MCDWTBS Chapter 42
by VolareUnder the inky sky, the Duke’s Mansion’s protective shield finally dissipated amidst violent energy impacts. Hovercrafts from the Male Protection Association Guard remained stationed around the Duke’s Mansion,Don’t dare to make a fortune, a Chinese idiom which roughly translates to “not daring to advance even an inch”.
The once bright and lush Duke’s Mansion now resembled a place fallen into another dimension. As far as the eye could see, it was a bottomless darkness, preventing the *Chong* from looking directly or spying. The fear of being crushed by high-dimensional power was deeply rooted in their hearts.
Lawrence, the male insectoid captain of the Male Protection Association Guard, watched the scene outside the window and had his subordinates pull up a simulated virtual image of the Duke’s Mansion. Waterfall-like dark tendrils hung upside down in the air, like purgatory lava cascading from mid-air, invading the space they occupied.
The images transmitted by the most advanced Explorer-class exploration robot of the *Chong* race lasted only a few seconds before losing signal, having been apparently shattered by the intense male insectoid energy. Lawrence’s eyes twitched, and he slammed the delicate, affected teacup in his hand onto the command console.
The female insectoid operating the hovercraft’s command console knelt down, trembling, her knees stained with liquid. However, under the male insectoid’s angry pressure, she dared not move. Behind Lawrence, a clear, cold voice stated without fear:
“Lord Lawrence, congratulations. Thanks to your dereliction of duty and cold indifference, Duke Serra seems to have completed his metamorphosis after all. Perhaps, based on Duke Serra’s success, you won’t be held accountable by the court for dereliction of duty.”
Wearing a delicate white suit and a gold-feathered family crest on his chest, the female insectoid Prince Ilia showed no mockery in his expression. However, every word he spoke made Lawrence’s precarious nerves twitch wildly. The enraged and distraught male insectoid, like a gambler who had lost all night, turned his bloodshot eyes back to Ilia, showing no respect for royalty, only suppressed tyrannical emotions:
“Your Highness, even if your status is special, this is not the imperial palace. Your brother is not here to indulge your disregard for hierarchy and interfering with the decisions of male insectoids! His Highness Colean and the Male Protection Association have their considerations –”
“The Male Protection Association takes the life and safety of male insectoids as its baseline, protecting the metamorphosis of male insectoids at all costs. My royal brother immediately approved the Male Protection Association’s dispatch of the most elite guard team, using space jump technology to rush to the Duke’s Mansion. And you, Lord Lawrence, your hesitation allowed Duke Serra to complete his metamorphosis alone. According to imperial law, I must also act based on the welfare of Duke Serra, who is also a male insectoid.”
Ilia remained unmoved by Lawrence’s impotent rage and veiled disparagement. As one of the few female insectoid princes granted a small amount of political power, wrapped in Colean’s seemingly sweet poison, he had long been immune to the vicious words of other male insectoids who disliked him but couldn’t touch him due to Colean:
“Today’s actions of Lord Lawrence, I will truthfully report to my brother and the Imperial Court.”
Lawrence’s angry, heavy breathing echoed for a long time in the hovercraft’s space, causing all the female insectoids and Yaci in the Male Protection Association, except for Ilia, to tremble and sweat profusely. However, to Ilia’s surprise, Lawrence suppressed his rage at being interfered with and threatened by a female insectoid and adopted a gloomy, oily tone:
“Duke Serra, as a disabled male insectoid, showed anomalies during his pupation, which made me hesitant. Do you think this will cause me to face any consequences, Your Highness?”
His mouth twitched, and a smile appeared on the middle-aged male insectoid’s furrowed face: “I came from a common background, but I’ve been the captain of the Guard in the Male Protection Bureau for thirty years in the capital, so I’ve seen and heard a lot… It’s just that Your Highness is still too young. Why do you think the esteemed His Highness Colean specifically ordered me to protect Duke Serra’s metamorphosis?”
Ilia’s expression changed slightly. Ilia, who had spent years in the court, couldn’t possibly not know what kind of person Lawrence was. He was a male insectoid of common birth and not of high rank. His ability to reach his current position in the capital, where nobles congregated, relied entirely on his oily, ingratiating attitude and the Church’s secret support.
In order to counter the power of the nobles’ bloodlines, the Church had secretly supported countless visible and hidden pawns over the years, eroding the nobles’ control over imperial power. If Ilia knew that Lawrence’s loyalty to the Church would affect his ability to perform his duties and protect Serra, who stood in opposition to the Church, how could Colean, who approved Lawrence’s mission, not know?
