Chapter 38
Being able to speak made Yomi incredibly happy, because it not only meant his skills were improving, but also proved that his awakened ability was real. Sooner or later, he would definitely turn back into a human.
Before Karl came to pick him up, Bruel tidied his backpack and even stuffed several pet outfits inside—clothes he had specially bought from Vera’s shop for bionic dolls’ pets. As he packed, he kept reminding him, “If you want to wear clothes, wear these. These outfits were originally made for the little dogs that belong to dolls, but they suit your little sheep body very well… Oh, and even if you’ve turned into a sheep, you can’t just stay cooped up at home all the time. If you get the chance to practice outdoors and connect with nature, the results will be even better.”
“Thank you, I know,” Yomi said.
After Bruel sent him onto the starship, Yomi could not help turning back to look several times. In Bruel’s gaze, he was reminded of his late grandmother.
That night, Anxius came back. He looked dusty from travel, even somewhat disheveled.
After hearing from Bruel that Yomi could speak in his false form, Anxius—who was still investigating all sorts of uncertain methods for restoring a human body—hurried back across two planets, just so he could personally deliver a gift before the little sheep went to sleep.
Yomi had already washed up and climbed onto the bed. Hearing hurried footsteps, he looked up and saw Anxius, breathing a little hard.
Anxius was still wearing his human skin suit. He carried a small box in his hand. When he saw the little sheep coming out from the villa, his thin lips, pressed tight into a line, moved slightly and curved into a smile.
The little sheep walked up to him, ready to give him a surprise. “Your Highness Anxius, I can talk now!”
Anxius had always kept his emotions restrained. He stared at the little sheep for a long time, then bent down and placed the gift in front of him. “Congratulations, Mimi.”
“A gift?” The little sheep felt a little embarrassed.
Anxius gave a quiet hum. Since it was inconvenient for the little sheep to open it himself, Anxius untied the wrapping and opened the box…
Inside was a small strawberry cake.
Yomi’s eyes widened. It was the kind of little cake he had eaten at Galo Restaurant… no, something was a little different.
“It’s a vanilla cake that animals can eat,” Anxius said.
Though it had indeed been modeled after the strawberry cake Yomi liked.
The little sheep lowered his head and stared at the cake for quite a while. Then he looked up again and tapped the floor with his hoof. “Thank you, Anxius.”
…He was happy. It almost felt like being home.
Anxius pressed his thin lips together and quickly cut up the cake, placing it in front of the little sheep.
Yomi lowered his head and took a bite. The texture was soft and fluffy, with the fragrance of fresh grass. It was delicious.
Since turning into a sheep, he had not eaten anything this tasty.
While the little sheep buried his head in the cake, Anxius watched for a while, then went to the bathroom to wash up simply. When he came out again, he saw the little sheep on the floor looking up at him with a mouth covered in cream.
Anxius: “…”
The little sheep had even saved one piece for him, pointing at the cake with his hoof. “Do you want to try it?”
The room was brightly lit, and Yomi could see Anxius’s features very clearly. The man’s upright figure paused for two seconds, as if he had smiled. Before Yomi could react, Anxius had already walked over, picked up that piece of cake, and put it into his mouth.
He said, “Thank you, Mimi.”
The little sheep shook his head, chewing the last bit of cake still in his mouth. No need to be polite.
But when Yomi picked up a towel to wipe his mouth, something suddenly occurred to him—
Can people even eat pet cake?!
…Sure enough, after turning into a sheep, even his brain had gotten smaller!
His pupils shrank as he looked at Anxius.
Fortunately, nothing seemed wrong with Anxius at all. After finishing the cake, he even came over and carefully wiped Yomi’s mouth and hooves clean, then quietly watched the little sheep return to the little castle.
*
The next day, Anxius left the estate early again, while Karl took Yomi to Bruel’s place for lessons.
Unlike yesterday, after finishing the lesson today, Bruel did not go out to buy food. Instead, he made lunch himself in the shop.
He cooked a bowl of beef noodles, and casually made a large bowl of vegetable salad for the little sheep too. One man and one sheep sat in the shop slurping down their meal.
After lunch, the little sheep lay in his nest for an afternoon nap.
