At All-Race Academy, where the most outstanding youths from the Three Realms gather, one name is known by all—Fox Lian.
A young man of the fox clan, Fox Lian possesses a beauty said to enchant all living beings. With silver hair, violet eyes, and skin fairer than snow, his features are so exquisitely sculpted they seem the work of a divine artisan. Not to mention the pair of silver-furred fox ears that twitch ever so slightly atop his head, and the soft, fluffy tail behind him that could steal hearts with a single sway. He only needs to stand still, and he becomes the most breathtaking sight in the world—enough to make countless classmates swoon.
Emma, a divine-blooded prodigy of her generation, is calm, composed, and top of her class—a model student in the eyes of her teachers. But she harbors a secret no one knows: she suffers from an extreme case of fluffy-phobia. Not disgust, but a physiological fear rooted in childhood trauma—an accidental scare from a furry spirit beast that left her unable to control her reactions. Just seeing, or even thinking about fluffy creatures sends chills down her spine and numbs her fingertips.
So, while the entire academy is obsessed with Fox Lian, Emma is the lone exception. She avoids any situation where she might encounter him, even going so far as to avert her gaze from his dazzling, fur-adorned figure.
The problem? Her best friend—Gu Liang of the dragon clan—is hopelessly smitten with him.
"Emma! Look! Fox Lian smiled at me today!" Gu Liang clutched her face, her dragon tail swishing excitedly behind her, cheeks flushed. "Do you think he likes me too?"
Watching her friend in the throes of a crush, Emma felt a storm of emotions. She wanted her friend to be happy, but couldn't help worrying—if Gu Liang really got together with Fox Lian, wouldn't that mean Emma would have to face that fluffy menace regularly? Just imagining it made her breath hitch.
To avoid seeming out of place—and to better "monitor" the situation (and protect herself from surprise fox encounters)—Emma made a difficult decision: she would pretend.
She began mingling with the Fox Lian fan crowd, mimicking their swooning tones.
"Ah, Fox Lian's hair ribbon today really suits him."
"Even the breeze when he walks smells sweet, right?"
She even "helpfully" offered Gu Liang strategic advice:
"Maybe you could 'accidentally' spill ink where he walks, then help him clean it…"
"Or leave a rare book he's been looking for in the reading room he frequents…"
Emma's performance was flawless. She even kept a notebook tracking Fox Lian's preferences and whereabouts, ready to provide "intel" whenever Gu Liang needed it. Everyone assumed the ever-composed Emma had finally fallen for Fox Lian's charm—just in a more reserved and helpful way (i.e., helping Gu Liang).
But in the process, Emma noticed something strange.
To keep up the act, she forced herself to observe Fox Lian… or rather, his accessories. She discovered he had a fondness for fluffy adornments—a snow-white pompom at his waist, a fox-tail-shaped brooch at his collar, even a hair tie woven with soft fur.
At first, these made her tense up instinctively. But over time, especially after confirming they were inanimate and lifeless, her hypersensitive nerves began to relax.
She started to think: that white pompom… looked kind of soft. The fox-tail brooch had such smooth fur flow, shimmering gently in the light. She even began to wonder—what would it feel like to touch?
This budding curiosity toward non-living fluff confused her deeply. She continued her "obsessive" observation of Fox Lian's accessories while drawing a firm line in her mind—living fluff? Absolutely not. Dead fluff? …Maybe?
Unbeknownst to her, a pair of seemingly lazy yet sharply perceptive violet eyes had been watching her all along. Fox Lian had noticed that the divine girl who always avoided him—whose gaze once held subtle tension—was now looking at him (or rather, his accessories) more often. And in her eyes, the fear seemed to be fading, replaced by something more complex… a flicker of curiosity?
Fox Lian's lips curled into a faint smile, his fluffy tail sweeping lazily across the floor.
It seemed that the fortress once thought impenetrable… was beginning to crumble from an unexpected direction.