His brother had always been wary of Serra’s abilities. In fact, after witnessing Serra’s abilities as a young larva, Colean had been restless for days. Ilia vaguely guessed that Colean would not allow Serra to smoothly become an adult male insectoid.
The Church was a visible threat, but wasn’t Colean’s jealousy and malice a hidden arrow? Ilia’s fingers dug deeply into his palm. Lawrence no longer focused his attention on the young female insectoid. He watched the remaining members of the Church, a group of male insectoids, scramble out of the Duke’s Mansion in a sorry state and quickly ordered his subordinates to prepare hovercrafts and medical treatment facilities:
“The anomalies in Duke Serra’s Mansion have not disappeared, and the Male Protection Association cannot intervene. It is more important to help the esteemed Bishop and his party. Go, and be sure to ensure that the Church’s lords receive the most adequate care.”
The *Chong* of the Male Protection Association obeyed the order and left. The anger in Ilia’s heart surged, but he did not have the authority to command the *Chong* of the Male Protection Association. He turned around and left the hovercraft with his attendants, preparing to personally investigate whether there were any surviving *Chong* in the Duke’s Mansion after the Male Protection Association remained indifferent. Behind him came Lawrence’s lazy voice:
“Your Highness, I will truthfully report to His Highness Colean your behavior of violating the instructions of the commander of the Male Protection Association and entering the private territory of a male insectoid without permission.”
The sly middle-aged male insectoid returned the same threat to Ilia, causing his beautiful golden eyes to droop slightly, his eyelashes trembling. Ilia knew that his actions would have serious consequences. His male insectoid brother, Colean, now held great power, and his control and possessiveness over him were increasing day by day. Colean already suspected that Ilia and Serra were secretly colluding and plotting, and even made a move to give Ilia to Serra as a test. Ilia knew that it was just a trick Colean used to torture him.
Colean would not let him go, but Ilia’s footsteps did not stop.
The Male Protection Association was unwilling to intervene, but he wanted to rescue the surviving *Chong* in the Duke’s Mansion. He sincerely hoped that his former superior, Edwin, was still alive. That female insectoid who had a great influence on Serra was not only Ilia’s respected general but also the hope that Yaci and female insectoids awaited for dawn.
*
Serra held his breath, carefully pushing aside the strands of hair stuck to Edwin’s face with blood, revealing Edwin’s eyelashes, matted with cold sweat and blood, and the pair of dazed blue eyes beneath.
Serra squeezed out a low gasp from his chest, suppressing the sharp pain in his chest. He opened his arms, finally able to hold Edwin’s body tightly in his arms for the first time, but he could only feel sticky blood plasma and a coldness from loss of warmth.
Tears slipped from the corners of Serra’s eyes. The first expression on his newly sculpted, handsome young face was pain and fear. His powerful mental tendrils endlessly contacted Edwin’s mental sea, but that mental sea had collapsed for the most part, leaving only a tiny corner, like silvery-white sand carefully held in the palm of a black abyss, not knowing when it would be lost through the fingers.
“No, no… Edwin, hold on, don’t leave me, don’t…”
Serra pleaded almost humbly. He knelt down, embracing Edwin’s body with trembling arms, even though he never believed in gods, and felt the increasingly weak and trembling breath of the female insectoid in his arms. For the first time, he had the thought of praying to gods. His newborn face was reflected in Edwin’s eyes, but it did not move the dying female insectoid. However, his familiar, tearful caramel-colored eyes seemed to awaken Edwin’s consciousness, causing the female insectoid to murmur:
“…Young Male Master?”
“Hold on, I’ll save you… We’ll inject pheromones, I will definitely—”
Serra desperately reached out with his tendrils to search for the old duke’s pheromones in the studio. He didn’t know if injecting male insectoid pheromones into Edwin at this moment would save Edwin’s life, but he had no better solution. Obviously, the medical treatment facility was unable to help, and his tendrils had only protected Edwin’s remaining mental sea, unable to allow Edwin to recover from the backlash of pheromone collapse syndrome.
“—It’s useless, Young Male Master, my… I feel that the cavity in my abdomen has been pierced, and my body can no longer hold male insectoid pheromones.”
A new stream of blood flowed from the corner of Edwin’s lips. His body trembled in pain, but his face did not show any signs of forbearance, as if he had noticed nothing. His empty and clear blue eyes vaguely fell on Serra, and his dark eyelashes trembled and blinked once, as if trying to see Serra’s face clearly:
“…I can’t see Young Male Master anymore, but I’m very happy that Young Male Master is safe… The Church will not let this go, Young Male Master must… be careful, protect yourself, and grow up safely.”
