Chapter 96: The Selection

Chapter 96: The Selection

The male's resume was filled out with great care. Although he hadn't graduated from the prestigious academies in the capital, he had completed all his courses diligently. What caught Director Pedi's attention was the section on professional skills—a small box packed to the brim:

Swordsmanship, close combat, calligraphy, Go, painting, ancient instruments, ancient literature, strategic command...

Counting them up, there were over thirty items, so outrageous that Director Pedi initially thought the applicant was making things up. He looked at Amber in surprise, barely containing his anger as he asked, "Sir, are you sure you're proficient in all these?"

For these idle males, simply graduating was an impressive feat. To have such a plethora of rare and valuable skills was almost unbelievable—was this some kind of joke?

Amber wouldn't bother defending himself. His fingertips tapped lightly on his knee. "It doesn't matter if you don't want to hire me. However, I'm the only male among today's applicants, and if I remember correctly, males have priority in job applications. In other words, it seems you have no choice but to hire me?"

Although the male before him had been polite throughout, something about him didn't sit right with Director Pedi. He felt like he'd been cut by a soft blade, and even though he was unhappy, he could do nothing but suppress his ire.

"It's true, as you say, males do have priority in job applications, but only those rated D or above. By the way, your blood grade is..."

Only now did he remember something important. Flipping to the next page of the resume, he found that Amber had placed the crucial information about his blood purity at the very end, followed by a solitary "S".

Director Pedi's eyes widened in shock. "You're an S-grade male?!"

Amber neither confirmed nor denied it. "I don't think that has much to do with the job I'm interviewing for."

Skills could be exaggerated, but the blood purity rating was impossible to lie about—it could be easily verified in the Star Network database.

Director Pedi struggled to contain his astonishment. His previously condescending attitude finally softened, and he sat up straighter. "Sir, S-grade males receive generous subsidies from the Empire without needing to work. I'm curious why you insist on working for the military? Of course, this isn't a mandatory question."

After a moment of contemplation, Amber gave a half-truth. "There's no particular reason. If I must give one...the female I like works in the military. Would that count?"

Following the direction of his finger, a white figure stood just outside the corridor—none other than Ludwig, who happened to be passing by. Having just returned from a mission, he spotted a familiar silhouette through the window and subconsciously stopped. He never expected it to be Amber.

How could it be him?

Ludwig couldn't hear what was happening inside, but he saw Amber say something to Director Pedi before standing up and heading towards the door. A sudden panic gripped his heart, and he instinctively hid around the corner of the stairs, frowning when he realized what he was doing.

Damn it, I haven't done anything wrong. Why am I hiding from him?

But it was too late to come out now. A pair of immaculate black leather shoes suddenly appeared within his lowered gaze—unmistakably familiar. Not long ago, Ludwig had been gently stepped on by these shoes as they kissed passionately on the desk in the bedroom.

Amber's deep voice rang out overhead, laced with barely concealed amusement. "General Ludwig, what a coincidence."

Startled by the sound of his name, Ludwig had no choice but to look up at Amber, his expression somewhat awkward. "Why did you suddenly come to the military?"

Today, Amber wore a formal suit, perfectly pressed without a single wrinkle. Instead of the sapphire cufflinks favored by nobles, he wore understated yet luxurious amber ones—the essence of the earth formed over millions of years, similar in color to Ludwig's eyes. He gently flicked the button. "Nothing much. I just happened to find out that the military was hiring clerical staff, so I came to take a look. Besides, there's nothing to do at home anyway."

Leaning against the wall, Ludwig's posture seemed lazy. His eyebrows arched slightly. "Sir, the military, a place of violence and warfare, is not suitable for males. Moreover, Director Pedi hates hiring males."

Amber replied, "Is that so? But Director Pedi has already agreed to let me start tomorrow."

Now Ludwig was genuinely surprised. "How did he agree to hire you?"

Amber deliberately paused for a moment. "Hmm...maybe because I told him that the female I like works in the military, so I wanted to be closer, and he agreed?"

His words sounded half-serious, half-joking, not entirely proper. After saying this, Amber looked at Ludwig with interest, expecting the female to blush as before. But instead, the female asked ambiguously, "Really?"

Amber countered, "Would I lie to you?"

As soon as he said this, his wrist tightened, and he was unexpectedly pulled into a nearby storage room.

The space was dimly lit, with slightly old bookshelves taking up most of the area, filled with dusty files. Amber was pressed against the door by Ludwig, feeling the other party step forward, pressing against him tightly, their breath hot and dangerous. "Sir, lying isn't a good habit."

Ludwig was no fool. His cool, slender fingers hooked around Amber's dark blue tie, winding it round and round. When he pulled hard, it created a suffocating sensation. "You came here for that male named Fang Yun, didn't you?"

