“Xiaopu, are you saying someone entered your room last night?”
Early the next morning, Su Mengdie knocked on Xia Shuangshuang’s door with heavy dark circles under her eyes and told her everything that had happened the previous night.
Even though the intruder had been after her, it had happened at the Xia family home after all.
It was hard to say for certain that they wouldn’t cause trouble for Xia Shuangshuang as well.
To be safe, as soon as it was light, she had broken free from Penelope’s octopus-like embrace and run over to warn her.
“Yes, the Young Lady and I both saw it. Shuang Shuang, you have to be extra careful… yawn.”
As Su Mengdie spoke, she couldn’t help but let out a long yawn.
She couldn’t help it; she was simply too exhausted.
Between the attack last night and those restless little hands of the Young Lady that wouldn’t stay still once she fell asleep, she hadn’t been able to sleep at all during the night.
Once she went back in a bit, she was definitely going to get some proper sleep — the kind where she slept straight from morning until evening.
“I see. There’s monitoring in the corridor outside, so I’ll have someone help me check the footage in a while. But for now, Xiaopu, why don’t you go back and sleep some more? It’s the weekend anyway, so it’s fine if you stay at my house a bit longer.”
Xia Shuangshuang looked at the dark circles around Su Mengdie’s eyes and pursed her lips, stifling a secret laugh.
Even though she was the one who was attacked and the one who was dying of exhaustion, she still came to warn her first thing in the morning.
‘The Young Lady really is a gentle person.’
“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll go back and sleep for a while then.”
After leaving Xia Shuangshuang’s room, Su Mengdie turned a corner and bumped into Jin Can’er.
Although Jin Can’er also looked like she hadn’t quite woken up yet, with eyes that could barely stay open, she still took the initiative to greet Su Mengdie when she saw her.
“Morning, Young Lady.”
“Good morning, Can’er. What’s wrong with you?”
Su Mengdie wondered why she hadn’t slept well either.
After all, she’d had a whole bed to herself last night without anyone to disturb her.
Faced with Su Mengdie’s question, Jin Can’er seemed to freeze for a moment as if her brain had stalled.
Only after a short silence did she slowly speak.
“Oh… I usually sleep in a single bed. Miss Xia’s beds are nice, but they’re just too big. I didn’t feel very secure, so I didn’t sleep well.”
“Then you should sleep more. It’s still early, after all. I didn’t sleep well last night either, so I’m just about to head back for a nap.”
“No, no. The little ones at my house are waiting for me to bring breakfast back. If I’m going to sleep, I’ll do it after I get home. Is Miss Xia up yet?”
Seeing the conversation drift, Jin Can’er hurried to ask about her business.
Hearing her words, Su Mengdie truly felt that things weren’t easy for her.
With her parents away, this older sister had to act as both mother and father to her siblings.
“Yes, she’s up.”
They had just finished talking about the serious situation, so Shuang Shuang probably wouldn’t fall back asleep that quickly, even if she wanted to.
“Then I’ll go say goodbye to Miss Xia. See you next week.”
“Mm-hmm, see you.”
After saying goodbye to Can’er, Su Mengdie immediately returned to her room.
She didn’t want to think about anything right now; she only wanted to catch up on her sleep.
She was so tired that she didn’t even notice the way the look in Jin Can’er’s eyes changed as she watched her leave.
***
The moment Su Mengdie opened the door, she came face-to-face with Penelope, who was standing right there.
‘Oh no…’
‘Why does the very thing I’m afraid of always have to happen?’
She had been worried that the Young Lady would discover her sneaking out, and she had run straight into her!
The moment she saw Penelope, Su Mengdie was instantly wide awake, her heart filled with panic.
However, Penelope didn’t say anything.
She simply tilted her head toward the door behind Su Mengdie, gesturing for her to close it.
“Young Lady, let me explain.”
Su Mengdie didn’t dare close that door.
She was afraid that the second the door shut, the Young Lady would give her some sort of “surprise.”
