"First-rate lovers meet only in bed. Whether the whispered words are truth or lies, they give themselves to one night of passion. When the dream ends, they part ways, remaining strangers even if they encounter each other in a crowd.

Second-rate lovers add money to the equation. Pay enough, and they'll disappear without a trace. They may occasionally become greedy, but in the end, it's still just a matter of money.

As for him and me, we live beneath the same roof, facing each other day and night. Someday, we are destined to divide the inheritance that my legal spouse will leave behind. By law and by reason, we are forever bound together. A relationship like that deserves to be called nothing more than third-rate."

Third-Rate Lover did not use humans as its protagonists. Instead, it invented a race called the Butterfly Tribe. The protagonist was a wingless member of the tribe. A black-haired butterfly born into the tribe's lowest social class.

However, the branch of the clan into which they were born, the Phoenix-Tail Lineage, belonged to the aristocracy. The conflict between those identities left the protagonist outwardly glamorous but secretly subjected to constant bullying.

For appearances' sake, the family assigned the protagonist a butterfly guard. The guard was about the same age and overflowed with enthusiasm for life. Gradually, the protagonist was drawn to them and would secretly slip away together with them to play in the grasslands.

The guard's wings were not especially brilliant. But to the protagonist, they were the most beautiful wings in the world.

Before long, the protagonist secretly fell in love. During one outing in the woods, the two could no longer resist the temptation and crossed the line into intimacy. For the Butterfly Tribe, chastity itself wasn't important. Status was.

Their love burned fiercely. Soon, they privately pledged themselves to one another and planned to elope on a snowy night. They even made a promise: if they were caught, they would drink poison together and die for love.

But fate had other plans.

Other members of the family learned of the protagonist's intentions beforehand. The clan intended to marry the protagonist off for political alliance. How could they possibly allow such freedom? Thus, the protagonist was captured on the spot.

At that moment, both the butterfly and the guard were captured.

The protagonist was loosely bound, and the poison was hidden inside the pendant hanging from their waist. The protagonist struggled desperately and finally managed to seize the poison and swallow it in one gulp, determined to prove their devotion through death.

But the guard remained motionless.

The protagonist slowly realized something was wrong. Staring with wide compound eyes, they demanded, "Where's your poison? Where's your courage?"

The guard replied, "What I gave you wasn't poison. It was candy. I never imagined you'd actually have that kind of courage."

The protagonist froze as though struck by lightning while the family butterflies burst into laughter.

"He regretted it the day before you were supposed to leave. I only threatened him a little, and he spilled everything. Did you really think anyone could love someone like you? Without your status, you're nothing."

Filled with guilt, the guard said, "I'm sorry. I've stained your honor."

"No!" The protagonist fought back tears. "The real mistake was replacing the poison with candy. You insulted my courage... and defiled my love."

The guard was driven from the territory, while the protagonist was imprisoned within the family estate. Allowed only to stroll through the back garden, they endured the mockery of the other butterflies.

One day, while grilling food in the garden, the protagonist encountered an older butterfly.

"I wouldn't have thought that a noble like you would do such menial work." The older butterfly gently fluttered their wings in greeting. "Nor eat this sort of... fast food."

"My noble status isn't everything I am. I possess a heart freer than any butterfly's. I only want my heart to be happy."

The older butterfly asked, "Is it really that delicious?"

Only then did the protagonist truly look at the other butterfly. Many butterflies watched the grilling before, but only this older butterfly asked what the food tasted like. The protagonist's attitude softened.

More politely, they said, "Please, have some. Don't worry. No outsiders will come here."

The older butterfly took a bite. Then the two walked side by side through the garden before parting ways.

The next day, the protagonist learned that the older butterfly was actually their arranged marriage partner.

The older butterfly said, "I promise I won't restrict your freedom, because what I treasure is your unconstrained spirit."

The protagonist was moved and agreed to give the relationship a chance. One flew while the other walked. They wandered the streets, the castle, and the riverside, talking endlessly and happily.

The older butterfly became captivated by the protagonist's spirit. The protagonist, in turn, became fascinated by the older butterfly's astonishing breadth of knowledge. Finally, the protagonist agreed to the marriage.

Yet, on the second day after the wedding, the older butterfly confessed the truth. They had actually been married before and already had a child. They had hidden it because they feared that the protagonist would refuse the relationship if they knew.

The protagonist was shocked once again.

"I don't care who loved first and who came later... but I do care about your honesty. My dear... are there any other lies you've told me?"

The older butterfly answered, "I was only afraid you would leave. If I ever lied, it would only be for your own good."

The protagonist replied, "Your love is too arrogant; we're supposed to be equals."

But the marriage had already happened, so there was no turning back. The protagonist followed the older butterfly to their new home. Instead of feeling joyful about entering a new life, everything around—the trees, the flowers, and every blade of grass—felt oppressively familiar.

