EROS [Zerg]

“Eros?” Principal Joseph was startled, then cautiously said to the male insect, “But that child only just started school a few days ago, and all the female insects in the Comet Class have physical defects…”

“Principal Joseph, you’re overthinking it.” Grand Duke Cavon smiled gently. “I’m just looking for a companion for Ellie, not a female insect for him to marry.”

"This..." Joseph hesitated for a moment, then said to Grand Duke Cavon, in a consultative tone, "Eros has only just arrived in the First Star System and is not familiar with this place. Why don't you give him some time to adapt before letting him go..."

Another noble male insect noticed Joseph's hesitation and suddenly interrupted, "Didn't the female insects always boast about your strong adaptability? How come you can't even handle a change of environment? If you can't even meet such a small request, I seriously doubt how he got into your Empire's premier military academy?"

Joseph sensed the male insect's aggressiveness but did not agree to send Eros away.

“Your Excellency, this is not a matter of a female insect’s adaptability. I am the dean of the academy, and I require all students to abide by the academy’s rules and regulations.”

"If you really want Eros to volunteer at the Male Insect Academy, then you should at least wait until he has studied at the academy for six months before he goes."

When Joseph saw that the male insect was becoming unreasonable, his attitude also became firmer.

Regardless, Joseph was a female insect. Even though he was older, female insects are physiologically stronger than male insects. Old Joseph was also a female soldier who had fought on the battlefield. When he turned cold, the male insect who had just interrupted clearly felt a strong sense of oppression.

“Since Principal Joseph says so, let’s set it for six months from now. I hope to see the female insect’s name on the list of volunteers six months from now.” After a moment of contemplation, Grand Duke Cavono finally agreed to Joseph’s proposal.

"Headmaster Joseph, I'd like to see if my female slave Harris is behaving well in class?" The male insect Koss, finding it rather boring to stay any longer, suddenly remembered that his female slave might be undergoing some "interesting" treatment, and thus "kindly" reminded him:

"Why don't you release the classroom surveillance footage and let us see it? I hope my Harris doesn't perform too badly."

Koss's words piqued the interest of the other males, who all asked to see how Harris would perform.

Joseph was not surprised by this. The rarity of male insects forced female insects to give way, so he projected the images onto the wall using the monitors in his key classes.

On the screen, Harris bit his lower lip tightly, enduring the pain, while still trying to be very attentive to the instructor who was whipping him with an iron whip.

This ridiculous display made the male insects around Grand Duke Cavon laugh heartily.

Grand Duke Kavenor sat in the center of the male insects. His interest was not in the kneeling female insect; he looked at the female insects sitting on their desks on the screen, seemingly unconcerned about what was going on, and felt a deep sense of contempt.

The classroom surveillance footage is very clear, including the audio, which can be heard perfectly.

Whenever Harris cried out in pain from the beatings, several female insects below could be heard snickering. They wouldn't care unless the whip lashed their own bodies.

They are now mocking Harris on stage, believing that this is how female slaves should be, but when the mark of female slavery is branded on themselves, they will begin to resent it.

In Grand Duke Cavenor's eyes, only his queen, Evanson, was different from those annoying female insects.

Although Grand Duke Cavenor thought Evanson was very disobedient and always wanted to stand up for those annoying females, this did not prevent his lord from still remembering him fondly after his death.

[Please pause for a moment, instructor.]

Abruptly, a female insect raised its claw in the classroom as the surveillance footage came through.

The male insect's gaze was drawn to the projection on the wall, where a platinum-haired female insect stood up with a youthful expression, her violet eyes like magnificent nebulae.

The familiar face made the male insects' eyes widen, and they all showed surprise in unison: "This...it looks so much like it."

"He is the Eros I just mentioned." Grand Duke Cavon nodded slightly, his casual introduction carrying a warning only these male insects could understand.

This is my prey; don't even think about touching it.

Kos gripped the armrest of the chair tightly with his insect claws, almost blurting out something, but he quickly turned his head to look at Grand Duke Cavour's seat, a dark glint flashing in his eyes. He stretched out his insect claws and patted them in front of him, a hint of envy that didn't reach his eyes showing on his handsome and eccentric face: "So beautiful, it's rare to see a female insect that's even prettier than a female."

The male insects were greatly intrigued by Eros's sudden standing up in class, and they all speculated whether the female insect was going to "do a heroic deed".

Joseph, who had been watching everything from the sidelines, was filled with worry.

