Chapter 56: Male School Heartthrob x Military Academy Student (17): Hill, Who Only Wanted a Small Family, Cracks Apart

[That's right, you're finished with Lord Hill. You can leave now. From now on, leave Lord Hill to me. (Cold face)]

The readers in the review section were speechless at Iso's thoughts.

[What? How does he even dare think that? He actually thinks that "high-ranking young lord from a great family" wants him to serve him?]

[If I were a future S-rank, I'd dare think that too. (Holding face)]

[So... one moment he's serving the "hatchling's papa" version of Lord Hill, and the next he's summoned by the "great family young lord" version of Lord Hill to serve him?]

[Holy crap, this fantasy is so beautiful I'm dizzy.]

[But Iso is suffering right now.]

As readers, they naturally knew about Iso's pain. They understood him and sympathized with him...

Sympathize, my ass!

Since when was it their turn to sympathize with someone whose options on both sides were Lord Hill?

[If he wants to suffer, then let him suffer. There won't be many opportunities left for Iso to taste hardship.]

[I'm going to save this part and reread it over and over, watching Iso suffer inside his misunderstanding.]

[What kind of weird hobby is that?!]

[Actually, this is easy to solve. Iso just needs to go back and confess everything to Lord Hill.]

[Unless he takes the hatchling and runs away instead.]

[...What kind of horror story is that? Although Isidore doesn't have a genetic defect and isn't as dependent on a male Zerg's psychic soothing, you still can't do something so reckless.]

There were indeed female Zergs who had been pushed to the edge by male Zergs, left with no way for themselves and their hatchlings to survive, and who chose to leave with their children.

But as long as there was even the slightest hope, female Zergs would never choose to flee from a male Zerg.

Obedience toward male Zergs had already been engraved into their bones.

Stories about running away while carrying a hatchling weren't popular among the Zergs.

Especially not with a male Zerg like Lord Hill.

Countless female Zergs wished they could cling to him. Who would ever run away?

Looking at it that way, there were only two choices left.

Confess.

Or conceal it.

Which one would Iso choose?

The readers were very curious.

...

【Hill noticed that something was wrong with Iso.

As soon as he returned, he wore a troubled expression, as though he wanted to speak but couldn't. His mood was low.

Hill had just been about to ask when Iso headed into the kitchen.

For the rest of the day, he was either cooking in the kitchen or tidying up things in the living room and bedrooms.

Even when he came downstairs to play games with Isidore, he looked absent-minded.

His mind was elsewhere, operating entirely on instinct.

Hill realized this because the mech Iso controlled had killed Isi's mech more than ten times.

That simply wasn't how he usually treated hatchlings.

Isi was on the verge of tears.

Hill interrupted their game.

He carried Isi upstairs and spent quite some time coaxing him to sleep.

Then he sent Iso a message.

€€€€ Come to my studio. Let's talk.

Knowing that Iso might misunderstand, he added another line.

€€€€ Not as a model. You don't have to take off your clothes.

Hill waited in the studio, and Iso arrived quickly.

He hadn't turned on the lights.

He liked the moonlight.

He sat beside the easel beneath the moonlight, while Iso stood in the shadows near the door.

Everything was just like last night.

Iso walked toward him and stopped in front of him.

One standing, one sitting. One high, one low.

Hill raised his head to look up at him.

Iso paused slightly.

Then he knelt down.

Now their heights were reversed.

Hill reached out to stop him.

"I'm not trying to scold you..."

"And I'm not your..." Hill paused, swallowing that title before continuing. "You don't have to kneel to me."

He had already said this much, but for some reason Iso stubbornly refused to get up.

There weren't any other chairs in the studio.

Hill simply stood up, pulled Iso to his feet, and pushed him into his own chair, while he himself remained standing.

"Lord?!"

How could Iso possibly sit while a male Zerg stood?

He hurriedly tried to get up.

"Don't move."

Hill pressed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

Iso could certainly break free.

But that would amount to using force against a male Zerg.

The nature of that was completely different from refusing to stop kneeling.

He could only sit there, feeling as though he were sitting on needles.

"All right, let's talk. You've been acting strange all day. What happened?" Hill asked.

"I-I'll kneel while I speak..." Iso tried to stand again.

"Sit down!" Hill snapped.

To suppress him, Hill simply bent one leg and pressed it onto Iso's thigh.

This time, Iso finally behaved.

"Go on."

Hill stared into his eyes.

"I..."

Half of Iso's attention was occupied by the male Zerg's leg resting on his own, while the other half was occupied by the faint pheromones around Lord Hill.

His mind was dizzy.

He barely knew how to answer.

Quietly pinching his palm, he forced himself back to his senses.

"My name was once on the guide candidate list for a certain male Zerg lord."

As Iso slowly spoke, his face turned pale after that single sentence.

Hill's eyes flickered.

An awkward expression flashed across his face.

Did Iso know it was him?

But his reaction didn't seem like it.

"And then?" Hill calmly asked.

"That male Zerg lord didn't choose me!"

Iso said urgently.

"I thought it was all over, but..."

His voice faltered and his gaze dimmed.

"That lord changed his mind. He wants me to serve him..."

Hill: "...?"

Huh?

Me?

That's probably me...

Maybe?

Hill was still confused when Iso continued, sounding both emphatic and as though he were begging forgiveness.

"I refused! I refused..."

"Oh..."

Hill became dejected.

He didn't quite understand.

Softly, he asked,

"But... why refuse?"

