Female zergs who fall into pregnancy tend to have somewhat unstable emotions.
For Faeus, it was only worse. His temper had never been good to begin with, and after becoming pregnant with a zerg egg, his moods grew even more unpredictable. He was like a ticking time bomb, you could never tell when he might suddenly explode.
That day, Elden came from the military department to deliver some signed documents. Just as he reached the foot of the stairs, he heard a familiar voice roaring from the study:
“Execute them by firing squad! Do you not understand what that means?!”
“Every single one of those deserters; once they’re caught, shoot them all!”
“The Northern front hasn’t fallen yet, and the beasts haven’t even broken through. But that damned Joseks still dared to abandon his post and flee with an entire command unit! Go tell Wulinnan, Joseks was personally promoted by him. If those deserters aren’t brought back, he can dig out his own eyes and present them to me himself!”
From inside came Hawke’s hesitant voice: “But… Supreme Leader, Joseks was the mastermind behind it. The soldiers were forced to follow him. If we execute that many soldiers all at once, it might stir public outrage… and damage both the Northern forces’ and your own reputation…”
Faeus sneered coldly, “You mean to tell me that five hundred soldiers couldn’t beat a single zerg like Joseks and were all forced by him to abandon their posts?! Don’t try to threaten me with ‘reputation’, the North has never cared about that damned nonsense!”
Hawke was being chewed out soundly, but still couldn’t help speaking up to reason, “But, Suprem—”
“BANG!”
Faeus’ face darkened. He slammed the table so hard his patience had reached its limit, and through gritted teeth he warned, word by word: “Shut up! Say one more word and you’ll join Wulinnan and crawl off to guard the Snow Mountains! Within three days I want to see that traitor Joseks kneeling before me, understood?!”
“At once! Sir, I take my leave!”
Hawke’s expression changed; he snapped to attention, gave a quick salute, and then made himself scarce, slipping out of the study as fast as he could. He had no desire to be sent with that taciturn Wulinnan to guard the Snow Mountains. Hossburgh was already freezing; the Snow Mountains were a place of perpetual cold where nothing lived. If he went there he’d either freeze to death or die of boredom, and there would be no third option.
Elden watched Hawke scurry out looking disheveled. He instinctively took two steps back, clutching the documents, and thought to himself: the Supreme Leader seems to be in a bad mood, maybe I should bring the papers back this afternoon instead?
Hawke closed the study door behind him with a quick motion, and when he looked up, he caught sight of Elden. His gaze fell on the documents in Elden’s hands, and he raised an eyebrow. “You’re here to deliver papers to the Supreme Leader?”
Elden’s instincts flared in alarm. He took a cautious step back down the stairs. “Yes, but I just remembered, I think I left one of the files back at the military department. I should probably go back and get it. I’ll, uh… come by again this afternoon.”
Hawke, still smarting from his own scolding, thought grimly that there was no reason Elden should get off so easily. With a sly grin, he took a quick step forward, blocking Elden’s path and giving him a not-so-gentle shove toward the study. “Why go back and forth with those files? Just hand these over to the Supreme Leader now, and bring the other one later this afternoon.”
But Elden’s feet might as well have grown roots, he refused to budge, no matter how hard Hawke pushed. His face flushed red as he dug in stubbornly, straining against him. “No! It’s better if I bring them all together, otherwise I’ll just end up disturbing the Supreme Leader twice. He’s pregnant with a zerg egg; he needs more rest!”
Hawke ground his teeth. “Trust me, the Supreme Leader won’t mind!”
Elden snapped back through gritted teeth, “Well, I mind!”
Just as the two of them were shoving and tugging at each other, a sharp, icy voice suddenly cut through from inside the study:
“Elden! Get in here!”
Elden froze, his face twisting in dismay as he looked up. “Ah—?!”
At the sound of that voice, Hawke immediately stopped his subtle tussling, straightened up, and patted Elden on the shoulder as if nothing had happened. In the gentlest tone he could muster, he said, “Go on, Elden. The Supreme Leader’s calling for you.”
He barely managed to hide the gloating curve of his lips before turning briskly and heading downstairs.
In stark contrast to the storm raging on the second floor, the first floor was unusually quiet. On the sofa sat a black-haired male zerg, slowly peeling a piece of fruit. His features were refined and gentle, his presence clean and serene, like a figure painted in ink wash, utterly devoid of the rugged harshness born of the North’s bitter wind and snow.
