“Rock-Sugar Princess! This is treason! Punishable by death!”

Cold bit his throat like a winter nail, and Giggs shuddered like a sapling in sleet.

For a heartbeat, he feared his blood would freeze solid, ice in a stopped river.

“You say it’s treason, then sure—call it treason.” Nana Toki drew the ice spike back into her teacup like a blade vanishing into a sheath.

“But death? That’s not yours to decide.” Her smile glittered like frost on glass. “I’ll spare you today. Next time, I’ll take Ling’er Long and walk straight into the Marl Kingdom.”

Madwoman.

The word crashed through him like a drum in a storm.

Her unreadable smile sat on her lips like a crescent moon with a hidden edge, and he stepped back as if a wave had pushed him.

This reckless way of treating people like dust—so unlike the Rock-Sugar Princess he remembered, so unlike the script in his head.

Had she cracked?

Two faces, two souls—his doubt crawled like ants under armor.

Her words were half true, half false, a deck of cards mid-shuffle, and he couldn’t tell which card would cut.

He wanted to brand her a traitor and seize Ling’er Long in one stroke, a hawk diving for the hare.

But he’d slipped here from the capital on his own, a shadow out of bounds.

If rumor reached the King of the Hedon Kingdom, the blade would swing back, and he’d wear the crime of disturbing the realm like a millstone.

His plan had been simple as flint and spark: take the Marl Kingdom’s First Princess from Nana Toki’s hands, then raise troops and force a war.

Once the drums started, even a king who refused war would be dragged by the tide.

Striking the Marl Kingdom would be a matter of days, not seasons.

Only, he hadn’t expected to crash into a wall here.

She didn’t play by rules—she scattered the board like a gust scattering leaves.

Maybe this crazy princess hadn’t kidnapped an enemy princess to spark a war at all.

Maybe she did it for fun, like a cat carrying off a ribbon.

Words jammed behind his teeth, and his skull buzzed like a hive in summer heat.

“If Minister-sama has nothing else, please go.” Her tone was light as drifting snow, her meaning sharp as a hidden hook.

“This is a remote backwater. There might be bandits nesting in the hills. Stay later, and night roads get dangerous.”

She sipped cool tea like a swan tasting lake water.

Her crescent eyes smiled, but the smile pressed like a knife against the ribs.

“...”

Giggs wasn’t a fool; her meaning fell on him like a shadow.

He shot her a venomous look, then craned his neck toward the room, a fox sniffing for prey.

No sign of Ling’er Long. Only then did he whirl away, anger snapping like a banner in wind.

“Careful, Minister! It’s pitch black. You might step in livestock dung!” Nana Toki called from the doorway, voice bright as a bell in night fog.

He’d barely gone a few paces when his foot hit air.

He stumbled, almost kissing the dirt, then jerked around and glared at her, eyes throwing sparks.

Finally he faced forward and left at a near-run, a shadow peeled off by the wind.

The instant he turned his back, her smile went out like a lamp snuffed by two fingers.

Cold gathered on her face like rime on a blade.

Not a moment’s rest—she’d barely tied the ribbon on Ling’er Long, and the capital’s hounds from the Hedon Kingdom had already sniffed their way here.

Would the Demon God’s people reach in next, a third hand in the dark?

This plane’s plot was unraveling faster than her worst guess, threads snapping like icicles in sun.

She’d better tread softer from now on, a fox on snow.

She tipped her tea out into the fields, silver lines sinking into black soil like moonlight into earth.

After one last look at the night-scape, she closed the door slow, wood meeting wood like a hush.

Under the night’s cloak, no one noticed the shadow tucked in a gloomy corner of Mida Village.

It had watched every word between Nana Toki and Giggs, then slipped away on moonlight like a fish into deeper water.

Meanwhile.

Far away, in the Demon God City.

Old Fourth’s report from Mida Village finished like the last drumbeat, and around a round table, one of the remaining Three of the Four Heavenly Kings let a hand hide her smile.

“Just as you said, Big Brother,” the woman’s laugh chimed like glass. “Even Hedon’s people can’t hold their blades. They’re itching for a brawl.”

“Pity the Human Emperor of old,” she sighed, a breeze over graves. “He bled to shield his heirs, and they grew this foolish.”

“Foolish or not, this ties to Lord Demon God’s revival.”

“Third Sister, how’s the Marl Kingdom?” The man Elise called Big Brother propped his chin on both hands, eyes heavy as storm clouds.