Clever indeed.

Amber wrapped his arms around Ludwig's waist, pinning the other against the door. His eyelashes drooped, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes. "How can it be considered a lie, Ludwig? You do work in the military."

Ludwig frowned irritably, his tone suddenly turning cold. "But you don't like me, so don't use such matters to lie!"

In this female's heart, the purest part was probably the realm of emotions, intolerant of any manipulation or desecration. Amber's previous words had unknowingly touched a nerve.

Hearing this, Amber paused. The smile on his face, which seemed like a mask, finally softened, and he looked at Ludwig seriously for once. He wasn't angry, nor did he offer any explanation. Instead, he slowly approached the other in the darkness, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Ludwig instinctively tried to retreat and dodge, but he was held tighter by the male. His military boots were caught by the leather shoes, and he was kissed passionately against the wall.

"Mmm..."

Ludwig struggled slightly but quickly became compliant. One hand circled around the male's neck, while the other hooked onto his tie. His return kisses were somewhat clumsy but carried a natural sense of dominance, as if treating this act like a battlefield encounter.

Amber always moved at his own unhurried pace. His long fingers slowly ran through the female's soft hair, gradually increasing the pressure, deepening the kiss until it felt as if their souls were being sucked out.

Since coming to the insectoid race, Amber spent every day online, learning about this unfamiliar world. He gently bit Ludwig's pale earlobe until it turned crimson, then asked with interest, "Does this count as having an affair?"

The term was repulsive and shameful to insects, yet it brought an indescribable thrill.

Ludwig could feel his legs weakening. His eyes lazily narrowed as he deliberately left a red mark on Amber's neck, saying maliciously, "An affair? You seem quite experienced in such matters?"

Amber smiled faintly, lightly scratching his chin with his fingertips. "Only with you. How about that?"

Ludwig grabbed his hand. Though smiling, his tone was strangely dangerous. "Then make sure I don't catch you doing this with another female."

Amber's eyebrows arched slightly. "Ludwig, you can rest assured about my fidelity."

Watching the male attract others like a magnet, Ludwig wasn't reassured at all. But Amber's unarguable demeanor somehow drained his energy, and he said coolly, "Sir, you went so far as to interview for a job in the military for a male. It's hard for me not to suspect you have some peculiar fetish."

Those seemingly well-dressed males often had unspeakable fetishes in private—whips, abusing females, as dirty as they could get. Amber appeared unusually normal, but being too normal raised suspicions among insects.

Amber thought the female was overthinking. "My sexual orientation is normal. You can be at ease."

They left one after the other.

Ludwig emerged from the cluttered room and headed toward the office, still feeling the lingering tingling sensation on his lips from the male bug's kiss, and his ears were somewhat hot, an inexplicable strangeness. Worried that other bugs might notice something amiss, he hurried along at a brisk pace. As a result of his distracted state, he accidentally bumped into a figure at the corridor's corner.

"Ouch—!"

Nothing happened to Ludwig, but the bug on the opposite side stumbled and fell due to the collision, scattering papers all over the floor. He instinctively reached out to help, but froze mid-motion when he recognized the face.

Siflai rubbed his bottom as he stood up, his brows knitted together in a frown. His initial displeasure from being bumped into instantly turned into awkward unease upon seeing Ludwig: "Brother?"

Ludwig retracted his hand, his tone cool: "What are you doing here?"

The military department had dozens of office buildings, and Siflai was still a new recruit; he shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Siflai stammered as he explained: "After graduation, the new recruits were assigned their posts. Grandfather was worried I'd be bullied if I went to another department, so he transferred me to the Second Army Corps, coincidentally allowing us to work together."

After he spoke, he looked at Ludwig with trepidation, unsure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like there was a faint tooth mark on the other's earlobe.

Upon hearing this, Ludwig's lips curled slightly, his meaning unclear: "Grandfather? He sure worries a lot."

He then crossed the scattered documents without a glance, not even sparing a look at Siflai, and left the corridor straight away, his back appearing particularly cold.

There was an indescribable estrangement Ludwig felt towards this twin brother of his, for reasons unknown. They looked alike, yet not quite so, the biggest difference perhaps being their eyes.

A pair of amber eyes that should never have appeared in the Lanyi family, eyes that branded them as bastards, and a pair of blue eyes that symbolized the purest bloodline, noble and dignified. Their fate and treatment were perhaps predetermined from the moment they were born.

During their military school internship, they both underwent survival training in the deadly valley of Chayin Hait, but while Ludwig nearly had half his shoulder torn by a beast and had to grit his teeth and survive in the freezing mountain stream for half a month, Siflai could return home merely because of a sprained wrist. When they took up positions at the military academy, Duke Bach would even arrange everything in advance for Siflai, whereas Ludwig had no choice but to accumulate military merits from the very bottom and fight his way up...

