Chapter 50: Understanding Others

In front of the church doors, the afternoon sunlight flowed like a river across the stone steps.
Peleti hesitantly looked back at the bishop and Qiaosuna who followed closely behind, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the folds of her skirt.

“Then… I’ll be going?”
Her voice was as light as a whisper, carrying a cautious probe.

“Have a safe journey, Miss Peleti. The Church’s carriage is already waiting by the roadside and can take you away at any time.”
Qiaosuna smiled.

She was not worried at all that Peleti would leave.
From the moment this girl revealed her astonishing talent, she was destined to become the most precious bird in the Church’s cage.

Her own talent had already been praised as something seen only once in a century.
Peleti’s was even stronger than hers, so those old fogeys would definitely not allow Peleti to leave.

When the time came, even if she said nothing, they would never let Peleti go.

All Qiaosuna needed to do was use her status as a senior to keep Peleti under her control.

Thinking of this, the smile at the corner of Qiaosuna’s lips deepened.

“No need. I still have some matters to deal with. I’ll just walk.”
Peleti declined.

“Good luck.”

She watched Peleti turn away.
Her gaze wound around that retreating figure like a spider’s web until the silhouette vanished around a corner.
At the same time, the smile on her lips also disappeared.

“Miss Qiaosuna!”
The examiner who had gone to report the situation rushed out in a panic, panting, fine beads of sweat forming at his temples.

“What is it?”

“The Pope has arrived in person and wants to see you.”

“The Pope?!”
“All right, I understand. I’ll go at once.”
Knowing how serious this was, Qiaosuna did not dare delay and hurried into the church.

On the way back, Peleti kept looking over her shoulder.
Only after confirming that the burning gaze had finally disappeared did she let out a soft breath.

When she turned her eyes back to the road ahead, she noticed a small figure squatting in a corner against the wall at some point, head buried deep in her arms.

There were almost no people on the afternoon street.
On both sidewalks, only empty tree shadows swayed, accompanied by the rustling sound of wind through leaves.

Without thinking, she knew it had to be Feiye.

In this state, she easily reminded one of an abandoned puppy.

Looking up again, Caroline was leaning against a nearby streetlamp with an annoyed expression, eyes closed, yet her body was angled toward Feiye.

A breeze swept through the alley.
The sun raced across the sky.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves and cast mottled shadows, falling into golden eyes before slipping into a deserted corner.
The overlapping shadows grew deeper, like the fleeting instant when light and darkness intertwine at dawn.

The dappled light leaped across the bluestone road, cutting the girl’s slender figure into fragmented pieces.

“What are you squatting here for? Let’s go.”

Peleti gently patted the girl’s shoulder.
The girl on the ground trembled and abruptly lifted her dew-filled purple eyes.

“Big sister…”

“Get up. What, do you want me to carry you?”
Peleti deliberately put on a stern face, yet a gentle smile rippled in her eyes.

“N-No, I…”

That forgiving smile was now like the sharpest blade, slicing at her conscience inch by inch.
She would rather be scolded and punished than face such unreal forgiveness.

She quickly lowered her head, not daring to meet those overly tolerant eyes.

She had been the one constantly fantasizing about whether Peleti would forgive her and understand her.

Feiye knew very well how wrong what she had done was.
It was only natural that Peleti would be angry.

This smile instead made Feiye feel an unbearable sense of unreality.

In the next moment, she felt a large hand wrap around her waist and slip beneath her coat hem.
She was lifted up by a gentle force.
Feiye shrank her neck like a startled fledgling and obediently nestled into Peleti’s arms, her nose filled with a comforting fragrance.

“Big sister…”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you angry, Big sister?
Feiye clearly did something terrible…
Why aren’t you scolding me…”
Her voice choked.

Before she finished speaking, Feiye shrank her head deeper into the clothes.

How she wished Peleti would look at her in confusion and scold her.
That way, the guilt in Feiye’s heart might ease a little.

Peleti adjusted her hold so that Feiye could lean more comfortably against her chest.

“When I was very young, I had a younger sister.
She was very naughty and loved things she had never seen before, unlike me, who liked quiet.
But she often ran up to me with all sorts of unfamiliar things to show me.
To be honest, even now I still don’t like being disturbed when I’m spacing out.”

“What happened after that?”

“I complained to my mother, saying my sister was always bullying me.
Mother didn’t say anything.
She took me to the window.
In the yard, my sister was digging in the dirt with a shovel.
When she saw me, her eyes lit up and she asked me if I wanted to go with her.”

“At the time, I still didn’t understand.
Then Mother took out a book.
It was one I had shown her a few days earlier, a book I liked very much.
At that moment, I understood one thing.
Many times, our own emotions carry prejudice, and we cannot understand other people’s actions.
Understanding others—that was the first skill my mother taught me.”

Peleti slowly shifted.
Feiye’s little head emerged from the thick coat and cautiously pressed against Peleti’s chest, listening to the steady heartbeat.

“The feeling of losing your shelter from the wind is something I understand.
That fear is branded into my heart even now and cannot be erased.
Feiye, I know that everything you did was simply because someone touched your bottom line, and out of fear you made a defensive move, right.”

“Pfft, Big sister is such a big bad girl, a big bad girl!
…As expected of Big sister, you really know everything.”
Feiye burst into laughter through her tears and wiped the damp corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

“Mm-hm, you just acted too obviously.”
Peleti let out a smug little hum.

Feiye’s acting was really poor.
That very night at the hotel, Peleti had realized something was wrong.
Logically, she herself did not even know she needed to drink blood, and prophecy would not be used in such a place.

Yet Feiye had been able to feed her blood so skillfully under those circumstances.
It was hard not to suspect that she already knew something in advance.

Later, Peleti merely tested her slightly, casually mentioning Qingcheng’s name.
The result was that Feiye immediately gave herself away and exposed everything.

It was only then that Peleti dared to be sure that the witch called Qingcheng was very likely her future self, someone who had returned from the future specifically to find her.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain how she could directly find Peleti’s little stash of money and even prepare a set of clothes for her.

Only her future self could grasp her so tightly despite having barely met her.

“Seeing the two of you getting along so well, I can finally leave at ease.”
At some point, Caroline opened her eyes, still maintaining her lazy posture.

“You’re leaving?”

Caroline nodded.
“The problems I’m facing now are no longer limited to just you.
There are other matters I need to deal with, so I have to go.”
“As for safety, you don’t need to worry.
With her here, no one can hurt you.”

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