Zhi Ai acted as if her tail had been stepped on.
She sprang up, her cheeks flushing red again.
With a mix of shame and annoyance, she growled, “Fine! You guessed everything right! Happy now?! So what if I collected them?! It’s none of your business!”
Bai Wanxue didn’t care about her bristling at all, as if she were merely stating a distribution plan.
She tilted her head and continued, “Then the next part will be easy. Meow.”
She extended a slender finger and pointed at the pile of “War Trophies” that had been turned out.
“Quick, share them with me.”
Zhi Ai was stunned, unable to believe her ears.
“What? Share what with you?”
She even wondered if she was hallucinating due to nervousness.
“What else could it be?”
Bai Wanxue looked at her as if she were an idiot, her tone matter-of-fact.
“Master’s personal clothing, of course. Everyone who sees it gets a share. Don’t you understand such a simple principle? Meow.”
The way she said those words was as natural as if she were discussing how to divide dried fish.
“No! Why — why should I, meow!”
Zhi Ai bristled completely.
Like a cat protecting its food, she spread her arms to block the pile of clothes, her voice cracking with anger.
“Why should the things I worked so hard and took huge risks to collect be given to a Seductress like you who just showed up out of nowhere?! Don’t you have your own hands and feet? Go get them yourself!”
Bai Wanxue watched her flailing calmly and slowly revealed her trump card.
Her tone remained flat.
“Because — if you don’t share them with Wanxue, then Wanxue will run over right now, knock on Master’s door, and report you. I’ll say… you stole her clothes and hid them under the sofa.”
She even specifically simulated the tone of reporting her.
“Master~ I heard a certain Cat…”
“You…!”
Zhi Ai trembled with rage.
Her finger pointing at Bai Wanxue shook, but she couldn’t say a single coherent word in rebuttal.
‘This damn white-haired girl! How dare she use such a despicable method to threaten me…!’
“If… if you want these things so much,” Zhi Ai tried to make a final struggle, her voice filled with humiliation and anger.
“Go steal them yourself! Why do you have to… gain without working?!”
It seemed she was trying to place the shackles of morality upon the other girl.
But Bai Wanxue merely blinked her clear eyes and replied in an almost innocently cruel tone, “Because stealing a girl’s personal clothing is something only a pervert would do. Meow.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over Zhi Ai with implication.
“And as for a pervert… someone has already done it. So, naturally, it’s not Wanxue’s turn to do it anymore. Meow.”
She washed her hands of the act entirely, as if she were merely the legal heir coming to receive her “War Trophies.”
“Then why are you asking me for them?!”
Zhi Ai felt like she was about to cough up blood.
Where was the logic?
Had this smelly white cat’s logic been eaten by a dog?!
“So what you mean is, I’m the pervert responsible for stealing, and you’re just responsible for enjoying the fruits of my labor?!”
“Sigh~”
Bai Wanxue sighed as if facing a naughty child, making a “huge” concession.
“Fine, fine, since you’re so pitiful. Then… let’s do a thirty-seventy split. You get 30%, and I get 70%.”
“Wh-what…?!”
Zhi Ai was almost laughing from anger.
Her voice rose sharply, but she quickly covered her mouth, afraid of waking the person in the bedroom.
She whispered through gritted teeth, “Why… why do you get 70%?! No, that’s not right! Why on earth do you get 70%?! I was the original collector! I put in the most effort and took the biggest risks! I’m warning you, don’t go too far, meow! Believe it or not, I’ll fight you to the death!”
Faced with Zhi Ai’s bristling fury, Bai Wanxue’s reaction was cruelly calm.
She tilted her head slightly, her silver-gray hair sliding over her shoulder.
Her pale red eyes flickered with an almost pure cunning in the shadows.
“Oh~”
She drawled softly, her voice light as if stating a simple fact.
“Wanxue certainly believes you have that ‘courage.’ But…”
She shifted her gaze, looking pointedly at Su Yuqing’s closed bedroom door, her tone carrying a kind warning.
“Did you forget the last thing Master said to us before she went back to her room?”
“Uh…”
Zhi Ai’s movement as she prepared to pounce froze, as if she had been paused.
She certainly remembered that sentence.
Su Yuqing’s sleepy but exceptionally serious face and her clear instruction instantly surfaced in Zhi Ai’s mind.
Bai Wanxue watched her frozen expression with satisfaction.
Mimicking Su Yuqing’s tone, she repeated the words slowly, each one like a small hammer hitting Zhi Ai’s heart.
“Do. Not. Fight. Ab-so-lute-ly. Do. Not. Fight. Meow.”
She even added a soft ending to the imitation, but at this moment, it sounded purely mocking.
She took half a step forward, closing the distance.
Her voice dropped even lower, yet it pierced Zhi Ai’s ears as clearly as a snake’s hiss.
