Chapter 85: Heavenly Garuda Male x Zerg Military Officer (8): Localized Indoor Rain on Capital Star Today

[He was pretending to be asleep just a moment ago, but the instant his wings came out, his act completely fell apart.]

[I fell apart too! Even Enzo has gotten to see a male's wings now! I'm devastated!]

They had already suffered through female Zergs showing off right in their faces during the "Zerg-phone" incident, and now even the female Zerg in the novel they were following had gotten to see a male's wings while they hadn't.

Single Zergs instantly collapsed.

Married Zergs who still hadn't seen their own male's wings collapsed even harder.

[Listen to me (furious)! Little males only spread their wings because they're frightened! We should put Enzo on trial!]

[@HeavenlyGaruda Come out here and take your scolding! Don't think this has nothing to do with you!]

The Heavenly Garudas: "..."

These past few days, female Zergs everywhere had been celebrating because they'd seen male wings.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Garudas hadn't seen anything at all.

Even the females who stayed at home every day, surrounded by attentive Male Lords, couldn't bring themselves to ask to see their wings.

Even among the Heavenly Garudas, outside the newlywed period, seeing a male spread his wings wasn't something that happened easily.

In the past, there had even been female Heavenly Garudas bragging on StarNet that their Male Lord still frequently spread his wings to court them after marriage, drawing endless envy from other females.

But after this whole affair blew up, people dug deeper and discovered the truth.

That female had torn his male's wings on their wedding night.

Although they had healed afterward, the male became frightened every time he saw her.

Female Heavenly Garudas possessed overwhelming physical strength.

But according to mainstream values, using force against physically weaker males was never something worthy of praise.

The Heavenly Garuda who had once been envied by countless females had her reputation utterly destroyed.

Those who had once admired her felt deceived.

The greater their admiration had been before, the more viciously they attacked her afterward.

If deleting accounts had been possible on their domestic StarNet, she probably would have deleted hers and fled overnight.

And she wasn't the only Heavenly Garuda whose reputation collapsed in a single night.

Outside, the females still cursed and argued.

But when they returned home and faced their own males...

They had no idea what to say.

The male Heavenly Garudas also noticed something.

Their Female Lords had become as silent as glaciers these past few days.

Then again...

They were usually as silent as glaciers anyway.

The only difference now was that this glacier stared at them every single day without actually doing anything.

It was... unsettling.

The males who had read Zerg novels knew what had happened.

At first, they had been worried their Female Lords would take it out on them—

Even among the Heavenly Garudas, females wanted a male's courtship to come from genuine affection.

But if the couple hadn't even met before marriage, where was that heartfelt affection supposed to come from?

Later, they discovered the females were simply tormenting themselves internally instead.

The males were greatly relieved.

There were, of course, some Heavenly Garuda couples with relatively good relationships.

Seeing how depressed their Female Lord had become, the males wanted to comfort them.

But no matter how close they were...

The gulf between them remained impossible to cross.

They still weren't beings who could completely bare their hearts to one another without reservation.

In the end...

They chose physical intimacy instead.

The Zergs remained lively for three days.

The Heavenly Garudas remained silent for three days.

Now, very few Heavenly Garudas still argued with the Zergs over the matter.

The incidents of "tearing a male's wings" that had surfaced within their own nation had already slapped them hard enough in the face.

Even those who genuinely believed they treated males well no longer had the confidence to argue.

The Zergs kept posting:

[@HeavenlyGaruda Come out here and take your scolding.]

As a result...

Almost none of the Heavenly Garudas replied.

The Zergs even began wondering whether the entire army of fake Heavenly Garuda accounts had disappeared again.

In the end, the few Heavenly Garudas who did respond became everyone's target.

Compared with the males living inside Heavenly Garuda territory...

Anyone could tell Axel's wings hadn't appeared out of fear.

Perhaps there had been some panic and guilty conscience after being caught doing something "bad."

But judging from the way he'd thrown himself at the other party...

It was impossible for that to have been nothing but fear.

...

["En-En-En-En... Enzo! H-Hello! Your door wasn't closed all the way, and your pheromones were everywhere, so I came in to have a look."

