Marry First, Love Later With The White Cat Princess - Chapter 56

Seeing Lianyi shake her head, firmly refusing to switch back, Liu Fenyun felt uneasy. Just as she was about to persuade her, Lianyi’s voice echoed in her sea of consciousness: “If you dare switch, I’ll dare to tell everyone the secret that you are a woman!”

Liu Fenyun shuddered instantly, caught between laughter and tears as she gave Lianyi’s arm a gentle pinch.

This mischievous cat was still fixated on her secret!

Lianyi nudged her with an elbow and asked irritably, “Where are the assassins? Point them out to me quickly.”

Liu Fenyun didn’t dare point directly, she merely used her eyes to gesture toward the upper stands, continuing to communicate via telepathy: “I’ve already instructed Miss Xian and the others to go find Master and Qi Ran.”

“Can they even be found at this hour?” Lianyi sighed softly. “The assassins must know that great demons won’t appear near the stage at this time.”

“But the assassins might not know you have so many cat-demon subordinates.” Liu Fenyun pulled her a bit closer into her embrace. To avoid raising suspicion among the surrounding nobles, she slightly adjusted their posture. “Let’s watch the performance first. Take this chance to relax a bit, our nerves have been strung tight all day.”

There were too many heavyweights in the VIP seats. Seeing the Witch Doctor and the Saintess sitting hand in hand amidst the crowd, the assassins found it difficult to act rashly. They had no choice but to wait patiently for an opportunity.

The two seated women didn’t dare leave either, so they resigned themselves to watching the festival performances.

There were still two full hours left before the day ended. Fortunately, as soon as they sat down, a squad of guards arrived behind them, silently forming a human wall to block the assassins’ line of sight.

Before her soul transmigration, Liu Fenyun hadn’t spent much time in theaters, she’d only seen vintage song and dance performances in music class. Watching a live performance was a very fresh experience for her.

Moreover, the subsequent acts were quite interesting, even including fire breathing and acrobatics with flaming hoops. She gradually lowered her guard, propping her chin on her hands with curious and serious attention fixed on the stage.

Lianyi had seen her in female clothing before, but this was truly the first time she had worn it in public while disguised as herself.

Earlier, when she heard the praise from the stage, Lianyi’s heart had been a tangle of jealousy and pride. She wanted nothing more than to tell everyone that Ah Yun belonged to her for a lifetime and no one else could take her. At the same time, she felt gratified by the good impression “Liu Fenyun” had left on the spectators.

She didn’t want to hear anyone gossiping behind Ah Yun’s back. Previously, when they didn’t know the bonds of their past lives, she pitied this poor little soul who had unintentionally replaced another. Now, she held her high in her heart, viewing her as her everything.

For the Di people, the Summer Moon Festival was equivalent to the Lunar New Year for the Hua people. As the performances neared their end, the sound of firecrackers began to ring out.

Liu Fenyun was focused on a magic trick when she felt Lianyi tug at her sleeve. She turned her head and followed Lianyi’s finger toward the sky. Golden fireworks blossomed one after another in the firmament, their booms even drowning out the stage performance.

Liu Fenyun looked up until her neck felt sore. As she lowered her head to stretch, her arm was suddenly pulled, and she found herself resting her head on Lianyi’s lap.

“Looking this way won’t tire your neck,” Lianyi whispered, her eyes briefly turning a shimmering translucent blue as she smiled down at her. “Is it beautiful?”

Liu Fenyun didn’t know if she was referring to the stage performance, the fireworks in the sky, or the woman right in front of her. She simply smiled and nodded: “Everything is beautiful.”

Then she added softly, “This is the first New Year I’ve spent in the Kingdom of Zhuhuang.”

Lianyi stroked her hair dotingly. “If we can survive this ordeal safely, we can spend many, many more New Years here together.”

“Mhm. Next year, I want to dance the sacrificial dance myself,” Liu Fenyun replied casually. The moment she said it, she felt like she was setting a “death flag” and quickly covered her mouth.

The assassins hadn’t left yet, she couldn’t get ahead of herself!

Her nervous expression amused Lianyi. The cat-girl leaned down, blew away a strand of hair covering Liu Fenyun’s forehead, and placed a gentle kiss on her brow.

“Don’t be afraid,” she comforted softly.

Liu Fenyun nodded and checked the system time. Only fifteen minutes remained until the end of the day.

However, at that moment, the cats brought bad news: the two great demons were nowhere to be found.

Liu Fenyun fell silent for a moment before relaying the news to Lianyi.

Without a word, Lianyi ordered all her cat-demon subordinates to return. Three were sent to the Drunken Life Pavilion at the Saintess’s Palace, and three to the Moon-Locking Pavilion at the Priest’s Palace, leaving only Xian Lihua to accompany them.

“On such a festive day, the demon race is likely not permitted to remain within the sight of the humans,” Lianyi explained after giving the orders. “It was my oversight.”

In previous years, she would have considered this. But because of Liu Fenyun, her hostility toward humans had diminished significantly, and she hadn’t considered that Yu Qingyue and Qi Ran might have been urged back to their quarters.

Liu Fenyun was stunned, but said: “Don’t blame yourself. If you hadn’t taken me to the streets, I wouldn’t have run into those two assassins, nor would I have calculated that tonight…”

At this point, Liu Fenyun suddenly stopped.