They spent their first night together awkwardly, and the older butterfly was always busy attending social engagements. The protagonist felt that they were nothing more than a plastic flower decorating an empty mansion.

Then tragedy struck. The older butterfly was caught in an air disaster and fell into a vegetative state.

The older butterfly's child, a butterfly studying law, nicknamed the Law Butterfly, hurried back from another territory.

At the entrance of the mansion, the Law Butterfly and the protagonist coincidentally locked eyes. In that fleeting moment, it felt as if a lifetime had passed.

...

Xi Yujin made two copies of the manuscript and handed one to his neighbors, partly to keep them too busy reading to chatter.

The Brood Hosts munched on honey sticks while lounging atop lotus leaves, taking turns reading the story.

Their first reaction was...

"So much content that's inappropriate for children!"

No one even dared read it aloud. Their faces flushed, and their hearts pounded.

Grade A... your life story is really this explosive?

Still, their shock lasted only a moment. They all came from different species, and civilizations capable of interstellar travel had generally long since overcome the biological burdens associated with reproduction. Most intelligent species in the universe were quite open-minded about such matters. To them, Third-Rate Lover contained nothing truly scandalous.

Instead, they continued reading eagerly. The unfolding plot drew them in, while a warm current seemed to soothe their long-parched souls.

"My reading ability has deteriorated so much. I've been reading forever and only finished four pages... Grade A, you're amazing!"

Holding the manuscript, Shayou kicked his feet, sending ripples across the water. Around him, the Brood Hosts argued animatedly.

"The guard betrayed the protagonist at the last minute, so it's understandable that the protagonist stopped loving them. But why is the protagonist being so unreasonable with the older butterfly too? The older butterfly respects them and acknowledges them. It was only a harmless little lie. Life still has to go on, doesn't it?"

"The protagonist is already one of the lowest-ranking butterflies. Can't they recognize their own position? Being treated with respect is already more than enough. They should learn to be satisfied."

Some of the Brood Hosts were dissatisfied with the protagonist's choices. To them, survival was what truly mattered. As for the dignity needed to survive, it was merely like a piece of clothing. Without clothes to cover oneself, a creature might feel ashamed, but it would not die. That was already good enough.

Others, however, were captivated by the protagonist's unusual romantic entanglements.

"The protagonist is simply the kind of person who pursues absolute love. I can't really blame them. I'm more interested in who they'll end up with."

"Waaah, the protagonist is so pitiful! The guard who planned to elope backed out at the last minute, and the dependable older butterfly turned out to be a liar... Is the next love interest really going to be the heir of the family?"

"This is so exciting! I can't believe a world could have such a chaotic love triangle! They may not be related by blood, but legally, they're still a family! In everyone else's eyes, they're the least likely couple imaginable! Arguing over inheritance during the day and sleeping in the same bed at night."

"Even for interstellar species, that's a little too much."

"Didn't Grade A say... this is an autobiographical novel? I've heard there's a type of fiction where people turn their own experiences into a story, adding a little literary embellishment instead of recording events exactly as they happened. So the butterfly protagonist might actually represent Grade A himself... He's so wild. I'm a little scared."

The Brood Hosts all nodded in agreement.

Anyone with a love life this bizarre and convoluted... suddenly falling in love with an attacker at first sight hardly seemed like a big deal anymore.

Besides, it was obvious to the naked eye that the attacker treated Grade A extremely well...

Watching them together often gave the bystanders the strange feeling that "I shouldn't be standing here, I should be at the bottom of a river*."

Just then, another aircraft descended on the planet where the Brood Hosts were settled.

This group of naive, lazy Brood Hosts actually found a thread of worry rising in them for Xi Yujin and Gano's safety.

...

Xi Yujin was actually very nervous when he wrote Third-Rate Lover.

He stopped a patrol column of guards and said to one of them, "I'm going to walk in the forest today and gather material. Can you accompany me?"

Most of the guards were only Nest-class. The order they received was to keep this group of Brood Hosts well fed and well watered. Thus, the guard Xi Yujin invited stepped out of the column without hesitation.

Signals passed between the guards' Egg Brains, and soon, a guard from another column drove his external bone wings over and lined perfectly into the patrol, which continued along its route.

"We are one, we are the nest, we obey the order, we hold the hive..."

Only when the patrol was gone did Xi Yujin pull that guard, the hidden Gano, deeper into the forest.

He couldn't reveal anything that distinguished him from ordinary guards, or an even more serious alarm would be triggered.

One by one, they noted down the guards' patrol routes, searched out where the aircraft had landed, and kept adjusting their escape plan. This was the most meticulous escape plan in Xi Yujin's whole fleeing career, though he hoped it wouldn't be the last.

