CLICK, CLICK. Mila snapped a few photos of her young mistress and saved them to her drive. The butler had secretly instructed the robot to do so. Besides, even an artificial intelligence found the little girl's silly smile absolutely adorable.
Ruby Rowland sat in the hanging basket for a while longer, combing through her hair with her small hands before climbing out to start her online drawing class for the day. She loved to draw. It was a passion she carried over from her past life, though back then, she had neither the time nor the money to learn. Now, she had all the time in the world, and finding online courses didn't cost a single cent!
Ruby's beautiful eyes curved into little crescents. She sat quietly and obediently, her gaze sparkling as she stared at the drawing lesson Mila projected for her. With her small arms resting on the desk, knees pressed together, and back perfectly straight, her posture was impeccably proper. The sight melted the robot's mechanical heart. She followed along with the lesson, scribbling and sketching on a blank drawing pad with her pen.
Two hours flew by. She only put down her pen when Mila urged her to take a break, following the robot out for a stroll on the garden lawn.
Perhaps the fresh air felt too comfortable. Ruby sneaked a glance around and found no one in sight.
"I shouldn't... I shouldn't get caught, right?"
She clenched her tiny fists, her eyes brimming with nervousness. Then, unable to hold back, she wiggled her little bottom. A fluffy, snow-white, ethereally soft tail popped out from beneath her skirt.
Mila froze in electronic shock.
Ruby hurriedly and anxiously hugged her snowy, furry tail, curling it into her hands. She pressed an index finger to her lips and shushed her companion. "This is our secret. You're not allowed to tell anyone, Mila."
A tangle of garbled code flashed across Mila's display screen before forming a bright smiley face. "Don't worry, Ruby. I won't say a word."
Ruby immediately breathed a sigh of relief. A happy smile blossomed on her face, and she comfortably began to pet her own tail. Her true form was a Ragdoll Cat Kitty. When fully transformed, she was so tiny that she couldn't even fill her dad's palm. As a long-haired breed, she looked exactly like an exploded dandelion when all her fur puffed up. However, in her human form, revealing only her ears and tail made the appendage look rather disproportionately large.
Ruby squeezed the tail in her hands. Every press of her small fingers left a furry little dent. Soon enough, she ended up ruffling her own tail into a frizzy mess. Sitting on a stool, she stared pitifully at the tangled fluff. "Mila, could you go fetch me a comb, please?"
Mila readily agreed and returned with a comb in under two minutes. In high spirits, Ruby swung her fluffy tail from side to side. She waddled over, hugging her tail as she took the comb. "Thank you, Mila."
The furry little dumpling gripped the small comb and brushed her tail until it looked even fluffier and silkier. Unable to resist, she hugged it tightly, rubbing her soft cheeks against the fur. It felt so comfortable. Even though she was considered useless, Ruby didn't hate her kitty form at all.
As she brushed her tail, Ruby had no idea that Shawn Russell had security cameras installed throughout the house. Due to his status, he kept many highly classified documents at home. Even with top-tier defensive measures, cameras were a necessity. They provided comprehensive, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree surveillance covering every blind spot in the Marshal's Estate. Despite having the system, Shawn rarely checked the feeds unless the estate's alarms were triggered.
But now, he had a daughter at home. While eating his lunch in his office after a busy morning, Shawn suddenly felt the urge to see what Ruby was doing and whether she had eaten properly. He absentmindedly opened the home surveillance app. She wasn't in the main hall, but he spotted her outside in the yard. When he looked closely, Shawn froze.
Behind his soft, delicate daughter, a massive, fluffy, ethereally white tail had popped out! This shouldn't have been a big deal. As a Starbeast Clansman, having animal ears and a tail was perfectly normal. Yet, in all his years, he had never seen a furry tail that looked so fragile, harmless, and incredibly soft to the touch.
A Starbeast's tail was also a weapon. For example, his beast form was a tiger with a long, whip-like tail. Though covered in fur, it was also lined with razor-sharp scales. Anyone who had seen it would never be foolish enough to consider his tail harmless. Shawn couldn't help but zoom in on the monitor. At that moment, Ruby was hugging her squishy tail, brushing her fur. The snow-white, long fur was smooth and silky. It genuinely lacked any lethal potential, instead exuding a weak and pitiful aura from every angle.
Shawn was speechless. A tail like that could never serve as a weapon, but... it was so, so cute. He used to think the word "cute" would never be associated with a Starbeast, simply because their true forms were never small. But now, for the first time, he applied the word to his own daughter.
Shawn recalled how the little one had hugged him and cried so pitifully, claiming she was a Defective Beast—a Ragdoll Cat. He had tried looking up Ragdoll Cats afterward but found absolutely nothing. He was too busy with work. When he couldn't find any information, he didn't dig deeper, temporarily putting the matter in the back of his mind. But now... looking at his daughter's fluffy tail, he suddenly felt a strong desire to know exactly what kind of species a Ragdoll Cat was.
Right at that moment, his assistant, Zachary Sterling, walked in.
"Marshal, these are the post-battle summary reports sent over from the border battlefield."
He had intended to drop off the documents and leave immediately, but the Marshal stopped him. "Zachary, do you know what a Ragdoll Cat is?"
Zachary looked at him blankly. "A Ragdoll Cat? What kind of animal is that?"
"You may go," Shawn said.
It seemed his assistant didn't know either. Shawn had searched through every single entry in the Starbeast form database but found no mention of a Ragdoll Cat.
Shawn narrowed his deep blue eyes, his fingers tapping rhythmically against the desk. Children of the Starbeast Clan awakened their beast forms shortly after birth, inheriting their species from either their father or their mother. His entire family belonged to the feline category, though not all of them were Kylin Tigers, as atavism and skipped generations sometimes occurred.
Ruby said she was a Ragdoll Cat. The beast form of that woman was a Charming Fox, which meant Ruby had inherited the Russell Family's feline genes. But... he had never heard of a Ragdoll Cat. He thought back to that day, to the way the little girl had cried so heartbrokenly, calling herself a Defective Beast and terrified of being abandoned.
A Defective Beast... huh?
At this moment, Ruby had no idea that her secret was already half-exposed. After combing her tail fur smooth, she hid it away again. The day passed quickly. By the afternoon, Ruby calculated the time her dad would get off work. She carried a small stool to the entrance and waited eagerly.
The butler glanced at the weather outside. The temperature difference between day and night in their area was quite drastic. Afraid the little one would catch a cold, he spoke up. "Miss Rowland, let's wait inside. It's getting cold out here."
Ruby hurriedly held up the edges of her coat. "I'm not cold! I'm not cold at all. I want to wait for Dad to come home."