Little Cat - Chapter 5

Lu Peiran and I had been assigned to each other because of our exceptionally high psychic compatibility.

Under the rules, he was supposed to give me regular psychic guidance.

But he recoiled from my spirit form.

Most of the time, I relied on calming serum instead.

Until one day, when Lu Peiran had a little dark room set up in his house and offered to guide me himself.

“I still really dislike those slimy tentacles.”

His gaze had shifted evasively as he muttered, “I don’t want to see them. You have to give me time to get used to them.”

I’d happily agreed.

I hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him.

“Lu Peiran put an interference device in that room. It’s perfectly normal that you couldn’t tell us apart.”

Lu Yanbai pointed to himself with a smile. “So, from the very beginning, I was the one soothing your spirit form in that dark room.”

As though to confirm his words, the tentacles tightened around him.

They left striking red marks on his pale skin.

I looked away and thought about it.

Perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising.

After all, the Lu family had spoiled Lu Peiran from childhood. He rarely put himself out.

So I gave a very calm “Mm.”

“That’s it?”

Lu Yanbai frowned.

He seemed unhappy with my reaction and stressed, “Do you know he was trying to get you addicted to my psychic power?”

“Addicted?”

“Yes.” His lips curled wickedly. “So addicted that you wouldn’t be able to accept anyone else’s psychic power. Then he could kick you aside with a perfectly good excuse. Everyone would think you were the one who’d betrayed the relationship first.”

For once, I was stunned.

“I didn’t know…”

I paused, murmuring in bewilderment, “Does he hate me that much already?”

“No. He’s just selfish. The Lu family are selfish and filthy right down to their bones.”

The slender young man seemed very sensitive to the cold.

He buried himself in a cushion and pulled his blanket tighter around him.

When he looked at me again, a flash of cunning passed through his eyes.

His coaxing sounded almost casual. “You should know better than anyone what psychic addiction does, shouldn’t you? You can’t accept soothing from anyone else. Even the best calming serum can’t stop your spirit form from going berserk. In the end, you become a beast that knows only how to kill.

“Shen Bei, are you angry?”

His voice was like the whisper of a siren from myth.

Yet those amber eyes looking at me were utterly innocent.

As though bewitched, I echoed, “Angry?”

“Yes.”

His catlike eyes curved.

He seemed sincerely indignant on my behalf. “You’ve stayed by Lu Peiran’s side protecting him since you were children. You’ve even been seriously injured several times. And to be with the person he likes, he uses a despicable trick like this to drive you away. Shen Bei, you should be angry.”

Without realizing it, I walked toward him, repeating his words.

“I should be angry.”

“That’s ri—ah!”

The smug smile vanished from his face.

He sprang out of the little “nest” he’d made, all his fur standing on end.

The next second, tentacles pinned him completely still.

He gaped. “You didn’t fall for it?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m a little slow when it comes to emotions.”

He really did look like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

I couldn’t help thinking it.

Then I advised him good-naturedly, “You don’t have to waste your psychic power on me.”

Just then, a tentacle accidentally brushed the soft flesh at his waist.

He went rigid.

Under his tousled black hair, his earlobes turned scarlet.

Whether from anger or embarrassment, I couldn’t tell.

But he forced each word through clenched teeth. “Let. Me. Go.”

I withdrew my spirit form.

The tentacles were reluctant to leave.

Lu Yanbai took his temper out on them with a glare.

He poked them one by one, grumbling under his breath.

“Ungrateful little things. After all the trouble I went to soothing you the last few times!”

They rubbed against him ingratiatingly.

“And you!” He glared at me again. “Do you like Lu Peiran so much that nothing he does to you can make you angry?”

I touched the tip of my nose. “It’s not really—”

“Excuses!”

He cut me off with a cold laugh.

“And this time, too! Abandoning his partner during a competition is already a violation of school rules, and you’re still covering for him!”

He sounded exasperated with my lack of backbone.

I lowered my head and pretended not to notice that he was inching closer to the door.

“Women really do lose all their brains when they’re lovesick.”

He kept grumbling.

But his hand was already on the handle.

Then he abruptly changed tack.

“Still, what does that have to do with me?”

The beautiful young man curled his lips, looking rather pleased with himself.

“It’s not as if we’re ever going to see each other again.”

He flung the door open.

I didn’t stop him from leaving.

But he’d only taken a few steps before he swayed and collapsed.

Something instinctive told me Lu Yanbai was trouble.

But…

I stroked the tentacles, much more solid now after being nourished by his psychic power.

Then I sighed and resigned myself to carrying him back inside.