"She’s not like them," Lu Yan replied.

"She does seem a little different, but..."

Qi Yi’s feelings were complicated. On one hand, he felt she wasn’t like other females and didn’t look down on or insult males. On the other, he was afraid she was just very good at hiding her true nature.

’Whatever. We only have to follow her for a couple of weeks at most, anyway.’

Even if she tortured them, it would only be for a few days.

Just thinking about the suffering he and his comrades had endured in the past made his whole body tremble with hatred.

This was especially true of the noble-born females. The more noble their status, the more vicious their personalities.

They would get a whipping just for bringing a drink that wasn’t to their preferred temperature.

The most terrifying part was that even if you reported it to the higher-ups, all that came of it were a few half-hearted reprimands for these High-level females, followed by some compensation and a settlement agreement to sign.

The agreement also stipulated that the matter must be kept confidential.

If word got out, the male would be held principally responsible.

That was the Female Protection Association for you.

It protected High-level females without reason, choosing to safeguard their reputations even when they knew these females were harming males in private.

And all the males ever got was a paltry sum of Star Coins in compensation.

Males like Qi Yi, who were assigned to High-level females, were almost all drawn from within the system.

Some were from the military, others from the government.

Most came from minor planets, selected for their superior looks and high-level talents.

Qi Yi was a High-level Beastman male who had come from a small city on a C-class planet.

After graduating from Federation University, he had returned to his home planet to help develop his hometown.

But when he finally reached a position of influence, he learned that his poor, backward little city should never have been so dilapidated.

It was the parasites, gnawing away at the city’s foundations.

When he tried to exterminate these parasites, his superior had him assigned to the selection pool for a branch of the Female Protection Association.

With his superior looks, impressive resume, and lack of powerful backing, it was no surprise that he was chosen.

After that, he was constantly assigned by the association to jobs receiving females.

In the beginning, he was whipped, reported, and punished for being unable to hide his emotions.

He even went so far as to deliberately make mistakes to provoke a whipping from a female, just to get the compensation money to pay for his younger brother’s education.

Now, however, he had long since learned to wear a mask.

He wasn’t short on money this year, so he hadn’t specifically applied to be any particular female’s attendant, instead just waiting for a random assignment.

And so he was assigned to Jiang Qin, the S-level female who had appeared out of nowhere.

The reason she was said to have appeared suddenly was that in the Interstellar era, High-level females were widely known from a young age.

The people at the association were very familiar with these females; generally, they only had to attend to these "acquaintances."

These exclusive butlers had a private list among themselves.

It recorded detailed information on each female, such as her personality, hobbies, background, and so on.

Comrades who needed money would volunteer to attend to the ill-tempered females.

Those in poor health who couldn’t endure a beating were left to attend to the better-tempered ones.

Jiang Qin, however, fell into the "unknown" category.

And unknown meant dangerous.

They had no idea if they might get savagely beaten for something as trivial as stepping with their left foot first while attending to her.

Because of this, a few comrades had actually wanted to apply to be her attendants to scout things out for everyone else.

But after discussing it, they ultimately decided to leave it to random chance and entrust everything to fate.

And so, he and Lu Yan ended up with her.

As for Jiang Qin’s personal assistant, she was a Half-beastman female, not one of their kind, so they didn’t know her.

However, Qi Yi figured she was probably screwed for not waiting at her post in advance.

Jiang Qin had already been here for a full day and night, yet the assistant still hadn’t shown up.

Of course, as her exclusive butler, he wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility either.

He wasn’t a masochist, eager to make a mistake and be punished. But the Half-beastman female simply wouldn’t reply to his messages, so he had no choice but to report it.

Coming back to his senses, he looked at the quiet and reserved Lu Yan and offered a piece of advice:

"Whether she’s faking it or this is who she really is, just remember to talk less and do more. You can’t go wrong with that.

It’s fine if you don’t want to talk, but you have to be proactive. Don’t give anyone a reason to find fault with you."

"Mm."

As if feeling he had been too cold, Lu Yan added, "Thanks."

"What’s there to be formal about? We’re brothers in misfortune. Let’s go. Get some rest so we can head over early and wait upstairs."

"What time?"

"Six o’clock."

Qi Yi didn’t dare wait until ten o’clock to go over.

In any case, it was better to do too much than too little.

***

Jiang Qin, Yun Xie, and the others were staying in a four-bedroom suite, so she had rested with Yuan Ling last night.

As for the others, they of course had to sleep hugging their own blankets.

Due to her pregnancy, she was waking up rather late these days, so Yun Xie and the others tacitly agreed not to disturb her.

They couldn’t sleep in that late, however, so they got up early and went out for a morning run.

When they opened the door, they saw the two men waiting, but didn’t say anything.

It was Qi Yi who took the initiative to greet them. "Are you gentlemen heading out? Do you require a driver?"

"No need. We’re going for a morning run."

"Then we won’t keep you. Has Miss Jiang woken up?"

"Not yet. You can wait in the living room. No need to arrange breakfast; we’ll be back later with some local specialties."

"Alright."

After Yun Xie and the others left, Qi Yi and Lu Yan went inside to wait.

’This female’s scent is so unique,’ Qi Yi mused, taking in the faint fragrance in the air. ’It’s nothing like those other heavy perfumes. It’s light and fresh. Like a green sprout growing in the snow—crisp and elegantly subtle. I wonder which Beastman male will win her favor at the upcoming banquet.’

The wait was a little boring, so Qi Yi simply opened his Light Computer, searched for Jiang Qin’s name, and started digging into her past.

He had actually searched for her when he was first assigned, but there wasn’t much about her on the Empire’s Star Network.

Besides, he had been full of personal feelings at the time and hadn’t watched everything carefully. He only watched the variety show, hoping to guess her personality from the slice-of-life scenes.

His final conclusion was: a female who was very conscious of her public image.

A female like that, even if she had a vicious personality, would never do anything to break character.

He quite liked attending to this type of female.

Because they would only have others bully people behind the scenes; they would never do it themselves.

Seeing him on his Light Computer, Lu Yan hesitated for a moment before taking out his own.

However, he searched exclusively for videos and guides on wilderness exploration.

The two of them kept themselves occupied until Yun Xie and the others returned, at which point they quickly turned off their Light Computers.

It was at that moment that the door to the master bedroom finally opened.