Spring sunlight hid beneath the thin blanket, scattered red marks dotting the exposed, glistening shoulders like early-blooming peach blossoms.
Meng Yiran leaned in for a light sniff, unable to resist parting her lips to gently lick the petal nestled in the hollow of her collarbone.
The sleeping Noble Miss stirred awake from her dreams. She opened her eyes, her affectionate purple gaze identical to the one etched in Meng Yiran’s memory from the night before.
Their eyes met. Tong Yuwu blushed all the way to the tip of her nose. She covered her face with the back of her hand, but her body betrayed her shyness as it leaned honestly into Meng Yiran’s embrace.
Meng Yiran pulled her close, rubbing her chin against the top of Tong Yuwu’s head. Their temples brushed in tender intimacy, soft and lingering.
Remembering the matter at hand, Meng Yiran seized the perfect moment to speak.
“Yuwu, ahem. There’s something I need to confess to you.”
Tong Yuwu kept her head lowered, nestling quietly in her arms with both arms wrapped around her waist.
“Mm?”
“It’s just…” Meng Yiran struggled to keep her tone even and calm. “Actually, I’m the cat you’ve been raising all this time.
“For some inexplicable reason last night, I suddenly turned human.”
Tong Yuwu jerked her head up. “You’re the cat?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself. Hmm, maybe cat-person? Human-cat?” Meng Yiran hadn’t quite sorted it out.
Tong Yuwu’s purple eyes slowly shifted to black, her expression turning strangely unfamiliar to Meng Yiran.
“Then if you’ve turned human now, doesn’t that mean my cat is gone?”
Meng Yiran blinked in confusion. “Well, yes… but I am that cat. I’m just accompanying you in a different form. Isn’t that fine?”
“Of course it’s not.” The hand around Meng Yiran’s waist crept slowly up to her shoulders. Tong Yuwu splayed her fingers, her nails pressing against Meng Yiran’s throat.
The beautiful Doll Lady’s face darkened. She was still lovely, but now she looked utterly terrifying. She stared at Meng Yiran with deadly intensity as tears streamed from her eyes. “I want my cat. Give me back my cat—”
Meng Yiran tried to soothe her, but the moment she opened her mouth, Tong Yuwu clamped down hard on her neck.
Suffocation mingled with Tong Yuwu’s sobs, enveloping Meng Yiran completely. She kicked her legs and struggled fiercely. She finally inched to the edge of the bed, flipped over, and tumbled off.
“Meow!”
The sensation of freefall shattered the illusion. The little white cat landed on the soft mattress with a thud, rolling across the floor. She arched her back, her fur bristling in all directions. Her low vantage point made everything feel off. She glanced down and spotted her two white paws planted on the carpet.
Meng Yiran lifted one front leg and tentatively extended and retracted her sharp claws. After a few tries, she finally confirmed she was still just a little kitten.
She shook her head. Her breathing came smooth and unobstructed—no blockage at all. Whatever had happened with Tong Yuwu choking her had clearly been nothing but a dream. Faint sobs echoed in her ears. She looked up and scanned the room. Tong Yuwu was already awake, dressed in clean clothes and propped against the headboard. By the bedside stood the familiar Jenny and The young steward.
Tong Yuwu’s eyes were red and puffy. A single tear traced down her cheek, lingering along her delicate jawline. She looked up, spotted the little white cat, and casually wiped the dampness from her face. She seemed utterly exhausted, her voice even coming out hoarse. “Seal the territory. Find that person, no matter the cost.”
Meng Yiran padded forward carefully, hopped onto the bed, and stopped at the foot. Not having grasped the situation yet, she didn’t dare get any closer.
If the choking had been a dream, then last night’s steamy encounter…
Had it all been a self-indulgent fantasy cooked up by a little kitten in heat?
Jenny spotted her and flew into a baffling rage. “You’ve been in the bedroom all night—didn’t you notice anything dangerous? Forget protecting the miss; you couldn’t even give a warning?