Axel's wings beat behind him so quickly they left afterimages.

If he hadn't been clinging tightly to Enzo to keep himself steady, with how fast he was flapping, he might actually have taken off.

Those dazzling wings carried dreamlike pheromones.

The scene itself resembled a dream.

The kind of dream every female Zerg has.

Waking from sleep to find a winged male pressing him beneath him.

During the agony of his rut, a beautiful male had appeared out of nowhere to answer him...

To satisfy him.

..."]

[No! Only you have dreams like that! We can't dream that well (starts crying halfway through).]

[Enzo, tell us honestly. Do you dream about this all the time?]

[Even the wings are such an obvious symbol. Ever since the young master completed his physiological awakening, you've been dreaming about this constantly, haven't you?]

[You acted so cold and heartless before. I really thought you didn't want him. Turns out the only hard thing was your mouth?]

[Not just that. There was something else too.]

...

【Enzo knew perfectly well...

This wasn't a dream.

Those brilliant wings dazzled every eye.

Any female Zerg who saw them would widen his eyes in astonishment, unable to look away, body and mind utterly captivated.

But as a female who had raised a Heavenly Garuda male...

Enzo had studied a great deal about Heavenly Garudas.

He knew exactly what it meant when a Heavenly Garuda male released his wings.

Especially on the first night.

He had frightened his male.

Even though he had used the gentlest method possible...

Done everything he could not to startle him...

Handed over every bit of control...

He had still frightened him.

"Axel..."

Enzo sat up and reached toward the male.

It wasn't easy in their current position, but fortunately all those abdominal workouts hadn't been for nothing.

It's over.

I'm going to get hit.

Only a beat later did Axel remember to cover his head.

Instead...

The female pulled him into an embrace.

Both the big Axel and the little Axel were carefully looked after.

Axel froze.

Beside his ear came the female's slightly heavy breathing.

Enzo held him close.

Warm, powerful hands rested against his back, carefully avoiding his wings as they gently stroked him, soothing him.

This wasn't what he'd imagined.

Axel was bewildered.

He'd thought Enzo would definitely be furious after finding out.

After all, because of the connection between them, there was no way he could explain himself.

No matter how he looked at it...

He had done something bad to Enzo.

But Enzo didn't scold him.

He didn't tell him to leave.

Instead...

He was comforting him.

Inside and out.

The wings that had been beating frantically gradually slowed.

Looking up at the silent female holding him, Axel asked softly,

"Aren't you angry with me?"

Enzo brushed through the male's soft short hair.

"I'm only worried about you...

I want you to be happy."

Including being happy...

About this.

Axel slowly realized it.

Enzo had accepted him.

At least physically.

As long as Enzo hadn't rejected him under these circumstances...

He never would again.

He could be together with Enzo now.

The wings that had only just settled immediately began fluttering cheerfully once more.

Enzo's pupils contracted slightly.

Through the pheromones clouding his thoughts, he barely managed to recover a trace of clarity as he looked at the male in his arms.

...Frightened again?

But...

It didn't seem that way.

The corners of the male's lips curved upward.

His little face was buried against Enzo's chest.

He looked utterly happy.

Relieved, Axel burrowed into Enzo's embrace, warm and full like a mother's, hugging him tightly and rubbing against him.

"I like Enzo...

I like Enzo so, so much."

He said.

For an instant, Enzo's gaze lost focus.

The concentration of pheromones inside the room rose even higher.

Axel felt a rain of pheromones carried in by the sea breeze.

His pheromones smelled like sunshine and ocean wind.

And he himself...

Was like a warm sea, endlessly surging.】

[The little male went for a swim in the ocean.]

[Enzo, don't drown the male! That's enough! Stop making it rain!]

[Today's forecast: localized indoor rainfall on Capital Star.]

[The pheromones in my room are almost thick enough to condense into rain too. Why isn't there a male buried in my arms (wails)?]

[Enzo! The male was so startled he spread his wings! How are you still sitting there?!]

[The way the male acted afterward didn't look like fear...

It looked more like...

Courtship.]

