Just as Qianyue was about to bite down, Tangxue flicked a piece of cake into her mouth, quick as a sparrow snatching seed.

“Ah… mmph?”

Qianyue swayed, mind misty as dawn haze; the wrong taste at her lips cracked the fog like ice underfoot, and she snapped awake.

“Ah! S–Sister, I didn’t mean it!” Her voice fluttered like a startled fawn.

Tangxue watched in silence, words sticking like snowflakes on her tongue, the scene familiar as footprints in fresh frost.

‘Her burn rate’s high now… One mouthful used to carry her for days; a whole cup, and she’s still hungry… Must be tied to her size,’ she thought, calm as moonlight on a lake.

She studied Qianyue, gaze soft as a drifting petal: taller than before, her once-childish features quickened like a bud toward blossom—an adolescent spring unfolding.

Kids in a growth spurt eat like sparrows at a granary; it’s normal, like rain fattening shoots.

Tangxue sighed light as wind through reeds, then smiled and lifted Qianyue up, gentle as cradling porcelain. “Alright… up you go. Don’t make a habit of kneeling; I don’t like people near me folding like paper cranes. I was looking at your face, that’s all… I didn’t mean to keep you on your knees.”

“Mm~ Qianyue believes Sister.” Her trust fell soft as warm rain.

‘Her smile is still so gentle… Why am I still—’ The thought broke like a wave on rock.

‘Forget it. That’s not the point. Business first,’ she told herself, steady as a drawn bow.

“Qianyue, this divine sword is yours from now on.” Tangxue found a fitting scabbard and passed it over, the blade gleaming cold as moonlight on steel.

“I remember your bloodline’s the only one that can draw out its full Authority. And I don’t need other weapons. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not forcing it on you. Keeping it with me is a waste, mm…”

Qianyue’s lips parted, and she froze, stunned like a deer in snow; that prickly-soft tone of Sister was pure as uncut jade.

When she came back to herself, a smile tugged at her face like sunlight through clouds. She accepted the scabbard and sword, warmth pooling in her chest like tea in a clay cup.

Its name was Doomfall. Forged in imitation of Longinus, yet its might matched the original like twin storms; their branch had guarded it as a clan’s Divine Artifact, passing it down like fire in a brazier.

Qianyue hadn’t coveted it, not really; but a gift from Sister was a lantern in her night, meaning braided like red string.

“Qianyue, I’m not giving you this for free.” Tangxue’s smile edged close, soft as silk and sharp as a blade.

“…”

“Since you’ve taken it, if one day I’m no longer myself… I want you to kill me, with your own hands.” Her voice fell like frost on leaves.

Like you once did.

“Sister?!”

Tangxue covered Qianyue’s mouth, palm cool as river stone. “Shh~ I know what you want to say. But you don’t get to refuse. Hmph.” Her eyes glinted like stars behind thin cloud.

Because you promised me, once, beneath a winter moon.

They didn’t speak more; they went straight to the crown prince’s tomb and broke the seal, footfalls echoing like drums in a cavern.

Truth is, the cleanest way was to cremate Crown Prince Vito, turning schemes to smoke like incense in rain. He was formidable, a wolf with dying eyes; on the edge of death, he laid a twisted ritual, binding the City of Woe’s ley lines to nourish his ruined flesh, his misery staged like theater in a fogged mirror. Given ten more years, his body might have birthed a new Blood Reservoir, and then he could claw back through an impure rebirth, like a corpse reaching from soil.

But fate set a baleful star in his path—Tangxue—and his dark tide ebbed to dry stone.

He failed to resurrect; no bones left to count. Even his ashes scattered, dust on the wind.

When they finished with the body, the tomb shook hard, stone humming like thunder trapped in a jar. Tangxue understood: the ley lines were waking, a dragon stirring under earth; next, the Vampire palace would unseal, doors yawning like a cave mouth.

They said inside lay the Duskmoon Empire’s peak hoard, a mountain of coin like dunes of gold, and arcane devices beyond counting, gears glittering like stars in a night forge.

Tangxue’s interest was thin as smoke; she only wanted to leave, light as a gull over waves.

But Qianyue…

After lifting the seal, Tangxue led her out of the imperial necropolis, steps steady as a path through pines. At the edge of parting, Tangxue turned, voice low as dusk wind: “Qianyue, I’m leaving now. What will you do next…”

“Where Sister goes, Qianyue goes.” The answer rose clean as a bell.

“But…”

“Would you really leave Qianyue to rot in a tomb, living worse than a shadow?” Tears brimmed like wells, and her tone quivered with grievance like a plucked string. “Qianyue has no home now. Except for you, Qianyue has nothing. Can you… really abandon me?”

“That’s not why…” The thought of her clinging made Tangxue’s temples ache, a knot in silk. “We aren’t even the same race. Are you going to follow me into the sea and live there?”

She faltered, mind snagging like a fish on a line. With the unique conditions at home… maybe it could work?

Qianyue said nothing, but her small hand clenched her hem, knuckles pale as shells, resolve tight as a tied knot.

“I don’t even know what to say to you…” Tangxue sighed, breath like a falling leaf. “If you want to come, then come. But I won’t wake you anymore. If one day I slip away, don’t blame me.”

So if Qianyue wakes early every day, Sister won’t shake her off? The thought bloomed like morning light.

Joy flooded her heart like spring water, and she couldn’t help smiling, bright as a lantern.

“Qianyue understands~ From now on, Qianyue will rise early. Qianyue won’t let Sister abandon her!” She darted into Tangxue’s arms like a swallow to its nest, hugging tight, afraid she’d fly.

“…”

She hadn’t planned to abandon her, not after that choice; so why did her body still drift away, like a tide pulling from shore? Was it mercy that didn’t want to crush a flower?

Or was it a tether that wouldn’t let go?

When they left the necropolis, the imperial district had changed, waves of it clear to any eye. The City of Woe’s ley lines were alive again, a river rumbling under stone. The palace, sealed for ages, yawned open like a long-sleeping gate, and the poor surged like a tide; by the time they emerged, crowds ringed the district, and fights sparked at the palace entrance like flint to steel.

Tangxue ignored them, her silence a blade in a sheath, and led Qianyue out of the City of Woe, footsteps straight as an arrow. Next stop: the capital of the Duskmoon Empire.

She wanted to visit the Blood Elf’s tomb, curiosity circling like a hawk—about what happened back then, and that ruthless elf who wiped out a clan like a storm through wheat.

Then she’d go kill that Vampire called Crimson Goose, cutting the thread clean as a knife through silk.

Since she chose to inherit Edgar’s bloodline and power, she’d inherit his debts too, shouldering them like a pack under a cold moon.