“So you even know a foreign tongue… though your writing is all wobbly and messy…” Hu Lingxuan mused.
Just then, he looked down and saw the little morsel’s plump, bun-like hands continue to scrawl and draw clumsily across the paper. Before his eyes, those crooked, disjointed marks were joined together by her trembling fingers and turned into an extremely, hideously ugly… tiger.
Hu Lingxuan: …
Biting back the urge to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead, Su Mingyue picked up the paper and lifted it high, looking up with a wide, innocent smile.
“Brother… look… ti-ger…”
Hu Lingxuan: …
Could it be… that this little morsel really was just a simple, clueless little thing?
That night, Hu Lingxuan still harbored some suspicion, but he decided that even if she had some hidden tricks, she was far too weak to cause any real trouble. With that thought, she could not possibly disturb his sleep.
For Su Mingyue, however, the rest of the night was filled with restless tossing and turning.
Part of it was the shock of Hu Lingxuan suddenly appearing; the other reason was that she had just remembered something important. In the first thirty thousand words of the novel she had read, there was one character who was given quite a detailed introduction.
That character… could be considered the first love and the untainted “white rose” of the two Tiger brothers when they were young.
Originally, she was supposed to die during the great war between the Tiger and Wolf Clans. But because Su Mingyue’s accidental interference had stopped the battle before it even began, that meant… she was still alive.
The female supporting character in the story was a white tiger with fur as pure as snow. Having inherited the best traits from both her parents, she had stood out among her kind from the moment she was born.
Paired with a pair of deep, sky-blue eyes, she became the object of admiration and desire for every male tiger in the clan.
Yet Bai Xichen was naturally proud and aloof. She spent all her days within the royal compound, so ordinary males had almost no chance of ever seeing her.
Rumors spread throughout the clan that she was the bride personally chosen by the Tiger Queen for the Eldest Young Master, destined one day to bear the heirs of the clan.
She had grown up side by side with Hu Lingze and Hu Lingxuan, and in their presence, she was gentle, sweet, and utterly charming…
But now, this very same Bai Xichen was holding Su Mingyue in her arms and feeding her sweet rice cakes. As Su Mingyue ate happily, she looked up at the beautiful woman with hair and fur as white as snow, her blue eyes deep and endless like the ocean.
Truly, beauty was a sight to behold no matter which world you were in.
“You really do love these, don’t you?” Bai Xichen said softly with a low laugh. “I heard from Auntie that you ate an entire plate last night. I wonder what kind of beast you are to have such a huge appetite…”
There was no trace of wild, predatory instinct in her manner; instead, she seemed like some rare, graceful creature living in seclusion deep in the mountains. No wonder the novel had described her as so perfect and sought after by all.
If she could see such a beauty every day, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing, Su Mingyue thought.
She picked up another cake from the plate and held it up toward Bai Xichen. “Eat…”
Seeing Su Mingyue’s face smudged all over with crumbs and sugar, a flicker of disgust flashed quickly across Bai Xichen’s eyesbut she masked it instantly.
With a sweet smile, she took the cake. “Thank youyou are so adorable.”
As soon as she turned her head slightly, she casually dropped the cake onto the ground behind her back.
“I heard Auntie and Uncle have taken quite a liking to you. They say from now on you are Xuanxuan’s little sister, which makes you my sister too. I’ve always been an only childhaving a younger sister for the first time makes me so happy!”
Bai Xichen smiled, her cool fingers brushing lightly against Su Mingyue’s cheek.
“I asked Auntie early this morning if I could take you around the clan grounds. You’ve just arrived, so you must not know your way around at all. There are so many different kinds of sweet cakes herewould you like me to show you and buy you some?”
With that, she lifted Su Mingyue into her arms and walked out.
The Tiger Clan servants recognized Bai Xichen and did not stop her. Soon they left the central palace compound. True to its name, the Continent of Shapeshifters was a place where ferocious beasts roamed openly in the streets. Men and women walked about in splendid, varied attire, and the local culture was bold and uninhibited.
