What a fine flower-viewing banquet it had been. It was supposed to be an event for all the fairies, but the mood had somehow plummeted several degrees.
At that moment, Yue Wuhua was like a gas canister about to leak. The tiniest spark would set her off.
Ye Qingxian reached out and tentatively tapped my arm.
"Junior Sister."
I looked up, bewildered. "What?"
After mulling it over, and being honest with myself,
I decided I couldn't keep giving the Female Protagonist the cold shoulder for now. Sticking to my useless-wimp principles was what mattered most. I couldn't afford to offend her beyond repair.
It was only a couple of words. It wasn't like she could sell me off.
Once the flower-viewing banquet was over, I'd make my escape!
"You and Shuang Yue..." Ye Qingxian trailed off. Yue Wuhua was still cosplaying a volcano, so Ye Qingxian decided to step forward and break the stalemate herself. "Um, what's your relationship?" She decided to ask in a different way.
Because she was a little curious about the answer, too.
Shuang Yue slowly raised her head as well. Her little face was still a bit flushed.
She knew Junior Sister Xiaoyao was the kindest.
Even after she'd slipped up so badly, Junior Sister Xiaoyao still hadn't publicly chewed her out for making wild claims about their relationship.
"How am I supposed to answer that? I don't know anything." I took another sip of juice, absorbed in the joy of chewing. "Why don't you just ask Senior Sister Shuangyue? That'd be more direct."
I still hadn't figured out what was going on.
Asking me was pointless.
Who knew what kind of game Senior Sister Shuangyue was playing with herself?
Shuang Yue hesitated for a long time before finally sharing what was on her mind.
Yue Wuhua had been straining to listen for ages.
The only reason she'd held back this long was because her state of mind was worthy of the two question marks in her name.
Was the truth what everyone thought it was?
Soon, they'd know the right answer.
She only hoped Shuang Yue wouldn't bring out that cat princess theory that not even a ghost would believe.
I raised my eyelids, my red eyes slowly focusing as I waited to hear what Senior Sister Shuangyue would say next.
I had a feeling there was a story about me in all this.
Seeing Shuang Yue hesitate, Yue Wuhua could only wave her hand helplessly and conjure a barrier. Inside it, only Ye Qingxian and the other three remained.
"I only meant to tell Junior Sister Xiaoyao." Shuang Yue's gaze was utterly serious. As though she'd finally gathered her courage, she revealed what was in her heart. "But things have come to this, so I might as well tell you all. It shouldn't put us in danger."
Hearing myself mentioned again, I nearly bit my straw flat.
What the heck? Don't tell me your secrets!
Can't you see Yue Wuhua is about to eat me alive?
You really don't care how much trouble you cause, do you?
Shuang Yue did have a pretty unusual way of thinking. In Ye Qingxian's eyes, she was every bit as stubborn and troublesome as her Junior Sister.
I blinked beneath Shuang Yue's earnest gaze, and suddenly my heart started beating faster.
Was she really about to come out with some outrageous conclusion?
Whatever the truth was, as long as it didn't make me offend Yue Wuhua, I didn't care.
She was a big shot with two question marks. It was just strange that she'd suddenly started acting crazy too. Even the Male Lead had lost his appeal.
Shuang Yue took one or two deep breaths, gathering her thoughts, then explained with unusual seriousness for the first time. "Senior Sister, Senior Sister Qingxian, have you ever known what Lineage I was born into?"
"I've never been willing to say it outright because it's dangerous for me. Most of my Lineage's members met tragic ends. Many had their eyes gouged out and used as materials for magical artifacts."
"Now, my father is the only one left from my Lineage."
"Like every member of my Lineage, I was born with an extraordinarily special Spiritual Eye. It lets me see the colors deep in everyone's heart, and the essence of a person's bloodline."
"For example, when I look at Ye Qingxian, she's a great white mass of light, constantly shedding feathers. When I look at Junior Sister Xiaoyao, I see a blurry image that's mostly pink and white. Its shape is very much like a cat, and there's a faint, tiny crystal crown imprinted on its head. If that doesn't make her Cat Princess Your Highness, then what does?"
Pfft—
I sprayed a mouthful of juice, my lips hanging open for ages.
Senior Sister Shuangyue, what kind of alien joke was that?
You're telling me—
I'm a cat?
No. Don't joke around, okay?
That's not funny at all.
I kept denying it. No matter how I looked at it, it was impossible.
Who knew that Shuang Yue wasn't a fool, either? She went straight for a question that hit like a killing blow.
"Junior Sister Xiaoyao, tell me: what do you usually call children?"
"Don't you just call them little ones?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. The more I said, the more wrong it sounded, and the quieter my voice became. "Even when I was pregnant this time, I mostly said I was carrying a little one."
"Exactly. That's the answer." Shuang Yue's eyes lit up. I sprayed out another mouthful of juice. Ye Qingxian calmly wiped her face and handed me a tissue. When it came to keeping her emotions steady, the Female Protagonist was still the best—so long as she wasn't acting crazy.
Shuang Yue continued, "How could a habit ingrained in a cat's very nature change so easily?"
"Why would a normal human call being pregnant 'carrying a little one'? Even when talking about their own children, most people just call them babies."
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