Chapter 2: Political Marriage (Part 2)
Three months later, Felix’s Estate.
“So even during the manic period, beastmen can still maintain mental barriers. Their spiritual power truly is impressive.”
Inside the holographic projection, Talier browsed through the footage Jin Chi’an had sent over while speaking disdainfully.
“But are these files you sent me basically garbage?”
“If that’s what you think, then you can rely on your own abilities to solve the Emperor’s problems. There’s no need to coordinate work with me.”
Jin Chi’an wore a helpless expression while gently stirring his tea with a silver spoon.
“For three whole months, your investigation progress has remained stuck on the wedding banquet day. Seems the so-called chief guide of Loivette Academy is nothing special after all.”
Talier casually deleted the lengthy summary report.
“Sending you off for political marriage was probably the smartest decision those ministers ever made,” Talier mocked. “At least it stabilizes relations between the two races without consuming royal resources. Though if you could actually bond with the Marshal, maybe you’d finally provide some usefulness to the royal family.”
Before Jin Chi’an could respond, a maid’s voice sounded from behind Talier.
“Lord Talier, His Majesty requests your presence.”
The screen immediately went black as the call disconnected.
Irritated, Jin Chi’an reopened the files sent by the Empire.
One experiment report clearly stated: beastmen naturally rejected external spiritual power, and only during intimate bonding with a partner would spiritual resonance occur.
Supporting his forehead with one hand, Jin Chi’an instantly understood the Empire’s true intentions.
Unconsciously, scenes from the previous two monthly holidays surfaced in his mind.
Felix returned to the estate during every monthly leave. Every single time Jin Chi’an went to greet him, he would only receive an icy expression in return. He genuinely had no idea how he had offended the man.
Thinking this, Jin Chi’an glanced at the time. Just as he was hesitating over whether he should continue throwing warmth against a cold face, he saw a private aircraft land before the villa through the window.
Dressed in military uniform, Felix stepped down from the aircraft stairs. After surveying the surroundings once, he turned toward the butler waiting nearby.
“Where is he?”
“I already informed Sir earlier.”
Dissatisfaction immediately appeared on Felix’s face as he entered the villa with a dark expression.
Standing by the window, Jin Chi’an witnessed the entire scene. He originally intended to go explain himself, but the moment he stepped out the door, he ran directly into Felix face-to-face.
Felix glanced once at the uneasy Jin Chi’an standing outside the room. Without waiting for any explanation, he walked straight toward another room down the hallway.
Bang.
The sound of the closing door shut Jin Chi’an outside completely.
Inside Jin Chi’an’s spiritual sea, Puff sensed Felix’s presence and curled itself tightly into the deepest corner in fear.
Noticing Puff’s abnormal behavior, Jin Chi’an hurried back into his room and attempted to summon it out from the spiritual sea, only to encounter intense resistance that temporarily severed their spiritual connection.
Nighttime, midway up the mountain at Felix Estate.
Warm spring water continuously flowed from cracks between the mountain rocks, splashing tiny droplets against the shore stones.
The bright moonlight tore open a slit in the darkness, softly outlining Jin Chi’an’s pale back.
Half his body soaked within the spring, Jin Chi’an leaned comfortably against the edge, allowing all exhaustion to fade away as he closed his eyes and entered his spiritual sea.
Deep within the spiritual sea, Jin Chi’an searched for Puff, who had been acting unusually earlier.
Ever since entering beastman territory, Puff had been hiding inside the spiritual sea far more frequently than before.
Jin Chi’an was currently considering ways to trick it into coming out when a sudden splash dragged him back to reality.
Before him floated a soaking wet fluffball paddling awkwardly with its hind legs, its two front paws nervously pressing against his chest.
Jin Chi’an chuckled softly and lifted it into his arms. Scooping up spring water with one hand, he poured it over Puff’s back. And of course, he did not forget to tease it a little, planting a hard kiss directly onto that irresistibly fluffy head.
Only after both man and cat had washed clean did Jin Chi’an finally notice the ignored notifications on his optical brain device.
More than ten missed calls from the butler instantly made him frown in confusion as he opened the message interface.
The words “The mountains are dangerous at night” left Jin Chi’an completely confused.
With the current defense system in place, Marshal Felix’s estate should have been the safest private residence in existence aside from the royal palace itself.
Puzzled, Jin Chi’an extended his mental tendrils outward to investigate. Sure enough, there was not even a single aggressive small animal nearby, much less any real danger.
Yet the moment that conclusion formed in his mind, a gigantic dark shadow suddenly rushed past him.