He couldn't help reflecting on whether he'd done something wrong.

Iso, who had been waiting for judgment, raised his eyes in shock and stared at the genuinely troubled male Zerg before him.

He had imagined Lord Hill questioning him.

Rejecting him.

Despising him.

Becoming angry.

But never had he imagined that Lord Hill would ask such a question.

Just last night, he had served this lord here.

And now Lord Hill was asking why he had rejected another male Zerg.

Iso felt as though he could hear his soul being torn apart.

Never in his life had he suffered so much.

He would rather Lord Hill hate him than hear such words.

It was as though he had never been seen by this lord.

Never been cared about.

Like a stone lying on the roadside, which anyone could pick up and take away, with no concern over where it ended up.

"Lord... do you wish for me to accept?"

Iso asked softly, his eyes clinging desperately to the male Zerg before him like a drowning man grasping at his last straw.

The question was thrown back at Hill.

How was he supposed to answer?

Under the female Zerg's gaze, his face burned red.

It wasn't obvious in the darkness, but it couldn't escape the eyes of a high-ranking female Zerg.

"I-I..."

Hill opened his mouth several times, only to shyly lower his eyes each time.

The high-ranking male Zerg lord looked bashful and affectionate.

Clearly...

He already had someone he loved.

At last, Iso understood.

His heart sank.

Falling straight into the abyss.

"You have someone you love, don't you?"

Iso asked softly and slowly, barely able to find his lips or his voice.

Someone he loved?

Yes.

Very much.

Hill pursed his lips and nodded.

Too embarrassed to look at Iso, he buried his burning face against his neck and affectionately rubbed against him.

He wanted to marry him.

He had already had that thought when he saw that transfer this morning.

Now the desire had become even stronger.

If they got married, Iso wouldn't have to spend so much money anymore.

His own money could be spent on Iso.

They could live happily together, just like the family the hatchling spoke about.

Iso's body stiffened.

His eyes became empty as he stared ahead.

The male Zerg's soft face rested against his neck.

He looked so shy and adorable.

But Iso seemed to have lost all awareness of the world.

When he had disturbed the male Zerg for the hatchling's sake and met him ahead of time, he had already thought that perhaps they would never end up together.

Back then, he hadn't cared much.

At most, there had been a trace of regret.

Compared to the importance of the hatchling, that emotion was nothing.

But now...

Now that he had completely lost control of his heart and fallen hopelessly—

He learned that the male Zerg already had someone he loved.

Someone he loved deeply.

He had lost everything.

The future where their family lived happily together, the future Isidore spoke of—

Would never come true.

He had missed it forever.

Only now did Iso finally experience the despair and pain of heaven and earth collapsing.

Dark waves rushed toward him and drowned him completely.

Hill rubbed against him for a while, but noticed that Iso wasn't reacting.

His body was cold and stiff.

He said nothing.

He didn't even hug him.

Confused, Hill raised his head and looked at him.

Something glittered at the corner of his eye.

"Are you crying?" Hill asked in surprise.

Crying from happiness?

Didn't seem like it.

"No."

Iso turned his face away and answered hoarsely,

"Female Zergs don't cry."

As though female Zergs didn't have tear glands.

Hill silently complained.

Looking at Iso again, he suddenly felt that he looked pitiful.

"Don't you like me?" Hill asked softly.

That wasn't right.

If he didn't like him, why would he consume his pheromones?

Female Zergs only did that for male Zergs they liked, right?

Hill was very confused.

Iso's hanging hand curled slightly.

He knew he shouldn't answer such a question.

He shouldn't say such things when he already knew the male Zerg had someone he loved.

But this might be the only chance for Lord Hill to know his feelings.

"I do."

Iso spoke softly.

"I like you."

How could he not?

Who could possibly not?

Even he, after preparing himself countless times and warning himself over and over, had still been drawn to him and had fallen without resistance.

"That's wonderful."

Hill sighed in relief.

Iso's reaction just now had almost convinced him that he didn't like him.

He had been terrified.

Thank goodness.

It was only because female Zergs expressed emotions too subtly.

He had almost misunderstood.

Hill leaned forward and kissed the corner of Iso's lips.

He had wanted to kiss his lips directly.

But that felt too sudden.

Too rude.

They should give each other a little more time.

As Iso looked at him in astonishment—

Hill covered his burning face and smiled.

"Then... let's get married."

Iso only saw his smiling eyes.

This was the first time Lord Hill had shown such obvious happiness in front of him.

The sound reached his ears a moment slower than the image, and his brain finally processed it.

"Mar... married?"

Iso almost suspected he had heard wrong.

That he had processed the wrong words.

"...Us?"

"Of course!"

Hill nodded earnestly.

Iso panicked.

Unable to think about anything else, he abruptly rose from the chair.

Hill had been pressing one knee against him.

The moment Iso stood up, Hill fell into his arms.

It was an extremely intimate posture.

Hill's face became hot, but when he thought that they would soon become a family, he didn't avoid him and simply let the female Zerg hold him.

Then he heard Iso ask:

"What about the one you love?"

"Hm?"

Hill raised his head from his embrace in confusion.

Iso asked cautiously,

"Will... he also marry you?"

Hill froze.

"Ah?"

Iso continued,

"Then... will he be the Female Lord?"

Hill: "???"

Where exactly had this "he" come from?

He had been so careful.

Where had another Zerg appeared from?

From the female Zerg's imagination?

Hill, who only wanted a small family, completely cracked apart.

...】