The Broodmother Is Hungry Again Today - Chapter 3

I had spoken too soon.

Adesas was certainly generous. Everything he provided—food, clothing, daily necessities—was the finest available.

But after bringing me to his residence and arranging intelligent servants to care for me, he returned to Military Command alone.

I did not see him again for days.

Troubled, I chewed my steak while calling Adesas for the fifteenth time.

Military Command had signal-blocking equipment. Unless Adesas deliberately left the shielded zone, contacting him was nearly impossible.

As the communicator produced the same beeping tone as always, I sawed irritably at my plate with the table knife, making a horrible racket.

“Why won’t he answer?” I complained. “I’m starving. Is he trying to starve me to death?”

I was not lying.

True, I had already eaten two large steaks.

But ordinary food was not the only thing I needed.

I also needed high-quality psychic power.

Food supplied the basic nutrients that kept me alive. Only by consuming enough psychic power could I dispel the hunger I had carried since birth and become a true Sovereign.

An insectoid’s mindscape was extremely private, so I had planned to wait until I knew Adesas better before coaxing him into letting me take a few bites.

Who would have guessed he would hide from me?

Was I some terrifying virus?

With a resentful huff, I opened the communicator and hammered out a message.

“Adesas, are you avoiding me on purpose? If you truly can’t stand me, perhaps I should leave your home. I can go to Cecil or one of the others, so you won’t be kept from your own house.”

After sending it, I tossed the communicator aside, curled up on the sofa, and started playing games.

I played until midnight.

Unable to persuade a gaming-addicted Broodmother to stop, the intelligent servant hovered anxiously nearby and displayed a notice about restrictions on underage gaming.

I snorted smugly. “But I’m an adult.”

Before her birth, a Broodmother spent a hundred years growing inside an egg in the void. I might have been born only days ago, but I was no younger than Adesas.

I was about to shamelessly start another round when my sharp ears caught the sound of an aircraft landing outside the villa.

My reflexes were lightning-fast. At a speed known to guilty gamers everywhere, I switched off the console, the lights, and the servant all at once.

When Adesas opened the door, he found the house dark and me running toward him barefoot in a white cotton nightgown.

His eyes dropped to my bare feet. Frowning, he immediately scooped me up.

“Your Highness, even with the floor heating on, you should wear slippers. You are still in your vulnerable period. The smallest oversight could make you ill.”

Was he really lecturing me the moment he came home?

I wrapped my arms around his neck, my eyes glistening with tears, and interrupted his endless fussing.

“Adesas, I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”

The room was dark. The only light was the hazy moonlight behind the open door.

I was certain it fell across my face in a way that made my astonishing beauty impossible for Adesas to resist.

Sure enough, he gazed at me with visible emotion.

Then he reached out and wiped a dusting of tomato-flavored snack powder from the corner of my mouth with his thumb.

“Your Highness, please don’t stay up all night playing games again. And eat your snacks in moderation.”

Me: “…”

Damn it. Careless!

Apparently deciding that a gaming addict could not harbor any serious worries, Adesas carried me back to the bedroom and prepared to leave.

He did not even intend to change out of his uniform. Clearly, he planned to return to Military Command that very night.

I sprang off the bed and grabbed the back of his belt with both hands.

“Adesas, do you hate me so much you can’t bear to live under the same roof?”

Afraid of hurting me if he pulled free, he turned carefully and helped me sit upright.

“Your Highness, no male in this world could hate the Broodmother. I, least of all, could ever hate you.”

I pointed out the flaw in his argument. “But you keep hiding from me. You won’t answer my calls or stay and talk to me. You came home just now, and you’re already leaving again.”

Adesas hesitated. “…It is not what you think.”

But he refused to explain further.

If I were gentler and more considerate, perhaps I would not have pressed him. I could have let him guard his secret in silence, then spent several hundred chapters drowning with him in a sea of tragic misunderstandings.

Unfortunately, I was a willful little Broodmother, and I hated when people hid things from me.

So I covered my face with both hands and began to sob without shedding a single tear.

“Boo-hoo! You can’t even be bothered to invent a lie for me. You clearly hate me. I knew it. I’m a useless, worthless Broodmother. Even if you brought me here, you only did it because circumstances forced you. Deep down, you must despise me.”

“It’s all right. If you keep starving me like this, I won’t live much longer anyway. You don’t have to explain. Let me die with my regrets. Boo-hoo-hoo!”

At the terrible word, Adesas frowned so hard the crease between his brows could have crushed a fly.

“Your Highness, don’t say such things. You will safely survive your vulnerable period.”

I kept my face covered and ignored him. “Boo-hoo-hoo.”

Adesas crouched beside the bed and asked patiently, “Why do you say I am starving you? Are you unhappy with the current meals? Shall I buy you a new cooking robot?”

Still I went, “Boo-hoo-hoo.”

At last, he realized that although I had said he did not need to explain, I had no intention of giving him an answer until he did.

With a helpless sigh, Adesas moved my hands away, revealing my perfectly dry face.

“Your Highness, please stop crying. I truly do not hate you. I have hidden at Military Command because…”

“No male in this world can resist the Broodmother.”

He extended one finger and touched my cheek as though handling something infinitely precious.

“Every male becomes hopelessly obsessed with her. I am no exception.”

“But I am the supreme commander of Military Command. I dare not—and cannot—allow myself to lose control. Hiding from you was the only choice I had.”

Huh?

I blinked at him, certain he was trying to fool me.

What part of him looked obsessed with me?

“Is that really true? You mustn’t lie to me.”

Adesas solemnly swore before the Insect God that he had not deceived me.

“Now will you tell me why you keep saying you are hungry?”