SGT CH22.1: At His Mercy to Toy With

◎”Male Zerg like to play with a female Zerg’s wing sacs… You know, my wings are missing, so it might not be as fun… but if you need me to, I will cooperate.”◎

Beneath a swing set covered in wisteria, the golden-haired male Zerg leaned against the swing chair, gently swirling a glass of red wine, his expression indifferent. In front of him, a terminal screen was unfolded, emitting a cold white light.

As an Imperial Prince and holding several other positions, including honorary president of the Male Zerg Protection Association, Mousse had many matters to approve even while recuperating. For example, the appraisal report in front of him. A male Zerg guilty of drug abuse, soliciting prostitutes, gambling, rape, indecent assault, and intentional injury causing disability… the list of crimes filled dozens of pages. Just because he was a noble and an A-rank male, his family’s maneuvering had resulted in a light sentence of only five years. As a long-lived species, five years of imprisonment meant nothing to an A-rank male with an average lifespan of 500 years.

Even so, the male’s family still felt their son was being wronged. They specifically contacted the Male Zerg Protection Association, hoping to obtain a mental health assessment to get him out for “treatment.” Mousse manipulated his spiritual power and denied the appraisal before him. But he knew it was useless. The male’s family would soon contact other authoritative medical institutions to produce an assessment that met their needs. Perhaps by tonight, that male Zerg would be boarding a ship and leaving prison.

To deal with power, one must either wield greater power or take an unconventional path. As the Zerg Emperor’s eldest son, an Imperial Prince, and a Zerg possessing the highest level of power, Mousse should logically choose the former. But this time, he was disinclined to do so.

Mousse closed the terminal, tilted his head back, and downed the red wine in his glass. His eyes gazed hazily at the bright moon high in the night sky. Witnessing this scene, the viewers in the live stream chat went wild admiring his beauty while also worrying.

[A beautiful man with drunken, hazy eyes is just too good-looking. I want to get close.]
[Wing-removal warning, punishment chamber warning.]
[Ah, never mind then.]
[Sigh, Little Cake is drinking again.]
[I’ve never seen the streamer like drinking this much. He usually just tastes the wine at the dinner table.]
[He starts drinking when his female consort isn’t around, and he’s not sleeping at night, running out to catch a cold wind.]
[His face is already flushed. If he stays out any longer, he’ll get sick.]
[Although I don’t know what happened during the black screen, the scum top value dropped by 3 points today, bringing the total below 50. There’s finally a glimmer of hope for completing the reformation. Streamer, please don’t ruin your health.]
[There’s no persuading him at all. Even the butler trying was useless. We can only wait for the Lieutenant General to come back.]
[Will the Lieutenant General’s persuasion work? Don’t forget the streamer always likes to do the opposite of what the Lieutenant General wants.]

Amid the worries of the live stream audience, Aix stepped into the garden. The moonlight tonight was beautiful. The golden-haired male Zerg, half-reclining under the wisteria-covered frame, was otherworldly and exquisite, as beautiful as a waking dream. The female’s imagination was generally poor, but seeing the Prince from afar, Aix couldn’t help but think of a word—elf. An elf who had fallen to the mortal world, riding the moonlight.

Aix approached slowly, his steps extremely light, as if afraid of startling the beautiful male on the swing chair. As his shadow fell over the male, the male opened his hazy eyes. Seeing him, Mousse’s eyes curved into crescents, and he opened his arms in a gesture wanting to be embraced. “Moon, are you going to fall into my arms?”

Aix leaned down and gently hugged the Prince. “Your Highness, you’re drunk.”

Mousse wrapped his arms around the female’s neck, rested his chin on his shoulder, and giggled foolishly. “I’m not drunk. A male’s spiritual power is very strong. I can remember everything I do after drinking, crystal clear.”

“Yes, you are very powerful.” Aix gently stroked the Prince’s silk-like long hair, suddenly feeling like he was coaxing a youngling.

A male’s constitution was not like a female’s; a small amount of alcohol could make them drunk. But because of their extremely strong spiritual power, they could clearly remember everything upon waking. This gave males the illusion that they weren’t drunk and were perfectly conscious. But in fact, they were very drunk. At least, under normal circumstances, the Prince would never hug him like this, bury his head in his shoulder, and speak to him in such a sweet, soft, and wheedling tone.

“Your Highness, I’ll take you back to rest.” As Aix spoke, he exerted a little force with his muscular arms and steadily lifted the Prince from the swing chair. His body was suddenly suspended in the air, but Mousse felt no panic. He blinked blankly, and only when he realized Aix was about to carry him away from the moonlight did he begin to struggle. “No, I want to look at the moon.”

