Chapter 1: Snowy Night

In the northern part of Hokkaido, Japan, by the Nayoro River.

Pure white snow piled high across the entire coniferous forest.

Cold wind swept up countless crystalline fragments from the snowy ground.

Night had long since fallen.

The car was parked beside the winding, elongated highway, its dim lights falling upon the two people inside.

Looking out, for miles around there was only a vast, boundless expanse of white snowfields, desolate and uninhabited.

“How did we run out of gas at a time like this? What a hassle.” 

A touch of worry appeared on the woman’s coldly beautiful face. She glanced at the time and sighed helplessly. 

“We’ll just have to spend the night in the car and figure something out tomorrow morning.”

“Sister?” 

The boy in the back seat poked his head out, looking at her blankly.

The woman turned around, her expression softening. 

“We’re going to sleep in the car tonight. Are you scared, Xiao An?”

“As long as Sister is here, I’m not scared.”

Li Jue reached out and patted Ying An’s head, smiling gently at him. “What a good boy. Sit properly first.”

She reclined the driver and passenger seats, turning them into two makeshift single beds, then pointed to the passenger side. 

“You sleep over there, Xiao An. Sister will go get the blanket.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to Sister.”

Ying An climbed from the back seat onto the small bed of the passenger seat.

Li Jue retrieved a blanket from the trunk—the only one in the car, grayish-white, not particularly large, and far from thick.

She gave the entire blanket to Ying An and used her own woolen overcoat as a makeshift quilt.

The two of them lay on their sides facing each other.

The boy’s large, watery eyes were open, his delicate little face pink and adorable.

“Sister, are you cold?”

Li Jue shook her head. “As long as Xiao An isn’t cold, it’s fine.”

Ying An looked at the brown overcoat that couldn’t fully cover Li Jue’s body.

He immediately stood up, hugged the blanket, and stepped over to the driver’s seat, lying down beside Li Jue and sharing half the blanket with her.

“Wanting to sleep with Sister again?” Li Jue patted his head.

The boy’s understanding of the relationship between the sexes was already mature.

He knew the difference between men and women and felt a sense of shame about such things.

A few months ago, he had suddenly said he no longer wanted to share a bed with her and stopped running into her room at night.

Li Jue respected Ying An’s wishes.

Unfortunately, the little one still hadn’t broken his habit of kicking off the covers while sleeping, so she still had to go cover him up every night.

“I’m afraid Sister will be cold,” he replied. 

His young, childish voice was soft enough to melt one’s ears.

“Caring so much about Sister, huh? Thank you, Xiao An.”

When it came to educating Ying An, Li Jue felt she had been quite successful.

Although she had never raised a child before, the little one had somehow been raised by her without major mishaps up to now.

He was obedient and sensible, not only excellent in his studies but also rather filial.

The word “filial” might not be entirely appropriate, but Ying An was indeed Li Jue’s adopted son.

She had simply always had him call her Sister…

“Have you been having fun these past few days, Xiao An?”

“Mm, happy. The cherry blossoms were beautiful, Tokyo Tower was so tall, and the sushi was delicious.”

They had come to Hokkaido for a trip.

The various arrangements along the way had exhausted Li Jue.

She had been busy the whole time with little opportunity to properly enjoy herself.

In the past, she would never have gone to such great lengths for something so troublesome.

It all started a few months ago when Ying An saw various photos of Japanese scenery on her computer.

The little one hadn’t made a big fuss about wanting to travel.

It was just seeing that longing expression on his face that made her impulsively ask if he wanted to come play for a bit.

Compared to that, she didn’t really care about the money.

Although this trip had cost Li Jue tens of thousands of yuan, what she thought about was that such an extravagant and expensive lifestyle didn’t suit her occupation as a high school teacher.

To avoid others noticing anything unusual, she couldn’t come too frequently in the future.

Along the way, seeing the boy’s innocent and romantic smiles, watching him laugh so genuinely, Li Jue still felt that everything had been worth it.

Her efforts hadn’t been in vain.

The night grew deeper.

They had only been quiet for a moment when the wind outside began to blow again.

