My wife is a witch princess

The rest area outside the screening room was in chaos, and the acrid smell of smoke had not yet dissipated.

The cinema owner, his face ashen, repeatedly shouted at the entrance, now devoid of flames but billowing with thick smoke, "Is anyone still here?! Is anyone still inside?!"

The sirens of the fire trucks grew louder as they approached, and well-trained firefighters quickly took over the scene and began firefighting operations.

The people stranded outside gave their accounts to the firefighters who inquired about the situation, and their stories were surprisingly consistent:

"It's a cat! A huge black cat!"

"It ran around with a burning charging cable in its mouth, spreading fire everywhere!"

"Damn, he's like a demon!"

The boss was skeptical, but inexplicably relieved.

At least, this sounds a bit more ambiguous than the responsibility for [illegally charging appliances in the stairwell, causing aging wiring to catch fire].

Zhang Hanyu stumbled over, her hair disheveled, her face streaked with cigarette ash and tears. She grabbed a firefighter's arm, her voice trembling with sobs, "There are...there are still two people inside! A girl with silver hair, and a boy in a high school uniform, they're my friends! They haven't come out! Please, please save them..."

"Calm down, girl! Trust us!" The firefighter pressed down on her shoulder and took the fire extinguisher she was clutching tightly. "Go to a safe area and wait. Don't come any closer. We'll take care of it."

……

Although the fire spread at one point, it remained within a controllable range.

The firefighters who entered the fire scene split into two teams. One team used water hoses to extinguish the remaining open flames and clear away burning materials; the other team wore breathing masks and used powerful flashlights to cut through the thick smoke, carefully searching the ground and under seats for possible unconscious persons.

The search team quickly noticed something amiss. In front of the half-open door to the emergency exit lay a black ankle boot that had been lost in the chaos of the escape.

"There's an situation here." The captain quickly deployed his forces over the walkie-talkie. "One team, go downstairs to the exit and check if any injured people have left on their own! The rest of you, follow me up the stairs and search! Watch out for corners and turns; they might be unconscious from smoke inhalation!"

He stepped into the safety passage.

The staircase leading downstairs was piled with discarded building materials and old furniture, making it impossible to pass. Moving the flashlight beam upwards, I could see a soaked school uniform jacket draped over the stairs leading to the rooftop.

"Up, to the rooftop!"

The group quickly climbed onto the roof.

On the cement ground where the snow had not yet completely melted, messy footprints were clearly discernible under the moonlight: one set was of small, bare feet, some deep and some shallow, revealing haste and stumble; the other set... looked like the paw prints left by some large feline, wide and clear.

The captain looked up, following the direction of the footprints.

On the low wall at the edge of the roof, a completely black cat was sitting quietly.

Upon seeing the crowd, it neither fled nor cried out; instead, it human-like stretched its lips into a smile.

Then, he leaped into the air and disappeared into the night sky five stories high.

Not far from where the black cat had just been sitting, the firefighters found them—a silver-haired girl sitting next to a coughing boy on the edge of the embankment, the girl trying to help the boy up.

"How are you, classmate?"

"Cough... Thank you, we're fine." Song Che wasn't burned, but he could see black spots spinning in his vision.

"The fire in the screening room is under control. I'll take you down."

"Thanks."

As Xia Li went downstairs, she kept her head down, her face smeared with cigarette ash, making it impossible to discern her expression. Only her tightly pursed lips revealed her stubbornness.

She was just scolded by Song Che.

[Have you ever really had your head caught in a trap? Have you considered that if something exploded, you two would die if you came in? Magic won't work; you're not a witch anymore. I've emphasized this countless times...]

Her blue eyes were misty, whether from crying or from the smoke, it was hard to tell. She clenched her small hands, stopped, and stubbornly spoke to the silent Song Che.

"I will protect you."

"..."

When Song Che saw the mist in her blue eyes, he knew he had been wrong to speak. From the moment Xia Li entered the fire until she carried him upstairs, she had used all her strength. In that emergency, she knew to soak her scarf and coat in water to help cover her mouth and nose. She carried him up two flights of stairs in one breath, explaining that she had been reading the safety magazine he had shown her carefully.

A tickling sensation rose in his throat, and he couldn't help but cough again, choking back the words that were about to come out of his mouth, words that were neither an apology nor an explanation.

