As the two knights stepped back, several shadows surged from the gloom like knives of night, and knocked them out cold.

…Fan Chen, the city lord, stiffened for a heartbeat like a bow drawn tight, then moved on without looking back.

The ones who struck were his shadow guards, friends bound by life and death, silhouettes loyal as pine under snow.

This time, Fan Chen meant to stake everything, even if the road ahead was a cliff into fog with no tomorrow.

Hours earlier, inside his secret chamber like a sealed cave, Fan Chen had gathered every hand he’d trained over the years.

He laid out the cause and effect bit by bit, like beads on a string, truth heavy as stone sinking through water.

Most of his followers were shadow guards of the dark, faces rarely seen, lost souls he’d taken in like strays at dusk.

They served him because he’d shown them kindness, a debt like warm fire in winter carried inside their chests.

Standing at the center like a lantern in storm, Fan Chen spoke with a weighty voice: “That’s how it is. This is my only chance to kill the sea fiend; I won’t turn away, even if it means allying with those people. If you plan to walk this road with me, the path holds no future; I won’t force you. These years, I owe you all for the day I stand here. If you choose to go, you can leave now, but please keep today sealed like a lidded jar—this is my only request.”

He bowed to them, spine bending like bamboo in wind.

“City Lord,” a maid from the manor stepped forward, curtsey neat as a folded leaf. “I’m willing to follow your steps. You gave me a new life, like spring after frost; and back then, you avenged me. So this time, I’ll stake my life to fulfill your long-cherished wish.”

She was the maid who’d shown Tangxue around the City Lord’s manor, plain of face yet always wearing a gentle smile like warm tea; first to see her felt healed.

Now her eyes held no softness, only resolve hard as tempered ice.

“City Lord, we’re willing to follow your steps!”

One voice rose like a spark, then a second, then a third, embers catching in dry grass.

Fan Chen treated people kindly, and he cared for his own like sheltering trees; many here had benefited greatly, so many chose to follow, a river swelling after rain.

But some still turned away, because ties in this world held them like roots in earth.

Fan Chen drew a deep breath, his chest rising like a tide. “I respect every choice you make. Since you choose to leave, I have one favor to beg: please take care of this city’s people like lanterns in night. Please.”

He dropped to both knees and bowed his head to the floor, a thud like stone on slate.

“City Lord! Why are you doing this? Please stand!”

“Please don’t do that, City Lord; whatever you ask, we’ll agree—before and after, in sun or rain!”

“City Lord…”

They rushed forward to raise him, hands steady as pillars, while a tight weight pressed in each heart like storm clouds.

Even so, they tried to comfort one another with light voices like afternoon wind.

“Thank you… To meet all of you is my honor,” Fan Chen said, a relieved smile unfolding like dawn across still water.

Outside, change crept like thunder under the horizon, and Tangxue had only just woken.

“Mm… I slept so comfortably~” The blue-haired little girl stretched, body uncoiling like a cat, voice cooing like soft rain.

“Should be noon now, right? I remember coming back in the morning and napping a bit. I’m starving; my belly’s an empty drum. I didn’t cook at all. I wonder if those two ate. The little princess probably went to Heavenly Melody Academy’s cafeteria, huh? Mhm~”

That way, those two won’t chase after my cooking like sparrows pecking grain.

“Tangxue-xue… do… you… know… you’ve slept several days already!!!”

Ying Xuan’er popped out of a side cabinet like a mischievous cat and hugged me from behind while my guard was down.

“Ghost—aaah!!!” My eyes spun like startled swallows, and my hands flailed like wind-tossed flags.

“Don’t swing at me! It’s me, Tangxue-xue!”

“Then stop touching me! Ying Xuan’er! Can your feet not prop up on me?”

Her feet in white stockings had no smell, smooth as silk, but propped like that, they felt awful, a weight like a stone on a reed.

“If you keep this up, don’t blame me for paying you back in your own way!”

“Please do exactly that!” (sharp inhale)

“…”

So… why is everyone around me thicker-skinned than me, faces like city walls?

Thankfully, Yueqin came in in time and ended the farce, a calm breeze across a messy room.

She was a maid, yet Ying Xuan’er seemed to heed her words, at least for now.

“Your Highness, we agreed, didn’t we?” Yueqin puffed her cheeks like a small moon and spoke, feigning anger. “Don’t disturb her while she sleeps. If you keep this up, Miss Tangxue will really hate you like frost on a blossom!”

“I didn’t break the promise!” Ying Xuan’er retorted, righteous as noon sun. “I waited till Tangxue-xue woke, then I jumped on her!”

“… Seems that’s true.”

“So, Yueqin, don’t wrong me. Hurry and apologize~”

“But we also agreed not to use force on Miss Tangxue. Your Highness told me to remind you not to get wild, and to stop you at key moments…” The little maid lowered her head, voice small as drizzle on tiles.

“…” Ying Xuan’er’s mouth corner twitched, a ripple across a lake.

“Saying that right to my face, is that really okay? And what do you mean by ‘use force’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like, ehe~”

“Gross!”

“Anyway, did I really sleep several days like you said?”

“Mm. Since a few days ago, after Miss Tangxue fell asleep, you never woke. Sometimes you murmured and giggled, rolling around in bed like a playful pup…”

“…”

“At first, Her Highness held back. She said she couldn’t make a move on you then; that would be a sneak attack, and that’s bad…”

“…” Ying Xuan’er.

“But later, Her Highness couldn’t endure. She planned to force it, but Miss Tangxue, your movements were too big. Her weak little body couldn’t withstand your thrashing; she lost in a few rounds, then decided… uuu!”

“Enough, enough~ Yueqin, you’re tired, right? Go rest a bit~” Ying Xuan’er smiled, gentle on the surface, winter under petals.

The little maid stared at Ying Xuan’er, dazed, head wobbling side to side like a willow in wind.

“Tired. Right!” On the last word, Ying Xuan’er almost ground her teeth, still wearing a smile like carved porcelain.

That’s intimidation, isn’t it? I grumbled inside, thoughts fluttering like moths around a lamp.

Frightened, the little maid nodded like a pecking sparrow, then rolled to the sofa and pretended to sleep.

“…”

“Then, with the obstacles gone like clouds pulled aside, let’s talk truth, Tangxue-xue~” Ying Xuan’er cast me a crooked smile, eyes gleaming like crescent moons.