The massive figure slammed Puff—who had been happily shaking water from its fur on the riverbank—straight back into the spring.
“Puff!”
Jin Chi’an’s eyes widened instantly. Before his brain could even react, the synchronized senses linked to his spiritual form transmitted the pain first.
Intense agony spread throughout his body, causing him to collapse to his knees on the spot. The sharp waves of pain nearly made him black out.
Grinding his teeth, Jin Chi’an forced himself upright and finally saw the enormous beast before him clearly.
A black-and-white white tiger beastman was pressing its fangs against Puff’s throat.
The moment those fangs were about to pierce through, Jin Chi’an gathered all his strength and launched his mental tendrils at the opponent.
Contrary to expectations, this mental attack was not blocked by the beastmen race’s natural spiritual barrier.
Without any effort at all, Jin Chi’an directly invaded the other party’s consciousness.
Unlike the long-tailed leaf monkey from before, this white tiger possessed a complete mental barrier. There were no signs of fragmentation inside its consciousness cloud. The intertwined pathways alone were enough to give anyone a headache.
But the consciousness cloud of this white tiger clearly carried traces of artificial construction by a guide.
Jin Chi’an skillfully entered the deeper layers of the consciousness cloud and cautiously began massaging an abnormal region of consciousness.
Immediately, the white tiger’s movements became sluggish and slow, exactly like a cat being grabbed by the scruff of the neck.
Sensing that the beast’s mania had been partially suppressed, the overwhelming spiritual pressure surrounding the area gradually dissipated.
Puff seized the chance to escape from the tiger’s jaws and immediately hid itself back inside the spiritual sea.
Enduring the lingering pain from the earlier impact, Jin Chi’an focused completely and carefully manipulated his tendrils to soothe the turbulent consciousness cloud responsible for the manic episode.
“Hah…”
Jin Chi’an panted heavily while painstakingly calming that endless sea of consciousness.
During his years studying at Loivette Academy, he had interacted with countless S-rank sentinels. The stronger the sentinel, the larger their consciousness cloud would be.
But something this vast and boundless…
This was his first time seeing such a thing.
The prolonged spiritual guidance gradually stained the whites of Jin Chi’an’s eyes red, while his spiritual power rapidly approached complete exhaustion.
If this continued any longer, he would faint from severe mental depletion.
His brain nearly shut down completely. Just as his spiritual power was about to bottom out, the tendrils were suddenly forced out by an abrupt rejection reaction.
Before he could react, a tiger paw slammed him directly onto the ground.
The white tiger’s round pupils slowly expanded outward. Its clawless paw pressed against Jin Chi’an’s exposed chest and abdomen as it silently examined him up and down.
Seeing that the tiger no longer intended to attack, Jin Chi’an gradually relaxed his guard. His blurry consciousness slowly regained clarity during the brief calm.
The white tiger merely stared at him without speaking.
The two maintained this bizarre position for an entire minute.
Then suddenly, the familiar cold face of Felix overlapped with the fluffy tiger head before him.
Carefully, Jin Chi’an placed a hand on the tiger paw pressing against his chest and tentatively called out:
“Felix?”
The only response was a tiger roar that echoed through the mountains.
The white tiger lowered its head, retracting the barbs on its tongue before beginning to leave scent marks across every inch of Jin Chi’an’s body.
The tingling sensation brushed against his skin, making Jin Chi’an struggle uncomfortably. Yet under the tiger paw’s suppression, he could not move at all.
The white tiger paid no attention whatsoever to his ineffective resistance.
It resembled a beast that had successfully caught its prey, fully immersed in savoring the delicacy already in its mouth.
As the tongue moved lower, Jin Chi’an’s eyes instantly widened. His hand subconsciously swung toward the fluffy head in front of him.
Smack!
A loud slap landed squarely on the tiger’s head.
“Felix!”
At the startled shout, the white tiger raised its head, smacked its lips once, then tilted its head slightly to the side, innocently looking at the furious and embarrassed Jin Chi’an.
“Take your paw off me.”
Jin Chi’an had never expected a beastman in manic period to understand human language anyway. Just as he was about to forcefully push the tiger paw away himself, the white tiger suddenly lifted its paw and began licking it.
Caught off guard by his unexpected freedom, Jin Chi’an hurriedly escaped from beneath the tiger, grabbing his clothes from the side and putting them on as quickly as possible, afraid the beast might suddenly change its mind again.
After dressing himself, Jin Chi’an glared at the white tiger not far away, whose gaze openly remained fixed on him.
Faced with such a shameless giant cat, Jin Chi’an helplessly withdrew his gaze and walked toward the villa on his own.
