Su Duan gently tilted his neck, exposing his most vulnerable spot to the predator's lips and teeth.

The adult Luota carefully retracted his teeth, using only soft lips and tongue tip to repeatedly mark the fair neck, ensuring to leave his strong scent on every inch of skin.

- The marking must not have been deep enough, that's why those annoying ugly dumplings had the nerve to crowd around.

His little prey's original scent was very light, with an indescribable bittersweet note. It couldn't really be called very sweet, but when it reached Vigter's nose, it seemed to take on an addictive strange flavor that made even his breathing grow heavy.

Because of Su Duan's stretched neck posture, the faintly green blood vessels carrying streams of blood under the easily pierced skin slightly protruded, constantly tempting his taste buds.

Vigter traced along the raised vessel lines, licking over them again to be safe, deepening the scent he left behind.

This was the most important spot that must be well hidden.

"Mm..."

The sensation of the sensitive nerve-filled neck being repeatedly caressed was indescribable. Su Duan's Adam's apple kept rolling as his lashes lowered, a sheen of moisture rising in his eyes, a flush of heat spreading from his neck to his cheeks.

Vigter's licking this time was more urgent and prolonged than ever before. When his Adam's apple was engulfed by teeth and lightly nibbled, Su Duan couldn't help letting out a muffled groan. His hands that originally had no strength resting on the youth's shoulders reflexively used some force to push him away.

"Don't, don't do that... It'll get bitten raw."

The black-haired youth forcefully sucked the small Adam's apple again, making a sticky smacking sound, before reluctantly lifting his head from his little prey's neck and lowering his gaze to meet his.

Perhaps frightened by him or something else, his little prey's cheeks and neck were flushed pink, the corners of his mouth anxiously pursed. His black glassy eyes were also moist, appearing somewhat unusually nervous. This bullied look of wanting to shrink into himself made him... want to pin him down and lick him all over again.

But his little prey's palms still carried a resisting force against his shoulders. Guessing that continuing the marking might upset him, Vigter restrained his desire to keep going. He grabbed his little prey's wrist and gently smooched it a couple times, hoarsely saying: "I won't do it anymore."

After smooching a while longer, he added: "...Don't let those little brats climb on you, what if they bite you? It's already very dangerous for you to be here..."

As a little prey at the very top of the Luota's menu, him actually staying at the Luota headquarters like this, no one would probably believe it if word got out.

He himself could control his urge to not harm his little prey out of a desire to protect him, but the other Luotas here might not be the same as him.

Especially that powerful adult of the same race - although very unwilling to admit it, Vigter had to acknowledge that with his current strength, he was absolutely no match for Aiberta.

Although now imperial law equally protected every individual life regardless of race, with malicious human-eating incidents punishable by life imprisonment at minimum, even under such strict legal constraints, there were still annual cases of beastmen eating other races, showing that the greedy appetite ingrained in beastmen's bones could not be completely restrained by the law.

...So he must watch over his little prey closely.

Seeing the big baby who just moments ago was angrily brawling with the dumplings and little dumplings now solemnly warning him, Su Duan blinked and obediently made an "en" sound.

Actually, the situation was not as severe as Vigter imagined. When meeting that Emperor for the first time, Su Duan could sense the goodwill emanating from the older Luota. Although he had no practical experience, he vaguely felt the other party did not seem like someone who would lose reason over food... Even if worst came to worst and those Luotas really went berserk, he could still buy an upgraded version of spinach from the system to escape.

But these things could not be clearly explained to Vigter, so Su Duan just touched his cheek with his palm, wanting to convey some reassurance.

The black-haired youth took the opportunity to grasp his hand, deeply burying his face into the palm to nuzzle it, saying: "Let's find a way to leave here in a few days."

The more he thought about it, the more unsafe it felt to stay here. Between his tribe and his beloved little prey, the adult Luota chose to abandon his tribe without hesitation.

However, Su Duan shook his head and stopped him: "No rush, this is your tribe... Besides, you still need to attend school."

Even though he had the system as a cheat device, the various resources the royal family could provide Vigter were incomparable. So staying with Vigter in the royal family was a must, something he had long put on his agenda and was now just happening a bit earlier.

Vigter replied without blinking: "I'm not going."

Schooling and whatnot, how could that be more important than his little prey?