“Of course~ If you really want Master to hate you, and you don’t care about being labeled as ‘disobedient’ or ‘aggressive,’ then please… feel free to act.”
She spread her hands slightly in a gesture of “be my guest.”
Then, the corners of her mouth curled into a tiny arc that made Zhi Ai’s blood run cold.
“After all, if it really comes to that…”
She paused, ensuring Zhi Ai heard every word before slowly stating her ultimate goal.
“Then Wanxue… would become the only ‘Good Kitty’ left by Master’s side~”
The lethality of these words far exceeded any direct scratch.
It accurately pierced Zhi Ai’s most hidden and unacknowledged weakness — her pathological obsession with “uniqueness” and “specialness,” and her deep-seated fear of losing Su Yuqing’s attention.
She could act tough and say she didn’t care, but if the position of “only Good Kitty” was taken by the Seductress in front of her… the mere thought caused cold fury and a trace of undetectable panic to flare in her glass-like eyes.
“You…!”
Zhi Ai’s chest heaved violently.
She clenched her fingers, her nails almost digging into her palms.
She took a deep breath, trying to arm herself with a louder voice and more vicious words to cover that moment of hesitation.
“Do you think everyone cares about being liked by your stupid Master! I really don’t understand cats like you! How can you be so willing to grovel and lick a Human’s boots?! You’re throwing away all the noble and independent dignity of the Cat Tribe! You’re shameless!”
In the face of this nearly hysterical abuse, Bai Wanxue’s reaction was merely to blink gently.
There was no expression on her face, as if those nasty words were just wind passing her ears.
She even agreed somewhat indifferently, “Say whatever you want, meow~”
Her tone was as flat as if they were discussing the weather.
But she had not forgotten her goal.
She turned her gaze back to the messy “treasure” on the floor.
Her tone returned to that non-negotiable calm, carrying the weight of an ultimatum.
“However, out of kindness, Wanxue should give you a little reminder.”
She extended a slender finger and tapped the clothes.
“Now, hurry and give Wanxue the share of the ‘treasure’ that belongs to Wanxue. This is the smartest thing you can do right now. Delaying helps no one. Meow.”
The final “meow” was light, yet it carried an invisible pressure.
Zhi Ai glared at Bai Wanxue, her chest heaving.
Anger, resentment, and the embarrassment of being seen through and manipulated tangled in her glass-like eyes.
She knew she had lost the upper hand once again.
If she continued to hold out, the other girl really might report her; if she attacked, she would be falling right into the other’s trap.
Between her image as a “Good Kitty” in Su Yuqing’s heart and these cold pieces of fabric… she sadly discovered that she truly cared more about the former.
After a few seconds that felt as long as a century, Zhi Ai seemed to have all her strength drained away.
Her shoulders slumped, and she forced the words through gritted teeth.
“… Fine. I’ll give them to you. It’s not like… I can’t afford to.”
Each word was incredibly difficult to speak, carrying the pain of a bleeding heart.
She bent down, her movements stiff as she began to pick through the pile of clothes.
Each item she picked up felt like she was cutting her own flesh.
Bai Wanxue stood quietly to the side, her pale red eyes focused on every movement like a strict supervisor.
When Zhi Ai picked up a pair of panties with cute lace edges and reluctantly handed them over, Bai Wanxue nodded.
Then came a pair of matching socks.
Zhi Ai’s hand hesitated, and she quietly tried to hide a scrap of a Silk Nightgown — one she particularly liked because it carried Su Yuqing’s usual bath fragrance — behind her back…
“Mm-hmm, that’s right.”
Bai Wanxue suddenly spoke, accurately pointing out the “stray fish” that Zhi Ai was trying to hide.
Her tone was as calm as ever.
“That one, that one, and…”
Her sharp gaze landed on Zhi Ai’s slightly trembling right hand, which was trying to scoop a small item into her palm.
“… the one in your right Small Claws that you’re trying to hide while Wanxue isn’t looking. I want them all. Everything.”
“…!”
Zhi Ai’s hand jerked.
Her last bit of wishful thinking was completely shattered.
She felt her cheeks burning intensely, though she didn’t know if it was from shame or anger.
Almost through gritted teeth, she shoved all the items in her hand — including the “treasure” she was most reluctant to part with — into Bai Wanxue’s waiting, open hands.
“There!”
Zhi Ai straightened up abruptly.
she turned her head away, refusing to look at the “stolen” treasures.
Although her voice was distorted by extreme frustration, she still shouted at the other girl with a final bit of bravado.
“Are you satisfied now?!”
Bai Wanxue caught the soft fabrics, which were still warm (perhaps from the heat of Zhi Ai’s nervous palms), and held them in her arms as if they were the most precious War Trophies.
She lowered her head, buried her face in them, and took a deep breath.
Then she looked up and gave Zhi Ai a smile that appeared exceptionally clear in the dim light.
“Mm, for now, I’m very satisfied. Thank you for the treat, meow~”
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.