“Roar!”
The tiger’s dissatisfied roar echoed behind him.
Even so, Jin Chi’an did not turn back.
Clearly growing anxious from being ignored, the white tiger hurried after him and rubbed its tilted head directly against him.
Jin Chi’an’s path was suddenly blocked by a giant tiger head.
Looking at the beautiful oversized cat before him, Jin Chi’an firmly adhered to the principle that voluntarily delivered fluff should never go unpetted. Naturally, he reached out toward the fluffy creature.
Under Jin Chi’an’s highly skilled scratching attack, the white tiger let out comfortable rumbling purrs and even lifted its hind legs as if preparing to pounce onto him.
Jin Chi’an steadied himself, clearly enjoying the tiger’s reaction. Raising his hand, he scratched beneath the tiger’s fluffy chin and sighed emotionally:
“As expected, all feline animals are the same. When they act spoiled, they’re no different from little kittens.”
The moment those words came out, the white tiger unwillingly lowered the paws resting against Jin Chi’an, while its previously swaying tail drooped downward as well.
“Felix? Are you sulking right now?”
Jin Chi’an looked suspiciously at the fierce tiger before him, fully catching every trace of its tiny emotional changes.
No matter how he looked at it, he simply could not connect this giant spoiled cat with the cold and stern Marshal from everyday life.
When the white tiger continued ignoring him, Jin Chi’an resorted to the same methods he used during his internship at the Interstellar Joint Nursery.
While speaking casually to himself, he said:
“Although kittens are adorable, I still prefer larger feline animals.”
Seeing the tiger ears before him twitch slightly, Jin Chi’an curved his lips into a smile.
“Felix, your fur is really beautiful. Can I touch it?”
Before he even finished speaking, a fluffy sensation already brushed against his naturally lowered hand.
Looking down at the clingy white tiger, Jin Chi’an gradually recalled the adorable little furballs from his days at the Interstellar Joint Nursery.
Back then, Jin Chi’an had only recently entered Loivette Academy. By chance, he was given the opportunity to intern at the Interstellar Joint Nursery.
Most of the children there were war orphans who had survived interstellar conflicts, the majority being humans and beastmen.
Still carrying a trace of youthful immaturity in his work uniform, the moment Jin Chi’an stepped into the beastman toddler class, a crowd of fluffy little creatures immediately surrounded his feet so tightly there was barely room to move. One tiny sparrow even chirped noisily as it perched on his left shoulder.
Seeing him arrive, the staff member finishing the shift looked at him helplessly.
“Same as always. If you’re not here, he refuses to eat.”
“Got it, I’ll go check on him now.”
Jin Chi’an nodded politely and headed straight toward the corner of the room. The little followers surrounding him seemed to understand his destination and sensibly stopped at a distance, not daring to approach further.
After moving aside several oversized yarn toys, a small white tiger sat quietly in the corner facing the wall.
Smiling, Jin Chi’an crouched behind it and reached out to pet it, only for the little tiger to twist its body away mercilessly.
Seeing the other party refuse to cooperate, Jin Chi’an deliberately sighed:
“If you keep ignoring me, then I’ll have to go play with other kittens instead. After all, other kittens are obedient and adorable.”
Jin Chi’an stood up and pretended he was about to leave.
Before he could even lift his foot, a tiny tiger bit onto his pant leg.
Looking at the stubborn expression on the little white tiger’s face, Jin Chi’an found it both amusing and exasperating.
He crouched down, lifted it into his arms, and planted several kisses on its damp nose.
“I was lying. In my eyes, there’s no kitten cuter than you, prettier than you, or more lovable than you.”
His thoughts slowly returned to the present.
Suppressing the faint sorrow lingering in his eyes, Jin Chi’an looked toward the white tiger licking his arm nearby.
“Felix, we should head back.”
After patting the tiger’s fur, Jin Chi’an prepared to leave, only for the tiger to bite onto his pant leg again.
The white tiger tugged gently before walking to his side and lying down.
Jin Chi’an blanked out for a moment before finally realizing.
“You want to carry me back?”
“Roar.”
Receiving the response, Jin Chi’an carefully climbed onto the white tiger’s back.
The moment he settled himself, the tiger suddenly accelerated and sprinted through the forest at terrifying speed.
Frightened by the abrupt burst of motion, Jin Chi’an instinctively lowered himself and grabbed a handful of tiger fur in front of him with both helpless hands.
Soon, one man and one tiger arrived near the villa.
The white tiger lowered itself again, allowing the person on its back to step down.
Before Jin Chi’an could even speak, it darted back into the forest.
