Chapter 731: Chapter 735: Fairy Tale Town (24)

After having their fill, Cinderella had been constantly accompanying by her side.

Calling it filial piety towards an elder might be acceptable, although this relatively silent process was mysteriously awkward.

But as time ticked away and the night grew darker, the midnight bells had already rung.

Cinderella still awkwardly remained standing in the guest room, stubbornly refusing to move or speak of leaving.

Even though her eyelids began to fight to stay open, she persisted in staying with her former stepmother.

From the looks of it, she seemed to have made preparations for a long stay.

Regardless of why she didn’t want to leave, she was unwilling to go rest, but guests also needed their rest.

Su Li wasn’t sleepy, still energetically watching Cinderella with a slight smile, not speaking, just enduring with her.

But the landlady couldn’t do it.

Once a woman gets older, not sleeping at a certain time can really be unbearable.

Not to mention that she had been through a whole day of turmoil without any rest, both her body and spirit had reached a critical point of exhaustion.

Now, she just wanted to lie down as soon as possible.

But she couldn’t comprehend Cinderella’s stance.

Could it be that having become a Princess, she didn’t need to sleep at night? No wonder she had driven herself to such a ghastly state.

If a woman doesn’t sleep, she will age very quickly.

Otherwise, why would there be a term called ‘beauty sleep’?

The landlady gave several covert and overt hints, gesturing for Cinderella to get lost, but she acted like she was completely blind to them, as if she didn’t understand.

Even though she herself was hardly able to keep awake, she was still forcing herself to talk aimlessly, perhaps not even comprehending what was coming out of her mouth.

The landlady couldn’t bear it any longer and bluntly started to shoo her away.

“It’s getting late, Princess, you should go back to your room and sleep.”

Cinderella maintained her smile and responded, “I haven’t seen you in so long, mother, I’d like to chat with you a bit more. I… I’m not sleepy yet…”

What a blatant lie, whose head was nearly nodding to their knees.

Who didn’t know who, now isn’t it a bit too late for such a display of mother-daughter affection?

From the expression of distaste on the landlady’s face, she was clearly also fed up with this.

“You act so strange as soon as we meet, if there’s something to say, say it, beating around the bush is pointless.”

“If you don’t speak up, then go back to sleep now, and don’t disturb our rest.”

When the landlady’s temper flared up, it was rather frightening.

Usually, this explosive side of hers was directed towards her two biological daughters, Cinderella had never enjoyed this kind of treatment.

In the past, she had somewhat envied her two stepsisters, the stepmother’s warm demeanor towards her was actually a show of negligence.

Now, directly facing this temper, she found her delicate heart could barely stand it.

Even though she was a bit scared of her irritable stepmother, Cinderella still hesitantly didn’t want to speak or leave.

No one expected that the next step would be the landlady rolling up her sleeves and pushing Cinderella out.

Being terribly thin, Cinderella’s body felt light as air; she was easily yanked from her spot without much effort, and she began to loudly plead for mercy.

Su Li found it amusing to watch, the previously extremely stubborn girl had finally learned to compromise.

“Mother, don’t pull me, I’ll talk, I’ll talk…”

Cinderella was indeed quite direct; she hadn’t even realized that the landlady was just bluffing her.

The older the ginger, the spicier it is.

The landlady was actually very curious about Cinderella’s hesitant and full of holes attempt to keep a secret.

The former mother and daughter, no, the former mother and daughter duo began their real nightly talk, and Su Li, thick-skinned as she was, found herself a corner to stay in.

The landlady didn’t ask Su Li to leave, and Cinderella seemed to forget about her too.

Su Li smacked her lips in regret, wishing she had some sunflower seeds or peanuts, or even some fruit and tea. It wasn’t quite perfect.

Hey, was she really getting ready to settle in for a story?

Although Cinderella had decided to reveal what had been weighing on her mind, when it came time to speak, she became hesitant again.

She hesitated, glancing around, then mysteriously ran outside to stretch her neck and look around.

This constant pacing back and forth in the room did look a bit crazy, and it was indeed puzzling.

But the landlady was patient, as steady as Mount Tai, waiting for Cinderella to start talking.

After the aforementioned actions, Cinderella took a deep breath and whispered very softly, “Do you know why there are so few servants here?”

In the flickering candlelight, the shadow on the wall appeared huge and twisted.

In this setting, Cinderella’s low tones took on a slightly ominous quality.

“Boom…” A loud bang.

A snow-white bolt of lightning streaked across the gloomy sky outside, and a thunderstorm quickly followed.

Cinderella was so frightened by the sudden loud thunder that she shook all over, her face filled with fear, as if she was recalling some very unpleasant memories.

Su Li, in keeping with the mood, also lowered her voice, deliberately adding a sinister tone, “Why are there so few?”

“Could it be… they all died?”

Su Li put an evil emphasis on the last few words.

Just as Su Li finished speaking, “Boom…” another huge bolt of thunder split the sky.

Cinderella screamed in fright and jumped onto the couch on her tiptoes.

It wasn’t just the timid Cinderella who was startled; even the landlady was shaken by the way Su Li set the mood.

Chills ran down her spine.

This was truly frightful, scaring people could genuinely scare someone to death.

“They died, yes, they must have all died…. I, I saw her eating people.”

The landlady was startled, her gaze whipping toward Cinderella, “What are you talking about?”

Once the words had finally come out, Cinderella began speaking quickly and resignedly, “They all disappeared, but I’m sure, absolutely sure they all died.”

“That Sea Princess is a man-eating monster.”

Cinderella said, “The Sea Princess is that woman you saw earlier with the Prince.”

“Ever since the Prince brought that woman back to the Imperial Palace, things have been wrong here, one horrifying event after another….”

Cinderella quickly became lost in her memories.

From Cinderella’s disjointed narrative, Su Li and the others pieced together the complete truth.

Speaking of which, although there were some complaints from the Prince regarding his wife Cinderella, who was married to him half willingly and half under duress,

Cinderella was, after all, a great beauty who met the standards in terms of looks.

Especially when dressed up, although she wasn’t as stunning as she was at the ball, she was still strikingly beautiful.

The Prince was in high spirits at this time, and such a Princess naturally attracted the Prince.

The first few days of their marriage, the two did indeed spend several days in sweet harmony.

However, conflicts arose once they returned together to the Imperial Palace.