Cub 019: Zao Zao Chose to Eats Angry

These two words successfully escalated the situation.

“Awoo!”

What followed was the little cub’s angry baby voice.

You’re the cockroach!!!

The little cub’s cheeks puffed with anger. Dressed in the brown outfit, he charged menacingly.

He didn’t care about the cold anymore, running while raising his little bow high, furiously dashing over.

Clutching his little Cupid’s Bow, he tried to make Anya issue heartfelt confessions to the entire royal court!

The little halo on his head popped out with a “biu,” flickering in fury.

He ran hard on his four little legs.

To be honest, this speed was snail’s pace for an adult Crown Clan member.

After all, he was just a five-year-old cub.

But at that moment, Anya felt guilty too.

Even though he was often called difficult, saying something like that was a bit much, even for him.

He just dodged the flying spirit arrows, a bit annoyed, scratching his head and looking at Frey.

Frey glanced at him once, then silently, steadily, retreated several steps, eyeing the flying little spirit arrows with a look of “reverence.”

Clearly, Frey really didn’t want to personally experience that spirit power that made anyone shot with it blurt out passionate confessions.

Anya: …

But did you have to back away that far?

“Can you just pretend I didn’t say anything?”

Anya dodged, frustrated.

“Awoo!”

No way!

Today, Zao Zao will make you profess your love to everything in the royal court!!

You’d better declare your love to cockroaches too!

The little furball chased and Anya fled.

Little Chu Zao needed to work hard to catch up; after all, as a ball of fluff, even drawing the bow took some time to stop and aim.

Anya was quick on his feet, but didn’t dare say much more—for a moment, the two of them were quite caught up in this standoff.

At that moment, the sky overhead took on a faint, grayish-blue cast.

In the royal court’s monitoring center, the readings for spatial fluctuation and pollution were quietly rising.

But for now, they were still within safe limits, so no one took notice.

Amos had handled most of the paperwork. He heard the ruckus outside and stood by the window, looking out.

Although not all Crown Clan members lived near the royal court, long ago, it used to be extremely lively everywhere inside.

It had been a long time since he’d seen this kind of commotion.

Mori entered with a teapot, seeing Amos at the window. He paused to refill Amos’s teacup before speaking: “Rare to see it so lively. Your Majesty, won’t you go out and take a look?”

Amos seemed thoughtful.

As the Alpha of the Crown Clan, the leader of the entire empire, and bearer of the clan’s last fate, he had shown astonishing talent as a child and was chosen as the next emperor. There was so much to do and learn—he had also witnessed too much sorrow among his people.

Playing and mischief were memories from his youngest days.

Now, listening to the lively shouting and seeing the angry, stomping little furball, Amos withdrew his gaze and finally decided he’d go down for a look.

Amos turned to leave, Mori following behind.

Mori kept smiling and said to Amos, “The little prince really likes Your Majesty. If you can spare more time to play with him, he’d be very happy.”

Mori could tell how much the little cub relied on Amos.

Amos’s steps paused, his mind flashing to that vision of the little cub huddled in his nest, eyes red, blowing on his wounds.

Amos had run many countries and made many important decisions, but still didn’t know how to handle these things.

“Raising a child is more troublesome than I thought.”

Mori didn’t know what Amos had seen, only raised his brows with a hint of puzzlement.

“In my opinion, the little prince is already very easy to raise.”

As the palace butler, Mori was not only Amos’s half-assistant on the job but also his full-time life steward.

All palace stewards would know much more about the Crown Clan, in order to help with every aspect of their daily lives.

Even though Morley had never seen a little Crown Clan cub himself, records showed how Crown Clan cubs grew up—showered with the clan’s love, naughty and competitive every day.

The most legendary tale was how, a few centuries ago, several little princes piloted a starship to a drifter planet to blow up the mutant beasts that bullied passing ships. The little princes themselves were injured quite badly.

But punished by the elders, they were more upset—then flew off again in the starship to wipe out what remained of the mutant beasts.

It was exactly the “stereotype” the Holy Cas Empire had toward the Crown Clan’s princes.

A child like Little Chu Zao, so good and cute and even a bit shy, was very rare.

Mori: “But if you intend to eventually hand the whole Holy Cas Empire over to the little prince, you really will have to put in a lot of care.”

Outside, Little Chu Zao was still chasing Anya. What surprised Anya was that the little guy was starting to catch up—if he kept dodging at his old speed, the little one was closing the distance.

Especially that scalp-numbing little golden bow.

At last, Anya dodged in a hurry and crashed into a low shrub by the flowerbed.

Snow fell from the bush, instantly covering the low steps.

Anya, now moving much faster, darted far, far away.

Little Chu Zao couldn’t dodge in time, stepped onto the snow, and—his paw slipped—

Zao Zao: …“Awoo?”

Huh?

The little furball rolled right down the steps.

He tried to spread his wings, but the clothes held them tight—so he tumbled like a ball, bouncing twice when he hit the ground.