Bruel, bored out of his mind, scrolled through his optical brain, searching up all kinds of proper child-rearing methods. As he scrolled, he ended up seeing lots of short videos of people showing off their kids… Bruel looked at them with disdain. If he were allowed to show off, his little sheep would have long since been the number one treasure in the entire interstellar world. He was simply low-key.
But soon enough, his parental urge acted up again. And once it hit, it could not be stopped. He absolutely had to show the little sheep off to someone… Just so happened an old friend had said he was hosting a ball that day, so Bruel immediately sent him a private message asking whether he could bring his grandson along.
Since the other party knew Bruel’s true identity, he stared at that message in shock for quite a while, thinking it was the Crown Prince or one of the princes who was coming. Excited, he quickly replied: Of course, no problem! We will be honored to receive him!
Half an hour later, the little sheep sleepily opened his eyes. Just as he was about to ask Bruel what they would be studying in the afternoon, he looked up and saw the old man walking toward him carrying a strange little tailcoat. “Little sheep, later you’re coming out with grandpa to meet some old friends. Ahem… you can’t stay shut up at home forever, working behind closed doors!”
Bruel was already old, so there was nothing wrong with calling himself grandpa. Yomi did not think too much about it. He assumed Bruel was taking him to meet some friends who also had skills, so naturally he had no objections. Back when he was studying too, there had often been group exchanges.
But what was with that outfit?
“This is the newest pet outfit for little dolls, bought from Vera’s shop. Handsome, right?”
Yomi: “…”
Vera probably would never have imagined that every outfit she designed for dolls and doll-pet toys would end up being worn once by her former model.
Bruel dressed the obediently cooperative little sheep in the tailcoat, then clipped a tiny bow tie around his neck. The sheep body was far too small by Snar standards, so just in case, Bruel also put on a leash. After adjusting it and asking several times to make sure it was not uncomfortable, he finally led the little gentleman sheep dressed for the evening out the door.
The moment they stepped outside, Yomi saw Vera, his former boss, by the roadside. Vera was sitting at the entrance watching a rerun of Different Is Fine Too. When she looked up and saw Bruel walking out with the beautifully dressed-up little sheep on a leash, she smiled. “Oh my, how adorable. That little suit looks so cute on him. Honestly, some ranches these days are really too much—why raise food to be this cute?”
Bruel choked. “…Cough!”
“Not food!” Yomi protested.
Vera froze. It could talk. So it was a Snar native’s original form? Come to think of it, she had not seen such a tiny Snar in a long time. Immediately, an adorable little figure flashed through her mind. Then she looked at Yomi on the screen surviving in the show and felt it could not possibly be such a coincidence.
While Vera was still dazed, Bruel had already taken the little sheep away.
Bruel drove there himself. They were not far from the ball venue, so they arrived very quickly. After getting out of the car, he carried the little sheep toward the villa where the ball was being held.
The host had already been waiting for a long time and hurried forward to greet them, though his eyes were still darting around everywhere. “At last, I’ve been waiting for you forever… When is His Highness coming? You can just hand this pet to a servant—come inside quickly!”
The little sheep: “…”
Bruel smiled. “This is my grandson. What pet? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“?”
The host looked at the little sheep in his arms, momentarily confused.
“Hello,” Yomi said.
“…So it really is a person!”
Bruel explained, “My adopted grandson. I brought him here to meet some old friends.”
…So it had all been a misunderstanding. The host did not know whether to laugh or cry, but after taking a few more looks at the little sheep, he also found him especially cute. Especially those bright, rolling eyes—one blink and they sparkled. To have such an original form, his human form must surely be very beautiful as well. Smiling, he said, “Hello. Why aren’t you using your human form? These days, very few people still socialize in their original form.”
Bruel answered for him. “His human form was injured recently. The original form is better for recovery.”
“So that’s how it is…” The host led Bruel and the little sheep into the main hall. “How old is this child?”
“Eighteen.”
“Wonderful, the very flower of youth. Over there are all the girls—let your child go make some friends.”
Yomi: “…”
Bruel said, “This child gets shy easily. Let’s wait until he gets familiar with people.”
After chatting briefly with the host, Bruel took the little sheep around to greet several other old friends. Every time one of them praised the little sheep for being cute, Bruel would become smug beyond reason. “Really? Is he truly that cute?”