The genuine courtship of a Heavenly Garuda male.

Not fear.

Not self-preservation.

Not forced compliance.

A male...

Courting the female he truly loved.

Anyone who had actually experienced the real thing could immediately tell the difference.

The Heavenly Garudas became especially silent.

It wasn't trembling in fear...

Spreading trembling wings...

Clinging desperately to a female while cautiously trying to please him.

It was simply...

Joy.

Affection.

Many Heavenly Garuda males who heard their Female Lord reading this passage aloud wore expressions of disbelief.

After all...

If a Female Lord was willing to read stories to his male, their relationship couldn't possibly be that bad.

And yet...

None of them had ever thought of courting purely because they loved the other person.

The little Heavenly Garuda in the story...

Was an extraordinarily happy one.

Because he was surrounded by love.

And even more importantly...

Because he had the right to express that love equally to the female he loved.

The Zergs provided soil where males could spread their wings freely.

The female Zergs chose to restrain themselves.

The female Heavenly Garudas chose to restrain the males instead.

Each race had its own national circumstances.

While he was thinking about that...

The Female Lord beside him suddenly lifted him onto his lap.

The male blinked in surprise before asking,

"Do you want to?"

The female shook his head.

He simply held him silently.

The male said nothing more...

Allowing himself to remain in the embrace.

The hug lasted until the sky was nearly dark.

Yawning, the male thought...

It would've been better if we'd just done it.

...

#MaleWingsCourtship

#HeavenlyGarudaCourtship

#PheromoneRain

#SeaBreezePheromones

As readers finished the update, more and more novel-related topics climbed onto StarNet's trending list.

Many new discussion threads soon appeared.

《A Zerg Working at the Genetic Matching Center Suddenly Received a Huge Number of Applications from Male Zergs Looking Specifically for Females Whose Pheromones Smell Like "Sea Breeze," Saying It Feels Like That Type Is Becoming More Common.》

[What? Wasn't "strawberry ice cream" the last big trend? How did fashion change so fast?]

[Wait, you people can actually distinguish that many scents in pheromones? I only smell two kinds: nice... and blegh.]

[I can tell cool fragrances from warm fragrances, plus floral, fruity, woody, green, leather, marine...]

[The person above has completely stunned me. Only Male Lords would pay attention to pheromones that carefully. Whenever I smell a male's pheromones, all I notice is: smells nice, smells nice, still smells nice. Strong nice, light nice, makes-me-want-to-sleep-with-him nice, not-quite-as-nice. As for female pheromones, I only get: provoking me, I can beat him, I can't beat him.]

[That's way too real (crying). It feels like you're describing me.]

Some female Zergs were puzzled.

[Fine if you can't distinguish female pheromones, but Male Lords smell so wonderful. How can you not savor them? What a waste!]

[You think I don't want to? Artificially synthesized pheromones just aren't that good.]

[Normally we don't even get the chance to be near high-ranking Male Lords. Even if we did... standing beside one just to sniff him would probably get us arrested as a creep.]

[Only married females get the chance to properly appreciate a Male Lord's pheromones.]

[Don't remind me. I'm not favored at home. I smell my Female Lord's pheromones more often than my Male Lord's. Every day I'm suppressed by another female's pheromones. It makes me desperately want to fight him, but I'm afraid my Male Lord would be unhappy.]

[The Federation's most famous pheromone scents right now are probably: Lord Xi'an's strawberry, Claire's ice cream, Iso's misty morning breeze, and Enzo's sunshine sea breeze, right?]

[Lord Hill's pheromones were all eaten up by Iso! They never even told us what they smelled like (furious)!]

[Damn that one Star Coin! One Star Coin got to enjoy the priceless pheromones of a high-ranking Male Lord. Does he even appreciate what he had?!]

An Ruo scrolled through the StarNet discussions.

Only then did he realize...

He didn't actually know what Hill's pheromones smelled like.

But he did know another Zerg's scent.

Marshal Ulysses' pheromones had once completely filled his room.

Their overbearing scent had clung stubbornly to his body...

And it had taken a full three days of washing before it finally disappeared.