“Sleeping like a dead pig—what’s the point of keeping a useless pet like you?”
Scolded right to her face, Meng Yiran remained utterly clueless. She froze in place, unsure whether she’d put the wrong paw forward.
The next moment, Tong Yuwu called out in a voice thick with suppressed displeasure. “Jenny.”
Jenny bowed her head and drew closer to Tong Yuwu, wiping at her tears while protesting in grievance. “Miss… I didn’t say anything wrong…”
Tong Yuwu’s expression remained impassive. Once the tear stains had dried, the only sign of her earlier crying was the redness around her eyes.
She raised her hand. To everyone’s shock, she suddenly slapped Jenny across the face.
“It’s the one I raised.” The castle’s noble young mistress declared her ownership without room for doubt. “It’s not your place to discipline it.”
Jenny’s head snapped to the side. She turned back to Tong Yuwu in disbelief. The slap hadn’t been hard—Meng Yiran recalled how the noblewoman from last night’s banquet had ended up with bruises just from Tong Yuwu grabbing her wrist. By comparison, Jenny’s face showed no obvious marks. But that didn’t mean Tong Yuwu was holding back for show. Her hand, now resting limply on her knee, trembled faintly. It wasn’t deliberate restraint; in her current state, that slap had taken everything she had.
Meng Yiran’s gaze shifted from Tong Yuwu’s trembling hand, traveling upward to her shoulder and neck.
Only then did she notice the faint red marks scattered across Tong Yuwu’s skin—particularly the petal-like cluster above her collarbone. They were unmistakably her own handiwork from the night before, left behind in a moment of unrestrained passion.
In that instant, every clue clicked into place, and Meng Yiran finally pieced together the whole story.
Last night, she had indeed transformed into a human and, in a hazy daze, slept with Tong Yuwu! But for some reason, she had turned back into a cat by morning!
From Tong Yuwu’s perspective, the mysterious human who had appeared out of nowhere was nothing less than a scoundrel who had taken his pleasure and vanished without a trace.
Meng Yiran’s vision went dark, her four legs buckling beneath her. She nearly faceplanted right there on the spot.
Tong Yuwu reached out to her, calling softly. Meng Yiran staggered forward, moving her limbs in awkward sync like a drunken reveler teetering on fluffy clouds, nearly tumbling with every step. She finally made it to Tong Yuwu’s side, and Tong Yuwu scooped her up into her arms.
“I won’t ask it to do anything unnecessary,” Tong Yuwu said without lifting her head. She gently stroked the little white cat as she addressed the two servants by the bed. “From now on, think before you speak or act.”
Jenny lowered the hands that had been covering her face, blinked away her tears, and assumed her professional maid’s poise with a curtsey. “Yes, Miss.”
Meng Yiran’s mind was a whirlwind of chaos. She meowed frantically, trying to explain herself, but it was clear that none of the three humans in the room understood a word of her confession. Accepting the harsh reality, she let her ears droop and craned her neck upward to lick at the rosy marks on Tong Yuwu’s collarbone.
Tong Yuwu blocked her mouth, first dismissing Jenny and the steward. Then she pointed sternly at Meng Yiran’s nose. “No.”
With her fingertip, she rubbed at the kiss mark on her collarbone, lecturing the little cat with severity. “Don’t pick up bad habits like this.”
Meng Yiran wanted to cry but had no tears.
Suddenly remembering something, she leaped off the bed and nosed at the long-necked medicine bottle still lying on the floor, meowing loudly in an attempt to draw Tong Yuwu’s attention to it.
But Tong Yuwu merely watched her batting at the bottle with amusement, her focus already elsewhere.
She extended the hand that had been hidden beneath the covers, holding it level with her eyes.
A cat’s eyesight was keen. Meng Yiran squinted along Tong Yuwu’s line of sight and saw several long strands of silvery hair dangling from her slender, pale fingers.