He showed a smile in his delirium, raising his hand as if wanting to touch the larva’s curly hair as he had done before, but his hand only fell on Serra’s chest, trembling in grief.
Edwin seemed unaware, his young, pale face even showing a hint of affection. Serra now knew that he really couldn’t see anything, that he didn’t even know that the curly-haired larva had transformed into the appearance of a young man. In those empty, starry-eyed blue eyes, a plump, deceptively-charming brown-haired larva was still reflected in the moment of his death.
Serra was gripped by immense terror, almost unable to breathe. His arms were like iron hoops, tightly circling Edwin’s shoulders. He could feel the already shattered energy and vitality rapidly draining from the female insectoid’s body, and the female insectoid’s blood was cooling, the thin metallic copper smell slowly fading…
Serra’s brain was filled with fear, unable to emit a single sound. His overwhelming mental tendrils twisted anxiously and painfully, almost tearing apart the space above the Duke’s Mansion. The emptiness of the universe crushed down, and he desperately covered Edwin’s bleeding wound with his hands, getting his hands covered in sticky blood plasma. His newborn body, which he had not even had time to look at, was undergoing inhuman mutations in the thin metallic copper scent of the blood plasma.
A pair of antenna-like tendrils emerged from Serra’s curly hair, along with a dark, whip-like tail hook, gleaming with a metallic luster, tightly wrapped around Edwin’s waist, like a huge chain strangling a flower stem.
The barbs at the tip of the tail hook gleamed coldly. Serra was startled by this strange presence, fearing that it would harm Edwin’s tottering body. He quickly grabbed it, stabbing his hand with blood. The tail hook shook unhappily, wanting to shake off Serra’s hand, but Serra’s blood mixed with Edwin’s blood, emitting a warm and strange smell, causing Serra’s canine teeth to involuntarily lengthen, and a slight, strange stinging sensation made his head spin. His body kept approaching Edwin, and in the darkness, a voice shouted in his ear, giving him a strong intuition that he could save Edwin.
He lowered his face, getting closer and closer to Edwin, his lips already lightly touching the back of Edwin’s neck, his canine teeth pressing against Edwin’s unguarded, dry and pitiful glands. The intuition shouting in Serra’s mind became even louder, his reason constantly warning him, but his soul felt that this was the right thing to do, a very good thing, the only thing that could keep Edwin.
“…Young Male Master?”
Edwin made another sound, unsure whether he had not received Serra’s response just now because of Serra’s silence or because of his own physical deafness. He was in too much pain. In the moment of death, he lost the ability to suppress his pain, and constant groans overflowed from his breathing:
“It’s okay, Young Male Master… I didn’t want to use male insectoid pheromones either. I actually… I’ve seen Marshal Ax have a seizure. He looked almost crushed by desire. I… I don’t want to endure those things. I’ve always… been a cowardly, crybaby female insectoid with no courage.”
His words suddenly awakened Serra from a state of biological instinct. He tightly grasped Edwin’s hand with his blood-stained hand, fear choking his throat, almost unable to say a word. Edwin gasped and said:
“I just wanted to protect Young Male Master, but I… I have no wings now, and I’m useless. I’m glad that my blood is still pure, that I haven’t… wagged my tail and begged for pheromones from male insectoids, painfully yearning for them.”
“I’m clean, I’m so tired… I want to rest…”
“…No.”
Serra finally squeezed out a bit of sound from his throat, his fearful and flustered gaze fixated on Edwin’s blood and pale face. The dark tail hook, which was shaking angrily, suddenly like a lightning bolt, split open the clouds of fear that had solidified in his mind.
He had a tail hook, he could mark Edwin, using this method to keep him, to stay by his side forever.
“No, Edwin, listen to me, I—I can’t let you go, you can’t sleep, you can’t sleep now.”
He embraced Edwin even more tightly, his knuckles turning white, his eyes reddening. He knew he was about to do something terribly wrong. He disregarded Edwin’s wishes, prolonging Edwin’s suffering, possibly exacerbating Edwin’s pain, and not necessarily able to cure Edwin.
And he clearly knew that this was not what Edwin wanted. Edwin had just said that he did not want to linger under the intervention of male insectoids, that he wanted to embrace eternal silence in purity and unconsciousness.
Edwin would not want to do this kind of thing with his larva, he would not want to be forcibly marked by the larva in his eyes—would he hate Serra for this?
Serra’s embrace was trembling. He released his tail hook, his blood-stained palm touching Edwin’s cheek, leaving a new bloodstain on that innocent and bewildered face.
“I’m sorry…” Serra said softly, burying his head in the back of Edwin’s neck, his canine teeth sinking deeply into that tormented, parched skin:
“I can’t let you go.”