Stuck

A single door separated the two men. Sava stood outside in a rage, while Heinz sat inside, perfectly composed.

For a split second, Sava wanted to shoulder an RPG and blast that cold, smiling face right through the door panel.

Vile creature!

…Ever since that tyrant Kaide ordered the seizure of the Duke’s manor, everyone felt they could trample over him.

But while anyone else had the right to gloat, the bastard inside his room certainly did not.

Heinz, oh Heinz. He had promised with every breath to remember Sava’s kindness, to help him restore his family. Then, after cutting off all contact and vanishing for a year, he turned around and became the tyrant’s most prized lapdog.

How could Sava not hate him?!

The sound of leather heels clicking against the floor echoed from inside. Sava instinctively stepped back, but it was too late.

Before he could even let out a yell, a dozen tentacles shot through the crack of the door, binding him and dragging him inside before the lock clicked shut.

Nightingale, who had only walked a few meters away, turned back in confusion and was startled.

…Where did he go? He disappeared in the blink of an eye. Could there really be a ghost?!

Thinking of the Izsu Paraiso ghost stories widely circulated in the Palace, Nightingale felt a chill run down his spine. Crying out “Don’t eat me!”, he fled the scene, his face pale with terror.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Sava was wrestling with the net of tentacles.

He was already sleep-deprived and irritable; now, being repeatedly coiled and squirmed over by these things was the final straw. So he leaned in and took a direct bite.

Crunch. He snapped through a rubbery, gelatinous arm with a crisp bite.

“Pah!” Sava spat the piece onto the floor. The severed tentacle, mixed with saliva, twitched indignantly.

Heinz: “…So skilled. As expected of the Young Master.”

Seizing the opening, Sava scrambled up. The sole of his sneaker ground ruthlessly into the severed tentacle. He picked a bit of grit from his teeth with his pinky nail and spat toward Heinz:

“Go ahead and try again. Let’s see how many of these I can bite off today.”

Heinz said with deep emotion, “I must be the only living thing the Young Master is willing to put in his mouth in this lifetime.”

Sava: “……”

Never threaten a pervert. A normal person feels humiliated, while a pervert only thinks you’re rewarding him.

Sava suppressed his rage. “Idiot, what are you doing here?”

Heinz patted the dust off his suit, stood up with a nonchalant, detached expression, and began to pace around and examine the dormitory.

“Ever since the Young Master blacklisted me last time, I haven’t been able to eat or sleep in peace, thinking about how I had to do something to change the Young Master’s misunderstanding of me.”

“I don’t have a misunderstanding of you! I saw exactly what kind of nature you had the day I was publicly humiliated at my own front door!”

Heinz moved to the desk, flipping through the [Omega Code of Conduct] with great interest. “But it was effective, wasn’t it?”

“What?” Sava blinked, not catching on.

“After that day, those uncles in your clan who coveted the family property didn’t dare trick the Young Master into bars or push him into the arms of strange alphas anymore, did they? Because…”

Heinz’s gaze paused, landing on the ceramic owl mug on the corner of the desk. His voice turned soft, yet sinister. “Because everyone knows that the Young Master is the one I will use any means necessary to possess. And I am the most despicable, dark bastard in this world.”

Sava arched his back warily, his crest feathers standing on their end. “Stop trying to wallow in self-pity, you bastard jellyfish. You just wanted to vent your own selfish desires.”

Heinz picked up the mug and kissed the beak of the little ceramic owl with deep devotion.

“Since the Young Master hates me so much, why did you bring the little owl mug I hand-crafted for you?”

“…I’ll smash it for you right now!”

Just then, the sound of agile footsteps echoed outside the door.

Someone’s coming back!

With the speed of a hundred-meter sprinter, Sava grabbed Heinz by the tie and lunged into the bathroom.

Heinz felt his feet leave the ground as he flew sideways for a few seconds. His vision blurred, and then he was slammed down by the drain like a piece of freshly caught jellyfish.

Sava panted, his voice a harsh, low whisper. “Crawl out through the sewers or I’ll throw you out the window. You choose.”

Heinz elegantly adjusted his striped tie. “I pick neither. Is that the Young Master’s new friend outside? I’d very much like to meet them.”

The veins on Sava’s arm bulged. He couldn’t resist giving him an uppercut, intending to knock him out and hide him behind the curtain.

Heinz collapsed on cue.

Sava nudged him with the toe of his shoe, crouching down with a blank expression to check on him.

…This guy’s only saving grace is his face; better not have ruined it.

