Purrfect Romance

Fenix felt his intelligence was being insulted. He stared at the feather wand and took a deep breath.

Even if I, Fenix, die! Jump from here! Die outside! I will never play with a feather wand!

Lion looked at Fenix, who was sitting on the sofa, with a look of determination to die rather than yield, but whose eyes involuntarily followed the movement of the feather wand. Seeing the kitten’s paws twitching, Lion subtly moved the wand.

The kitten’s paws twitched again.

Lion moved the wand once more.

The kitten instinctively lowered its body into a hunting stance.

Lion, unhurried, increased the speed of his movements slightly.

Fenix's head swayed with the feather, and his hind paws scratched the sofa cushion restlessly.

Lion stopped moving the wand and looked at Fenix with a composed demeanor.

Fenix stared intently at the suspended feather.

Fenix: ...

Fenix: ......

Fenix: ..........

Damn it!

Can't resist!

Won't hold back anymore!

The little kitten gave up struggling, kicked with its hind legs, and pounced at the floating feather!

Lion’s lips curled up as he lifted the wand, easily avoiding the kitten's paws.

Damn!

Fenix turned around, staring fiercely at the bouncing feather.

Just a feather wand!

Today, I will tear you apart!

Lion looked at Fenix, who was chasing the wand in circles, and sighed silently.

How could he be so silly.

No wonder he got lured away by Ferran.

Never mind.

Playing with a cat is quite entertaining.

Lion recalled Ferran fleeing in his aircraft.

That stupid dog probably won’t return anytime soon. If he dares to come back, I'll give him some fireworks warning on his flight path.

The former pirate leader had no qualms about such violent warnings.

He lifted the wand higher and tossed the feather upwards, only to see Fenix leap and catch the feather in his mouth.

Lion paused, showing a hint of surprise.

It was well known that a cat’s vertical jump height is five times its body height.

Some special breeds, like the leopard cat, can reach even higher limits.

But even so, the maximum limit for an adult cat is around 2.5 meters.

Lion, being 1.9 meters tall, had lifted the feather wand well over 2.5 meters.

And Fenix still looked like a small kitten; his jumping ability shouldn’t be this strong.

Lion looked at Fenix.

The little kitten, dangling in mid-air with the feather in his mouth, thrashed his legs and emitted a threatening sound from his throat.

Lion recognized this sound—it was the warning sound that felines subconsciously make after a successful hunt. In short, it meant "protecting food."

Lion reached out, lifted the kitten, set the wand aside, and looked at the kitten holding the feather tightly, pinching his scruff.

Fenix instinctively released the feather and tried to bite the hand that was pinching him.

Lion flipped him over and held him up in front of his face.

What species... no, what kind of creature is this?

Fenix, scrutinized by Lion’s questioning gaze, was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but turn his head to glance at the feather wand lying aside.

He kicked his legs.

Lion put him down.

Fenix nudged the wand with his paw and turned to meow at Lion.

Lion didn’t move.

Fenix sighed inwardly.

The boss still doesn’t understand a cat’s heart!

But it doesn’t matter.

Fenix can work hard himself!

Fenix picked up the feather, walked to Lion’s side, pressed his paw into Lion’s palm, and placed the feather on top.

Lion raised an eyebrow: "Want to play more?"

"Mew~"

After all, Fenix is just a cute little kitty!

Which cat wouldn’t love a feather wand!

Fenix let out a "delicious" meow.

But on the surface, he was very serious and earnest: "Boss, this isn’t playing, this is preliminary adaptive training."

Interesting.

For the first time, Lion had his own words thrown back at him.

Fenix is quite bold.

Lion narrowed his eyes slightly, looked up at the night sky, and said: "There’s more training."

Before Fenix could type a question mark, he saw Lion transform into his awakened form, typing on the terminal attached to his paw, and then carrying him out of the house.

In the courtyard, Lion typed slowly: "Agility, flexibility, night vision, stealth, and endurance training."

Fenix replied sincerely: "How do we train?"

Lion took a few steps back, smiling slightly at the kitten smaller than his paw, revealing sharp canine teeth.

He typed: "Have you played Temple Run?"

Fenix nodded.

Lion: "Train that way, I chase, you run."

Fenix was stunned.

Lion: "If I catch you..."

Lion thought for a moment and finally decided on a punishment.

Lion: "If I catch you, you take a bath every day."

Fenix was horrified!

Lion: "The estate is two-thirds the size of a football field, run freely."

Damn!

Fenix felt suffocated.

Are you kidding me!

Look at my legs! And yours!

How dare you!

I think you’re trying to kill Fenix without spilling blood using baths!

This is animal abuse!

Lion ignored him and continued typing: "Hide and seek is also fine, anywhere outside the main house, three minutes to hide, starting now."

Damn.

Damn damn damn.

Lion, you have no heart!!!

After cursing inwardly, Fenix turned around and darted away without hesitation.

