Chapter 6: The cat Begins to Stay by the Crown Prince’s Side

It happened more often than before.

Yu Zeming noticed this and found it rather strange.

Normally, His Highness treated the cat as if it didn’t exist. He never teased it, never asked about it. Yu Zeming had assumed the cat simply didn’t care much for the prince.

Rendong was a peculiar cat.

It seemed to prefer the outdoors to its cramped little room. Some days it would roam outside from morning to night without once coming home, only appearing after dark as two points of eerie green light in the distance, a sight that never failed to startle people… Yet there was one thing it never failed to do.

Climbing into the Crown Prince’s bed every single day.

Doors and windows shut tight meant nothing. The cat had its own ways.

It came and went freely, a creature entirely of its own mind.

But somehow, as if overnight, in the span of a single day and night, a single blink, Rendong had grown clingy.

Tantai Tian looked down at the little ball of cat on the floor.

Rendong pretended to be very busy, twisting around to groom the fur along his own back, clearly not grooming at all.

The moment no one was watching, the cat resumed trailing after Tantai Tian step for step.

After all, the human kept falling ill, and someone had to protect him.

But Rendong was simply too small. Tagging along this close, one careless step would land right on him. When Tantai Tian nearly stepped on Rendong’s tail for the third time, he stopped, silent.

Rendong promptly flopped down on the toe of Tantai Tian’s shoe.

A tiny, perfect fit.

Even his tail curled up in front of him, pinned beneath a fluffy paw.

Tantai Tian stared at the little cat that not only refused to leave but had planted itself on his shoe to block his path. Truly pushing his luck.

Without calling for anyone’s help, he reached down and picked up the shameless little creature himself.

Rendong tucked his paws in obediently, though his tail stood upright. He looked nervous, and yet not nervous at all, those pure golden cat eyes fixed straight on Tantai Tian.

As if being dangled in midair wasn’t the least bit frightening.

Pure, uncomplicated trust.

What a terrifying thing.

Tantai Tian opened his hand, and Rendong tumbled unexpectedly into a solid embrace, four paws splayed toward the sky before slowly curling back in.

Fun!

Rendong flicked his tail excitedly, thumping it against the arm that held him, and couldn’t help kneading the air a few times. Again! He wanted more!

The little cat wedged his head in snugly, burying his pointed ears in the crook of Tantai Tian’s elbow, putting on the most adorably pitiful face, begging for another round.

【Humans do not speak cat.】

The System reminded Rendong, its voice drifting and faint.

Rendong listened with half an ear, letting the words go in one and out the other. Squirming this way and that, he quickly wriggled himself into a comfortable position in Tantai Tian’s arms and settled in to knead.

And so Tantai Tian could feel, through several layers of fabric, two tiny paw pads pressing down again and again.

The sharp claws never came out. It was a relaxed, lazy sort of kneading.

As he kneaded, Rendong tilted his little head back.

His whole body radiated one message: Throw me again, come on~

“I’m going out,” Tantai Tian said.

Oh. Fine. Rendong wrapped his paws around his own tail.

If the human had things to do, the cat would just play by himself.

He struggled in Tantai Tian’s arms, hunting for an opening to leap down.

Instead, Tantai Tian’s hold tightened, keeping Rendong firmly tucked against him as he stepped out the door.

The snow had only just stopped, leaving a biting chill in the air.

Rendong tilted his head.

Wasn’t the human supposed to be locked up by the Fat Emperor?

Until now, Tantai Tian had obediently stayed put in the Hall of Peace and Ease.

This was the first time he had left without a summons.

He walked at the front, with Yu Zeming and Liang Ze following with bowed heads behind the Crown Prince. The occasional palace attendant they passed along the way shrank back to the side of the path. Not a soul dared say a word. By then, Rendong’s half-hearted squirming had stopped entirely.

Curled in Tantai Tian’s arms, the cat’s gleaming golden eyes tracked every movement outside.

And so Tantai Tian realized the little cat in his arms was on guard.

Watching everyone who came near.

Two front paws rested lightly on one of his arms, hind legs braced against the other, completely focused on the road ahead.

That feral, primal coldness had surfaced once again.

Yet every time those eyes turned to Tantai Tian himself, the little cat was nothing but warmth.

Much like the large hand cradling the cat’s belly now.

Warm enough that no hand warmer was needed.

Hehe, fresh off the shelf, the cat-brand hand warmer. Impressive, right?

Of course, something like a hand warmer could never exist in the Hall of Peace and Ease.

After all, in this Inner Palace, everyone longed for Tantai Tian to die sooner rather than later. One day wasn’t enough? Then two, then three. Lock him in a freezing room and see what good his extraordinary gifts did him.

In the end, no talent could outlast a killing winter.

Cold and snow were their favorites, killing without a trace.

Without ever dirtying their own hands.

“There’s no need to worry.”

Rarely did Tantai Tian speak first.

His voice was low, as if recounting something amusing.

Yu Zeming and Liang Ze shifted slightly behind him, then realized the next moment that His Highness wasn’t speaking to them.

He was speaking to Rendong.

“We aren’t going to the battlefield.”

He said “we,” Rendong might have noted.

“We’re only going to watch the beginning of a fallen star’s end.”

Because the sun, after all, was about to rise.

…

Inside the Hall of Blessed Tranquility, the coughing wouldn’t stop.

It had been going on for some days now, but Emperor Changle hadn’t given it a second thought.

It wasn’t the first time.