“With Old Fourth’s report, war between Hedon and Marl is only a matter of time. You must grip the Marl Kingdom’s core like a smith grips tongs.”

“Rest easy, Big Brother.” Elise’s laugh trilled like a wind chime. “They call me Saintess in the Marl Kingdom now. Even if the Dragon Princess returns, she can’t touch me.”

“And we owe it to the Hedon Kingdom’s princess. If she hadn’t kidnapped the Dragon Princess, I wouldn’t have slipped in so easily.”

“That Hedon princess isn’t simple. Don’t get careless, Third Sister.”

As the Second of the Four Heavenly Kings, Trollop frowned, lines like cuts between his brows.

“That Rock-Sugar doesn’t match Old Fourth’s last report. I feel a big move brewing on her end. Tell Old Fourth to keep his head down.”

“Second Brother, you worry too much. She’s a banished princess, what’s there to fear?”

Elise’s voice was sweet as honeyed wine. “She’s only an apprentice rank. Even strengthened by Lord Demon God’s Ghost-Spike, she won’t stir real waves.”

Words are wind, but Trollop’s gut stayed stone.

“Don’t forget—she killed a Giant Dragon days ago. Yes, the dragon was wounded, but a dragon is still a dragon. Rock-Sugar’s not to be dismissed.”

He propped his face on one hand and drummed the table with the other, steady as rain.

“And doesn’t it strike you as odd? Why snatch Ling’er Long at all? Old Fourth’s notes say those two had no ties. Yet Rock-Sugar crossed half the world to take her.”

“And after the kidnapping, she didn’t drag Ling’er Long to the Hedon capital as a war chip. She’s keeping her in Mida Village instead. Isn’t that strange?”

Trollop turned his gaze to Elise, pupils like dark wells.

“You saw Old Fourth’s update. Rock-Sugar’s arrogant, and she barely counts the Hedon Kingdom as a thing. Third Sister, don’t underestimate that woman. Caution first.”

“...”

“You’re both right,” said the head who sat between Trollop and Elise. His name was Chestont, and his nod fell like a gavel.

“These are perilous days. Caution’s a shield.”

“Third Sister, keep cementing your place in the Marl Kingdom. When Old Fourth wrecks Hedon’s footing, we’ll let the two nations clash.”

“Alright.” Elise inclined her head, eyes like crescent moons.

“As for Hedon... Second Brother, your read?”

Chestont’s gaze slid back to Trollop like a blade returning to sheath.

“Old Fourth’s burrowed there for ages, and besides stoking a few hardliners, progress is dust. Meanwhile Heroes are sprouting everywhere like spring shoots. Delay only harms Lord Demon God’s return.”

“...”

“Hedon’s hard to move. The king refuses war, and we can’t steer the people’s hearts like a rudder. We’ll use the hardliners Old Fourth raised.”

Trollop thought, silence pooling like ink.

“It’s simple. Old Fourth mentioned a hardliner named Giggs. We work him.”

“How?” Chestont’s eyebrow arched like a drawn bow.

“He wants Ling’er Long as Hedon’s war spark, doesn’t he?”

Trollop’s smile cut thin as a knife. “We give him that spark. Once the two start fighting, Third Sister fans the flames in Marl. Water flows downhill. We wait in the dark and net the fish.”

“A fine plan. But isn’t Ling’er Long in Rock-Sugar’s hands?”

Chestont’s look turned curious, a lantern tilted to the side.

“Second Brother, you just said be careful with that woman. Why aim at her so soon?”

“Caution, yes, but not blind caution.” Trollop’s voice was steady as a lake before dawn.

“Maybe she’s just a pure lunatic. Maybe the kidnapping was for fun. We hand Ling’er Long to Giggs and test her. We learn her aim and her edge.”

He stopped drumming, fingers folding like shutters.

“If she’s a paper tiger, we cross one worry off. If she’s trouble, Giggs eats the blow, and we still work from shadow and redraw the lines.”

“Good. We’ll do it your way.”

Chestont’s sternness eased like thunder rolling off into distance.

“No wonder you’re our strategist among the Four Heavenly Kings. I’ll have Old Fourth—”

“No need, Big Brother.” Trollop rose from his chair, cloak whispering like night wind.

“No point wearing Old Fourth out. I proposed it; I’ll move it. He’s not suited for a frontal push. We’ve waited long enough. It’s time I did something for Lord Demon God.”

“Good. Then I’ll trouble you with this.”