Lion watched the empty lawn in front of him and slowly lay down.

This was his first time going easy on someone; he wasn’t very skilled at it.

He decided to wait seven or eight minutes before searching.

Survival instincts forced Fenix to run all over the estate with his short legs.

The estate was large, thousands of square meters, with a main house, garden, separate storage shed, and pond.

The meticulously maintained scenery was complex and beautiful, providing many hiding spots for Fenix.

Fenix darted into the garden, curled his tail and hid under a shrub for ten seconds, thinking it wasn’t good enough, so he came out.

No good.

Hiding in such a place, Lion could easily pull him out.

Lions also have extremely sensitive noses.

Fenix didn’t want to bathe!

Fenix had to think of a plan.

Looking around, Fenix saw a row of tall, straight pine trees at the edge of the garden.

Fenix’s eyes lit up.

Everyone knows!

Adult lions, due to their weight, cannot climb tall, thin-trunked trees.

Fenix dashed to the pine tree and began climbing.

Lion, hidden in the dark corner outside the garden, watched the white ball that stood out in the night.

Fenix was making great efforts to climb the tree.

Even ten minutes had passed, and the kitten unfamiliar with the climbing motions of his awakened form hadn’t reached the first branch.

Lion watched the persistent kitten attacking the trunk and decided to change his approach from going easy to flooding.

He slowly lay down, watching Fenix’s tireless efforts, and yawned.

Fenix spent a long time climbing the tree successfully.

He felt like he understood this strange body much better.

It was a—

Fenix thought carefully and decided it was a peculiar sense of control.

He lay on the branch, the tree thick and the kitten small, enough for him to roll around.

Good!

There’s no way Lion can get up here!

Lying outside the garden, Lion got up and walked to the tree where Fenix was hiding.

He looked up.

The kitten peeked out from between the branches.

Lion typed: "Found you."

Fenix proudly puffed his chest and typed: "Boss, you said catching, finding doesn’t count."

Lion paused.

The kitten’s courage grew, daring to nitpick with him.

If he wanted to catch him, he could just knock the tree down.

For Lion in his awakened form, this was effortless.

But Lion didn’t do that. He lay down under the tree, clearly planning to wait for the cat to come down.

Fenix couldn’t stay up there forever.

Fenix realized this and squatted on the branch, looking down at the big lion, his tail dangling and twitching uneasily.

He finally typed: "Boss, when does our training end?"

Lion slowly replied: "When it gets light."

Fenix: "...Alright."

Isn’t it just sleeping in the tree!!

Fenix would rather sleep in the tree than bathe!

Fenix lay on the branch, closed his eyes without hesitation.

Lion twitched his ears, hearing the rustling sounds above disappear, and closed his eyes to rest.

It seems Fenix really dislikes water.

Lion thought the kitten was bold, daring to sleep in the tree on his first climb, not worried about falling and breaking his neck.

Lion lay under the tree, his ears alert, ready to catch the kitten rolling off in his sleep.

Unaware of his boss’s silent consideration, Fenix scratched his belly, snoring softly, sleeping soundly.

Lion received a video call in the middle of the night.

He glanced and saw it was his second-in-command.

Lion turned the volume down to the minimum and answered the call.

"Boss!" The captain, seeing Lion’s projection in his awakened form, became very nervous.

They all knew Lion rarely transformed into his awakened form—due to past awakening issues, while his combat power increased, his emotional control decreased dramatically.

Once, Lion almost destroyed their base.

Lion slowly typed: "Speak."

The captain carefully observed Lion, confirmed his emotions were stable and peaceful, and was almost moved to tears.

Thank God!

Finally, no need to worry about returning to a base torn apart by the boss.

Or being chopped by a deranged leader.

Thank God!

Thank God!

The captain quickly reported the situation.

"I just met Raven at the bar," he said.

Raven, the lop-eared rabbit who considered Lion his mortal enemy.

Lion lifted an eyelid: "Hmm?"

"He says he doesn’t believe you’d settle for a normal life, shouting he’s coming to find you..."

Before the captain could finish, he saw his leader stand up and catch something falling from a height.

White, small.

It was a kitten.

The kitten fell from the tree, landing on the lion’s thick mane, still showing fear from the fall, scrambling up and stepping on Lion’s head with his tiny paws.

The captain gasped.

Feeling the next second would be bloody!

Goodness me!!

That’s Lion’s head!!

Lion sensed Fenix was scared stiff, frozen on his head.

He didn’t bother and refocused on the captain.

The captain instinctively continued, stuttering: "H-he said you must be keeping some beauty in a golden cage, going to chop her to make you suffer for life..."

Lion pondered for a moment, thinking this seemed reasonable.

He shook his head, looking at the kitten he shook down, and pressed a paw on him.

The captain tentatively asked: "Boss, is this...?"

Lion thought for a moment and typed with one paw: "Beauty and golden cage."