Last time, Scarlet Leaf finally outplayed Lingcai and recognized her, like a lantern finding its lost flame. Their reunion was worthy of drums and firecrackers.

As for Lingcai going home smooth as a spring breeze? Ha—how naive, like chasing butterflies with a sieve. If she goes home now, the story’s candle goes dark.

Scarlet Leaf basked in joy, chattering like a sparrow on a warm eave about marriage with Lingcai.

“By the way, Cai, how long have you been in the Royal Capital? Have you visited the Church? Maybe we scout which chapel to rent today?”

Compared to Scarlet Leaf, Lingcai was calm, like a lake under moonlight. She rested her chin, thinking, then spoke.

“I think… it’s better to wait till we’re back in Qiuerde to get married.”

Scarlet Leaf made a strange face, wanting a grand spectacle like banners in a spring parade. “Huh? Why?”

—Isn’t that obvious? No chapel’s eager to wed two girls under stained glass and bells.

Xueyu sat in a corner, a blazing third wheel like a thousand-watt bulb, and snarked in silence.

After weighing it, Lingcai voiced her worry, like a careful scribe sorting scrolls.

“Back home, the retired Cardinal Baiyun said he’d officiate for us. We agreed to marry in the new church under his name. It’d feel wrong to skip him. And if we marry here, neighbors and friends won’t be there.”

Scarlet Leaf shook her head, like a willow shedding doubts. “No, no. I didn’t come alone this time… Mr. Baiyun heard and wants to see you. And there are others…”

“Huh?” Lingcai never imagined Scarlet Leaf’s ripple would pull in half a river. “Who’s coming?”

“Let me think… I heard you work in the palace at the Royal Capital. Across from our street, the apothecary’s Xiaoyu Meng wants to try for the Royal Capital Medical Academy, so she’ll drop by too. She’s bringing a dozen students, all grassroots Alchemists. If they get a chance, they want to take you as their teacher. The Duke of Qiuerde planned to escort his young master here, but paperwork chained him like iron weights. He’s holding the young master back; no idea if they left. Also, a bunch of disciples from a swordsmanship dojo that does business with our smithy. They’re joking that if Cai falls for a city girl, they’ll storm the imperial city and cut you down.”

—That might not be a joke. Sounds like steel, not banter.

The blazing bulb Xueyu kept roasting from the shadows.

“...So many people are coming… I feel bad bothering them,” Lingcai said, scratching her head, guilt and happiness mixing like rain and sun on her face. To still feel hometown warmth after so long—this day was Scarlet Leaf’s gentle handiwork.

—Have you not considered this wave tells the whole village you turned into a loli?

Xueyu kept grumbling inward, like thunder that refuses to break.

Lingcai folded her arms, thinking hard, like a cat kneading a cushion. Then she nodded fiercely.

“Let’s do this! We hold the wedding here first. Then back home, we host a second one! The second won’t be formal. Just a big gathering—food, drink, games!”

“That’s good too! Settled!” Scarlet Leaf clapped, joy bursting like confetti, and hugged Lingcai tight.

—Can you two notice the key point? Two girls getting married—no chapel will nod that quickly.

Xueyu’s snark swelled like a rising tide, yet she kept it dammed in her chest.

—Hopeless. This couple is adorably hopeless.

“Wait.” Scarlet Leaf suddenly remembered something and lifted Lingcai’s hem like a gust flipping a banner. “Let me see your wound! Where did the blade hit?”

“It’s fine, it’s invisible. A body tempered by Alchemy heals with the tenacity of spring shoots.”

Lingcai covered her navel, shy as a deer. Even under her fiancée’s gaze, blush blooms like peach petals.

Scarlet Leaf lifted her head, met Lingcai’s eyes, then cupped her rosy cheeks in both hands with a gentle pat, like rain tapping bamboo.

“How could you dare be a decoy? That’s a cliff edge! Didn’t you think, if you died, what would I do for the rest of my life? Aren’t you afraid I’d remarry?”

With her wife watching, Lingcai immediately put on a show, like a traveling bard mounting a stage. She slapped the table slow and grand, then launched into the tale, voice hot as a forge.

“You don’t know, it was a hair’s-breadth moment. Over twenty enemies, like a black tide, smashed the guard cavalry till they fell like windblown petals. But I wasn’t scared. One word, and I stepped forward. The assassin’s blade was just a breath from me—click—the edge kissed my neck. She asked, Are you the princess? Leaf, guess what I said.”

“You explained, right? Say you aren’t the princess! What did you say?!”

Scarlet Leaf clung to Lingcai’s arm, heart fluttering like a trapped sparrow, almost in tears.

Lingcai gently loosened Scarlet Leaf’s hold, soothed her with a cheek-to-cheek rub like silk, then kept declaiming with righteous fire.

“I thought, this touches the realm’s peace like wind to wildfire. Sacrifice the small self to save the great self. I thought of you too! If I cowered here, I wouldn’t deserve to marry you, Leaf. So I said—”

Lingcai stood, cleared her throat, and set her boot on the tea table like a general on a ridge. She pointed at the empty wall as if twenty assassins stood there, steel glinting like frost.

“I said: ‘You treacherous rebels! So what if I am, so what if I’m not? Under sun and clear sky, do you still see the crown’s law? My deeds are clean as a mountain spring. Kill one me today, and tomorrow a thousand thousand me will rise!’”

—Nonsense. What you said was, “I’ll hate you both forever, even as a ghost I’ll haunt you two.”

Xueyu was kind, for once, and didn’t peel her mask off in public.

Scarlet Leaf didn’t know the truth. Her truth was whatever Lingcai spoke, like scripture read under incense.

She clapped on the spot. “Good! That’s a proper scolding—like thunder cracking a storm. My true love should be a peerless hero. I won’t marry anyone else. If you die, I’ll live as your widow forever.”

Lingcai, moved, opened her arms and flew at Scarlet Leaf like a kite to its string.

“Leeeaf—!”

“Caaai—!”

—Are these two going to keep drowning in mutual feelings till the moon falls?

I’m numb. Truly numb.

Four heavy words wrote themselves across Xueyu’s blank face.

“Please Let Me Die”