Seeing the stubborn big baby before him, Su Duan pinched his cheek with concern, trying his best to persuade: "I think Mr. Aiberta is a good person. Those younglings taught by him are very polite and probably won't bite people randomly..."

Those younglings were very restrained even when extending their claws, clearly very well-educated.

As soon as he finished speaking, his wrist was bitten.

Su Duan paused for a moment before softly saying: "...Even if things go south, I have ways to protect myself. Viji, be good, trust me, okay?"

Thinking of the definitely non-public educational videos Su Duan showed him as a child, and the fact that he was actually able to establish contact with the royal family, a trace of dark light flashed in the adult Luota's eyes.

His little prey was a little prey with secrets, he had always known.

The highly possessive Luota did not feel dissatisfied about being kept in the dark, only hoping the other could rely on these little secrets to protect himself well.

"Then you can't leave my side..." After staring into his little prey's bright black eyes for a while, Vigter still chose to compromise. He nibbled on his little prey's palm and turned his face to say sullenly: "You have to always stay in my sight."

"Alright." Su Duan touched his soft hair that fell down, saying, "Good boy, go put on some clothes... aren't you cold?"

As soon as they entered the room, Vigter transformed into human form and pressed him against the door, rubbing against him for over ten minutes while naked... Beastmen seemed to have a particularly lacking sense of shame in this regard.

Vigter shook his head. "Not cold."

"...You should still put something on."

Although there was no one else in the room besides the two of them, Su Duan still felt an inexplicable sense of embarrassment - especially when Vigter had just licked him to the point that he couldn't help having a slight reaction, but Vigter himself showed no signs of arousal due to his mating season not arriving yet. It made Su Duan feel a misplaced sense of corrupting a child.

"You help me get dressed." The adult Luota rubbed his cheek against Su Duan's, very uncooperatively.

"You're already so big... you can't make me help put on your un-underwear too." Su Duan pushed at him, controlling his gaze to not slide downwards.

The adult Luota who had lost all sense of shame firmly hugged him and nuzzled him. "Just this once..."

......

The issue of Vigter's education was quickly put on the agenda.

Because beastmen live in beast form before adulthood, their education is actually divided into two stages. The cub stage focuses on training instincts and hunting skills. Due to species differences, the training methods vary between clans, mostly conducted at home.

After the cubs reach adulthood, they attend school in human form and then choose a specialized field.

The Luota clan was no exception.

Thanks to the secret cub education videos Su Duan stole from the royal family and his intentional training, Vigter's first stage was quite complete. After Emperor Aiberta assessed him, he decided to enroll Vigter in school.

The school chosen was the Capital Comprehensive Academy. The first year would cover general foundational courses, with specializations chosen in the second year.

"The other three adult cubs in our family are all there too, so Viji won't be bullied." The emperor, who had light golden hair and deep emerald eyes, tactfully expressed his wish for Vigter to preview the coursework. "The new school year starts in August this year, so there are still three months. Viji can go to the study at home first to self-study some foundational courses. He may still be lacking common sense in some areas... I will grant you access to the study later."

The royal cubs begin receiving specialized tutoring from a young age. In comparison, Viji was indeed a bit lacking in this regard.

Su Duan held his small teacup and said, "Thank you, I will take him to read the books."

Hearing them discuss schooling, the black-haired youth sitting further away couldn't help but twitch his ears, furrowing his brows.

Due to their agreement to "not be apart", when the emperor invited Su Duan for afternoon tea and a chat, Su Duan had to bring along Vigter who had completely attached himself.

While he talked with the emperor, the adult Luota perked his ears and observed the emperor's every move from a slight distance.

The emperor also glanced at this recently returned adult clansman, seeing his nervous demeanor and vaguely guessing his thoughts.

He's afraid of being separated from this human, right?

It was clear that maturing too early made this large cub extremely insecure, wishing to cling to the human who raised him 24/7. If asked to attend school alone, he would definitely throw a fit.

He might even fight the emperor over it.

So the emperor deliberately paused for a moment. Once the black-haired Luota grew so agitated he was about to start clawing the sofa, the emperor said to the human before him:

"I've also arranged for your enrollment at Capital Comprehensive Academy. You're only 22 this year, still very young... also the age to be in school. No rush on choosing a major, decide after the first year."

In this era where the average human lifespan reached 200, 22 was indeed the age to still be in school.