All these imbalances piled up over time, turning into years of unresolved resentment deep within his chest.

Siflai...

Ludwig muttered to himself, I'm proud and don't envy you anything, I just resent the imbalanced treatment all these years.

On the other side, Amber had already left the military building and was walking leisurely toward the main gate. Suddenly, he felt a sense of foreboding and looked up, only to spot a familiar figure standing by the second-floor balcony, seemingly Ludwig.

Is he unhappy?

In those few seconds of eye contact, this thought vaguely surfaced in Amber's mind. He stopped in his tracks and suddenly made a gesture to call Ludwig from below.

"Ring!"

The terminal rang unexpectedly, catching Ludwig off guard when he answered. He was speechless for a moment before managing to say: "What is it?"

Amber smiled: "Come downstairs, come find me."

Ludwig: "Why?"

Amber gave a reasonable excuse: "I got the job today, let me treat you to dinner."

Ludwig glanced at the time, hesitating: "But I haven't finished work yet."

Amber offered him two solutions: "Play hooky or take leave, I'll wait for you at the entrance."

Without waiting for Ludwig's reply, he ended the call and headed straight for the door. However, there was always a secretive gaze lurking in the shadows behind him. Sensing something, he turned around, only to see a figure quickly darting behind a tree in the training field, like a black-haired, black-eyed... male bug?

Amber's eyes darkened, asking with interest: "System, if I can counter-kill that assassin, will the mission still be considered successful?"

The system, which hadn't shown itself for a while, appeared with intermittent electric currents swirling around its black body. It was somewhat surprised by Amber's ruthlessness: "Do you want to kill him?"

Amber countered: "Can't I kill him?"

The system fell silent for a moment before slowly uttering two words: "Killable!"

Amber found the hovercraft parked by the roadside, sat in the driver's seat, and waited for Ludwig, glancing at his watch. It was no wonder he was a military female; her execution speed was impressive. In less than ten minutes, Ludwig's figure appeared in the rearview mirror.

Amber honked the horn, and in the next second, the passenger-side door opened, and a figure slid in. Ludwig's chest was heaving slightly, as if he had run all the way over. His brows were furrowed, looking somewhat annoyed:

"Damn it, why did you have to make me come downstairs?"

Ludwig was somewhat angry. Had Amber put some kind of spell on him? At the wave of his hand, he skipped work and rushed over like a puppy. What was the difference?

Amber didn't seem upset but started the hovercraft and took off, activating the autopilot mode. Only then did he turn to Ludwig: "Come here, I have something to tell you."

Ludwig approached aimlessly, but in the next second, he was caught by the chin by the male bug and gently kissed on the lips. The male whispered by his ear: "Seeing you unhappy, I wanted to take you out to clear your head."

"..."

Ludwig's heart skipped a beat at these words. He stared at Amber, only to see the male's black eyes hiding a smile and concern. His nose inexplicably stung, and he frowned, turning his head away: "I'm not a baby bug, needing to go out to play when I'm in a bad mood."

Amber turned his face back, lightly biting him without haste, his voice muffled and ambiguous: "Are you going or not?"

The female bug's ears burned bright red from his kiss, and finally, she reluctantly blurted out: "Then let's go."

They went to the largest shopping mall in Heiz City. Amber, celebrating his start tomorrow, bought a brand-new limited-edition hovercraft, ordered two diamond watches, ten custom suits, and five pairs of leather shoes.

Ludwig paid all the bills.

"My brain must have been flooded, damn it, why did he make me pay for his purchases!"

When returning home that evening, Ludwig stuffed the pile of miscellaneous receipts into the trash can outside his door, filled with regret. He finally realized that Amber had no intention of accompanying him to cheer him up; he had simply dragged him along to be a sucker. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to complain.

When Ludwig entered the house, he was somewhat depressed. However, this mood completely shifted to gloominess upon seeing Duke Bach sitting on the sofa. It was like dark clouds gathering heavily in his heart.

Ludwig paused in his steps: "Grandfather?"

Duke Bach sat on the living room sofa, with only half the lights on, making his well-maintained face appear somewhat aged. His brows were tightly furrowed as he asked in a deep voice: "Ludwig, where did you go just now?"

Ludwig came to his senses, closing the door behind him, his tone indifferent: "To the mall."

Duke Bach: "With whom?"

Ludwig: "Colleague."

Well, Amber is about to start working, so it's not wrong to call him a colleague.

Duke Bach continued to press, "A male?"