Every time the patrol map was updated, the hope of escape grew one degree dimmer.

After they finished exploring an area, Xi Yujin took out his leaf-paper and pollen-pen and rushed to finish writing Third-Rate Lover.

Gano leaned in to look at his writing, his breath falling lightly on the pen.

Xi Yujin's writing gradually slowed.

Gano shifted his gaze to Xi Yujin, and after a long moment, suddenly kissed him lightly on the side of the face.

There were still guards patrolling nearby...

But after a few seconds of looking at each other, they started kissing involuntarily.

A certain fear that their days were numbered left them burning inside like fire.

"Bzzzzz..."

A guard on aerial patrol flew overhead.

The two collapsed together into the bushes. Branches scraped across their clothes, wild grass brushed against their faces, and the blowing breeze let the sunlight filter through the trees.

Afterward Xi Yujin sat up, straightened his collar as best he could, and went back with a head full of fallen leaves and blossoms. His lips were even slightly split.

That night, a certain guard ignored discipline, entered the Brood Host's flower chamber, and pressed at that split lip, biting and licking. Gano shed his exoskeleton, and his insect wings slowly spread until they filled Xi Yujin's entire field of vision.

"Yujinno." Gano suddenly stopped, his voice hoarse. "To Blue Planet, insect wings are more like an ornament, aren't they?"

Xi Yujin said, "Why are you asking that all of a sudden..."

Gano's expression was always cool, even as the temperature inside the flower chamber gradually rose.

Gano caught Xi Yujin's hand and placed it on his abdominal muscles.

He felt Blue Planet people liked this better.

Or perhaps a little further down...

They tangled together as though the world would end tomorrow. Two hundred square meters of the flower chamber was more than enough room to run wild in, not to mention that this was the Zerg Queen's harem breeding grounds, and Gano was the Zerg Queen's child.

There are many ways for the universe's races to come together. But Gano didn't understand nest-building, and Xi Yujin didn't know whether a diamond could even do that. Thus, they only kissed most of the time, and every moment of it felt like a farewell kiss.

Forget about morality. Forget about species. They belonged to each other.

Many scenes in Third-Rate Lover had been inspired by moments Gano and Xi Yujin shared together.

Inside the Brood Hosts' living quarters.

Only one Brood Host, who had remained quiet the entire time, couldn't stop dwelling on the plot of Third-Rate Lover. After reading it many times, they spoke in a hazy voice.

"Reading it hurts... but I think I understand why the protagonist rejected the older butterfly's love. It's because of... freedom."

But that Brood Host rarely spoke, and their words were quickly swallowed by the sound of the wind.

They paused for a long time, as though their soul had left their body. They touched something hazy, but a layer of fog seemed to hang permanently before their eyes. However hard they strained, they couldn't see what lay ahead.

Only when they reached the final line of the new chapter did the clouds part and reveal the blue sky.

"Within this mansion of ice, I possess a love that burns with warmth and freedom."

After reading that line, the Brood Host who had remained quiet all this time suddenly understood. The reading ability they had lost so many years ago finally returned.

They remembered many great things they should never have forgotten.

Before becoming a Zerg Brood Host, they had been an unfettered traveler of the universe!

The Brood Host excitedly woke the others.

Bleary-eyed, the other Brood Hosts listened to their speech.

"So everything was intentional. Third-Rate Lover isn't really a novel about complicated relationships. It's a novel about resistance."

"The Butterfly Tribe's society is so suffocating that it values rank more than the butterflies themselves. The protagonist possesses no overwhelming strength, but they have a heart more passionate and genuine than anyone else's. That's why they dare to love and hate so thoroughly. Every extreme pursuit of love is itself an act of struggle.

If the protagonist possessed great power, readers might simply celebrate that fact. But they don't. They're fragile, vulnerable, and easily destroyed. Only through that vulnerability can readers truly understand their tragedy. They have nothing except love.

The protagonist isn't promiscuous. Rather, only the most natural union, the one closest to a living being's instincts, can express the feeling of freedom that comes from breaking one's chains. By embracing their own nature, they deliver the strongest possible condemnation to an unnatural world."

"A passionate and self-reliant love that burns with warmth and freedom is an undying flame within a frozen environment."

...

After reading those words, Haiying's expression darkened as he tore Third-Rate Lover off the mushroom bulletin board.

"We cannot preserve this article. It is poison to Mother. Mother's will is our will. Mother's love is our love. Mother's continued existence is our continued existence. This Shanhui is guilty of thought crime."

Baiying stared in shock. "Are you saying... one of the Brood Hosts has become a thought criminal?"

Haiying threw the manuscript of Third-Rate Lover into the jaws of a corrosive flower, which chewed it to pieces. Then he said coldly, "I'm going to arrest him right now."