The Little Pink Cat's Protection

Early the next morning, sunlight streamed through the glass, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow across the floor.

The hum coming from the computer case was the graphics card groaning under a heavy load.

Even though the computer was quite powerful, it was struggling a little under Aemeath's use.

The noise woke Lu Yan. He struggled to sit up on the couch, rubbed his neck and shoulders, and looked toward the computer desk.

At some point, Aemeath had gotten up.

Wearing the beige knit sweater they had bought yesterday, she was staring intently at the computer screen.

Her hands weren't touching the keyboard, but pages were flashing across the screen at a frantic pace.

Lu Yan rubbed his eyes and called out, "Aemeath?"

The stream of code froze instantly, and the screen switched back to the default desktop.

Aemeath spun her chair around lightly, wearing that almost perfect smile. There wasn't a trace of fatigue in her golden eyes after staying up all night.

"A-Yan, you're awake!" She bounced over and threw herself into Lu Yan's arms before he was fully awake.

"Good morning~"

Lu Yan caught her instinctively, a faint fragrance filling his nose.

He glanced at the computer. "What were you looking at? I could hear the graphics card spinning like crazy."

"Nothing. I was just getting familiar with the rules of this world." Aemeath stuck out her tongue and shut down the computer remotely, keeping Lu Yan from seeing the account with the little pink cat as its profile picture.

Lu Yan felt her warmth in his arms.

He didn't suspect anything. After all, Aemeath had only just arrived here and was bound to want to learn more.

Since she intended to provide for Lu Yan, she couldn't let him feel that her love was charity.

On an online commission platform, Aemeath had fabricated an anonymous big-time client with considerable resources, using a picture of a curled-up pink cat as the profile image.

From now on, this little pink cat's commissions would only be posted for Lu Yan.

If A-Yan found out I made more wealth in one night than he could earn in ten years, wouldn't the enormous gap leave him feeling suffocated?

Aemeath rested her chin on Lu Yan's shoulder and quietly thought, So I have to make him think he earned all that money with his own brush.

He just has to keep painting me, for the rest of his life.

"Um, Aemeath..."

Lu Yan stroked Aemeath's soft hair. He hesitated, but spoke up anyway. "I've been thinking. How about we move somewhere else?"

Aemeath's ahoge twitched, and she raised her head to look at him. "Move?"

"Yeah."

Lu Yan looked around the tiny one-room apartment, at the equipment scattered across the desk.

"It was fine when I lived here alone. I could make do."

"But now that you're here, I can't keep making you squeeze into this little room with me."

He smiled, trying to make his tone sound relaxed. "I've saved up quite a bit over the years. It's enough for us to rent a nice two-bedroom apartment downtown, or buy a small apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows a little farther out."

"Then you could have your own room and decorate it however you like."

What Lu Yan didn't know was how deeply his words stirred Aemeath's heart.

Aemeath didn't care how big the place was. What mattered to her was Lu Yan's firm desire for the two of them to live together.

"Okay. I'll do what you say, A-Yan."

Aemeath buried her face in Lu Yan's chest, hiding the desire she could barely contain. "Anywhere is fine, as long as you choose it, A-Yan."

Lu Yan patted her back. "All right. Since we're starting a new life, the first thing we need to do today is make your legal identity official."

On the way to the police station, Lu Yan was visibly nervous the whole time.

He kept checking the late registration certificate in his pocket, the one he had received from Aemeath. She had assured him it was genuine in every system.

But his understanding of the law as an ordinary person continued to test his nerves.

Aemeath, by contrast, seemed especially excited.

Her side ponytail swayed with every step as her eyes wandered curiously over every sign along the street.

She was no longer the lonely person who waited, but an ordinary girl on her way to receive proof of her existence in this world.

"A-Yan, if the police ask where I used to live, should I tell them what we rehearsed last night?" Aemeath looped her arm through his, her fingertips tapping lightly against his wrist.

"Right. Just tell them you grew up in the mountains with an elder in your family. Before the elder passed away, they had someone contact my family, saying our families were old acquaintances and asking you to come stay with me," Lu Yan instructed her quietly, his cheeks slightly red.

"Our families go way back, huh~" Aemeath tilted her head and leaned close to his ear, her breath fragrant. "Then what am I to you now, A-Yan?"

Lu Yan stiffened and cleared his throat twice. "S-someone temporarily entrusted to me."

In the police station's service hall, Lu Yan kept his head down like a child who had done something wrong.

Then the officer at the counter called out her name. "Aemeath?"

"Here!" Aemeath stood up, a textbook-perfect, infectious smile spreading across her face.

In that instant, it felt as though the entire hall had brightened a little.

Aemeath was very polite, answering the officer's questions with her story about being an orphan from a mountain village.

"All right, the information matches."

The officer typed on the keyboard and remarked, "The current records system really does tend to miss these remote villages when it's updated."

"Make a good life for yourself in the city, young lady. If you run into any trouble, ask your..." The officer paused. "Ask Mr. Lu for help."

Once her brand-new ID card was in her hands, Lu Yan's heart finally settled.

Aemeath was smiling slightly in the ID photo, breathtakingly beautiful.

They walked out of the hall, sunlight falling over them both.

Aemeath stopped and held the card up to the sunlight.

"A-Yan, look. I have an identity now," she said softly, smiling with her eyes curved and full of joy.

Lu Yan's heart melted at the sight of her smile.

He reached out, took the ID card, and put it in his wallet.

"Yeah, you have an identity now."

"Then..."

Aemeath suddenly turned her head. "To celebrate me having an identity, let's go buy a place! The one you mentioned, A-Yan, with floor-to-ceiling windows!"

"Buying a place isn't that quick."

He looked at Aemeath's sparkling eyes and couldn't help laughing. "We have to view places, negotiate the price, and take care of the paperwork. It'll take at least two weeks."

Aemeath's ahoge drooped.

Lu Yan changed tack, pulling his phone from his pocket and waving it. "But before we buy a place, there's something more important we need to do first."

Aemeath asked curiously, "What?"

"Buy you a phone first."

Aemeath blinked and pointed at herself. "Do I need one? I can go straight into the internet..."

"That's your ability," Lu Yan interrupted, his tone serious. "But you have an ID card now, and everyone here has their own phone."

He put a little extra emphasis on "their own."

Aemeath's ahoge perked up. "Then I want to pick it myself."

"I want a pink one, a matching couple's phone like yours."

"Okay." His ears turned red.

Satisfied, Aemeath looped her arm through his and leaned all her soft weight against him. "Come on, come on, let's go now."