If she hadn’t performed the divination, Lianyi might have been struck by an arrow on the spot during her solo dance. She might have died.

Thinking of how the cat-girl had previously spoken of not being able to escape this fate with that expression that was clearly despairing yet feigning calm, her heart ached unbearably.

The cat wanted so much to live a good life with her.

If she were a god, she would naturally answer that wish.

The final fifteen minutes passed exceptionally slowly. Liu Fenyun sat back in her original position, instinctively shielding Lianyi.

She released her spiritual sense toward the location of the assassins. However, the spot was now empty; she had no idea when they had left.

Liu Fenyun’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately opened the system map and saw two red dots rapidly approaching the base of the stage.

Before she could tell Lianyi, she suddenly heard a sharp, piercing female voice scream out:

“There are assassins trying to blow up the stage! Run for your lives!”

This voice should have been drowned out by the firecrackers, but it wasn’t. The system map showed a surge of demonic energy amplifying the sound, instantly spreading it across the entire spectator stands.

The word “Assassin” was like a firecracker tossed into a crowd, the stands erupted instantly as commoners and nobles alike fell into a panic.

“Do not panic! Men, protect the Emperor! To the rescue!” Luo Binglun’s voice was quickly swallowed by the clamor and the sounds of crying.

Not far from Liu Fenyun and Lianyi, Sha Rulang was being held tightly in the Tenth Prince’s arms like a fledgling being shielded. Upon hearing the piercing female voice, she froze for two seconds before suddenly pounding on the Tenth Prince’s chest and shouting, “It’s Qi Ran! The great demon Qi Ran! Tell Father immediately!”

The Tenth Prince blinked in shock, then quickly grabbed her and stumbled toward the highest tier of the VIP seats.

Amidst the chaos, Liu Fenyun gathered up her skirt, swiftly swapped shoes with Lianyi, and then clutching Lianyi, who had transformed back into a white cat, leapt off the stage while calling out to Xian Lihua.

Truthfully, after hearing Sha Rulang’s shout and confirming that the owner of the female voice was indeed Qi Ran, Liu Fenyun no longer believed the assassins were coming for her.

Yet, she couldn’t think of any other targets for the assassination after all, that invisible arrow earlier had definitely been aimed at Lianyi while she was disguised as Liu Fenyun.

As she was about to drop to the very bottom of the stands, Liu Fenyun gathered her demonic energy into her legs. Hiding in the shadows of the bleachers, she bolted in the direction Xian Lihua was approaching from.

Only seven minutes remained. Then today would be over.

If they survived today, they would have escaped this bloody catastrophe.

“Don’t run so fast!” Lianyi’s paws patted her repeatedly. “The assassins must have accomplices; don’t just run blindly!”

Her voice carried a hint of a sob, but Liu Fenyun was in the middle of a desperate escape and had no time to comfort her. She only sighed and said, “How could it be Qi Ran…”

How could it?

They were clearly friends just a moment ago. The Saintess’s Palace had arranged a place for Qi Ran to stay. Qi Ran would tease Xian Lihua and Ruan Ju to make them happy, and she had even taken Liu Fenyun to see the ruins of the Ancient Lotus Pond…

Disjointed memories flashed through her mind, but none of that mattered now.

Liu Fenyun forced herself to calm down and looked back at the system map.

Qi Ran’s light dot flickered in and out of existence, likely hidden by an illusion spell. If Liu Fenyun hadn’t manually set Qi Ran as a “focus target” earlier, she might not have been able to see her at all.

For her to appear now and intentionally spread panic across the stands, even adding a linguistic suggestion, her motives and allegiance were now obvious.

Liu Fenyun checked the map again. Just as Lianyi had said, once they left the stands, a dozen red dots suddenly appeared on the map, moving toward the VIP seats in an orderly fashion.

She never stopped running while checking the map.

Yu Qingyue was not here, and their strength was far inferior to Qi Ran’s. Aside from fleeing to a safe place, there was no other option.

Yu Qingyue was not here…

Liu Fenyun suddenly thought of the Great Priest still in the VIP seats. But the moment the thought of turning back arose, Lianyi’s words from yesterday echoed in her mind:

“The gods truly love the people of the world.”

Seeing the red dots occupy the VIP area, Liu Fenyun gritted her teeth, hugged the big white cat tighter, and ducked into a deep alley.

Even if she rushed back, she didn’t have the power to save the Great Priest from Qi Ran’s hands.

In this moment, the only thing she could do was keep herself and Lianyi alive.

After instructing Xian Lihua to seek refuge first, Liu Fenyun ran for her life a while longer, not daring to stop for a second. It wasn’t until she scaled the wall between the Inner City and the Imperial City and stepped onto the palace roads that she dared to slow down, quietly heading toward the Saintess’s Palace.

The skirt she wore was torn beyond recognition. Liu Fenyun stroked the cat, who was so terrified she couldn’t even make a sound and found a deserted woodshed nearby to hide in. She shut the door tight and slumped down onto a haystack.

She hadn’t run like this in a long time. Her lungs ached, and her breath tasted of blood.

Looking at the system, she saw the time had already rolled over to the next day. Liu Fenyun pinched her sleeve to wipe away her sweat. Before her breathing had even stabilized, she whispered to Lianyi: “It’s okay now.”

She paused, caught her breath for a moment, and managed a weak smile.

“The death omen… we’ve escaped it.”