Heinz opened a pair of shimmering, watery-blue peach blossom eyes. Propping himself up with a palm, he “weakly” leaned against Sava’s knee and caringly said, “Did Young Master skip lunch? You have no strength at all.”

Sava’s knuckles cracked as he balled his fists.

Seeing the danger, Heinz knew when to stop. He rolled his eyes and proposed, “If Young Master removes me from the blacklist, I’ll hide. How about it?”

Sava really wanted to stuff his mouth with a loofah.

So that’s why he came looking for him; he’s been waiting for this.

But the situation allowed no hesitation; one of his roommates had already entered the room.

When Bai Ling pushed open the bathroom door, he saw Sava sitting on the toilet lid with a tense expression.

Bai Ling looked him up and down, asking suspiciously, “What are you doing?”

Sava lied through his teeth without a script: “I’m in the middle of brewing an egg-laying mood. Have you eaten? You’re back so early. Does the canteen have those little bird pickles?”

A triple-threat counter-question.

Bai Ling became even more suspicious. He knew that whenever this chicken got nervous, his tongue would slip into total nonsense.

While subtly scanning the bathroom, Bai Ling casually remarked, “Oh, I was heading to the library, but halfway there I remembered the books I want to borrow are too heavy, so I came back for a bag.”

Sava immediately stood up and slung an arm around Bai Ling’s shoulder, urging him out with excessive enthusiasm. “Go, go, go! Your brother will escort you.”

Bai Ling pointed to a corner of the shower curtain. “Brother, care to explain why there are men’s clothes on the floor?”

Sava’s eyes darted. “…Well, everyone has their little secrets. Speaking of which, that alpha 01 guardian of yours—”

Bai Ling shut the bathroom door as he suddenly became very reasonable. “Let’s go!”

The two of them dragged each other out of the dormitory. A moment later, the lid of the toilet tank was pushed up. A dripping, phantom-blue jellyfish crawled out from around the tank and landed on the floor with a squelch.

Heinz reverted to human form and dejectedly sat on the floor for a while.

He ultimately couldn’t bring himself to say it.

How could he tell the Young Master that Cade was dead-set on stripping the noble titles, and that by tomorrow or the day after, a decree would be issued:

[To improve birth rates and optimize the reproductive environment, Imperial Omegas need not worry about inheriting family titles.]

And the Young Master was an only child with no siblings.

This meant that even if the title and property weren’t confiscated, they would be seized by distant relatives.

The Eagle-Owl Family has been loyal for generations. For three generations, the female heads of the family had died on the front lines. Now, in the Young Master’s generation, he was being forced to serve those unproductive seafolk nobles.

The Young Master’s elders piloted mechas in the sky.

But the Young Master could only sit frozen in a room, hatching eggs.

Heinz bent down to pick up his clothes from the floor, his long blue hair damply draping over his back. A few strands obscured the rebellious flick of his lips.

“If someone is destined to be the villain…”

“It might as well be me.”

---

[78th floor library.]

Bai Ling searched according to the book list, finding nothing but law codes over a thousand pages thick. It’s no wonder the palace library hadn’t removed these books; a single copy of [Detailed Rules of the Throne Succession Act] spanned 1,400 pages, exhaustively listing every condition imaginable to the human brain.

One would have to be bored out of their mind to read this.

Bai Ling aimlessly flipped through it, feeling a headache coming on the moment he saw the dense, small-print typeface.

Not giving up, he searched the shelves for a more simple version. His fingertips brushed over a spine where the gold gilding had peeled away, and he suddenly paused.

[A Complete Guide to Chess Openings: Interstellar Revised Edition.]

Likely, someone had finished reading it and misplaced it.

Bai Ling pulled it out. The cover was tattered, and fell limp into his palm. He carefully held the curled pages and flipped it open; on the blank flyleaf, it was written:

[—Dedicated to myself, who defeated countless fertilized eggs and arrived victoriously into this world.]

Such a proud tone.

Bai Ling couldn’t help but curl his lips. It seems the book’s owner was an in-vitro baby.

“What are you looking at that’s making you so happy?” Sava leaned his head over, sounding surprised. “Chess?”

Bai Ling quickly snapped the book shut and shoved it into his bag.

It’s perfect to take back and study; maybe I’ll find a way to defeat that merman.

Sava stretched up and started chatting. “Didn’t expect you to be into this. I used to play chess with my grandfather when I was a kid. He was old and always losing pieces, so he’d toss me a box of medals and let me pick the ones I liked to use on the board. Once, I stole a medal with a flying bird to go fishing for silver carp. He caught me and gave me a hell of a beating with his belt. Seriously, was it necessary? Those Marshal medals of his are just gathering dust in the attic anyway; he didn’t care about those at all.”

