Chapter 64: Little Lion

In the original Aiai’ang’ang, there had been no clear distinction of four seasons. But after becoming the little cat’s cradle, it had also silently begun to follow Delphi’s timeline.

And now, its summer had arrived as well.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds, slanting down and scattering brilliant gold across the dunes. In the oasis nestled among them, many people were bustling about. Their skin tones varied, their clothes differed, but without exception, each had a little cat pendant hanging from their waist.

The sharp-toothed, razor-edged plants grew toward the sun. Once they caught the fresh scent of human skin, their tendrils writhed like they were drawn by the smell of blood. Dense eye-like structures emerged on their branches. These plants, even harder to deal with than Xenoids, one and all fell silent upon sensing the spiritual power transmitted from the little cat pendants.

“Hey, this cucumber grew real nice.” Someone dodged the thorns and placed the verdant vegetable into a basket.

“Nurtured by His Highness’s spiritual power, how could it not?”

“Ha—those idiots selling rotten seeds, if they saw this bountiful harvest, they’d probably turn green with envy.”

“Right, where’s His Highness Leo? It’s the weekend, no school today, right?”

“Over there.”

Following their eager gazes, we saw the little cat and his family.

Two male lions walked side by side, snowy white wings unfurling from their shoulder blades and draping behind their golden backs. Between them, a little cat with round wings was flapping away energetically, his movements a bit clumsy but no less persistent.

“Relax your shoulder blades.” The dazzling golden lion lowered his head, nudging the little cat’s back with his nose tip, his voice low like distant flowing water. “Don’t lean your center of gravity forward. Tuck your tail, steady the wind.”

Zane on the side watched his brother with a teasing gaze. He was just about to speak when the other shot him a cold glance.

The blue-eyed lion immediately gasped dramatically, his limbs going limp as he flopped straight onto the sand, paw over his chest, letting out a low, mournful whimper: “Ah… my brother can actually be this gentle… my heart… it’s shattered into three pieces.”

He flicked his tail, rolling exaggeratedly on the ground with a flamboyant, pitiful tone: “Back when I was learning to fly, my brother—” He raised one paw, pointing tragically into the distant void, his eyes full of sorrow—”just grabbed me by the scruff, dragged me to the cliff edge without a word, and tossed me right off.”

Zane’s voice was so melodious it sounded like he was performing in a play, drawing the little cat to stop flying and stare at him with sparkling eyes.

“Ignore him.” Isiris lifted a broad lion paw and pushed Li Ao’s body aside.

“Oh, I’m so heartbroken.” The dramatic lion continued his solo act, his trailing tone pulling out a full three points of pathos. But seeing the big lion really about to take the little kitten away, he sprang up nimbly, ready to pounce—only to be sideswiped by a charging figure.

“Zane, wanna fight?”

Lian’s brown eyes brimmed with eager excitement, kicking up half a meter of sand as he lunged forward.

“You looking to get beat?” With his younger brother, Zane’s tone was clearly more serious than before, laced with disdain and aloof pride. His body twisted, moving so fast it was a blur, and with a backhand swipe of his paw, he flipped Lian onto the ground and pinned him into the sand.

“Ten years, and you’re still this stupidly eager to get thrashed.” He looked down at Lian from above, a mix of disdain and nostalgic amusement flashing in his eyes.

Lian, unable to flip over, wasn’t discouraged at all. He grinned cheekily and kicked at Zane a few times. Seizing the moment when the other dodged back, he suddenly yelled loudly at the little cat not far away: “Leo, come help me beat him up!”

Zane snorted coldly and kicked him back into the sand pit with one paw: “Baby and I are of one heart.”

The two male lions turned their heads in unison toward the small figure in the distance.

Li Ao’s eyes were blank, his little brain clearly having bluescreened.

He craned his neck to look—on the left, the enthusiastic and excited Uncle Lian; on the right, the elegant Uncle Zane, whose kick just now definitely hadn’t been playful.

The little cat’s head slowly retracted. He turned around, leaned gently against his dad, and parked himself right there.

The air went quiet for two seconds.

Then Lian burst out laughing with a “pfft”: “This little guy… isn’t this just playing favorites?”

Make him choose between uncles, and he picks his own dad instead?

In the distant oasis, a rose-pink checkered picnic mat was spread over the green grass sprouts. Reniya, the silver-haired daughter of the empire, sat elegantly with the little white lion and the little black dumpling.

“You’re Xun, right?” She placed a slice of cut cake in front of Xun. “How did you and the little cat meet?”

Xun’s scarlet eyes blinked. He didn’t speak, instead extending a tendril paw to hug the plate before unfurling his black bone wings and flying toward the little cat ahead.

Ryan had been quietly sitting on the ground. Seeing him so rudely ignore his mother, he immediately stood up.

Reniya withdrew her gaze from the strangely shaped little coal ball and pulled Ryan into her arms, her tone gentle yet habitually commanding: “Don’t make such big movements. You just recovered.” Even though she realized her protectiveness toward her child was too strong and wanted to change, it wasn’t something that could happen overnight.

“What did you do at home while Mama was away for two months? Did you rest properly like I told you?”

The two maids sitting on another picnic mat—Marilyn hesitated as if wanting to say something, but held back under Brenna’s headshake and eye signal.

Ryan silently lay back down and said to his mother: “Yes, mostly following Teacher Paimon’s classes. And you, Mama? How was it out there?”

Their mother-son interaction was attentive caregiving on one side, obedient compliance on the other—give and take, response for response—yet it always felt like something was missing between them.

