Shen Yuan laughs. "I notice you didn't fight me on 'pampered,'" he teases, "and on a day I'm not even wearing seven layers of overcomplicated, hand-embroidered silk." Then, casually, as if this isn't the thing that he's been aiming for all along, "why a hound?"

He likes hound better than dog, and is glad to hear Sagramore phrase it that way. It sounds less like something he could weaponize against himself.