“I… I didn’t see anything! I’ll get out of here right now!”
Leo’s voice cracked with extreme panic. He turned without hesitation, scrambling on all fours to escape the room that reeked of death.
The instant Leo turned, a breeze swept past. Ailiya’s speed was far greater than he had imagined. Her face was as calm as still water.
Actually, as a former man, being stared at by another man’s legs in her past life wouldn’t have been a big deal—at most, she’d have called him crazy.
But in this world, this body belonging to the Silver Frost Wolf Clan teenage girl unexpectedly produced an uncontrollable feeling of shame and repulsion when her privacy was violated.
This physiological instinct made Ailiya, who always prided herself on absolute rationality, extremely irritated.
And that irritation naturally had to be vented completely on this unruly culprit in front of her.
With a dull thud, the practice wooden blade was already firmly wedged across the door frame, precisely cutting off Leo’s escape route.
Ailiya had somehow already stood behind him; her silver-white wolf tail flicked irritably in the air.
Ailiya’s voice sounded right by his ear, carrying a bone-chilling calm.
“Young Master, since you’re already here, why rush off?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted me to see the results of your hard training these past few days? I’m indeed very interested now in checking on your ‘progress’.”
Leo swallowed hard, turned his head stiffly, and looked into the icy eyes so close to him; cold sweat slid down his temples.
“Ailiya… I was wrong, I really didn’t know you were changing clothes!”
“First lesson: in actual combat, the enemy will never listen to your excuses.”
Before the words faded, Ailiya twisted her wrist, and the wooden blade whistled with a sharp wind, mercilessly slashing toward Leo’s shoulder.
“Waah!”
Leo let out a strange yell, and his body reacted instinctively. He suddenly ducked down, in a very ungraceful yet highly effective posture, narrowly dodging the thunderous blow.
The wooden blade grazed his scalp, sweeping away a few golden hairs.
Leo himself was stunned. That move was completely instinctive; he hadn’t expected to actually dodge it!
The muscle memory from this period of being wildly attacked by Ailiya with a mop showed astonishing results at this moment.
“I dodged! See, I really got stronger!”
Leo immediately got carried away, even forgetting his current situation, and excitedly raised his short wand.
“Come on! I can dodge more!”
Ailiya looked at his smug expression, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes.
“It seems that getting beaten these past few days has indeed given your body some pitiful conditioned reflexes.”
“However, if the Young Master thinks this is enough to be proud of, then your understanding of the word ‘actual combat’ is far too shallow.”
The next second, Ailiya’s figure left an afterimage in place. Her speed instantly increased a level, and the wooden blade turned into an impenetrable net of rain, completely enveloping Leo from all directions.
Smack!
This time, Leo didn’t even have time to scream.
“Ow! My, my waist!”
Bang!
“Don’t step on my head!”
“I was wrong! I really was wrong!”
Leo covered his head, tears spinning from pain, yet still tried to cover up his previous denial.
“I swear, I didn’t see anything! I didn’t see the impossibly soft ears, the swaying tail, and certainly not the ankles and white stockings…”
Then the small guest room instantly turned into a one-sided execution ground.
Outside the door, Liz was so scared she covered her mouth, trembling as she pressed against the wall, not daring to make a sound.
In less than two minutes, Leo was hugging his head, curled up on the floor like a boiled shrimp, completely losing his ability to resist.
“Inspection over.”
Ailiya looked down at him, casually threw the wooden blade back onto the table, and gave her evaluation in a flat tone:
“Compared to a completely unresponsive piece of wood, you now barely qualify as a bug that can roll around on the ground. You’re still far from meeting the requirements to protect yourself in the Royal Capital.”
Leo lay on the ground, rubbing the lumps on his head, sucking in cold air in grievance, but didn’t dare say a word of rebuttal.
Ailiya paid him no further attention. She turned and walked back to the bedside, picking up the pure white stockings she had only half put on earlier.
She calmly and gracefully put the stockings back on, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt.
Then, she skillfully pressed and hid the fluffy silver wolf ears among her silver-white short hair, and fastened them with a simple lace headband decoration.
The conspicuous wolf tail was also tucked under the crinoline, making her appear, from the outside, as a flawless human maid.
In this kingdom filled with prejudice and malice toward demi-humans, especially in the Royal Capital teeming with nobles, hiding these features was the most effective way to reduce trouble.
Leo, lying on the ground, secretly watched her complete this series of actions and couldn’t help muttering softly.
“Actually… you don’t need to hide them.”
Ailiya’s hand, adjusting her collar, paused slightly.
“I think… they look nice.”
Leo rubbed the lump on his head, his gaze drifting, and his voice grew softer.
Ailiya turned her head, her ice-blue eyes sweeping coldly over him.
“If the Young Master’s thoughts are still muddled, I don’t mind hitting you a couple more times with the wooden blade.”
She walked up to Leo, her tone carrying an undisguised, realistic coldness.
“In a place like the Royal Capital, exposing a demi-human identity only brings endless trouble, scheming, and those disgusting stares. My goal is to complete the work and earn my pay, not to turn myself into a rare exhibit at those noble banquets.”
Leo fell silent. He remembered the vulgar gossip about demi-humans he had heard in the banquet hall when they first arrived in the Royal Capital, and the malicious stares that had fallen on Ailiya.
He clenched his fists, got up from the floor, and dusted off his clothes.
“If anyone looks down on you because of this…”
Leo looked straight into her eyes, his gaze earnest without a hint of impurity.
“I’ll definitely knock his teeth out.”
Looking at this brat who had just been beaten black and blue by her but was now vowing to protect her.
A faint ripple flickered in Ailiya’s eyes, but it was quickly covered by a layer of rational ice.
“When you can last five minutes against me, then you can talk such unrealistic nonsense.”
She turned and walked toward the dressing table.
“Now, please leave my room immediately. I need to finish my final grooming.”
Leo knew her temper and didn’t say anything more, obediently retreating.
Outside the door, Leo let out a long sigh and slumped against the wall like a puddle of mud.
Although the back of his head throbbed as if it would split, for some reason, whenever he closed his eyes, the fleeting image from earlier uncontrollably appeared in his mind.
The fluffy silver ears, the slightly flushed ankles, and that exquisite face blending coldness and laziness…
Thump, thump…
“Oh no… what am I thinking…”
Leo clutched his chest, feeling his heart pounding like a drum; his cheeks instantly burned crimson, even his ears felt like they were bleeding.
Just then, a steady footstep came from the staircase.
Butler Carl, dressed in a crisp tailcoat, walked up briskly.
Seeing Leo standing in the corridor and Ailiya who had just opened the door, he bowed respectfully.
“Young Master, Miss Ailiya.”
Carl said with a smile:
“Madame asks the Young Master to go to the Front Hall. Young Master Cedric has sent the formal attire needed for tomorrow’s coming-of-age ceremony, and the tailor has also arrived. The Young Master needs to personally try it on and make final size adjustments.”
“So fast?”
Leo frowned, instinctively feeling repelled by anything from the main family.
“After all, it’s an important occasion representing the Kastian family. There can be no carelessness in etiquette,” Carl reminded.
“Got it, I’ll go now.”
Leo sighed, then turned to look at Ailiya.
“You… want to come see?”
Ailiya casually closed the door, her expression having returned to that perfect, formulaic coldness.
“Let’s go, Young Master. I hope the attire prepared for you won’t be as cheap as their hospitality.”