A drunk Zerg’s struggles were unreasonable. Mousse kicked his legs wildly, his fair, slender hands patting and grabbing at Aix’s chest. Aix’s breathing became ragged. Unable to win against the Prince, he could only put him back down. He then took off his military jacket and wrapped it around the Prince to prevent him from catching a cold, while he himself stood guard at the side.

Mousse looked up at the female standing beside him, then down at the swing chair he was sitting on. He scooted over, making room for half the space, then reached out to hook Aix’s fingers. When Aix looked down, he smiled at him and invited, “Come sit here. We’ll watch together.”

Aix sat down as requested. The Prince immediately pressed against him, possessively hugging his arm, resting his head on his shoulder, and nuzzling him. His eyes shone brightly as he looked up. Aix struggled to look away, tilting his head up to look at the two bright moons in the sky.

A male Zerg’s nerves were always sensitive and delicate. A thick-skinned female Zerg found it difficult to understand their thoughts. Just as Aix never found these light-reflecting spheres to be anything special, the males he had met all loved the moon. His Highness the Prince was like this. The little male in his memory was also like this.

The Dark Star sector had very short daylight hours. Most of the time, the sky was occupied by two alternating bright moons. During certain special periods, one could even see both moons in the sky at once. Whenever the two moons appeared in the sky together, the little male would pester him to go out, bringing food to dine on the grass. This was actually very unsafe. A Zerg was most relaxed when eating, and attackers loved to strike at such times. But when the little male looked at him with pleading eyes, he could never bring himself to refuse. The little male was still so young, at a crucial stage of growth. He couldn’t be cooped up underground all the time; he needed to see the sun and moon often. Aix convinced himself. Every time the little male wanted to go out, he would go out in advance to clear the area, either forcefully persuading nearby Zerg and other races to leave or simply cleaning them up directly.

“X, do you know the legend of the moons?” When he said this, the little male was leaning against his arm, his eyes shining as he looked up at the twin moons in the sky. “Legend says… Zerg who bathe in the light of the twin moons together will receive the moons’ blessing and be together forever and ever.” The little male said softly, his voice sweet and gentle.

Aix had never heard of such a legend. He just assumed that because he was always alone and lacked interaction with other Zerg, he was unfamiliar with such customs. Aix was not a Zerg who would believe in legends. Compared to such ethereal things, he believed more in his own strength. But when the little male leaned against him and spoke those words softly, he couldn’t help but want to believe. He looked up at the two bright moons, his heart filled with immense piety.

But… they had clearly bathed in the light of the twin moons together, yet they couldn’t be together forever.

…

Aix returned from his memories and stopped looking at the moons in the sky that could not bestow blessings. He lowered his gaze, only to see that the Prince leaning on his shoulder was also not looking at the moon, but was focused on him. That focused gaze made Aix’s ears burn and his eyes tremble. He subconsciously wanted to look away, but for some reason, he couldn’t bear to move.

“Your Highness?” Aix called out, his throat bobbing.

“The moon is very bad.” Mousse tilted his chin slightly, pressing against Aix’s shoulder, and gazed deeply into his eyes. His voice was slow and determined. “So, I captured the moon. From now on, he can only shine on me, shine on me forever.”

Hearing the Prince’s drunken words, Aix’s heart trembled for some reason. It was as if it wasn’t the moon that had been captured, but him. The Prince stared at him, his right hand falling on his heart, his long fingers slowly clenching his inner shirt. Although the Prince was only grabbing a shirt, Aix felt as if his heart had been seized as well. Every beat of his heart was pulled, bringing an intense emotion close to pain, causing him to momentarily lose the ability to breathe.

Just as Aix was about to suffocate, a bright orange firework exploded in the sky. Mousse shifted his gaze, looking at the orange bloom in the sky, and smiled happily, pointing it out to the female beside him. “Look! Fireworks!”

Aix’s brow furrowed slightly. It wasn’t fireworks, more like a spaceship accident, an explosion. But it had nothing to do with them. The space patrol and rescue teams would handle it. Aix retracted his gaze. Seeing the Prince burrowing into his embrace as if he were cold, he reached out to hold him and whispered persuasively, “Your Highness, it’s getting late. Let’s go back and sleep.”