His old friends: “…”
What an infuriating old show-off.
Bruel also hoped Yomi could enjoy himself properly here. Making a few friends would not be bad either. After all, he was not a child who would not know the way. There were waiters here, and cameras as well. So Bruel set Yomi down and told him to wander around and have fun at the ball as he pleased, as long as he did not go outside. Even if someone tried to abduct the little sheep, they would never escape his notice—he was staying in the main hall the whole time, where he could clearly see the front entrance.
There were many people at the ball, and at first Yomi was a little timid. But the waiters here treated him very kindly. They had probably heard Bruel’s instructions and were taking especially good care of him. From time to time, they even used goblets to offer him pure water.
Not far away, several tall young ladies in beautiful dresses had already noticed this unusual little sheep, and a few of them were peeking at him curiously.
Yomi had no idea that countless beautiful eyes were fixed on him. He only thought this place was very luxurious, with so much food, so he simply followed the waiters around eating and drinking. Naturally, the only things he ate were those garnish vegetables used to decorate the expensive desserts on the trays, and the only thing he drank was plain water.
The two waiters focused completely on helping the little sheep. Watching him lap up water, chew tiny green leaves, and bounce around so nimbly on his hooves, they found him so adorable they could not bear to leave his side.
Several of the girls covered their mouths and giggled. One of them was the host’s daughter. She knew the little sheep’s age. She smoothed her hair, adjusted her dress, and walked gracefully over to him. Then she bent down and struck up a conversation with the little sheep. “Hello, my name is Annie. What’s your name? Can I add your contact information?”
The little sheep froze in the middle of chewing grass. Slowly, he raised his head and looked at the beautiful and elegant girl. His face instantly turned so red he looked ready to become roast whole lamb.
A girl was asking him for his contact information… He was so nervous.
But if he answered, he would expose his identity as Yomi… She was being so sincere, and lying would not be right. Yomi quickly lowered his head, said thank you, then turned around in a panic and hurried away on his little hooves.
The girl did not react in time. It was the first time she had ever asked someone for their contact information, only for the other person to say thank you and run off. But she did not feel embarrassed at all, because the little sheep had been very polite, and the way he ran away seemed more like shyness. Ah, he was far too innocent!
Another girl came over and asked, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you spacing out?”
“He…” Annie took a deep breath. “He is really so cute!”
Yomi slipped around the crowd at the ball and headed outward. He had eaten enough and drunk enough. Now he wanted to find Bruel.
There were many people in the main hall, and Yomi’s current field of vision was low to the ground. As he was looking up for Bruel, he saw a man hurrying past in front of him. Immediately, a box slipped from the man’s tilted pocket and fell. The box sprang open, and the cigars inside rolled out.
The ball was lively and noisy, so naturally the man did not hear the sound of the cigars hitting the floor.
At that very moment, a waiter nearby lost his balance slightly, and the wineglass at the very top of the tray started to wobble…
If the glass fell, the cigars would get soaked.
Without even thinking, Yomi leaped over on one hoof, lowered his head, and picked up a cigar in his mouth—he bit the end that would not touch a person’s lips—then chased after the man.
Friend, your cigar fell! Here!
Just then, Bruel was preparing to leave too. He had just stood up and was about to go look for the little sheep in the dance floor area when suddenly he heard a burst of shocked cries from the ball. At the same time, an old friend beside him quickly smacked him on the shoulder, pointed toward the little sheep in the distance—now being surrounded by a crowd of people with sparkling eyes—and said while holding back laughter, “Your little sheep… he even knows how to smoke?”
“…”
Over there, the little sheep had a cigar in his mouth. Because people had suddenly crowded around and blocked his view, he could no longer find the man he had been trying to catch. He looked around in confusion to the left and right, and in the next second was scooped up into someone’s arms.
It was Bruel.
Bruel looked at the cigar in his mouth in puzzlement and asked, “Picked it up?”
Yomi nodded. “Mm… a man dropped it just now. I was afraid it would get splashed by the wine, so I wanted to return it to him, but now I can’t find him anymore.”
The onlookers, who had quieted down because Bruel appeared, immediately covered their mouths and screamed again.
“Oh my god, that’s my cigar!”
“No, it’s mine, mine!”
“Stop fighting, it’s obviously mine…”
“…”
