"Xiao Xuan!..."
Ash pressed the cat over his face and inhaled wildly, kneading and rubbing its two paw pads. Xiao Xuan wore an expression of utter despair and looked pitifully toward Freya, only to receive Veela's envious gaze as she bit her nails.
"How's its chondrodysplasia?"
Even after Ash had gotten his fill, he still didn't let Xiao Xuan go, holding it in his arms and rubbing its cat head.
"Sif helped cure it. It won't relapse again." Freya took two teacups out from under the table and brewed tea. "And Xiao Xuan's gotten a lot more delicate. If it bumps into anything and it hurts, it keeps meowing until I treat it and ease the pain."
"All animals are delicate and afraid of pain. They only learn to endure because they have to." Ash put his finger by Xiao Xuan's mouth, and Xiao Xuan immediately bit down. "Only those who are loved have the right to be delicate, because they know you'll respond to their fragility."
"Mm." Freya pressed her lips together and nodded, her finger tracing the rim of the teacup. "You don't seem to have changed much..." Ash blinked. "Didn't we just see each other not long ago?"
Actually, it wasn't that recent. Counting back, it had already been several months. Back then, Ash had only just advanced to Demigod a few days earlier when Freya and The Quartet accidentally entered the Dream Ladder and reached the newly formed Path of Origin on Ruby Mountain, the "Reverse Color Ladder." If Firefly Splendor Princess hadn't connected Ash with them, they might have quietly died inside the Path of Origin.
Veela's body trembled. Her already flushed face now looked as if blood would drip out if pinched, and Ash could almost see steam rising from her head. She lowered