Achieving A Happy Ending With The Tragic Female Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 89

Qiao Xinyue’s face turned deathly pale in an instant. She stood up abruptly and stumbled backward, her movements frantic and disoriented.

Seeing that she was about to collide with an elderly woman passing by in the aisle, Su Mi reached out and pulled her inward. She didn’t expect this action to trigger the other woman even further.

Su Mi could feel a faint trembling in Qiao Xinyue’s hand. Unlike the trembling from the night before, this was born of genuine, visceral terror.

The overwhelming fear left Qiao Xinyue momentarily unable to react, she stood frozen in place as if stunned.

“Are you afraid of me?” Su Mi narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly.

Qiao Xinyue swallowed with great difficulty, finally finding her voice. “You… let go of me first.”

Hearing this, Su Mi slowly released her hand, though her gaze never left the woman’s face for a single second.

“Mama, who is that big sister talking to? I looked just now and there’s no one there,” a little girl in the back seat asked her mother in a voice she thought was a whisper, but was audible to everyone nearby.

“Shh!” The mother lowered her head to silence her daughter. When she looked up and met Qiao Xinyue’s eyes, she gave an embarrassed smile. “I’m so sorry, little girl. Children don’t know any better.”

Qiao Xinyue looked at the people around her and realized their expressions were strange, some even averted their eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak but looked back at the spot where Su Mi was sitting. The woman sat there so clearly, so vibrantly, could they really not see her?

Was she truly the only one?

Su Mi reached out again and pulled her down into the seat. “They cannot see me. I do not yet have a physical form in this world. It is only because of last night that you can see me as I am now.”

Qiao Xinyue wanted to speak, but she was terrified the people around her would think she was a lunatic.

If you encounter a problem, don’t be afraid, it’ll be fine once you sleep on it.

With that thought, she pulled a brand-new, sealed mask from her bag and put it on. She then took out her headphones, plugged them in, and huddled against the side of the seat with her eyes squeezed shut.

Su Mi saw that she didn’t want to communicate. Watching her sit there trembling with fear, not even daring to take a loud breath, Su Mi fell silent.

It seemed she had truly frightened the girl and quite badly at that.

But she had assumed Qiao Xinyue understood after last night, otherwise, why would she have consented to their intimacy?

Thinking this, Su Mi leaned toward her. The latter seemed to sense her presence and snapped her eyes open.

Seeing the beautiful female ghost leaning in so close, Qiao Xinyue couldn’t help but want to scream.

But before she could make a sound, Su Mi’s fingertip landed on her forehead, lulling her into a deep sleep. Su Mi then closed her own eyes and entered that small, private realm with her.

When Su Mi opened her eyes, Qiao Xinyue was also waking up on the stone bed. Her gaze was initially dazed, but as soon as she saw Su Mi, that daze turned into alertness and fear.

“Where is this? Where have you taken me? Let me go home, I want to go home!” Qiao Xinyue remembered being on the high-speed train just a moment ago, yet here she was.

Everything here possessed a sense of “familiar strangeness.” When she realized she was lying on a stone bed, she felt completely unwell.

Chaos filled scenes flooded her mind again, and for some reason, her body seemed to recall those sensations as well.

“This is the Realm of Six Marquis. You can understand it as your dream,” Su Mi explained.

Hearing this, Qiao Xinyue recalled the ghost’s promise in last night’s dream that she would come looking for her. She nervously jumped off the bed and backed away. “Why is it my dream? Don’t you have your own?”

Su Mi mused for a moment. “I do not dream.” Naturally, she had no dream space of her own to go to.

This answer reminded Qiao Xinyue once again: the beautiful person standing before her was a genuine, bona fide ghost.

“Don’t come any closer!” Her voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Su Mi stopped walking and asked again, “Are you afraid of me?”

“Then give me a reason not to be!” Qiao Xinyue said, bracing herself.

“I am your wife, and you are my lady. You do not need to, nor should you, fear me,” Su Mi said, continuing her slow approach.

Qiao Xinyue backed away repeatedly until there was nowhere left to go. She discovered an invisible wall behind her, cutting off her retreat.

Su Mi was already in front of her, looking down. Her cold fingers brushed a strand of hair away from Qiao Xinyue’s cheek. “We have already done the most intimate of things. You liked it, too.”

“I did not!”

“Why me? Why does it have to be me?” Qiao Xinyue endured her fear and dodged the hand. she reached up, trying to pull the jade ring off her ring finger, but no matter how hard she pulled, it was futile.

The skin around her finger quickly turned red, but she didn’t give up.

Su Mi frowned and stopped her. “When the marriage contract was set two years ago, you were not unwilling. And last night, you were not unwilling either.”

“How was I supposed to know that a marriage contract meant… meant doing that with you?” The more Qiao Xinyue thought about it, the more wronged she felt. “Besides, I don’t even remember what happened two years ago! Last night, I thought it was just a dream like before. How was I supposed to know it was real?”

She had seen horror movies where ghosts were experts at deception and seduction. In her eyes, this ghost’s methods were no different from those evil spirits on screen.

Listening to her accusations, Su Mi realized that the girl didn’t have a full understanding of the ghost marriage contract they had formed.

