Chapter 29: Little Kitten

Page (1/3)

Nian Tu had no idea that she had caught the eye of a ferocious tiger.

After seeing Xion off, she officially added ballroom dancing lessons to her schedule.

In Lu Zhan’s opinion, Nian Tu had no need to trouble herself over the matter. If a noble female wished to learn something, it should be because she herself enjoyed it, not because she wanted to cater to other people’s opinions.

Nian Tu could be utterly ignorant of dancing, and no one would dare criticize her for it.

But she simply could not imagine the humiliation of making a fool of herself in public.

Not wanting to commit some breach of etiquette at such a formal occasion, she searched the Star Network for numerous dance schools, yet after looking for a long while, she failed to find a single one that accepted females.

There were very few schools in the Empire qualified to enroll females: only specialized comprehensive schools for females and a handful of officially established universities.

This was not discrimination against females, but protection for them.

The comprehensive schools for females were reputed to be the safest places in the entire Empire—even the Imperial Palace could not compare. From the time they began their early education, females studied at female schools until they reached adulthood at eighteen, completing all their basic education and cultivating a few personal interests along the way.

After searching the Star Network, Nian Tu was astonished to discover that the overwhelming majority of females in the Empire left school once they came of age and almost never continued their studies.

Institutions of higher learning such as the Imperial Military Academy clearly possessed special authorization to admit female students, yet in practice, centuries or even millennia might pass without a single female enrolling.

Nian Tu felt a little bitter.

In the past, she had wanted to attend university but had been forbidden by her family. And here, the females were voluntarily giving up their chance to go to college...

They truly did not know how fortunate they were.

Standing dazed in the room, she began to wonder whether attending university in the interstellar age might be a worthwhile idea after all.

Then came a knock at the door behind her.

Her train of thought interrupted, she turned around and saw Lu Zhan.

He handed Nian Tu a prepared nutritional drink with one hand while bringing up a few résumés on his light brain with the other. “I’ve selected several suitable ballroom-dancing tutors. Which one do you prefer?”

Every résumé belonged to a male. Nian Tu went through them from beginning to end without finding a single female tutor, so she chose the male who looked most agreeable to her.

Coleman Sharian came from an old aristocratic family that had since fallen into decline. In his youth, Coleman had been a notorious playboy in the Empire. With his handsome face and elegant bearing, he had captured the hearts of more than one female. He was well versed in every form of aristocratic etiquette and especially skilled at ballroom dancing, with extensive experience teaching females.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Lu Zhan had no objections to Nian Tu’s choice.

Though Coleman had been somewhat frivolous in his youth, he was now over three hundred years old and a tutor with an excellent sense of propriety. He would never develop any inappropriate relationship with a student.

Once they had settled on a tutor, Lu Zhan contacted Coleman, who said he would arrive promptly at three that afternoon.

Nian Tu tipped back her head and drained the nutritional drink in one go, then smacked her lips with a bitter expression.

When she had first crossed over to this world, she had thought the nutritional drinks were not so bad. But after drinking them every day for half a month, she could no longer stand them. She now deeply admired the beastmen who could consume nutritional drinks as their regular meals, day in and day out, for decades without fail.

Thoughtfully, Lu Zhan immediately brought her a plate of sweet pastries: raisin milk biscuits he had just baked under Nian Tu’s guidance. Their rich milky fragrance filled the air.

Nian Tu had always been interested in baking, but she had never had enough time or money to support the hobby. She had stored quite a few recipes in her mind, and this was her first attempt at putting one into practice. She had not expected the result to be so successful.

She picked up a piece and held it out to Lu Zhan, indicating that he should taste it too.

Lu Zhan smiled faintly. “I’ve already had some.”

Although the freshly baked pastries smelled delicious, he had not been willing to hand them to Nian Tu without testing them first. He had to taste them himself and make sure they were safe before serving them to her.

Nian Tu stubbornly kept the pastry raised, insisting that he eat another piece.

Lu Zhan’s gray-blue eyes filled with tender warmth. His gaze shifted ever so slightly as he lowered his head and took the pastry from her fingers, his thin lips brushing softly against her delicate fingertips and sending a tingling current through her.

Nian Tu quickly withdrew her hand.

Only after seeing that Lu Zhan’s expression remained perfectly natural did she gradually steady her breathing. She told herself that it had probably been an accident and that Lu Zhan surely had not done it deliberately. She had completely forgotten that she had originally meant for him to take the pastry from her hand—he had simply chosen to bite it away instead.

After being led by the nose so many times, she still had not learned her lesson. She always forgot that the creature before her was a cunning, big-tailed wolf.

The big-tailed wolf knew exactly when to stop after gaining an advantage. Once he had served Nian Tu the small plate of milk biscuits, he tactfully left to tidy the kitchen.

Nian Tu glanced at the time. It was just past one, and the tutor would not arrive for nearly two hours. She changed into something comfortable and went out into the garden beside the small villa to get some fresh air.

The small villa belonged to Xion. During the years he had been away from Central Star, it had not been completely neglected. People had been sent to maintain it from time to time, and several vigorous young fruit trees had recently been added to the garden. The lawn was lush and green, dotted here and there with a few tiny yellow flowers of unknown variety. It was not as brilliantly colorful or richly diverse as the Imperial Gardens, but it was orderly, vibrant, and full of life.

There was a swing in one corner of the garden. Nian Tu had drawn the design herself, and Xion had built it according to her plans.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Whenever she had nothing else to do, Nian Tu liked to sit swaying gently on the swing and bask in the sunlight, enjoying the peaceful contentment of a retiree’s life.

But the swing that had always belonged exclusively to her had been occupied by an unexpected visitor today—

Nian Tu spotted a white bundle curled up on it from a distance. She hurried closer and found herself looking at a wonderfully fluffy and adorable back. Its pure white fur was entirely without blemish, almost enough to rival Lu Zhan’s snow-wolf form.

Unlike a snow wolf, however, the creature curled up on the swing was small. Its long white fur looked soft and downy, like a little puff of cotton candy.

Apparently hearing Nian Tu’s footsteps, the white-furred animal cautiously raised itself, revealing a tiny face that was indeed as sweet as cotton candy.

Nian Tu instantly clutched her chest, utterly overwhelmed by its cuteness.

What an adorable little kitten!

She swore it was the most perfectly formed and dignified cat she had ever seen.

The kitten had a round face and deep, crystalline blue eyes as pure as the ocean. Its entire body was snowy white, except for a patch of dark fur on its forehead that had formed, remarkably, into the character-like shape of a crown. It lent a touch of majesty to the adorable little face. With its solemn expression, it looked exactly like a tiger cub that had never grown up.

Suppressing her overwhelming urge to pet it, Nian Tu first examined it carefully from head to tail.

She reached her conclusion: this was an ordinary kitten, not a beastman.

The beast forms of male beastmen all carried more or less a haze of black mist in her eyes. Take Lu Zhan, for example. Though he had not lost control and his instability level was not particularly high, she could still see a faint trace of black mist around his snow-wolf form.

But there was not the slightest trace of black mist on this kitten. It was completely clean.

Since it was not a beastman, he could hardly blame her for helping herself.

Nian Tu eagerly extended her wicked little hand.

Page (3/3)