Chapter 17: The Nursery
An aircraft from the empire docked at the interstellar free port. As the passengers gradually passed through the exit, the sharp-eyed man immediately found the person he was there to receive.
On the open-air passage of the port’s landing field, Jin Chi’an was dressed in a black trench coat. He stepped on fallen leaves dyed yellow by the autumn wind, feeling the late autumn of the Interstellar Free Zone brush past him.
Passing through the departure passage lined with apricot trees on both sides, he felt the Tyndall effect gradually weaken. Finally, he welcomed his first encounter with the sun of the Free Zone.
“Are you Jin Chi’an?” A man wearing a nursery uniform, looking rather out of place among the people around him, walked up to greet him.
“Free Zone Port C Nursery?” Jin Chi’an replied.
“Yes. I’m a staff member from the beastman division of the nursery, Xu Ruo.” Xu Ruo reached out his hand and said a little awkwardly, “I’m terribly sorry. There was an emergency at the nursery, and the director needed to handle it personally. Otherwise, he would have come to greet you himself.”
At this moment, Jin Chi’an’s face still carried the youthful greenness of a teenager. Smiling, he shook the hand offered to him.
“No need to be so polite. Just treat me as an ordinary intern.”
“How could we do that? You’re the big star of the empire’s Loivette Academy. Ever since the news came from the streets, the director has been looking forward to your arrival every day.”
Xu Ruo excitedly gestured with his hands and feet. In his carelessness, he knocked off the medical cap he was wearing.
Looking at the cap that had fallen into Jin Chi’an’s palm, Xu Ruo awkwardly scratched his head and embarrassedly took it back.
“Look at my memory. I got so busy I forgot. I heard your flight was arriving and rushed over before I even had time to change.”
Jin Chi’an smiled gently. “May I ask what special situation occurred at the nursery?”
“It’s nothing much. Just a little beastman ran out.”
Xu Ruo hurriedly explained, “But don’t worry. This kind of special situation doesn’t happen often. The beastmen in our nursery are all very obedient. The work won’t be too busy.”
“It’s fine. I came here for an internship anyway. It’s just that I don’t understand beastmen very well, so I hope I can be of help to the nursery.”
…
As the two spoke, the nursery’s clock tower gradually appeared. Along with the orange-yellow paint spilled across the sky, the bell rang for six o’clock.
A black-and-white ball of fur shot out from the intersection and knocked the luggage from Jin Chi’an’s hand.
“Liu Tiao!”
Xu Ruo shouted the furball’s name and turned to chase after it.
“Come back, Liu Tiao!”
Jin Chi’an looked in confusion at the man and ball chasing each other. Tentatively, he extended his mental tendrils to intercept it.
Just as his mental power was about to touch that ball of fur, a powerful defensive barrier blocked away all of his mental power.
“What is that?”
Jin Chi’an murmured in confusion. Unwilling to give up, he switched his tendrils into attack mode and tried to forcefully break into the furball’s consciousness cloud.
Sensing the threat, the furball immediately stopped and let out a dissatisfied “purr.”
“So it’s a little tiger.”
Only then did Jin Chi’an clearly see what the furball looked like. His palm felt as if it had been teased, and it uncontrollably reached toward the tiger’s head.
Clearly, this fierce little white tiger was not easy to deal with either. It raised its paw and left several red scratches on the back of Jin Chi’an’s hand.
Jin Chi’an drew his hand back in pain. In that moment of carelessness, Puff ran out from his mental sea and landed two solid punches on the tiger’s head.
Because the white tiger’s mental power was weak during childhood, it could not see his mental body. It only felt its head hurt, and it became even more wary of this weak-looking human before it, who seemed to have no offensive ability at all.
“All right, don’t bully him.”
Jin Chi’an crouched down and pushed away Puff’s paw, which was about to land on the little white tiger again.
“Are you the little beastman who ran out?”
“Awoo…”
A sweet, young feline voice came from the white tiger’s mouth. It was just as lovable as its deliberately fierce expression.
With just one sound, Jin Chi’an, who was a total fluff lover, completely fell. Ignoring the sharp claws that could scratch through his skin and flesh at any moment, he forcefully picked up the young white tiger and affectionately kissed the tiger cub’s nose.
The tiger that had been picked up instantly lost all its earlier majesty. Its helpless appearance was exactly like fish on a chopping board, making it look especially obedient.
Seeing how it wanted to resist but did not dare, only able to droop its head unhappily, Jin Chi’an grew especially excited. Completely ignoring Xu Ruo’s shocked expression beside him, he held the tiger against his cheek and rubbed it all over.
“Whose little tiger is this cute? From now on, you’re mine.”
“Awoo…”
Seeing that the white tiger looked as if it was about to flare up, Xu Ruo immediately stepped forward to persuade him.
“Um, Guide Jin, you should put him down. This little beastman is rather…”
Before the word “violent” could come out, the little white tiger being tightly held by Jin Chi’an turned its head and glared at him.
Xu Ruo wondered in confusion, What does that mean? Is he willing or unwilling? Is this what they call being tsundere? Was he tamed this quickly?
“Little white tiger, from now on, brother will take care of you.”
Under the white tiger’s paw, which seemed to resist yet welcome him at the same time, Jin Chi’an buried his face into the tiger’s ruffled head several more times.