Like Eros, who had no family background, no power, no money, only beauty, and whose beauty perfectly replicated the face that the male insects saw as a thorn in their side, old Joseph could almost foresee the future destruction of this female insect.

The classroom, as observed by the surveillance cameras, was unexpectedly lively, with the vast majority of the comments being attacks on Eros for disrupting the classroom atmosphere.

The male insects waited for the purple-eyed female insect, who was being watched, to show signs of sadness, fear, or panic, but instead, they were suddenly struck by the female insect arguing for herself in an overly clear voice:

If only the female insect is tormented while the male insect is happy, what is the reason for this? I believe that understanding where this problem lies and how to solve it is what we should be learning.

The surveillance camera continued to broadcast what was happening in the classroom. Unlike the female insects' sarcastic remarks about Eros's views, the male insects, who had been laughing and joking as if watching a joke, had now fallen silent.

Why do male insects enjoy tormenting the female insects that protect and care for them?

All the male insects present had the same answer in their hearts:

Of course, these hypocritical female insects proclaim how much they love and care for male insects while secretly despising the physically weak male insects.

The mass suicide of male insects 600 years ago has taught all male insects that once female insects successfully develop pheromone substitutes, male insects will lose their pheromone advantage, and all that awaits them is enslavement and death.

Although the Empire has now banned pheromone substitutes, countless laboratories across the Insect Empire's planetary territories are still working day and night to develop male insect pheromone substitutes.

Before male pheromone substitutes were developed, female insects hoped that male insects would behave themselves and not cause trouble. So they crowned male insects with precious crowns, placed them in a noble position, and enacted solemn laws to favor them.

The short male insects cannot protect their crowns. Sitting in their noble positions, their feet cannot touch the ground; they sway and tremble with fear.

They vent their physical and mental frustrations within the limits of the laws set by the female insects, but the female insects say that they are inherently cruel and ugly.

The male insects watched silently as the female insect on the monitor went from about to storm off to being forcefully pinned to the desk by her companions. After a long while, Grand Duke Cavour finally addressed Principal Joseph:

“I believe that having this female insect volunteer to care for Ellie would be the right choice.”

Old Joseph did not show any approval. His eyes remained fixed on Eros among the dense swarm of female insects on the monitor. Finally, he said in a deep voice, "I hope so."

……

Inside the breeding class, as the last whip cracked, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

The female insect students in the classroom packed up their textbooks and stationery and left the classroom in twos and threes. This was the last class of the afternoon.

Originally, it was said that male insects would be attending this class, so many female insect students skipped class to come and listen in. As a result, the seats in this breeding class were filled to capacity like never before, and even the aisles were filled with female insects.

But the entire class passed without a trace of a male insect, which made the female insects who came to audit the class specifically to see a male insect feel somewhat disappointed.

The classroom quickly emptied out, and Harris lay on the floor, staring blankly at the classroom where there were hardly any insects left.

The whip marks on his back were still bleeding, but Harris had no clothes to cover his body; his lord had not provided him with any clothes to wear.

In this classroom, his naked body can be considered a teaching tool, but outside this classroom, he is a female insect without even a fig leaf; if he takes one more step, he will be subject to much pointing and whispering.

This was probably something his male master had already anticipated: unchaste, unclean females with no good reputation would be brought to the male's party and become items for exchange.

In just a few seconds, Harris was already guessing whether he would be thrown onto a barren planet to cultivate after he was ruined, or whether he would be dragged away to be scrapped.

The female insect felt remorseful, thinking that she should have never become a slave. Even if she had squandered all her wealth and been banished to a desolate planet to reclaim wasteland because she couldn't pay the fine, it would have been better than her current situation.

Harris was filled with despair, and tears streamed down his face. Before he could wipe them away, a coat was suddenly placed over him as if it had fallen from the sky.

A pair of beautiful insect claws grabbed his collar and straightened him in front of his chest:

"Put it on."

What a clean sound!

Harris looked up in surprise and saw a purple-eyed female insect kneeling beside him. Her platinum hair was illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the window, giving it a divine glow.

The female insect was so beautiful that Harris forgot his pain and just stared at her blankly.

Eros took off his school uniform jacket and draped it over Harris's shoulders. The jacket wasn't big, but it was just enough to solve Harris's current predicament.

“It will get dirty.” Harris’s throat was dry, and his voice sounded so hoarse.

Eros noticed the faint red bloodstains on the white school uniform and assumed Harris was worried he would be angry because his clothes were dirty.

"If the clothes are dirty, just wash them."