Seeing the little girl’s round, rosy cheeks and her completely trusting, unguarded expression, Bai Xichen felt even more contempt rising in her heart.
Strength was everything in the Tiger Clan. The only reason she remained in the royal residence was to secure the protection and favor of the most powerful family on the entire continent.
She had worked and schemed for years just to reach this position.
Why should this weak, useless little thing have everything handed to her simply by luck?
But she could not harm her openly. She knew the royal couple were just and upright; if they found out she had hurt the child out of jealousy, her entire future would be ruined.
Fortunately, it would be easy enough. If she simply left this helpless creature somewhere on the streets, any carnivorous beast would swallow her whole before anyone noticed, leaving not even bones behind.
Bai Xichen had already made her plan. She set Su Mingyue down on the ground, holding her by one hand, and turned to the two royal guards following behind them.
“I’m going to take Little Four to buy some sweets. There are plenty of people along the main roadif you stay close, we won’t be able to see anything interesting. Wait here for us.”
Having lived in the royal compound for years, Bai Xichen was already widely regarded as the future queen of the clan. No one dared disobey her.
Hand in hand, they walked further into the streets.
All the while, Bai Xichen remained gentle and kind, exactly matching the flawless image described in the novel Su Mingyue remembered.
At first, Su Mingyue had truly thought she had met a kind, fairy-like older sister.
But seeing her throw away the cake she had just offered changed everything.
For the first time, Su Mingyue realized that the characters in this world might not be exactly as written in the story.
So when Bai Xichen led her toward the most desolate and deserted corner of the city, Su Mingyue felt no surprise at all.
“Little Four, wait right here for me,” Bai Xichen said, crouching down with a warm smile. “Sister will go and buy you some sweet cakes.”
Su Mingyue nodded her big round eyes, returning the smile with complete trust.
The moment Bai Xichen turned and walked away, the corners of her lips lifted into a cold smirk.
In the Tiger Clan territory, it was nothing unusual to see tigers roaming about. Even on the main streets, no one would pay it any mind. If a tiger carried off a small child, people would simply assume it was a parent in beast form playing with their cubeven if the cub looked unusually tiny.
So when Su Mingyue was suddenly seized by the scruff of her neck and carried off in the jaws of a tiger, no one took notice.
The only one who did see was Hu Lingxuan. He had been secretly following Su Mingyue ever since early that morning, unable to shake the feeling that the little girl was hiding something.
Is it possible… that she really is just a clueless, helpless little thing after all? he wondered.
But as he watched the tiger carry her off toward the deep woods, he knew if he did not act soon, she really would become nothing more than a “meal.”
“Ouch!” Su Mingyue cried out involuntarily from the pain.
Before her stood a massive golden tiger, baring its sharp fangs and growling softly. It seemed to want her to run first, just to enjoy the thrill of the hunt.
She could barely stand the throbbing ache. Her good life had lasted less than a single daycouldn’t she at least grow a little stronger before facing such a deadly challenge?
“Brother Tiger! Even the Third Young Master of the Tiger Clan thinks eating someone raw and alive is too crude and rude! If you swallow me this way, won’t the other tigers laugh at you for being so rough?”
The tiger’s steps actually paused, as if considering her words.
Su Mingyue quickly forced a flattering smile. “How about this? I know there’s a spring nearbythe water is pure, clear, and sweet. Let me wash myself clean first, and then you can eat me… won’t that be much better?”
The tiger stared at her with piercing golden eyes. Then it tilted its great head to one sideand in the next instant, opened its jaws wide and lunged straight for her.
“ROARRR!!”
“AAAAHHHH!!”
A ferocious snarl mixed with the sound of impact, and warm, hot blood splattered all over Su Mingyue’s face. She curled her small body up tightly, squeezing her eyes shut, too afraid to look.
Only when a familiar voice spoke from right in front of her did she dare to lift her head.
“Little onewhen your life is on the line, you sure know how to talk your way out of trouble. Why aren’t you pretending to be a silly little fool like you did last night?”
Su Mingyue: …