The howling of the wind rang continuously in their ears, and the temperature dropped even lower.

Li Jue thought of a scene from a book she had confiscated from Ying An.

In the ice and snow, a boy carried a girl on his back as they walked along the railway tracks from Moscow Station all the way to the country of Xia.

They chatted as they walked.

The boy had killed the girl’s parents just a few hours earlier because they were scum who had abandoned her for the sake of wealth and fame.

She herself had once hiked a thousand miles on foot, but at that time she had been alone, without a companion.

That series of books was quite well-written.

After confiscating it from Ying An, she had read through it herself.

The books contained many romantic plots.

Although what Ying An was probably interested in were the superpowers and strange creatures inside, she had still confiscated them.

She didn’t want the little one to be exposed to too many matters of love between men and women, at least not yet.

After a while longer, perhaps because he was cold, or maybe out of habit, Ying An curled up his hands and feet and began to slowly burrow into her arms.

His little head was almost pressing against her chest.

Li Jue wrapped one arm around Ying An’s body and gently stroked his soft, cute face with the other.

A sudden icy metallic sensation made the boy wake up.

He looked at Li Jue’s hand and saw the small object on the ring finger of her left hand that made him uncomfortable—a small silver-white ring.

“So pretty…” 

Ying An gazed at the small diamond set inside and couldn’t help but exclaim.

Li Jue only wore this ring when she went out.

It helped her avoid a lot of the trouble caused by her face that was so beautiful it didn’t seem real.

Compared to before when she didn’t wear a ring, she hadn’t encountered any of those self-important men on this trip.

“Do you like it? Sister has another matching one. When Xiao An grows up a little more, Sister will give it to you, okay?”

“Okay, okay! Thank you, Sister.”

Hearing the boy happily agree without hesitation, Li Jue couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

She thought for a moment and added, “I’ll give it to you when we get back. But you’re not allowed to wear it yet. You’ll have to wait a few more years.”

“Mm-hmm, I’ll only wear it when Sister agrees.”

“And one more thing.” 

Li Jue took Ying An’s left hand and hooked his ring finger. 

“You have to wear it on this hand, on this finger.”

“Mm, I’ll remember.”

Ying An smiled happily.

He still didn’t understand the meaning behind it.

Perhaps when he grew up and found out, he wouldn’t want to wear it anymore.

But by then, Li Jue wouldn’t give him a choice.

He had already lost all other options…

After a while longer, the boy who had played all day finally fell asleep.

In the freezing cold, the temperature in the deep night dropped again and again.

The blanket was completely unable to withstand such severe cold.

Li Jue also felt the chill.

Ying An was shivering in her arms, already extremely cold.

She hesitated.

She had a way to keep warm, but ordinary humans in this world still didn’t know about that side of her identity.

If she continued to hide it, Ying An might never know about this matter in his entire life.

It would never be discovered by him…

But was she supposed to just watch him freeze?

Children were fragile.

He might catch something from the cold, and it could leave a lasting problem…

Ying An was the only person in this world worth her trust.

What did he mean to her?

Li Jue’s heart struggled for a long time.

She gently stroked the boy’s face and felt as if something more had been added to her heart.

At least to him, she was willing to be completely honest about everything.

***

Consciousness slowly returned.

Ying An felt that he was holding a large, fluffy thing in his arms, soft and warm.

His body was also enveloped by a warm, soft sensation.

This feeling had accompanied him the entire night.

It was the most comfortable sleep he had ever had in his life.

“It’s already morning, little lazy cat. Wake up.”

Hearing the woman’s gentle and intimate call, Ying An slowly opened his drowsy eyes.

The moment he clearly saw the scene before him, he immediately became fully awake.

His pupils contracted sharply.

For an instant, he thought he was still dreaming.

What entered his eyes were several enormous tails.

Their fur was an extremely pure snow-white, free of the slightest speck of dust—a white cleaner than the snow covering the world outside.

It was these tails that were wrapping around him.

They extended from behind Li Jue.

He stared in astonishment at Li Jue’s face.

On her head grew a pair of snow-white fox ears.

“Good morning, little dummy.”