Chapter 48 Part 1

The little housekeeper robot’s cooking wasn’t tasty.

Although Number Two’s predecessor had been a nanny robot, it seemed to have maxed out its culinary talents only in desserts, roasted milk, and soups.

Most male insects had fragile stomachs, and BLESS Technology’s development philosophy for this generation of robots had been “to create a dedicated companion robot for every male insect cub.”

Since it was designed for cubs, it naturally lacked complex cooking functions.

Ludwig had been right; Number Two’s model was indeed very outdated.

In an era where robots updated rapidly, most people no longer knew the pros and cons of this generation, so when the Sadro Family spent a fortune modifying it into a housekeeper robot, they hadn’t considered that point.

The result was that Shen Yu clearly felt his stomach growing weaker and weaker.

“Master, Number Two made your favorite cream of mushroom soup—”

The round and plump housekeeper robot had a pink apron tied around its waist. Ever since Ludwig had been locked in the basement, Number Two had practically been glowing with vitality, its mechanical eyes constantly flashing two bright red hearts every day.

Number Two rolled on its gears and excitedly brought the mushroom soup out from the kitchen.

A faint creamy aroma wafted through the air. The silver-haired male insect wore a white long-sleeved house shirt, his waterfall-like long hair draped behind him.

He lazily lifted his eyelids, his cold and picky gaze sliding over the soup bowl.

A layer of finely chopped herbs floated on the surface of the soup. After drinking mushroom soup for a full two months, Shen Yu silently stared at those herbs and began to suspect that one day he would turn into a mushroom himself.

Number Two’s eyes continued to sparkle as it stared at him expectantly.

Under the housekeeper robot’s almost tangible gaze, Shen Yu brushed the hair from beside his ear and rose from his seat.

Shen Yu straightened up, ignoring the extremely resentful and sorrowful gaze beside him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked toward the basement with a sense of relief.

He needed a suitable excuse to let the villain out.

The basement door opened into deep darkness where light couldn’t penetrate, like the gaping maw of a ferocious beast. Shen Yu silently stared at that suffocating blackness for a moment before sighing and slowly descending.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

Footsteps echoed once more in the long-sealed dark room, like the beat of a heart resounding in the silence.

He passed the descending stairs and pressed the switch on the wall.

Harsh white light flooded the basement in an instant.

His eyelashes lifted slightly, and his emotionless ice-blue eyes looked toward the still black box.

He parted his lips. “Hey.”

No response.

The silver-haired male insect frowned slightly, then remembered that to prevent the female insect from biting his tongue, there was an iron bit connected to the nerves, which naturally restricted Ludwig’s ability to speak. Even so, he should have been able to make gurgling sounds or muffled exchanges.

If the toy lost its will to survive, it wouldn’t be fun anymore.

Shen Yu walked over and squatted down beside the massive black box. The box was tall, so when he squatted, his face was level with it. Due to his slightly tilted posture, his unbound soft silver hair poured out like a galaxy, sliding along his straight shoulder and falling onto the cold surface of the box.

A few strands tangled around the lock.

The male insect tilted his head and pressed his ear against the box.

No movement.

He reached out, crooked his fingers slightly, and tapped the black box twice. “Hey, can you cook?”

No movement.

Quite the temper.

Shen Yu lowered his gaze. “If you can, make a ‘woo’ sound. If you can’t, make a ‘woo woo’ sound.”

Still no movement.

The light from above fell, streaming across the black box’s surface. For a female insect as proud as him who refused to bow his head, whether it was a single “woo” or a “woo woo,” it was the ultimate humiliation.

Shen Yu stood up from the ground, brushed his loose hair behind him, and said coldly, “Fine if you can’t. What a waste of my time.”

He turned around, and his slippers made sounds on the floor. Normally unremarkable, in this quiet basement, each step rang out like a signal of judgment.

Shen Yu walked forward slowly, counting silently in his mind.

One step at a time, and when he reached the tenth, he stopped.

“Woo.”

It was an extremely pleasant and beautiful sound.

A satisfied curve appeared on the silver-haired male insect’s doll-like, coldly beautiful face.

So obedient.

A mouthful of fish soup went down, made from the skeleton fish unique to the depths of Vila Forest. Named for having meat only in the head and a skeletal body otherwise, the fish head meat was tender and smooth. With the addition of vira grass, it carried a fresh herbal note amid the rich fish flavor, with distinct layers of taste.

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow. The female insect’s cooking skills kept refreshing his understanding.

Over the past ten-plus days, he felt his long-dead stomach coming back to life.

Number Two, who lacked a luxurious fate, suddenly found itself unemployed. Its mechanical eyes widened in anger as it glared furiously at the tall female insect across from it, only to be unceremoniously swatted away by Ludwig’s slap.

Number Two looked aggrieved. “…Master.”

Shen Yu slightly lifted his eyelids and glanced at Number Two.

Number Two immediately fell silent. It had been driven mad by this female insect—its master didn’t like others acting coquettish toward him.

