Synopsis
In the future, To pay for her mother’s medical treatment, Ivy, a calico cat, is forced to agree to a substitute marriage—taking the place of her white-furred stepsister to wed Lucian, a leopard cat. Rumor has it Lucian is a useless playboy who once went to jail for abducting others. Ivy’s marriage becomes a public joke. Humiliated, she moves into the Rothwell Estate, enduring cold stares from elders and socialite cats alike. What Ivy doesn’t know is the truth: Lucian is the secret owner of the city’s largest canned food factory and cat litter empire. To Ivy, the marriage is nothing more than a transaction. Lucian, too, is initially indifferent. But as he gets to know her, he realizes Ivy is nothing like the others. His curiosity turns into concern, and soon he begins helping her quietly from the shadows—falling for her without realizing it. Ivy, in turn, slowly opens her heart to Lucian. As Ivy grows increasingly favored, her stepmother and stepsister can no longer contain their jealousy. They repeatedly provoke her and spread rumors that Ivy is “low-born” and unworthy of a leopard cat.Meanwhile, power struggles erupt within the Rothwell family. A scheming clan leader and a calculating cousin attempt to use Lucian and Ivy’s marriage to undermine him in the fight for inheritance. Yet no matter the attacks or conspiracies surrounding them, Lucian and Ivy’s bond only grows strongesocial class is no longer determined by bloodline or wealth, but by the level and permissions of the chip implanted in one’s body. First-class citizens possess the most advanced neural implants. Their consciousness can directly interface with the city’s central system. Thought becomes command. Authorization becomes reality. Some can even reconstruct matter and reshape the world itself. Second-class citizens use standard functional chips, limited to education, labor, and daily life management. Third-class citizens are barred from high-level systems, restricted to low-frequency or damaged implants. At the very bottom are human–animal hybrids, officially classified as “maladaptive entities.” Aurelia Montclair is the most flawless heir of a first-class family. She carries a top-tier core chip, fully compatible with her brain. It allows her to process massive streams of data, precisely regulate emotion, and shut off pain and fear at will. Wealth, authority, and chip rank have taught her to control everything—until her family finalizes an unavoidable political marriage. To tear that arrangement apart, and to prove she still has the power to choose, Aurelia publicly keeps a “maladaptive entity” as her own.A hybrid werewolf named Lior. He has no surname, no legal identity, no access to the city system. He is barely recognized as human. Aurelia uses high-level authority to lock a control collar around his neck, suppresses his instincts through technology, and sustains him with money—demanding absolute obedience and loyalty in return. It was meant to be a precise, rational transaction. But Lior submits too easily. He calls himself her “puppy,” kneels without hesitation, accepts every restraint without resistance. As time passes, this hybrid—meant to be fully contained—begins to display strength and adaptability far beyond system predictions. Control remains. But the direction is quietly shifting. When a being labeled inferior begins to evolve, when chips are no longer the sole source of power— who, exactly, is training whom? And how long can a world built on chip-based order remain stable?