The black fruits were no bigger than a thumb and tedious to peel, yet he showed no impatience at all. With a small knife, he patiently pared away the thin skin, setting the translucent white flesh neatly onto a plate, planning to juice them later.
The northern climate was far too harsh, and even fruit was a rare luxury. Hawke’s sharp eyes immediately recognized the variety on the table. It was said that the flesh was sweet and tangy, something pregnant female zergs were especially fond of, but the skin was tough and bitter, and each one had to be peeled by hand.
They were troublesome to eat and yielded little flesh; nowadays, few zergs were willing to put in the effort for them.
Hawke cast a discreet glance at the fruit plate on the table, the pile of pearly white fruit flesh had already formed a small mound, a clear sign of how long the male zerg had been patiently peeling. Even the air in the living room carried a faint, sweet fragrance.
He still didn’t know whether this male zerg’s return was a blessing or a curse, nor whether the other was truly willing to remain in the North’s barren wilderness.
All he knew was that now that this male zerg had come back, the Supreme Leader could go on living, and the zerg egg in his belly would no longer die in the womb for lack of pheromone comfort. That, in itself, was enough.
Hawke lowered his head and walked down the stairs in silence. Because he still resented the other for once running away, he never greeted him, not even out of politeness. But just as he reached the doorway, a calm, low voice spoke from behind him:
“I’ll talk to the Supreme Leader about Joseks. If those soldiers are caught, have them detained for now, don’t punish them yet.”
Military law was ironclad. On the battlefield, desertion was a grave offense. If deserters weren’t executed as a warning to others, it could set a dangerous precedent. That was why Faeus had been so furious, and why he had given the death order without hesitation.
But the Northern front was in turmoil now, and there were simply too many soldiers involved in this desertion. If they were all executed, the punishment might backfire, spreading panic instead of deterrence, leaving people on edge and afraid for their lives… Though calling them “people” wasn’t exactly accurate, at the moment there wasn’t a better word for it.
Hawke paused at the words, but didn’t turn around. He only gave a slight nod before pushing open the door and leaving.
Seeing that the pile of fruit on the plate was nearly finished, Xu Cenfeng stopped peeling. He carried the plate into the kitchen and fed the pieces into the juicer. Because the fruit lost so much volume in the process, nearly two jin of fruit yielded only a single glass of juice, clear and luminous, its color reminiscent of lychee.
When Xu Cenfeng went upstairs with the glass of juice, he happened to run into Elden coming out of the study, looking thoroughly disheveled. One glance at his appearance was enough, there was no doubt he’d been scolded again.
Elden adjusted his cap, looking a little embarrassed as he gave a salute. “Your Highness.”
Xu Cenfeng nodded slightly. “I brought up some juice. Are you done discussing official matters?”
Juice?
Elden thought to himself that what the Supreme Leader really needed right now was to swallow a few fire extinguishers, juice definitely wasn’t going to cool him down. Out loud, however, he said politely, “We’re finished. I still have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
This study was no place for any zerg to linger. If he stayed any longer, Elden felt he might as well go meet the Southern Zerg God himself. His Highness Xu Cenfeng might look gentle and delicate, but to spend every day so closely with the Supreme Leader, now that took real courage!
Thinking that, Elden couldn’t help but look at him with newfound respect.
Xu Cenfeng merely smiled, pretending not to notice what was going through Elden’s mind. He said casually, “The snow’s heavy outside, be careful on the road.”
When he pushed the door open, the study that had been neat and orderly that morning was now a complete mess. Faeus was pacing irritably in front of the desk, flipping through the documents Elden had delivered from the military department. His sharp brows were drawn into deep furrows, making it easy to guess that the situation outside was far from stable. Some documents he didn’t even bother signing, he just glanced at them before tearing the pages to shreds and tossing them into the wastebasket. Calling the place a wreck wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.
“Stop looking at those for now. Take a break and have some juice.”
Xu Cenfeng’s voice came softly from behind, catching Faeus off guard and making him halt mid-stride. He didn’t turn around right away; instead, he exhaled slowly, closed the folder, and took a moment to steady his emotions before finally replying, “I know. Just leave it on the desk.”
It had been more than half a month since Xu Cenfeng’s return. During that time, he no longer clashed with Faeus the way he used to, instead, he treated him with nothing but quiet gentleness and care.
But the change was so drastic that it only made the female zerg uneasy.
Why had Xu Cenfeng come back?
