Everyone in the galaxy knew the insect race had produced a king unlike any before him: Sage. He was a nightmare that haunted every race, a sword of Damocles hanging over every civilization.
Then, in Star Calendar year 3124, the imperious tyrant failed to advance to 3S rank, turning to stardust and returning to the fungal carpet.
On the day of the funeral, diplomatic envoys from across the galaxy and the insect race's legion commanders gathered in the hall. At last, they saw the queen whom His Majesty Sage had kept hidden for his entire life...
Fu Ji.
He stood beside the late king's coffin. His porcelain-white skin caught the cold light, and his golden eyes were half-lidded, long lashes casting a small shadow beneath them.
It was a solemn occasion, yet his lips were full and red, as if someone had just kissed him fiercely. Even the curve of his jaw was utterly bewitching.
The insect legion commanders exchanged a knowing look. Their gazes clung like barbed hooks to his waist, his wrist bones, and the slender stretch of neck accentuated by his mourning clothes.
The foreign envoys smiled and nodded with polished courtesy. Their gazes, however, were as cold as those of buyers inspecting a treasure on a shelf, calculating how many bargaining chips this plaything without a protector was worth.
No one took him seriously.
Until later, on the battlefield of a barren planet.
The foreign races' enormous warships blotted out the sky, their cannons aimed at the heart of the insect race's fungal carpet. Everyone thought the insect race was doomed.
Fu Ji slowly raised his head.
For the first time, his golden eyes opened fully, brilliant and almost violent. He lifted his hand, spread his fingers, and gave the steel behemoth a gentle squeeze.
"Crack."
The enormous warship seemed to be gripped by an invisible giant hand. It twisted, crumpled, and warped inch by inch, then burst into a heap of mangled scrap metal.
The entire battlefield fell silent.
The wind rushed in, lifting a stray lock of hair at Fu Ji's temple. He turned his face, the curve of his lips so faint it was almost invisible.
"Who else?"
.
In his previous life, Fu Ji had been a sword cultivator who worked himself to the bone. Reborn as an insect, all he wanted was to take it easy.
He thought he'd found an insect king husband to rely on, but his husband failed to evolve and died on the spot.
So he had no choice but to take on the mess, fighting battles while cursing his dead husband.
Until he found an F-rank insect larva by the roadside, one that looked exactly like his dead husband.
Fu Ji picked up the larva without a hint of shame. "He's dead. What's wrong with me raising a little one?"
[Reading Guide]
1. The F-rank larva is insect king Sage. His evolution didn't fail; it just came with a tiny side effect.
2. This story is sweet, satisfying, and follows my own style of doting on the bottom.
Theme: Don't judge a book by its cover. Pay attention to what's inside