Bai Ling said flatly, “The Soaring Bird medal is the hardest military medal for a recruit to obtain. In an entire regiment of 3,000 people, there is only one. You have to gamble your life for it.”

Sava: “Holy crap. Good thing he hit me then.”

Bai Ling nodded. “And you can only get it in your first year. No matter how outstanding your achievements are later, you’ll never get another chance.”

In terms of rarity, it might even surpass a Marshal’s medal.

After all, Generals were commissioned every year, but in a century, only three people had been headstrong enough to survive the first year of demonic training while grinding out top-tier results that left every veteran stunned and impressed.

Sava counted on his fingers. “One is the Grand Marshal of the Empire, my grandfather. The other is the commander of the national treasure starship [Vermilion Bird’s Cry], Admiral Schloran… who’s the third?”

“Me,” Bai Ling said.

Sava’s pupils shook. He instinctively wanted to drop another “holy crap, badass.”

But then his eyes caught the prosthetic limb peeking out from Bai Ling’s pant leg. In an instant, his chest felt tight. Every bit of bitterness and indignation was suppressed in his throat, and he could only lower his eyes in silence.

What a fine soldier.

If his grandfather were here, he would say the same thing.

Suddenly, Sava grabbed an expired magazine from nearby and covered his entire face with it.

Bai Ling was baffled and poked his rapidly heaving chest. “What’s wrong with you, you stinking chicken? Let’s go.”

“…Ugh, so… your Soaring Bird medal, is it still around? Can you let me see it… Don’t misunderstand, I just… I miss my grandpa.”

Even at a time like this, he didn’t forget to find an excuse.

Bai Ling gritted his teeth and patted his shoulder in comfort. “If I had it on me, I’d definitely let you see it. Happy now?”

Sava snatched the magazine away, his eyes rimmed with red as he narrowed them. “Who took it? I’ll peck them to death!”

Bai Ling’s thin lips moved slightly as the light in his eyes dimmed. “It’s fine. I’ll take it back eventually.”

While he spoke, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder but staggered under the weight of the books.

“Give it here.” Sava snatched it away, pulling out the two heaviest books and tilting his chin up arrogantly, though his eyes were still red. “I’ll carry this half for you.”

---

As they finished registering the books and walked toward the library exit, two figures suddenly lunged out and blocked their path. Upon closer look, one of them was the Grey Magpie who had picked a fight with them before.

Sava was still immersed in revolutionary sentiment, feeling incredibly protective. His fists, the size of sandbags, instantly tightened.

The Grey Magpie had learned his lesson and explained in a panic, “Don’t hit us, don’t hit us! We’re not here to cause trouble. We just wanted to ask…”

Bai Ling said coldly, “Ask what?”

The Grey Magpie looked at his companion with difficulty; the companion also looked troubled. If it weren’t for the fact that the library was empty right now, they wouldn’t have stopped these two prickly thorns.

But the situation over there was truly critical…

Thinking of the “Solidarity and Mutual Aid” motto of the Sparrow Gang, the Grey Magpie took a deep breath and said, as if throwing caution to the wind:

“You can hit me if you want! But I just want to ask if you two have an inhibitor stick. Our boss seems to have a stuck egg. It hurts so much he can’t walk, and he’s desperate to use one.”

Sava suspected this was a new trick. “How do I know you’re not lying to lure us over for revenge?”

The Grey Magpie said frantically, “You can just give us the stick and not come with us!”

Sava crossed his arms and kicked a trash can. “How could I miss something as good as a Crow with a stuck egg? I’m definitely going.”

Grey Magpie: “…Whatever!”

Bai Ling held Sava back and turned to the Grey Magpie. “There’s an infirmary just two floors up. Why don’t you carry the Crow there instead of asking for a inhibitor stick? I don’t recall those sticks being a cure for a stuck egg.”

The Grey Magpie stole a glance at the surveillance camera, dragged them aside, and whispered, “The boss wants to crush the egg.”

Sava & Bai Ling: “???”

The Grey Magpie then dropped a bombshell: “It’s a fertilized egg. It’s not the Emperor’s.”

Sava and Bai Ling exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

—The matter of cuckolding the tyrant is something they definitely can’t miss.

---

Author’s Note:

Tyrant: In this vast harem, not a single egg belongs to me! Argh! (Screams)

Little Bird: Your Majesty, all the eggs in the world are your subjects.

Little Hen: The. King. Is. Dead. Boom-shakalaka~

Going to eat now, I’ll add another update later, hehehe.

The Raptor Besties are also very cute!