Upon hearing this, Ludwig finally sensed something unusual in the air. He walked up to Duke Bach and crouched down before him. Due to his youth, his aura was like an unsheathed sword—sharp and unapproachable. Even while crouching, he didn't appear submissive. "Ask me directly what you want to know. The interrogation methods of the military won't work on me; you won't get anything out of me with your indirect probing."

Recalling the matter with Sievrey, a hint of sarcasm crept into Ludwig's voice uncontrollably.

Duke Bach let out a slow breath, his tone serious. "Ludwig, you seem to have been spending an awful lot of time with Lord Amber recently?"

Ludwig didn't deny it. "Is that not allowed?"

Duke Bach furrowed his brows. "Of course not! You've already broken off your engagement!"

Ludwig lifted his eyelids to look at him. His amber irises weren't as gentle and harmless as the blue sea; they were more like those of a young beast in the jungle, ready to bite at any moment. This was also why Ludwig wasn't very popular:

"…If I don't associate with a male I've broken off my engagement with, should I be associating with one who's already engaged?"

Duke Bach's expression changed, and he suddenly stood up from the sofa. "Anyone else would be fine, but not Amber! Do you know that the Third Prince has set his sights on him? Getting involved with him will only bring trouble!"

Ludwig indeed didn't know, but even if he did, he wouldn't have cared too much. Upon hearing this, he slowly rose to his feet, his words carrying an unclear meaning. "The Third Prince has set his sights on Lord Amber? That's quite a significant matter indeed. However, there are far too many males he's taken a fancy to. There must be at least three, if not five. You're worrying far too early."

The Emperor hasn't died yet. Even if he did, who could guarantee that the Third Prince would definitely ascend to the throne among all the princes? Besides, the Lanyi family supported the Fourth Prince.

Duke Bach was vaguely angry. "Ludwig, there's no need to court trouble for his sake!"

But Ludwig asked unexpectedly, "If today's situation had been Sievrey, would you have told him to keep his distance from Lord Amber as well?"

Duke Bach was taken aback. "What?"

Ludwig wasn't actually that curious about the answer. "Never mind. It's getting late. I'm going to bed. If you don't want to go home, there's a guest room next door. Feel free to use it."

After saying this, Ludwig pointed to the room beside them, then turned and went back to his bedroom. The blurred light fell on his face, making his expression somewhat indistinct.

Sitting at his desk, Ludwig had a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling windows behind him. The night was hazy, but the city was brightly lit. With his legs crossed, he lounged lazily in his chair, screening through the list of new recruits while talking to the Fourth Prince, Zach.

Zach wanted to ask Ludwig's opinion on something. "The Emperor seems to be hinting lately that he wants me to take temporary charge of the Fourth Army. He keeps dropping hints, but I feel that now isn't the right time to assume command of the military."

Upon hearing this, Ludwig paused in turning the page, then resumed normally, casually uttering two words: "Decline."

"The Emperor is still young and doesn't wish to see you display too much prowess. I'll keep an eye on the Fourth Army's power for you. Whether you come or not isn't important; there's no need to arouse his suspicions. Your Highness, while the Emperor is still young, be a well-behaved little bug. Only the crying bugs get milk to drink."

Zach asked with interest, "Like your brother Sievrey, for example?"

Ludwig choked upon hearing this. "Must you be such a killjoy? Repeatedly bringing up the two bugs I hate the most."

Zach was curious. "What happened?"

Ludwig didn't originally want to say, but unable to resist Zach's urging, he simply recounted the events of the day. The other party seemed surprised upon hearing this. "Do you really want to be with that male?"

Ludwig's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. He gritted his teeth and spat out, "But he spent a lot of my star coins! A lot!"

This was certainly not the main reason, but Ludwig clearly didn't want to talk about it, or perhaps he couldn't explain it himself.

Zach laughed. "Ludwig, it's not a big deal. Males only know how to shop and spend money. Do they help you save money or do chores? Being able to bear a bug with you is already considered a huge 'favor.'"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "But he can fight well."

Zach seemed to choke momentarily upon hearing this. "Alright, that can be considered an advantage."

Ludwig's tone was cool. "The Third Prince must be too idle recently. Otherwise, why would he have the time to keep an eye on males everywhere?"

Zach explained, "The Emperor has temporarily put him in charge of the Third Army. Everyone is very obedient to him. Many nobles are trying to curry favor with him. Plus, he's reached the age for marriage discussions, so he should choose a male to marry… You understand, perhaps every male in Heiz City is now an option for him."

Upon hearing this, Ludwig closed the new recruit roster and tossed it onto the table. "Everyone is very obedient to him? The military is full of troublemakers, and the Third Army has the most. The Third Prince seems to be rejoicing a bit too soon. He's still young and should be focusing on his career."

Perhaps it would be best to find something for the Third Prince to do. Otherwise, he'd be too idle. When he was idle, trouble would find its way to Ludwig.