“Miss… how did you know about the Liao’s thirteen assassination attempts on Lord Zhu?”

Lin Qi’s trembling question still echoed in her ears. Sui Tan froze, her eyes widening. Among the many thoughts that surged up in her mind—thoughts she wanted to conceal—one question bizarrely surfaced first:

“You also know about the Liao’s thirteen assassination attempts on Lord Zhu?”

Lin Qi paused, and now it was his turn to be at a loss for words.

A brief silence spread through the private room. After a moment, Lin Qi suddenly stood up, intent on leaving without another word. Sui Tan quickly reached out and firmly grasped his wrist.

“Lin Qi.”

Her brow furrowed slightly, as if she had finally realized something. She pulled him down to her eye level, leaning closer until her face was almost touching his.

“Are you hiding something from me?”

They were too close. The girl’s eyelashes were practically brushing against his face, and the fine down on her cheeks was clearly visible.

Lin Qi’s throat bobbed as he awkwardly averted his gaze, answering insincerely, “…No.”

“Really?”

Sui Tan leaned even closer. “Lin Qi, I told you when you first came to my side—no lying to me.”

Lin Qi remained silent, lowering his eyes to avoid her gaze as he continued to deny it. “I—”

Crash!

Any further conversation had to be put on hold. The door of the private room was abruptly kicked open without warning.

Lin Qi moved swiftly, darting away like a bullet. Before Sui Tan could react, he had already vanished from her grip.

When she looked up again, he was standing a good distance away, eyes downcast and perfectly composed—truly fulfilling his duty as a bodyguard.

Sui Tan was furious, but she knew now wasn’t the time to press him. She turned her attention to the source of the commotion at the door.

At the entrance stood the “Jade faced king of hell,” the Minister of Court of Judicial Review, who had left earlier but now returned. He stood there like an immovable force, his entire being radiating an aura so dark it seemed capable of grinding bones to ashes.

The shattered remains of the private room’s wooden door lay scattered on the floor. The teahouse owner trailed behind him, wringing his hands and offering apologetic smiles, but the minister paid him no heed.

His icy gaze swept slowly across the room, freezing Sui Tan to the core. Forgetting her anger, she instinctively reached out for Lin Qi.

A warm hand enveloped hers as Lin Qi stepped slightly in front of her, his brow furrowing.

“Lord Zhu, has something happened?”

A cold smirk curled at the edges of Zhu Yan’s stern lips. It should have been a softening expression, but his eyes held no warmth—only frost so sharp it could form icicles. It looked more like mockery than anything else.

His gaze lingered meaningfully on their clasped hands before he finally spoke, his words as biting as a winter gale and as startling as a bolt from the blue.

He was succinct: “Sun Cheng has escaped.”

“What?!”

Sui Tan jumped out from behind Lin Qi, her almond-shaped eyes wide with shock. Zhu Yan cast her a chilly glance, this time making no effort to hide his scrutiny.

It was no wonder he suspected her first. The Minister of Court of Judicial Review rarely accepted invitations to go out, and yet, on this very day, Young Master Sun had mysteriously vanished from the impregnable dungeons of the Ministry of Judicial Review.

Caught in this logic, Sui Tan was at a loss to defend herself, crying injustice like Dou E[1].

She pulled Lin Qi over to vouch for her, insisting they had been inseparable. She swore to the heavens that as the Third Prince’s fiancée, she would never do anything to tarnish his reputation. She even earnestly argued that she had been the first to suspect Sun Cheng in the first place. After a flurry of explanations, she barely managed to convince the minister to withdraw his suspicions.

But Sun Cheng’s disappearance remained a thorn in their side—especially since he was the sole suspect in the hunting grounds murder case and had vanished without a trace from the Ministry of Justice’s inescapable dungeons.

Once Zhu Yan was convinced that Sui Tan lacked both the motive and the means, he wasted no more time. He swept out with his men, determined to pursue other leads.

The private room was left with just the two of them again. Outside in the hallway, the teahouse owner peeked furtively into the now-doorless room.

Distracted by the commotion, Sui Tan temporarily set aside her earlier questions. She jumped down from her chair and grabbed Lin Qi’s hand.

“Let’s go, we should investigate too.”