An apology is too simplistic, and an explanation is too weak.

After Xia Li finished speaking, she lowered her head again, silently wiping the soot off her face with her fingers, and continued walking down with the firefighters.

……

The fire has been completely brought under control. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The most serious injuries were those like Song Che, who suffered from inhalation and mild oxygen deprivation.

The official record attributes the fire to fire safety hazards, including the cinema owner's unauthorized charging of appliances in the stairwell and aging electrical wiring. As for the large cat that was witnessed by multiple people, it was dismissed as a distorted account due to excessive fright—although more than one firefighter saw the clear paw prints on the rooftop.

Zhang Hanyu breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Song Che and Xia Li were safe, but seeing that the two remained silent, she quietly apologized a few times and left alone.

On the way back, the moonlight was cold and clear.

Song Che's thoughts were in turmoil. The scene replayed repeatedly in his mind: her rushing against the flames, chanting ineffective incantations, spreading her arms to try and block the flames, then using all her strength to lift him up…

Is she stupid?

In another world, he was also saved by Xia Li, but back then, Xia Li was the Witch of Jealousy, and super-level magic was as easy for her as drinking water. Now, she has lost all her magic, and this protection is fundamentally different... She did it knowing it was impossible.

Aside from Xia Li, would any girl really go to such lengths for him?

A guy who comes back from another world, has neglected his studies, comes from an average family, and might not even get into university. He enters society, works day after day, earns a meager salary, and lives a mediocre life... I doubt any girl would want to spend her life with him.

The more Song Che thought about it, the more ridiculous he felt. He regretted speaking ill of Xia Li again. Although he knew that Xia Li probably didn't care at all, it was precisely because of this that Song Che felt that he had let down the girl who had risked her life to save him.

I can't even bring myself to apologize.

Under the moonlight, Xia Li was putting on her lost boots. She stood up, her voice slightly hoarse, and tears were still streaming from her blue eyes, making it hard for Song Che to tell whether she was actually crying.

His Highness never cries.

But Song Che felt guilty about his current appearance.

Xia Li put on her boots and stood next to Song Che, calm and serious. "I lost the scarf you gave me."

"..."

"I'll give it to you tomorrow... I'll buy you a new one today."

Xia Li nodded, her gaze turning towards the movie theater: "The movie is still half over."

"We'll watch it on our phones when we get home tonight."

After a brief silence, she suddenly turned her head and asked the question a second time, "Do you have three moles on the soles of your feet?"

"If you like it, I'll have it right away." Song Che paused, recalling a line from Detective Chinatown: "Right away."

Xia Li tilted her head. "Right away?"

Is this something that can be obtained immediately?

Suddenly, she realized that Song Che was holding her hand. She felt a little uncomfortable and struggled a bit, but couldn't break free. "...Why are you holding my hand?"

"When you're out in public, you should act like a couple; shaking hands won't reveal your relationship."

"...Oh." Xia Li felt that this handshake was a bit inappropriate, but in the end, she gave up struggling and just muttered softly, "Then you can only hold it for a short while. It feels weird."

"Mm," Song Che responded softly, his gaze falling on their clasped hands. "Just for a little while."

Let me be selfish for just this little while.

Song Che gripped Xia Li's hand tightly. He had never touched the witch princess's hand in a hundred years... Her slender hand was soft, warm, and small, and he could hold it all in one go.

Song Che's feelings were complicated. He couldn't tell whether it was lust at first sight, the suspension bridge effect, or whether he had really fallen for this emotionally deficient witch.

But a human's lifespan is a fleeting century. A witch's time, however, is as long as the stars in the sky.

The silver moon seemed even clearer, and before anyone knew it, fine snowflakes began to fall from the previously snowless night sky. Snowflakes fell one after another, landing on Song Che's head, one, two, three, four, turning Song Che's hair white, shimmering with the moonlight's radiance.

The snow fell silently, and people remained silent.

The two strolled hand in hand, enjoying the snow together.

For some reason, Song Che suddenly thought of Zixia, that emotional girl who had lost her divine status... Could Xia Li even have emotions?

Xia Li remained silent for a long time before hesitantly speaking, "If I wash the dishes tomorrow to pay off the debt, could you please not deduct the cost of the scarf from the gold coins? But I promise, once the gold coins are gone, I will support myself."