soothing was generally performed only after the female personally requested it, removed his inhibitor, and asked the male to proceed. Only then would the male perform the soothing as requested.

Metis voluntarily offering Psychic Soothing just now had actually crossed the usual boundaries somewhat.

But they had already left Tianjia territory, and Metis harbored a small rebellious streak of his own. He didn’t care about crossing those boundaries.

Except...

The memories Caleb revealed made Metis’s expression change.

He saw a wedding.

Caleb’s wedding.

Caleb was marrying a male.

Caleb was already married!

He was a married female!

Metis felt profoundly deceived. Before he even had time to become angry, he saw the face of the male marrying Caleb.

That was...

his own face.

Beside the version of himself dressed in wedding attire stood Ares, wearing magnificent ceremonial robes.

Their relationship could not have been more obvious.

It was the scene of a relative seeing a male off into marriage.

Or perhaps it was more than merely seeing him off. The ceremony was far too grand.

Metis was bewildered.

Judging from these memories, Caleb had already married. He was a married female.

And the male he had married was Metis himself?

More images surfaced before Metis’s eyes—or perhaps directly inside his mind.

He remembered everything.

......]