“There were assassins like a swarm of hornets—how’d you slip out?”

“Her blade was zero point zero one centimeters from me, got it? The instant she heard me, she froze—zero point zero one seconds—and I spun like a gust, twisted her wrist, and her blade hit the floor with a clang. Then I—”

While Lingcai painted her own heroics in bright strokes, Xueyu sat to the side, scalp crawling like ants, feeling like she was perched on needles.

—Nope. Can’t stay here. I’m slipping away like mist at dawn.

—May you two be happy for a hundred years. I take my leave.

Xueyu worked on dissolving again, letting her presence blend into the air like fog over reeds. Slow. Natural. Half-transparent. Learn to merge with the backdrop.

“Miss Xueyu?”

Scarlet Leaf’s voice tugged her back from half-transparency, dragging her into the scene like a lantern suddenly relit, bright and warm and impossible to ignore.

—Spare me. Let this lightbulb quietly go dark.

She swallowed the urge to curse, folded her legs beneath her like a calm pond, and smiled. “What’s up?”

“You must know the capital well, right? We just arrived. Could you give us a quick rundown of which halls are popular with newlyweds? No need to trouble yourself—we’ll go look.”

—Good grief. Not done yet? Drag the dog back and slaughter it twice?

Since she’d been pulled back in, staying silent would be rude.

Xueyu could only grit her teeth and force out a stiff smile. “I won’t intrude on your little world of two. I’d love to guide you, but I’m clumsy with words—just explaining won’t cut it…”

“Really? Thank you! Miss Xueyu! We don’t mind!” Scarlet Leaf didn’t hear the subtext at all; she pressed her hands together like petals meeting in prayer. “We’ll be in your care!”

—Not right! You two don’t mind. I mind!

Xueyu shot Lingcai a poisonous look. Lingcai didn’t get it, so Xueyu cursed her own polite mouth all over again.

Fine. Pin me down and do it.

You’ll get yours, sooner or later.

With that sour tally made, Xueyu felt a little more balanced.

Besides her feelings about Scarlet Leaf herself, Xueyu’s gaze kept drifting to the blade Scarlet Leaf carried.

If she remembered right, its full name was the Crimson Cherry Blossom Blade—Moonlit Heart, Self-Revealed.

It wasn’t just the cherry-petal grain along the edge; the sakura-colored body held a faint violet glow, like dusk under blossoms. More art piece than weapon.

Xueyu hesitated, then asked anyway. “Miss Scarlet Leaf, I heard you’re a blacksmith. Did you forge that blade yourself?”

“You mean this?” Scarlet Leaf lifted Moonlit Heart, Self-Revealed flat and steady, like offering a teacup to the moon. “I forged the blank, but the quenching and polishing were all Lingcai’s! It’s her engagement gift to me. Right~!”

Lingcai looked lost in the memory, warmth rising like spring sunlight. “Mm… We worked hard to give the edge that scarlet bloom. Only then could the blade be worthy of my Leaf’s name. Right~!”

—Enough. I shouldn’t have asked. I deserve this lovey-dovey confetti all over my face.

Xueyu wanted to smack the version of herself that forced this topic open.

From her angle, Scarlet Leaf didn’t seem like a girl who played with steel and fire. Yet she carried that long blade at her hip; for ‘self-defense,’ it was loud as a gong.

Forget it. Don’t ask. Save myself from extra trouble.

None of the three knew that just beyond the inn’s door, a plot was brewing like storm clouds at noon.

A pitch-black carriage waited outside the inn, lacquer gleaming like a pond at midnight. Inside, a voice droned like a wind-up doll, repeating orders in cold, tin echoes.

“Remember. Remember! Our target is the princess!”

“Which one is the princess? Which one is the princess?”

“The girl closest to Lady Xueyu is the princess. Repeat!”

“The girl closest to Lady Xueyu is the princess. Received!”

Two pairs of eyes glowed in the carriage’s darkness like cat’s eyes behind a curtain, fixed on the inn’s doorway.

They held there until three silhouettes stepped into view.

It was Lingcai and Scarlet Leaf—with the third wheel, Xueyu.

Right before they stepped out, their formation went like this: the taller Xueyu and Scarlet Leaf to either side, the shorter Lingcai naturally in the middle like a sapling between two pines.

Lingcai stopped dead, anger flaring like a spark. “No! This formation’s a problem!”

“What is it now?” Xueyu sighed, dry as winter reeds.

Lingcai grabbed Scarlet Leaf in a fierce hug and glared at Xueyu. “Two tall on the sides and short in the middle looks like a family of three! I am not giving you that discount!”

Xueyu rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on… No one thinks that. Fine, I’ll stand in the middle. Happy?”

Lingcai spat a little “Pah!” like a pebble. “You stand in the middle and fish both sides? And why should Leaf and I split?”

Xueyu nearly choked on pure indignation. “What do you mean! I’m not some creep! I don’t have a thing for married women! Am I that filthy in your head?”

Don’t tell me you think your image’s spotless.

Lingcai tossed her chin with pride, hugging Scarlet Leaf like she’d never let go. “I don’t care. I’m taking the far side. Leaf stands next to me, you stand next to Leaf. You promised—you’d listen to me. Not too much to ask, right?”

Scarlet Leaf smiled awkwardly, sunshine without words.

At this point, Xueyu was out of options. She wrinkled her nose and shuffled over obediently. “Fine, fine, have it your way. I’ll stand farther off. So dramatic, you.”

So when they stepped through the inn’s door, the formation shifted. The person beside Xueyu became Scarlet Leaf.

And the carriage’s watching eyes locked tight on the three, pupils narrowing like blades.

“Remember! The one closest to Lady Xueyu is the princess!”

“Remember! The one closest to Lady Xueyu is the princess!”

After the mechanical chant, a forest of telescoping black arms unfolded from the carriage—paper-fold segments snapping open like a crow’s wings—aimed squarely at the trio.

Xueyu moved first. Her sword flashed like cold rain, cleaving the arms that lunged at her, brittle as dead branches—one touch, and they shattered. But that was just a feint.

The true target lay beside her—

—Scarlet Leaf.

By sheer mischance, the arms were meant for Lingcai.

The swapped positions sent them clamping onto Scarlet Leaf, who had nothing at all to do with any princess.

“Huh?”

Cradling the Crimson Cherry Blossom Blade and her bundle, Scarlet Leaf hadn’t even processed what happened before the black arms wrapped her like vines and dragged her into the carriage.

Inside, the doll-voice kept droning, like a drum with no heart:

“Target secured—the princess! Pack up! Pack up!”

“Leave the card! Leave the card!”

The carriage tore away like a shadow on wind. Only a pale green card remained, falling onto the fragments of black arms Xueyu had sliced, like a leaf on ash.

By the time Lingcai processed what had happened, the carriage was gone. She stood stunned for a heartbeat, then turned to Xueyu.

“This… what is this… a kidnapping?!”

“…Looks like it. Also looks not.”

Xueyu cooled her breath, slid her sword back into its sheath like tucking a river under ice, and set her eyes on the pale green card at their feet.

Lingcai noticed too. She stepped up, picked up the card, and read aloud, each word hard as a pebble.

“To Lady Xueyu: If you want to see her again, come alone… Then the address. Huh… See? I thought it was a kidnapping…”

Realization struck like thunder. Lingcai hurled the card to the ground.

“…No. This is a kidnapping!”