Chapter 78: Another Enemy

“I didn’t mean I’m some tough-as-nails girl,” she blurted, her words fluttering like startled sparrows.

“Huh? Then, little miss, did you… get a change—” His voice thinned like smoke over water.

“I didn’t get that kind of surgery either! Ugh… I just…” Her tone wilted like rain-soaked petals.

Watching Luyao’s misunderstanding swell like a flooded river, Yue Liuyi felt a pounding headache, a drum in fog. Explaining herself was a thorny grove.

Little Rose piped up, her voice popping like a firecracker under eaves. “Angel big sis is literally an angel, with the breeze to switch back into a boy!”

“Though she looks pure as a cloud, inside she’s a little perv, a fox in lace.” Her words twinkled like stars over mischief.

“She’ll take advantage of girls in all kinds of ways, with a harem dream like fireworks.” The claim danced like lantern light.

“All statements—straight from a certain great President,” she concluded, planting the flag like a paper pinwheel.

“What great President! That was mischievous LittleSnow talking nonsense,” Yue Liuyi huffed, irritation rustling like wind through her skirt hem.

“A-a-angel… little miss, you’re not human?” Luyao’s voice shook like a reed in a river breeze.

“Eh…?” Her blink shone like dew on bamboo.

“Mm… I’m not the same as ordinary humans,” she admitted, words settling like a compass needle. “So I… like girls.”

(At that thought, Yue Liuyi exhaled in relief, fog lifting off a lake at dawn. Someone had told her this was yuri, so no boy would ever pin her down.)

“I see… no wonder I felt something different in your aura,” Luyao murmured, the idea blooming like a plum in snow.

He looked at the blue-haired girl, then laughed bright as sunlight breaking through clouds.

“Luyao?” she asked, a question light as drifting cattail fluff.

“I get it! Cute is cute, gender be damned,” he said, grin flashing like a blade in morning light.

He clenched his fist, heat rising like a torch in night wind.

“Huh?” Her surprise rang like a drop in a still well.

“You’ve got something to tell me, right? If you need anything, I’ll help,” he promised, steady as a pine on a cliff.

“Really… no problem?” Her doubt stepped like a heron on thin ice.

“Of course,” he answered, crisp as a struck bell.

“Well… it’s actually…” Her voice gathered like breath before a plunge.

…

It took a little work, but Yue Liuyi finally laid out the situation, unrolling it like a map on a low table.

The red-haired youth shed his earlier heat like steam, and sank into thought like a stone in a pond.

“So… you accepted the Council’s appointment, to lead the Winterwood District?” His words circled like hawks on a thermal.

“Mm! Yes! From today, I’m the Warden of the Winterwood District,” she said, pride rising like morning mist. “The appointment and paperwork are signed.”

“Here’s my seal,” she added, placing it down like a moon-stamp in ink. It bore the District and Council crests.

Where Dongfang Chen’s name would be, there was a tree sigil, a quiet forest in place of a signature.

“Ah! That looks impressive,” Luyao breathed, awe gleaming like a fresh blade.

Then his brows drew tight, a shadow folding like storm clouds.

“Luyao? What’s wrong?” she asked, a passing cloud over clear eyes.

“If you’re taking that seat, there’s a faction you must settle,” he said, a boulder sitting in the path.

“A faction?” The word rustled like leaves.

“They’re the Shadow Alliance, half right and half wrong, living in shade,” he said, the name slipping like night across rooftops.

“Shadow Alliance…?” Yue Liuyi tilted her head, a kingfisher poised over a stream.

“They rose on smuggling and illegal crossings,” he said, gravel in his tone like riverbed stones. “For Dreamwood Star, they did plenty of good—and plenty of rot.”

“Are they that much trouble?” she asked, a thorn snagging silk.

“It’s not about ‘trouble,’” he said, voice cooling like a winter well. “They run shameful business in the Winterwood District.”

“If you establish the park, you’ll clash with them, two carts facing on a narrow bridge.”

As he spoke, Luyao’s features hardened like frost on iron.

“A clash…? What exactly?” Her question rippled like a pebble in a basin.

“I can’t say it yet,” he replied, words sticking like burrs. “That slice of Winterwood business is handled by… Purple Illusion, that girl.”

“Purple Illusion? Sounds like a girl?” The name chimed like a jade pendant.

“Yeah. A terrifying, dangerously clever little girl,” he said, the warning cold as moonlight on a blade.

By now, his face was all iron, a storm-bent cliff against waves.

If it weren’t necessary, he wouldn’t provoke her; every bad impression he had of women sprouted from Purple Illusion like weeds in spring.

“Is Purple Illusion’s ability that dangerous? Is she Elite tier? Or… Master tier?” Yue Liuyi asked, mountains stepping one after another in her mind.

Seeing him so grim, Yue Liuyi felt a knot tighten like winter vines. If the enemy was Master tier, she shouldn’t clash before LittleSnow healed.

“No. Not that,” Luyao said, shaking his head like a bellflower in wind. “Her strength isn’t even Specialist tier.”

“Huh? Then why is she scary?” The question hissed like a drop on hot stone.

“Her scheming,” he said, a hook hidden in silk. “Liuyi, never trust that pale-lavender-haired girl.”

“Her smile is a net in the dusk, and her hair is wisteria at night.”