Seeing that Su Mi remained silent with her eyes downcast while her cold, bony fingers still held her hand, Qiao Xinyue asked boldly, “Can you… can you please stop doing those things to me? We belong to different worlds, after all. If you lack anything in the future, just tell me, and I’ll burn offerings for you, okay?”

Su Mi looked up at her. “Why do you think we are in a ‘ghost marriage’?”

Qiao Xinyue was choked by the counter question, nearly breaking into tears again.

“Don’t cry.” Su Mi’s brow furrowed deeply as she used her finger to wipe away a tear. “Do you really wish not to see me that much?”

Qiao Xinyue didn’t dare answer, but the truth was written clearly on her face.

Su Mi spoke softly, “I understand.”

With that, she released the girl’s hand and stepped back.

Qiao Xinyue hadn’t expected her to be so easy to talk to. For a moment, she didn’t react, her fingers still clutching the jade ring.

Su Mi glanced at the ring on her hand. “You put this jade ring on willingly last night. Once the ghost marriage contract is fully formed, it is a death pact. It cannot be undone unless one dies.”

In the original plot, because of Qiao Xinyue’s resistance and terror, the original host, who was proud and unwilling to force others, never fully finalized the marriage contract. That was why she was later sabotaged and destroyed.

Qiao Xinyue bit her lip. It was just a ring; compared to everything else, it was a small price to pay.

Su Mi reached out and touched the ring. A red light flickered, and lotus shaped flames quickly enveloped the ring, swallowing it as if refining it.

Her lips were pressed thin. The jade ring had been forged from her own heart’s blood, removing it was like carving a piece out of her heart. Even if she usually felt little sensation, she still felt the agonizing distress of this act.

After the flash of red light, the jade ring was finally removed. Su Mi manifested a necklace and hung the ring around Qiao Xinyue’s neck.

“This is the second time. If you ever put it on a third time.” Su Mi paused, hooking her finger under the ring against the girl’s neck. “Then you will never be able to take it off for the rest of your life.”

There was a faint hint of a threat in her tone.

“Impossible!” Qiao Xinyue blurted out. She wasn’t an idiot, there was no way she’d put it on a third time.

Su Mi only gave her a deep, searching look and did not reply.

“Are you… really not going to come looking for me anymore?” Qiao Xinyue was still uneasy.

This time, Su Mi gave a silent, light laugh and stepped back. Behind her, a swirling black void opened up. She stepped into it and vanished completely.

She left Qiao Xinyue without another word.

In reality, Su Mi was the first to open her eyes. She saw Qiao Xinyue leaning against her shoulder, eyes closed, breathing softly and sleeping peacefully.

Unlike the version of her that was paralyzed with fear, this Qiao Xinyue looked serene. Compared to two years ago, she had shed much of her childishness.

The scenery blurred past the window. Su Mi watched her quietly until the announcement for the upcoming station played over the intercom.

“We’ve arrived,” Su Mi whispered in her ear.

Qiao Xinyue’s eyelashes fluttered before she slowly opened her eyes. She realized the train was about to stop at her station. Many people around her were already gathering their belongings to wait by the doors.

She stood up in a daze to grab her things, then suddenly remembered something and looked at the seat next to her.

The seat was empty. There wasn’t even a shadow of a ghost.

She almost doubted if she had just had a very vivid dream, but when she looked at her hand, the ring was indeed gone. She felt her chest and, sure enough, found the ring hanging there as a pendant.

Su Mi stood leisurely on top of the train, arms crossed, watching Qiao Xinyue merge into the crowd of people exiting the station with her suitcase.

The little paper effigies sat on her shoulder, sighing.

“The little lady is gone. Your Majesty, are you not going to chase after her?”

“What are we going to do? Auntie Meng is definitely going to be angry again.”

“Don’t be afraid, Your Majesty! I stole the Ninth Lord’s hidden collection. I heard she succeeded in everything because of this book. Let me flip through it for you.”

“I heard the Ninth Lord was a female general when she was alive. What kind of book did you take?”

The paper effigies chattered back and forth.

The one who had stolen the book pulled a volume several times its own size from its thin paper belly, nearly toppling over from the weight.

Su Mi reached out and caught the book. The paper effigy dangled from the spine, swaying. She picked up the little spirit. “Go follow her. Be careful not to let her discover you.”

Qiao Xinyue was different now; because she carried yin energy, she could see things she normally couldn’t.

Receiving their orders, the paper effigies jumped down to chase after the retreating Qiao Xinyue. They scurried through the crowd, and once they found the “little lady,” they went smack, sticking themselves flat onto her suitcase to be carried away.

Su Mi looked at the book in her hand. It was a manual on the art of war.

She flipped through it casually and read:

To catch something, first let it go. Pressure leads to rebellion, retreat reduces momentum. Follow closely but do not harass, exhaust their energy and wear down their will. Capture them once they are scattered, a victory without bloodshed requires the light of sincerity.

“Your Majesty, are you really just letting the little lady go like this?” the remaining paper effigy asked.

Su Mi chuckled. Of course she wouldn’t just let her go.

Qiao Xinyue’s journey would not be safe, and there were those among her companions who harbored ill intentions. Su Mi would not let them get close to her.

However, since Qiao Xinyue was currently afraid of her, pushing too hard or too fast would bring no benefit.

Su Mi closed the book, her slender fingers tapping lightly against the spine.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

She had to make her seek out her protection voluntarily.