Every moment Faeus spent alone, he found himself turning that question over and over in his mind, yet no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find an answer. As for what the other had said that time in the bath, those ridiculous words, “I like you”, he had never believed them for a second.
Faeus didn’t believe for a moment that Xu Cenfeng could actually like him, not in the slightest. And yet, the other’s every gesture, every word, was so seamless, so flawless, that there wasn’t the faintest trace of pretense to be found.
“Drink it now,” Xu Cenfeng said. “This kind of fruit spoils quickly, it won’t taste fresh if you wait.”
He brought the glass right up to Faeus’ lips. The moment Faeus’ lips brushed the rim, he caught that sweet-and-tart flavor. For a pregnant female zerg with an already poor appetite, it was irresistibly tempting. He couldn’t find any reason to refuse, so in the end, he simply took the glass and drank it all down.
After finishing the drink, Faeus couldn’t shake the feeling that the taste was oddly familiar, as though he had tasted it somewhere before. He turned the glass in his hand for a long moment, and then, as if recalling something, frowned and asked, “Purple berries?”
Xu Cenfeng hadn’t expected him to guess it. He smiled lightly. “Do you like it?”
Faeus fixed his gaze on him, ignoring the question. “You made it?”
Xu Cenfeng gave a soft hum in reply and gestured lightly with his hand. “It took me the whole day to peel them, just enough for one glass. If you like it, I’ll make more for you tomorrow.”
A male zerg? Personally peeling fruit? For an entire day?
Every one of those statements sounded absurd on its own. During a female zerg’s pregnancy, the only thing a male zerg was expected to do was soothe the eggs with pheromones. Who in their right mind would spend an entire day peeling those rice-sized fruits just to make a single glass of juice?
Faeus glanced at the glass in his hand, then set it down on the desk with deliberate care. Slowly, he walked toward Xu Cenfeng. His emerald eyes burned with a fierce, untamed light; when he fixed them on someone, the pressure was almost suffocating, like a predator closing in on its prey. The heavy thud of his black military boots echoed softly across the floor, stopping abruptly just short of Xu Cenfeng’s toes.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Faeus’ lips curved into a cold, unreadable smile as he asked, his tone icy and sharp, “Do you want me to thank you?”
Although it was, in a sense, something worth thanking, after all, a highborn male zerg would never do such menial labor. Not in the West, and certainly not in the North.
Xu Cenfeng met Faeus’ gaze in silence. Yet within those emerald eyes, he caught a fleeting glimpse of something raw, a nerve of deep-seated pride and insecurity intertwined. After a long moment, he let out a quiet laugh and shook his head. “No.”
Faeus’ expression remained unreadable as his brow arched slightly. “Then what for?”
But the words that followed struck Faeus like a blow to the head. For a moment, his mind went completely blank, a dull ringing filling his ears, he even wondered if he’d misheard.
“Because you’re important to me.”
Xu Cenfeng spoke each word slowly, his voice low and sincere.
“Faeus, you’re important to me. That’s why I’m willing to do these things for you. Do you understand?”
Xu Cenfeng was never one to seek credit, but Faeus was, by nature, suspicious and guarded. This female zerg was always wary of hidden motives, always ready to run at the first sign of danger. Even Xu Cenfeng’s confession, once it reached his ears, twisted into nothing more than pretty lies. Instead of calming him, it only made Faeus more anxious, more unsettled.
Faeus said nothing, his expression flickering with confusion and doubt, because he simply didn’t understand.
Seeing this, Xu Cenfeng didn’t seem to mind. He smiled faintly, reached out, and drew Faeus into his arms. With a gentle but firm motion, he guided him to sit against the edge of the desk, his fingers deftly unfastening the golden buttons of the female zerg’s uniform. His slender fingertips slid inward, brushing past the soft white undershirt until they met the warmth of Faeus’ abdomen, where their shared bloodline quietly grew.
Most female zergs become especially sensitive during pregnancy. When Faeus felt the unfamiliar touch on his abdomen, a low, muffled sound escaped his throat. The scent of the male zerg’s pheromones reached him, and certain parts of his body began to stir rapidly with arousal, like a block of hard ice slowly melting into the warmth of spring water.
Faeus furrowed his brows in silence, forcing out his words with difficulty. “Your hand… take it out…”
“Shh,” Xu Cenfeng murmured instead. “Don’t make a sound.”
He truly loved this female, but his temper was terrible, and his words were never gentle. At a moment like this, his sharp tone inevitably disrupted the mood.
