Become A Character Who Dies Within Three Chapters

Louis looked at the item inside the gift box, and his heart—already resigned—felt no lingering attachment to life. As expected, his intuition rarely failed him, because lying quietly inside the box was a pair of cat ears. A pair of black cat ears! Damn it!

The pair was designed with startling realism, and Louis knew that once he put them on, it would feel as if real cat ears had grown from his head.

But what concerned him even more was their proper function.

This was an era of flourishing technology, especially in mechanization. And the Aurellan family was among the leading clans in that very field. Naturally, cat ears created by Athena—the head of the Aurellan family—couldn't possibly exist to satisfy her personal whims.

Unlike most deviants in this story who fantasized about various forms of love, kinship, or friendship, Athena harbored illusions only about strength and power.

She believed herself to be the most perfect being, convinced that there was nothing she desired that she could not obtain.

She hadn't been pleased when Joshua was born, stealing away their parents' and the elders' attention. And so, she decided her mother would never bear another child. She succeeded—her mother perished directly in a laboratory accident.

She had wanted to become the youngest ever head of the Aurellan family. Thus, the Aurellan family suddenly suffered sabotage from external forces, throwing them into chaos. Yet she was the one to stabilize everything, forcing the ever-argumentative elders to acknowledge and fear her.

She wanted Joshua to remain a pampered child, a mere boy forever. That was why, despite being only one year younger than Athena, he was forever trapped in that small body, and his mind was never allowed to mature.

She might spoil Joshua as a younger brother, but even that was nothing more than a way to flaunt her power.

Joshua was born, Joshua was beside her, but what storms could Joshua possibly raise? In the end, everything was a game of chess, where she alone moved the pieces, while those around her were no more than pawns and amusing toys.

She had every reason to be arrogant, but that arrogance became her greatest weakness. In the end, the very family and career she was so proud of were buried under the poisonous smoke of Sylus.

In the original novel, that was as far as the information went; it had not delved into Sylus's memory loss. Of course, Louis didn't dare to be careless—after all, the fact that he was alive up to this point was already a change, proof that the storyline could be distorted.

He might survive, but he could just as easily die. Everything hinged on a single step—one wrong move, and Athena could very well give him the same ending that Aboli had given "Louis" in the original novel.

He only hoped that aside from its primary function, this damned thing wasn't hiding some bomb.

"What's wrong? Don't you like this gift?" Athena's gentle voice suddenly rang out, laced with playful teasing. Clearly, she knew full well Louis would hate it.

As expected, the moment she finished speaking, Louis shot her a look, his eyes brimming with dissatisfaction. After a long silence, he finally stammered: "Do I… really have to wear this?"

Athena laughed at his pleading gaze, twirling a lock of his hair between her fingers. "If you're going to beg, you should at least be sincere. All I see in your eyes is dissatisfaction."

Louis's gaze flickered with guilt as he quickly looked away, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Haha, how silly," Athena chuckled, adding with a teasing lilt, "At the very least, you're cute."

Louis lowered his head, dodging Athena's hand. "I'm not cute."

Athena knew Louis was acting up again. Kitten was always like that—clearly timid, yet the moment someone treated him kindly, he would grow arrogant, raise his tail high, and bare his tiny fangs.

"If you don't want to wear it, I could stitch it onto your head. Ah, and by the way, adding a tail would definitely make it much more perfect."

Athena gazed at Louis with tenderness, whispering, "I promise it'll feel as though they've been a part of you since the very day you were born."

Her fingers traced a circle around Louis's tailbone. He had the strong impression that she wasn't offering an alternative solution—she was saying what amused her.

She hadn't gone further because she was still more interested in his body, which had yet to undergo mechanization.

Athena watched as Louis, resigned, picked up the cat ears with hands that trembled ever so slightly.

Ha… poor kitten, surely terrified again by her words.

She narrowed her eyes at him, her sharp, slender gaze like a predator watching prey put its own collar on. Athena's lips curved in satisfaction.

Even if it was a beast with claws, ,it should become soft in her hands.

Louis, kitten, I hope you're as adorable as you appear before me.

Under the fixed gazes of Athena and G, Louis slowly placed the cat ears onto his head.

The fur matched Louis's hair perfectly—sleek, glossy, and so real it seemed like an actual cat's ears. The instant the frame touched his head, the ears vanished as though they had never existed, becoming exactly as Athena had promised: as if they had truly grown from him.

And at that very moment, the once-normal cat ears immediately flopped outward to the sides, becoming a pair of airplane ears.

Louis didn't notice. He only looked at Athena, his face flushed red from anger and shame, though he forced himself to meet her gaze obediently.

Athena looked at his ears, then suddenly burst into laughter. Louis could clearly see her eyes curve slightly.

This smile of hers felt somehow different from usual.

Louis's eyes widened at her, his face burning again—but this time from embarrassment. He quickly looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

But Athena suddenly forced him to look at her. She smiled, though this time the smile wasn't the usual gentle one; in her gray eyes flickered a faint trace of red.

She cupped Louis's face with both hands, making him face her. "Do you know something, Louis? I once gave G a pair of dog ears. But the result didn't please me. I really wasn't satisfied."

Louis looked at Athena in puzzlement, his cat ears tilting slightly forward.

Athena leaned close to his face, her voice soft: "So I gave him something else—a muzzle."

What did it matter if he was unwilling? What did it matter if his heart boiled with rage? Once the muzzle was on, a dog without fangs was nothing more than a lapdog!

G, standing off to the side, lowered his head. He heard every word Athena said, yet his expression didn't change.

"But Louis, you're genuine, you're adorable."

Athena sighed softly, affectionately pressing a kiss to Louis's cheek, then the tip of his nose, the corner of his eye, and finally his lips.

"Do you like this gift?" Athena only brushed those light kisses before pulling back, smiling as she looked at him.

Louis stared wide-eyed at her, his face flushed red, and blurted without thinking: "I like it." Whether he meant the cat ears or her gentle kisses, even he didn't know.

Athena laughed. "So silly."

Louis's cat ears instantly flopped into airplane ears again, though they quickly returned to normal. Athena could hear him mutter, "I'm not silly."

Adorable.

Athena stifled her laughter, feeling that if she teased him any further, her little kitten might become unbearably flustered—she didn't want his small head to burn out.

Satisfied, she gently stroked Louis's ears. They twitched in protest, flinching every time her fingers touched them, but no matter what, they couldn't escape Athena's devilish hand.

After thoroughly playing with his cat ears, she finally said with satisfaction, "Alright, go back to your room. Tomorrow, come with me to the Astar auction house—as a reward for your honesty."

Louis felt as though he had been pardoned from a death sentence. He couldn't get up fast enough, hurrying back to his room—and if he could, he would have run.

Watching his hasty retreat, Athena sneered lightly: "Such a coward."