Mousse nodded and took the initiative to wrap his arms around Aix’s neck, letting him be carried away. Before leaving the garden, Mousse looked up at the still-dissipating firework, raised his hand, and patted Aix’s shoulder, as if brushing off some dust or other filth. When Aix looked over, he blinked his eyes and said seriously, “Fireworks can ward off bad luck. You won’t be pestered by dirty things in the future.”

Aix: “?”

Aix felt he shouldn’t try to understand a drunk Zerg’s words. Drunk Zerg had no logic.

Aix didn’t know where the Prince’s room was. The butler who had been waiting at the door had also disappeared by the time he returned with the Prince. He could only take the Prince back to his small room in the basement. The Prince had been sleeping here for so many days anyway, so he probably wouldn’t mind, right?

Aix placed the Prince on the bed, leaned over to remove his outer clothes, and then knelt on the floor to take off his shoes and socks. After doing all this, he looked up, intending to cover the Prince with the blanket. He saw the Prince half-lying prone, facing a damaged spider doll, his eyes downcast and his lips tightly pressed, looking as if he was about to cry.

“Your Highness?” Aix called out tentatively.
Hearing his voice, Mousse’s mouth trembled, and he dived under the covers, pulling them over his head. Aix called out a few more times, but the Prince refused to come out from under the blanket, like a sulking cub.

Aix sighed inwardly. Perhaps male Zerg were just cubs who never grew up. The Prince was buried in the blanket, his shoulders shaking slightly, looking aggrieved and pitiful. Aix couldn’t bring himself to leave him alone. His gaze fell on the spider doll with a broken leg. Aix picked it up and asked in a different way, “Your Highness, this doll is broken. Should I throw it away?”

“Don’t you dare!” Mousse suddenly threw off the blanket, revealing his head, and glared at him with red-rimmed eyes. Seeing the female holding his toy, he flipped over and snatched it away. He first snatched back the doll’s body, not forgetting to grab the broken leg as well, holding them both protectively in his arms.

Aix let the Prince take the doll. Seeing the Prince guarding the doll, his body tense and wary, he felt a little like laughing. It was just an old, common doll. Why care so much? Perhaps he was really drunk and confused.

Aix could never be harsh with the Prince, and facing a drunk Prince who had retracted many of his sharp edges and claws, he was even softer. He softened his voice and asked slowly, at a pace that wouldn’t startle the confused, drunk Zerg, “Then, do you need me to sew it for you?” Thinking of his sewing skills where he couldn’t even make a straight line, Aix suddenly regretted his offer. His skills were fine for mending his own torn clothes when there was no other option. But even when sewing the little male’s clothes, he was afraid the rough stitches would poke him. Each time, he had to apply a plant-based liquid with a softening function to the seams and rub it for a long time until the seam became flat and soft before letting the little male wear it.

The Prince had been clothed in silks and fed with delicacies since birth. The Prince would surely look down on anything he sewed. Thinking of this, Aix awkwardly changed his tune, “Or we could find a professional in this field. Their skills are better than mine.”

But Mousse extended his hands and unhesitatingly offered the doll to him. “You save it. It’s broken. It will be sad without its wings.” The Prince’s voice was soft, with a hint of pleading.

Aix took the spider doll and explained to the seemingly drunk and confused Prince before him, “This is a spider’s leg, its walking leg. Spiders don’t have wings.”

Mousse bit his lower lip and didn’t respond. He just hugged one of Aix’s arms, shaking it gently, and kept repeating, “Save it, save it.” A Prince in this state was truly impossible for any Zerg to refuse. The Prince seemed to have forgotten who he was, forgotten the coercion and harm between them, and trusted him with all his heart. It was precisely because the Prince was drunk and not fully conscious that Aix could let down his layers of mental defenses and show a more genuine side.

“Don’t worry, I’ll sew it.” Aix’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes were exceptionally gentle. “First, I need a sewing kit. Can Your Highness have a mechanical Zerg bring one over?” Aix asked.

Mousse tilted his head in confusion. “Isn’t the sewing kit in the drawer? The bottom one.”

Aix was slightly stunned. His gaze fell on the nightstand drawer, and he reached out to pull open the bottom one. A black cloth pouch lay there. After moving into this room, Aix rarely touched the original items and furnishings. He had never opened drawers and storage cabinets like this. Even the wardrobe, he only used the empty half.

It was strange, but many areas of this room seemed to have been deliberately divided in two, with only one half showing signs of use. In the wardrobe, one half was filled with exquisite clothes for a youngling, while the other half was completely empty. On the desk, one half was filled with children’s storybooks and drawing tools, while the other half was empty. It was as if two Zerg were supposed to live here originally. But the other Zerg had disappeared, and everything related to him had been erased. It sounded like a horror story.