When the coughing got bad, he would summon Imperial Physician Ji Jia and the others to take a look, and once it quieted down, the whole matter was forgotten. He had become emperor to enjoy himself, not to spend his days swallowing those bitter, tongue-numbing so-called wonder drugs.

Xu Chunming kept his head lowered, listening as Emperor Changle coughed his way through the imperial memorials awaiting his vermilion brush.

Suddenly, the emperor’s hand stopped. The pause stretched a little too long.

Xu Chunming, who knew Emperor Changle well, felt his heart climb into his throat.

Sure enough, in less than a quarter hour, the memorial went flying to the floor, followed by a heavy snort.

Xu Chunming wanted to sink straight into the floorboards, but he was the only one standing beside the emperor in the hall, and Emperor Changle’s gaze naturally landed on him.

“How has the Empress been lately?”

At the mention of the Empress, Xu Chunming’s heart pounded harder still, ready to leap clean out of his throat. He swallowed hard, forcing the lump down. He could not afford to slur his words now. “Her Majesty has been keeping to her devotions in the Hall of Compassionate Origin. She hasn’t set foot outside for about half a year.”

Xu Chunming heard the emperor snort again, and then came the mild reply, “You know that’s not what I want to hear.”

Xu Chunming forced a smile, bowing lower still as he murmured his apology. “Your Majesty, you instructed before that outsiders should not disturb Her Majesty’s peace. In these past six months, the Crown Prince has indeed not seen Her Majesty.”

The Crown Prince had tried.

But with the emperor’s unspoken decree in place, no one would ever let him through those doors.

And even without the emperor’s wishes, more often than not, the Empress would not have received him anyway.

When Emperor Changle ascended the throne, he had installed this woman as Empress.

But for all her rank and splendor, the Empress seemed to prefer the quiet of incense and scripture. After bearing the Crown Prince, she devoted herself to Buddha year-round, never once touching the power of the Inner Palace.

Determined to keep far from worldly strife, she had let even maternal affection fade. There was little bond left between her and her son.

Emperor Changle listened to Xu Chunming’s report, impossible to read, then lowered his gaze to his own wrinkling hands. The faintly sweet incense hanging in the Hall of Blessed Tranquility seemed to feed a nameless restlessness smoldering in his chest, something he could neither spit out nor swallow down.

“Xu Chunming, call…” Emperor Changle pushed himself up from the table, a few names hesitating on his lips. “Never mind. Summon Chosen Attendant Wan.”

Chosen Attendant Wan was a low-ranking consort who had lately found favor with Emperor Changle. For daytime amusements like this, he much preferred these fresh young attendants.

Xu Chunming dispatched a young eunuch to fetch her at once.

Chosen Attendant Wan glanced at the bright sun outside, and there was no displeasure in her at all. The Inner Palace was full of women, and to win a share of favor like this, she had done plenty of scheming to get where she stood today.

…

By the time Tantai Tian passed through East River Gate, only two gates remained between him and the Hall of Blessed Tranquility. Not far, but close enough that any stir from the hall would reach him at once.

The Rendong in his arms grew a little curious.

He knew this place.

It was near where the Fat Emperor lived.

Was the human going to see the Fat Emperor?

But Tantai Tian didn’t go any farther. He stopped right there.

Snow began drifting down again.

Light flakes settled on the little cat’s whiskers.

Rendong gave his whiskers a shake and watched the frost-white flakes scatter. Finding it rather entertaining, he stretched out a tiny paw and swatted at the air, locked in fierce combat with the falling snow.

Tantai Tian glanced down.

No real power behind the blows, but the moves came fast.

What the cat lacked in force, he made up for in enthusiasm.

He was thoroughly invested, tail sweeping the air in excitement.

Rendong’s joy was such a simple thing.

In what should have been a silent, desolate wait, Rendong’s Shadowless Fist Art pulled Tantai Tian’s attention away, if only briefly, from the dark and bloody slaughter to come. Instead, he simply watched his cat.

The snow fell faster, harder.

And amid that icy solemnity, chaos erupted inside the Hall of Blessed Tranquility.

Voices carried over one by one, thick with panic and fear. Even Rendong, who had been busy brawling with snowflakes a moment ago, could hear them.

Some of the voices pitched high with terror.

Something has happened at the Hall of Blessed Tranquility.

Others dropped into whispers.

Emperor Changle died during intercourse.

Rendong let out a confused little mrow. Death during intercourse? What was that?

He licked the victorious paw that had just vanquished the snowflakes, utterly puzzled.

Perhaps Tantai Tian sensed the cat’s confusion. Or perhaps he simply wanted to say it aloud.

“For him, that may be the most humiliating death there is.” In the quiet of the covered walkway, Tantai Tian’s voice was cold, edged with something sinister. “It suits him.”

Indecent. Ugly. Debauched past all measure.

Even the histories would have to record it with the words “loose conduct and an unnatural death.”

Rendong tilted his little head back.

The movement came easily to him, for cats were creatures of near boneless grace.

He caught the rare, faint smile on Tantai Tian’s face.

That smile, barely there, hid something unnatural. A malicious, unhinged edge.

Rendong’s fur stood on end, as if he had stumbled upon some dangerous monster. He couldn’t name the feeling. It was like a venomous snake, like a fierce beast. Whatever it was, it was something a cat ought to fear.

And yet the human’s hand still held steady, cradling the cat’s belly.

The pitiful human, the dangerous human. What difference did it make? Either way, this was the human Rendong had chosen to keep.