But, but, it was really so aggrieved.

Ludwig stood by the dining table, lowering his gaze slightly as he took in their interaction.

After emerging from the black box, the female insect appeared unchanged on the surface, but only he knew how much time he had spent adjusting his nearly twisted psyche.

One thing was certain: part of his inner order had been shattered.

Countless violent emotions tore at him wildly. The moment the light flooded into the black box, the endless darkness and silence that had tormented him, the mountains of fear and despair weighing him down, surged like a tide to its peak and then abruptly receded.

He couldn’t say whether the light was brighter or the male insect’s silver hair gleamed more.

In that instant, the moment he met those ice-blue eyes.

Ludwig’s chest trembled violently. He felt his heart go empty, as if it had stopped beating.

Then, he experienced an unprecedented pleasure of life and love.

Even as he constantly tried to adjust himself back to his former state, this terrifying emotion lingered. His longing and killing intent toward the male insect twisted together like intertwined vines, sometimes desire gaining the upper hand, sometimes hatred and loathing dominating.

These terrifying emotions entangled him like a beast lurking in the shadows. Once he neared collapse, the beast would pounce and devour him, turning him into the male insect’s plaything.

When Ludwig had still been in the Military Department, he had witnessed too many female insects fall and degenerate. Some even abandoned their insect dignity to become female slaves, all for that fleeting pleasure of closeness to a male insect.

So he knew better than anyone that rebuilding the self after order was shattered was far more cruel, colder, and harsher than the moment of breakage.

Ludwig constantly reminded himself to stay vigilant, vigilant, vigilant. Otherwise, with the male insect’s methods, he might truly become a dog wagging its tail and begging at the male insect’s feet.

After observing Shen Yu and Number Two for these past few days, Ludwig gradually sensed something off.

Once a nanny robot lost its purpose, no one would typically modify it into a housekeeper—never mind the exorbitant cost; there were always smarter, more convenient new models from the empire’s robot companies each year.

Companionship?

Ludwig sneered inwardly. In his view, it was more like surveillance.

After the meal, Shen Yu performed mental guidance on Ludwig as usual. Though the treatment was brutal, the female insect seemed to have accepted it well. However, Shen Yu had a tight schedule today, so he cut the session short midway.

The female insect’s wounds had mostly healed. Even those injuries from mental power damage that couldn’t recover had stopped bleeding. Perhaps the dissection table could be put to use ahead of schedule.

Back upstairs, the full-length gilded mirror frame was engraved with blooming golden roses, exquisitely crafted and inlaid with gems, pearls, and enamel, dazzling brilliantly.

Shen Yu changed into his court gathering attire and stood before the full-length mirror. He frowned impatiently as he adjusted his cuffs and headed downstairs.

Ludwig sat on the living room sofa, calming his heaving chest. The living room lights cast shadows on his expressionless facial contours, sharp and defined, his jawline hidden in darkness, accentuating its angles.

The female insect heard the movement and looked up.

The silver-haired male insect wore an intricately tailored elaborate gown: light blue organza ruffled bishop sleeves, cinched at the cuffs with slightly darker blue ribbons, from which large blue bows dangled. The lower half was light beige puffed skirt-pants, with white lace garters hugging his pale thighs, accentuating a hint of fleshiness.

Male insects excelled at pursuing ornate, luxurious fashions and accessories—this was the empire’s most standard style for them.

Dreamy, elaborate, soft.

If not for the male insect’s doll-like ice-blue eyes devoid of any softness and his height above the male insect average.

Ludwig might have thought this was some sheltered underage male insect cub.

A small rose brooch adorned the male insect’s chest, matching his lip color as the only two points of red on his body. The ruby on the brooch gleamed even more strikingly under the lights, resembling drops of pigeon blood on the shirt from afar.

Roses and glory upon him, eternal blooms—this was the crest of the empire’s great noble Sadro Family. The Sadro Family produced far more male insects than the empire’s average birth rate.

Beyond numbers, the Sadro Family’s male insects also had far superior talents and ranks compared to other families, even rivaling the imperial family. Their high male insect reproduction rate stemmed from the family’s unique intermarriage system.

Unlike the Faen Family, the Sadro Family was a quintessential male-dominant great house, continuously supplying high-quality male insects to politics, medicine, education, and more. The Sadro Family rarely intermarried with outsiders, maintaining highly stable bloodlines through genetic ties.

Of course, this no-external-marriage policy had its drawbacks. Compared to other great nobles bolstered by marital alliances, the Sadro Family, one of the empire’s eight great houses, appeared somewhat isolated and faced many predicaments in the empire’s power struggles.

Especially after the death ten years ago of Sidorey, the renowned male insect biologist and former male lord of the Sadro Family.

With no sufficiently outstanding male insect to succeed Sidorey, the Sadro Family’s dilemmas had intensified once more.

Ludwig hadn’t expected the male insect before him to be from the Sadro Family.

Male insects of the Sadro Family received lifelong protection from the family. Why had this one moved away from the main house?