At those words, Faeus abruptly lifted his head, glaring furiously at Xu Cenfeng. “You dare tell me to shut up?!”
But when Xu Cenfeng caught sight of the faint redness at the corners of Faeus’ eyes, those clear green eyes glimmering with grievance, he couldn’t help but find them pitiful and endearing all at once. Gently, he leaned in and kissed him with intimacy and tenderness, peeling away the obstructive layers of military jacket and shirt one by one. In the end, he chose not to explain anything; action, after all, was far more convincing than words.
Faeus absolutely hated this frail body of a female zerg. Every time he came into contact with a male zerg, he went weak like water, so soft he could hardly stand. Yet Xu Cenfeng insisted on having him kneel on the chair, where the narrow space left him no room to move. The strain made his eyes water, his muffled gasps spilling out again and again, and more than once, he nearly slipped off.
The pheromones filled the air like a rising tide, saturating the entire room. Faeus felt dizzy, the scent so thick it made breathing difficult. He finally managed to twist around and shift positions, moving from the chair onto the desk, but the change brought him little relief.
“Xu Cenfeng…”
Faeus gritted his teeth, his voice trembling with the edge of a sob as he cursed, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
It was true that during pregnancy, a female zerg needed a male zerg’s help to open up properly so that laying eggs would go more smoothly, but not so often that it happened once every two days! Even an iron-bodied female zerg wouldn’t be able to endure that!
Before, he had been parched dry; now, he was drowning in it.
Hearing his words, Xu Cenfeng finally paused and lifted his head. His skin was pale, his features almost unnaturally beautiful, and now, flushed faintly with desire, even his lips glowed a vivid red. His voice came low and languid. “You don’t like it?”
The sight made Faeus’ breath hitch sharply. He couldn’t bring himself to speak. Pressing his lips together, he covered his abdomen, and after a long moment, managed to frown and force out a single word, “…Hurts.”
Too deep… it’s not good.
Xu Cenfeng paused at that, his expression softening. He leaned in first to press a light kiss to Faeus’ tightly furrowed brows, then traced his way slowly down along the line of his throat, stopping at his abdomen to plant a kiss as gentle as a dragonfly touching water. “Alright,” he murmured, “I’ll be gentler.”
But Faeus, eyes reddened, glared back at him. “Don’t pretend!”
He grabbed Xu Cenfeng by the collar, not even sure himself what he was angry about, gritting his teeth as he snapped, “I don’t need any of this!”
Xu Cenfeng, however, wasn’t the least bit upset. He looked at him with a faint smile. “You don’t need me liking you, or you don’t need me treating you well?”
Faeus’ eyes grew even redder. Like? What nonsense. In his mind, this male zerg was nothing but a liar. “…Neither!”
“Then what should I do?”
Xu Cenfeng pulled Faeus into his arms, settling him to sit face-to-face. He himself still looked perfectly composed, clothes neat and proper, while Faeus’ military jacket hung open, the buttons of his shirt torn away, his uniform pants only half removed. His hair was a disheveled mess, pitiful and lovely all at once. With a tone that hovered between teasing and sincerity, Xu Cenfeng said softly, “But I really do cherish you.”
Faeus let out a cold laugh. “I don’t believe you!”
Xu Cenfeng drew him closer, pressing him against his chest. His voice lowered, brushing warm against Faeus’ ear. “And why don’t you?”
That gentle, coaxing tone made Faeus’ eyes sting with sudden heat.
He turned his head away coldly, gaze fixed on the wind and snow swirling outside the window. His eyes were red, his voice hoarse and small, choked with emotion as he muttered, “I just don’t believe you…”
If this male zerg had truly liked him, he wouldn’t have run away back then…
“You will, Faeus,” Xu Cenfeng said softly.
Xu Cenfeng reached out, cupping Faeus’ face in his hands, and kissed away the single, salty tear that had slipped from the corner of his eye. He held the female tightly in his arms, the one he had gone through so much to find again, and in that embrace, he also held the child that had never come to be in their past life.
His voice was steady, earnest, carrying the weight of a promise.
“Because we still have a long life ahead of us…”
Outside the fortress of Hossburgh, the wind and snow never ceased; year after year, unchanged. Countless citizens longed to flee this land of bitter cold, yet just as many chose to remain, carrying on the will of their ancestors and standing guard over it.
But Xu Cenfeng knew that the coldest year had already passed. When spring returned and the world grew warm again, everything would be different, old friends would gather here once more.
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