But there was another possibility. The room’s owner was looking forward to another Zerg living with him, so he had left space in advance or had prepared everything, waiting for the other to move in. Later, for some unknown reason, the room’s owner left, and he was brought in by the Prince. It felt like he was occupying another Zerg’s room. That’s why Aix tried his best not to touch anything that was originally there. This was the first time he had opened the nightstand drawer. There was actually a sewing kit here. Aix had thought that only in places like the Dark Star sector would Zerg keep sewing supplies at home. Could a Zerg in the Prince’s mansion live so frugally? But thinking of the exquisite and extraordinary youngling clothes in the wardrobe and the furniture in the room that was clearly made of expensive materials, Aix was unsure again. Perhaps it was just a hobby, like needlework?

Aix picked up the sewing kit and opened it. Inside were neatly arranged spools of thread and tools of various colors. They were all brand new, clearly unused. Aix took out a fine needle, picked up a spool of black thread, and threaded it. It was hard to imagine that a tall, strong female Zerg would do such delicate work.

Mousse watched quietly, his constantly anxious heart suddenly calming down. It felt like home. A youngling who had been wandering outside had returned home. Mousse leaned against Aix’s arm, his eyelids gradually closing.

Aix finished sewing the doll and found that the Prince had already fallen asleep. The sleeping Prince looked obedient and sweet, like an overly exquisite, realistic doll. No, no doll could be as exquisite and beautiful as the Prince. No matter how good the technology, it couldn’t replicate even a fraction of the Prince’s beauty.

Aix could completely understand the hostility shown to him by the two Lieutenant Generals on White Night Star after they learned he was the Prince’s female consort. They only softened their attitude after he defeated them. The female Zerg who wanted to beat him up were far more than just those two. After the Prince publicly announced their relationship on the StarNet, even the two Admirals on the capital planet sent inquiries. The attitude of his adjutant and the military females of White Night Star also often left Aix in a daze. He was envied or envied by many Zerg.

A Zerg like him, if not for the Prince needing to cover up what happened that day, would never have had the chance to become the female consort of a noble prince, the heir to the Empire. Aix was very clear about the origin of this identity. Therefore, he never took the identity of “female consort” seriously. But, perhaps it was the influence of pheromones, perhaps it was the instinct of a pregnant female to be attached to her male, or perhaps he couldn’t control his own heart… Occasionally, when looking at the Prince quietly like this, Aix couldn’t help but think, if only those things hadn’t happened between them, if only he were truly the Prince’s female consort. Even if not a female consort, just a female attendant, or a fleeting affair with no strings attached, he… would be willing. Even if the Prince had a terrible personality, was sensitive and fickle, he would still love him.

But those things had truly happened. That coercion and harm lay between them. Aix could no longer accept falling in love with the Prince. Likewise, the Prince would never like him.

Aix closed his eyes tightly, suppressing those inappropriate emotions. He put the sewing kit back in the drawer, rubbed the stitches of the repaired area with his fingertip until it didn’t feel so prickly, and then placed the sewn spider doll into the Prince’s arms. He gently helped the Prince lie down and covered him with the blanket.

Just as Aix was about to get up, his hand was suddenly grabbed. He looked down in surprise and met the Prince’s panicked eyes. Why did he suddenly wake up? His breathing had been steady right up until the moment he covered him with the blanket.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Aix asked in a low voice.
Mousse stared intently at the female in front of him for a long while. Only after completely confirming his presence did the panic in his eyes dissipate. But he still didn’t let go of the female’s hand. Recalling what happened before he fell asleep, Mousse asked, “Is the doll fixed?”

“It’s sewn. It’s in your arms.” Aix tucked the blanket down a bit, revealing a corner of the spider doll. He added, “I also reinforced the other legs. Later, I’ll wash the seams with a fabric softener, and the feel will be the same as before.”

Mousse picked up the doll and examined it carefully. Seeing the previously broken leg was now firmly attached to the body, he beamed with joy. His drunken, hazy consciousness told him that there was another place that was broken and needed repair.

Mousse hid the spider doll under the blanket, got up, and pounced on the female’s back. Aix was caught off guard and could only lower his body as much as possible, flattening his upper body to prevent the male, who was urgently fumbling on his back, from falling. Although he didn’t understand why the Prince suddenly became interested, he had never had the right to refuse. He didn’t want to refuse either.

Support me on Ko-fi