“Looks like you two are getting along well.”
At the intersection, the director of the Free Zone Nursery finally arrived late. He saw Jin Chi’an unable to let go of the little white tiger, then said excitedly, “I’ve never seen him so docile with any caretaker before.”
Jin Chi’an nodded proudly, rubbed the young white tiger’s soft belly, and said in a slightly cutesy voice, “There’s a skill to rubbing little cats too. Does it feel good, little baby?”
“Awoo~”
The little white tiger’s expression carried a trace of dissatisfaction, as if it disliked being called a little cat. Yet it honestly retracted its sharp claws and pressed one fluffy tiger paw against Jin Chi’an’s mouth.
The feline paw pad touched his lips. Excitement flashed through Jin Chi’an’s eyes, but he was afraid of scaring away the furball in his arms. He could only suppress the excitement in his heart and gently raise his hand, grabbing the tiger paw as if pressing a switch.
But the little white tiger before him seemed not very willing. Awkwardly, it jumped down from him. Its swaying tail lightly brushed across the tip of Jin Chi’an’s nose.
Jin Chi’an’s nose stung, and the scene before him immediately became blurry.
After letting out a yawn, Jin Chi’an slowly opened his eyes.
In his blurred vision, a black-and-white tail flashed past. Immediately afterward came the sound of the room door being slammed shut.
Outside the room, Iskan’s emperor, Aphrodite, looked in surprise at the adult white tiger fleeing the room in panic.
“Felix?”
Seeing the uncomfortable expression on the white tiger’s face, the emperor could not resist teasing him.
“What’s wrong? Did he wake up? Who was it a few days ago who triggered a frenzy because he couldn’t control his emotions? Didn’t someone say he’d kill anyone who came near him? What’s this now? If you don’t go near him yourself, are you afraid you’ll hurt yourself?”
“All right, Father, say a little less.”
Charles pulled back Aphrodite, who was taking advantage of the situation, while comforting the dejected Felix.
“Father didn’t mean it that way. He’s just worried your mood is bad because your relationship hasn’t made much progress.”
“There won’t be any progress. He doesn’t need me. I’ll just stay outside and guard him.”
The big white tiger drooped his head and lay down at the door of the hospital room.
“Oh my, how pitiful, little baby. Since you want to guard outside, then Daddy will go in first.”
Aphrodite stepped over the white tiger and pushed the door open into the hospital room.
“All right, don’t be angry. He didn’t mean to mock you.”
Charles, who had been left outside the door, tried to smooth things over. He took a tattered yarn ball from his pocket and held it before the white tiger.
“Look, isn’t he worried about you? He even brought your yarn ball from home.”
“I don’t need such cub things.”
“Oh~”
Charles’s narrowed eyes carried a smile, and he raised his voice slightly.
“Since you don’t need it, then I’ll throw it away. It’s already this torn. People who don’t know better might think our family sells trash.”
Before he could finish speaking, the yarn ball in his hand disappeared in an instant. He only saw Felix awkwardly hide that ball of yarn beneath the fur of his body.
That face full of tsundere pride was still exactly the same as when he was little…
“Long time no see, Chi’an.”
Inside the hospital room, the emperor sat on the sofa in front of the hospital bed, supporting his cheek with one hand as he looked over Jin Chi’an, who looked weak after undergoing surgery.
“Long time no see, Father.”
“When you joined the Allied Forces, Felix had a huge fight with me.”
Aphrodite turned the ring on his left ring finger with a hint of disappointment.
“Logically speaking, since the empire sent you to Iskan for a marriage alliance, they shouldn’t have interfered with you anymore.”
Aphrodite’s eyes changed into snake-like vertical pupils.
“However, those ministers of your imperial royal family are truly arrogant. They actually used that old matter from hundreds of years ago to warn me not to interfere in your affairs.”
Jin Chi’an looked puzzled as he observed the Iskan emperor before him, who was already two hundred years old yet still so young.
“Are you referring to the matter of beastman blood being mixed into the imperial bloodline?”
“Heh.”
Aphrodite stood and slowly approached him.
“The imperial royal family declared that their bloodline had been polluted by beastmen and forced Iskan to sign agreements three times.”
“The third time was your marriage to Felix.”
Aphrodite’s expression turned dark and cold.
“Heh. Dragging children into this really is the empire’s usual shameless style.”
“Human guide, you must be curious why I didn’t directly break ties with the empire and instead agreed to your marriage.”
Aphrodite suddenly leaned close to Jin Chi’an and met his eyes.
“Because the beastman bloodline compatibility system showed that your compatibility with Felix is one hundred percent.”
Under his snake-like gaze, cold sweat broke out on Jin Chi’an.
For a moment, the air pressure in the room seemed to drop by several degrees.
A moment later, Aphrodite turned and revealed his usual kind smile.
“Felix likes you very much.”
“This son of mine has a bad temper and is terribly stubborn. When the accident first happened decades ago, he thought about running away from home every day. Every time, he came back covered in injuries, all just to find the way back to the Free Zone.”
Aphrodite sighed, then turned as if to leave the hospital room.
At the moment before pushing the door open, Aphrodite looked back at Jin Chi’an, who sat stunned on the hospital bed.
“The world of beastmen is very simple, and Felix is the same. If he cannot find you, then he will keep waiting.”