Reniya gazed at her son’s profile, her expression unchanging, but a trace of barely perceptible fatigue and gloom floated in her eyes.

She looked ahead, where the little cat had already received his companion. The two little ones were taking turns eating the cake, one bite each.

Regalis’s blood had given her physical qualities far beyond ordinary. She could clearly see the little cat plop his butt on the ground, mumbling something under his breath.

He was a very cheerful child.

On good weather days, he’d chatter nonstop, from Grandma’s little balcony to the robot washing his cat bed. On bad weather days, he’d chatter just the same, about not being able to go out and work.

He talked a lot, but no one found him annoying. Because everything he said was tied to his survival. Good weather meant planting more crops; bad weather meant waiting for it to clear. He was always optimistic.

His extremely short limbs were cute, sure, but in such an environment, weren’t they an irredeemable flaw?

Yet he worked so hard.

It even left people baffled at times—how could such short paws be so dexterous? His fragile body couldn’t even contain his excessively vast spiritual power and had to rely on seals to curb the mismatched growth.

But this one fledgling not only survived through effort but saved so many people.

Being weak was no excuse to stay in the safe zone.

“Ryan.” Her tone suddenly lightened, as if she’d figured something out. “Let’s go play with the little cat. Have your uncles teach you to fly too—you can learn together.”

The little white lion lifted his head in a daze, looking at his mother.

Reniya’s form shifted quietly in the light, her slender humanoid lines softening and stretching. Silver-white fur spread from her neck, and a pair of beautiful wings slowly rose from her shoulder blades.

She leaned down and, for the first time, picked up her own little lion by the scruff with her mouth.

Ryan dangled limply as he was lifted, not struggling, his mind a blank.

In sixteen years, it was the first time his mother had stayed by his side in lion form, the first time he’d seen her wings. Not as broad as his uncles’, but very powerful. The white lion took to the air with her cub, flying toward the little cat nearby.

Marilyn’s eyes were a bit red. Brenna handed her a handkerchief.

“Her Highness Reniya…”

No one could blame a mother’s protectiveness toward her child. In sixteen years, everyone had seen the effort she’d poured into Ryan—no one dared to judge.

She had been the empire’s daughter, soaring the skies with a pair of snow-white wings. She was fierce and skilled in battle, second to none. But from the day Ryan was born, she had folded away her wings, her lion form, and all her sharp edges.

All because she feared her flight would pierce the heart of her too-frail child, who couldn’t spread wings at all.

“It’ll all be fine.” Brenna patted Marilyn’s shoulder, looking toward the little Highness she served. “The little cat is so lively and cheerful—he’ll surely help Ryan get better too.”

Reniya might not be the most qualified mother. Her protectiveness was strong, her control heavy, and she acted rashly. She was careless, blind to her child’s true needs. Her initial reason for having Ryan wasn’t even love, but to birth the prophesied cub who could save the empire.

Yet even so, no one could deny her clumsy love for Ryan.

“Auntie.” Li Ao stood on tiptoe and handed her the fruit from Little Flower Beauty. “Thanks for the cake.”

The white mother lion nuzzled the little cat’s head and took the fruit in her mouth. “Auntie should be the one thanking you. Thank you for saving big brother Ryan. And I’m sorry too…”

“It shouldn’t make you bear pressure that doesn’t belong to you.” She remembered that time when the little cat realized he couldn’t save Ryan, showing that timid look.

“I’m really sorry.”

She rubbed the little cat’s head again and saw him tilting his face up toward her. “It’s okay.”

Li Ao looked at the little lion beside him. So small, yet he spoke words more perceptive than anyone’s, impossible to refute: “Because you love Little Lion so much.”

His understanding of love was crystal clear. Though he had never received it from his birth mother, he generously forgave the mother standing before him.

“Moreover, Li Ao has Xixi now.” After the little cat finished speaking, he seemed a bit shy. His paws stomped the ground a few times before he raised his little head to look at the tall humanoid figure behind him.

Reniya glanced at her brother with a smile. “Yes, you have a dad now.” These weren’t empty words to coax the little cat—she knew just how strong a father her brother would be. He would never let his child feel wronged.

“Ryan.” Reniya reached out and pushed the little lion in front of Isiris. “Can you share your thoughts?”

Ryan froze. He lowered his head, staring at the yellow sand on the ground, unsure what to say.

Reniya patted him, setting aside her worries for the first time as she teased, “Be bold. If you keep it bottled up inside, how will anyone know what you need?”

But Ryan was that kind of child—he simply couldn’t voice it. He feared he wasn’t wanted, that his mother would face blame from the world because of him, that his very existence was a burden to her. He stayed silent.

He kept his head down until a little cat face appeared on the ground. Li Ao was lying flat on his back, gazing up at him.

“Little Lion.” That round face was utterly adorable by the little lion’s standards. “Why aren’t you talking? What are you thinking about?”

What was Ryan thinking? He thought… he thought…

He stared at the cat before him—short legs, round face, gap-toothed smile. He was taller than him. He was older than him. If he could be brave, why couldn’t he?

Ryan suddenly found his courage. Amber light kindled in his amber eyes as he lifted his head and spoke to the man he’d never dared look straight in the eye: “I want to learn to fly with you! I want to learn swordsmanship with you! I want—I want to be the little cat’s big brother!”

Under the backlight, Isiris’s handsome figure loomed with even greater pressure. His golden pupils gleamed darkly from the shadows as he gazed down at the usually timid child. After a brief silence, he slowly curved his lips. “Now that’s more like it.”