The Broodmother Is Hungry Again Today - Chapter 4

There was no need to hide the truth.

The insectoid race had gone seven hundred years without a Broodmother. Traditions could be lost over so many generations, and so could the knowledge of how to serve her.

Besides, I had evolved during those long centuries. I was already different from the Broodmothers of the old era.

Sitting obediently on the edge of the bed, I lowered my gaze to Adesas.

“Ordinary food isn’t enough for me. I also need to consume a male’s psychic power.”

“Only after consuming enough can I escape my vulnerable period. Without psychic nourishment, my body will eventually fail no matter how well I eat.”

Adesas went several shades paler when he understood how serious the situation was.

“Forgive me, Your Highness. This was my oversight.”

I caressed the side of his face, then slid my fingers past his ear to the metal clasp securing his long hair.

“It’s all right, Adesas. I don’t blame you.” I bent closer, my voice soft and faint. “But I really am hungry. You promised to take care of me. You said you didn’t hate me.”

“So are you willing to feed me?”

Even if the food was him.

Our eyes met.

Adesas shifted from a crouch to his knees.

“I am willing, Your Highness.”

The metal clasp came open with a click.

His silver hair spilled down over his conservative military uniform, making him look like a chaste and faithful knight from an ancient legend.

The loyal knight’s jaw was tight, but he obediently lifted his face as I drew nearer.

My fingers slid into hair as cool as a moonlit spring. Gripping those silver strands, I kissed his thin lips.

“Open your mouth, Adesas,” I whispered.

Ah.

He really was ice cream.

A little frosty on the surface, perhaps.

But so sweet once I tasted him.

After being hungry for so long, I had no intention of stopping after one bite.

Even when I had kissed Adesas until he could barely close his mouth, I continued feasting wildly inside his mindscape.

His body grew steadily hotter. A flush spread across his cool, pale skin, shattering the severe restraint that made him so distinctive.

After some time, something changed in his once-tame and disciplined gaze. Struggle flickered across his face.

He leaned back, trying to end the feeding, while his right hand instinctively clamped around the calf dangling over the edge of the bed. His palm was so hot my leg trembled.

Excellent. Now this was what obsession was supposed to look like.

I nodded in satisfaction.

I had no wish to let the ice cream that had finally reached my mouth escape, so I refused to let Adesas withdraw.

I tightened my grip on his hair and pulled him back.

Then, just before he lost control, I pressed my forehead to his.

The Broodmother’s psychic power swept through his mindscape, soothing every violent and turbulent current.

Adesas froze.

Even when I finally ended the meal, replete and content, he remained dazed.

“What was that?” He stared in astonishment as he sensed the tranquility inside his mindscape. “Your Highness, what did you just do to me?”

I answered honestly. “I only soothed you a little. Didn’t you like it?”

For once, Adesas looked completely lost. He touched his forehead and took a long moment to recover.

“It wasn’t unpleasant, Your Highness. I simply never imagined the legends were true…”

The insectoid race had once been among the most powerful species in the universe.

Their formidable combat ability, inborn psychic power, and rare unity allowed them to sweep undefeated across the vast cosmos.

Then, seven hundred years ago, Broodmothers stopped being born.

The birth rate plummeted. The males’ psychic power also began to run wild.

Without a Sovereign, the race no longer acted as one. Without the Broodmother’s soothing power, psychic turmoil left the males mad and belligerent.

Internal unrest and outside enemies arose on every side. Within a few short centuries, the former overlords of the universe fell from their heights and entered an unstoppable decline.

Now the younger generations had grown accustomed to the torment of chaotic psychic power. They had forgotten that in earlier ages, the affliction had possessed a cure.

“Your Highness, I offer myself as your food with all my heart.”

Adesas cradled my hand, then pressed his forehead reverently into my palm.

It was the insectoid race’s posture for swearing allegiance.

“But I beg you to grant me one impertinent request. After you safely survive your vulnerable period, would you also soothe the soldiers at Military Command whose psychic power has run wild?”

“They are heroes who defend our race. They have only lost themselves for a time. Please grant them a new life.”