“I’ll listen. But close the door first… unless you don’t mind letting outsiders overhear our conversation?”
Penelope’s tone was very calm, and she didn’t seem to be angry.
Since that was the case, Su Mengdie had no reason to refuse.
“Oh…”
After closing the door, the two of them crawled under the covers one after the other.
Penelope hugged Su Mengdie from behind, leaning close to her ear to whisper.
“Butterfly, you went to warn Shuang Shuang just now, didn’t you?”
“Mm-hmm.”
After all, an intruder had appeared in the Xia household.
Regardless of whether they were targeting her, as Xia Shuangshuang’s friend, she had no reason not to say something.
“Then has Butterfly ever considered that the dark figure last night might have been someone from the Xia family?”
“Eh!?
No way, right?”
It wasn’t that Su Mengdie hadn’t considered the possibility; she just couldn’t think of a reason why anyone in the Xia family would do such a thing.
Not only was there no grudge between the Jinzhi and Xia families, but there wasn’t even any competition in their business dealings.
Furthermore, everyone knew she was staying at the Xia house last night.
If anything happened to her there, the Xia family wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences.
Why would they take such a risk?
“Based on the logic of the situation, it’s unlikely, and Xia Ji isn’t that stupid… however, there is one person who is very likely.”
“Who?”
When she saw Su Mengdie’s eager question, the corners of Penelope’s mouth curled up in a secret smile.
After saying so much, she had been waiting for Butterfly to ask that.
“Swallowtail, of course.”
“Swallowtail?!”
Hearing the Young Lady’s answer, Su Mengdie was stunned.
She hadn’t expected the name ‘Swallowtail’ to come up at all, and she couldn’t guess what the Young Lady was plotting.
“That’s right. Butterfly, think about it. If you were Swallowtail and you discovered that the person you saved at the mall that day was secretly investigating you, what would you do?”
“I don’t know…”
It wasn’t that Su Mengdie didn’t know; she just didn’t dare to say it.
The Young Lady was watching Swallowtail so closely right now that any slip-up could expose her identity.
“Silly… That do-gooder Swallowtail would definitely sneak in to warn you to stop investigating, probably saying something like ‘this is for your own good.'”
Penelope’s answer truly made Su Mengdie break into a cold sweat.
It was a good thing she hadn’t answered just now!
She never expected that ‘Canary’ would understand her enemy, ‘Swallowtail,’ to such an extent.
They fought every time they met and had never actually had a proper conversation.
“But didn’t you say you were Swallowtail’s friend, Young Lady? If that was Swallowtail, why did she run the moment she saw you?”
Even though Su Mengdie knew the scenario the Young Lady was describing wouldn’t happen, she still thought of a suitable excuse to placate her.
At this point, the intruder’s identity wasn’t the important part; what mattered was whether she could escape this conversation unscathed.
“Stupid, she hasn’t heard your voice before. I suddenly stood up last night and probably just startled her.”
‘Strange, why does the Young Lady seem a little angry?’
Su Mengdie felt that the situation wasn’t right and hurriedly tried to end the topic.
“Oh… Well, since Swallowtail is the do-gooder you say she is, I don’t have anything to worry about. She can come whenever she wants. I’m still a little sleepy, so I’m going to sleep now.”
“Sleep? All you know how to do is sleep! Are you a pig, Butterfly?”
“I’m really sleepy, Young Lady. Just let me sleep for a while~”
Did she think she wanted to sleep this much?
When she used to sleep in a bed by herself, her sleep quality had been excellent.
Ever since she started sharing a bed with the Young Lady, she hadn’t had a good night’s rest once!
But Penelope didn’t care about any of that.
Su Mengdie could sleep if she wanted to, but she had to get permission first —
Seeing Su Mengdie close her eyes, those hands wrapped around her waist began to move in separate directions.
One hand reached up, sliding into her thin pajamas, while the other pressed against her stomach and began to creep downward into her panties…