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

By the time Meilun and Frey, who’d been trailing behind, noticed, it was a bit late.

They arrived quickly, but were still a step too slow.

Anya, who’d just sprinted away, was the closest—rushed back and just managed to catch the little cub sliding out.

The brown fuzzball collapsed on the ground.

The little halo on his head seemed to have been thrown with the forward momentum—landing in a bush, then shaking off the leaves and slowly floating back.

Anya was startled, worried the furball was hurt.

He shouldn’t have been injured—oh, right, the little guy had never seen snow before and didn’t know it could be this slippery.

Anya didn’t care about anything else, instinctively wanting to pick up the furball.

But Meilun got there first, hugging the little cub, while Frey frowned, “Anya, that was too much.”

Anya opened his mouth. He wanted to say it wasn’t on purpose, but at this point, he couldn’t say anything.

From the start, he’d treated the cub very badly.

And now he’d been whacked by the little guy’s halo, shot with his bow and arrow.

This time the cub fell and, even though Anya was nearest, hadn’t protected him—no matter how you looked at it, it was all on him.

“I’m a cockroach, I’m a cockroach, whatever.” Anya scratched his cheek, mumbling, “Should’ve let him get his revenge just now. Why’d I dodge…”

“Awoo!”

Zao Zao hates you!

Anya’s face changed subtly, but he said nothing, standing still, waiting for the little cub’s revenge.

But the little ball just pressed his little paw to his forehead and jumped down from Meilun’s arms.

“Awoo.”

Zao Zao wants to find Baba!

Actually, Little Chu Zao hadn’t fallen hard—the fluffy clothes, though keeping his wings tied, also wrapped him into a cushion, so it didn’t hurt much. He’d just been running for a while, was cold, and most importantly, felt embarrassed.

The little cub toddled off ahead.

Meilun and Frey followed behind.

“Slowly, Zao Zao, it’s slippery when snowy,” Meilun called, this time remembering to stay a little closer, only stopping when he’d watched the little cub hop inside.

Little Chu Zao remembered seeing Baba on the third floor earlier. His four little legs went pitter-patter, halo flashing on his head. On the way up, he overheard Amos and Mori talking.

“I have no particular expectations for Zao Zao.”

Amos’s voice was steady as always, emotionless.

Just like all his past calm decisions.

The little one froze on the steps, blinking his honey-colored, clear eyes.

Mori: “No expectations meaning…?”

“He was never in my life plan,” Amos reflected, “I just found him, and since he’s my cub, I have to take responsibility.”

A brief, considered answer after only a short time as a caretaker.

“But as a Crown Clan member, there’s much he still has to do, many storms to pass; he needs to become independent as soon as possible. In some ways, he’s a bit clingy.”

Amos didn’t see clinginess as a bad thing—just, as a Crown Clan member, by instinct he used what childhood memories he had to judge how to raise the little one.

Needs to go through more storms? Finds Zao Zao clingy?

Mori sensed Amos’s inner turmoil—he was changing unconsciously as a father, but his mindset hadn’t fundamentally shifted.

Mori smiled respectfully: “You’ll probably regret it.”

Amos was noncommittal, as arrogantly aloof as ever.

Little Chu Zao stood on the steps, dazed—Did Baba think Zao Zao was clingy?

There was no time to think more.

Meilun entered carrying the frozen persimmon, Frey dragged Anya along.

Upstairs, Amos came down and saw the little cub crouched pitifully on the steps. He paused.

“What’s wrong, Zao Zao?”

“He was bullied by this guy,” Meilun said gleefully, still holding the persimmon, trying to embellish Anya’s villainy.

Anya hung his head, silent.

Little Chu Zao was picked up by Amos. He himself hadn’t worked it through, but covered in snow and cold, Baba’s arms were warm and gentle, so he snuggled close—and saw Anya, remembering his anger. His already-round fuzzy head puffed even more.

It had been a busy morning; the cub’s milk had arrived.

He was so caught up being angry, he kept a string of awoo-awoo complaints going.

“So upset?” Amos held the cub on the sofa, took the milk, “Still want to eat?”

Little Chu Zao’s tummy rumbled, but he awooed with a pout. He looked at Anya, then at the milk bottle—thinking, he wanted to be tougher, so he held the bottle himself this time, not letting the adult feed him. He drank in gulps, grumbling and complaining between swallows.

He’s the (ton ton ton) cockroach (ton ton ton) he’s a bad guy—Zao Zao (ton ton ton) hates him (ton ton ton) Baba.

Amos watched little Chu Zao with his bottle and felt a vague emptiness, but hearing those baby complaints, he couldn’t quite understand—

Faced with eating and being angry, the little cub chose to angrily eat his food with awuoowoo complaints?

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【Author’s Note】

The Baba-cub crematorium level—mild, mild, mild【Even not getting to feed the cub makes His Majesty feel empty—how could he possibly want Zao Zao to weather storms ←-←】

Uncle-chase-cub crematorium level—danger!!