With that, she deftly nestled into Lin Qi’s arms, pulling his hand to rest on her waist.

Lin Qi instinctively opened his arms to receive her, but it wasn’t until his hand settled on her waist that the murmurs around them finally registered. His entire body stiffened as belated realization struck.

Thanks to Zhu Yan’s dramatic exit, the teahouse was now packed with onlookers. Though the officials had left in a hurry, the spectacle had only intensified. Now, the crowd watched with unabashed interest as the two of them flouted propriety with their closeness. Tsking sounds rose around them, accompanied by frank, judgmental commentary.

Lin Qi’s sharp ears caught snippets like, “Isn’t that the Qin family’s second young miss? How shameless, clinging to a man like this!” His handsome brows furrowed deeply.

He shot a glare at the teahouse owner, who had been the loudest. The man immediately shuddered, covering his eyes in a performative display of “see no evil,” though the disdain leaking through his fingers was unmistakable.

As the murmurs grew louder, Lin Qi took a deep breath, knowing that gossip about the Third Prince’s betrothed was about to spread like wildfire.

But then again, her fiancé—the Third Prince himself—didn’t care. With that thought, Lin Qi tightened his arm, turning Sui Tan halfway so that her face was pressed against his chest.

Sui Tan chuckled, perfectly content to hide against him. Once turned, she even had the audacity to wrap her arms around his waist.

Lin Qi stiffened slightly at the contact, then gently pressed a hand to the back of her head, silently urging her to stay still. Amid the crowd’s scandalized whispers, he swiftly guided her out of the teahouse.

…

Zhu Yan, who had little exposure to the supernatural, might dismiss this as some ghostly anomaly, but the two of them knew exactly how Young Master Sun had vanished without a trace.

The mysterious figure with invisibility powers had resurfaced—this time testing the waters at the Ministry of Judicial Review and openly making a fool of the “Jade Faced King of Hell.”

A frustrated Lord Zhu stormed off to investigate, forcing the undercurrents of conspiracy to temporarily still.

Sui Tan, aware of the difficulties ahead, wasn’t in a hurry to chase leads after leaving the teahouse. Instead, she and Lin Qi headed somewhere else.

“The residence of Minister Sun?”

Lin Qi tilted his head up, reading the words on the grand plaque above the gate. Behind him, Sui Tan planted her hands on her hips and lightly vigorously, clearly pleased with her unconventional approach.

“I’ve thought about it. For someone as despicable as Young Master Sun, the only ones willing to go to such lengths to save him would be his family.”

With that, she lifted the hem of her emerald-green skirt and strode toward the minister’s estate.

“Besides, I also want to know—what kind of magic does the Sun family possess that could make my father, a Duke, obey the whims of a mere second-rank minister?”

This wasn’t just Sui Tan’s question. Many nobles in the capital were equally baffled.

Even as she sat in the main hall of the Sun residence, her sharp almond eyes scanning the surroundings, she couldn’t stop turning the question over in her mind. Her fingers faintly glowed with golden light as she scrutinized everything, as if searching for hidden schemes.

Yet, to her surprise, nothing happened.

No fractured time, no invisible figure emerging—nothing. The silence was almost eerie.

“Miss.”

Lin Qi’s soft cough alerted her to approaching footsteps. Sui Tan quickly retracted her fingers and stood up, smoothing her skirts into the picture of a proper noble lady before offering a demure curtsy.

“Madam Sun, I—”

The minister’s wife strode in with the towering hairstyle favored by noblewomen, her gold hairpins and face ornaments jingling with each step. But her demeanor was anything but refined.

She stormed in like a tempest, and without a word, she viciously grabbed Sui Tan’s hair.

“You little harlot!” she shrieked. “It’s you who led my son astray!”

While cursing, she secretly dug her nails into the tender skin of Sui Tan’s arm, twisting ruthlessly until red marks bloomed.

Sui Tan reacted swiftly. The moment she regained her bearings, she didn’t hesitate—she lunged headfirst into Madam Sun’s stomach with a full-force headbutt, completely disregarding the toll it would take on her already abused scalp.

Caught off guard, Madam Sun staggered back with a pained “Aiyo!”—but her grip on Sui Tan’s hair remained ironclad.

Dragged along in small, unwilling steps, Sui Tan watched as Madam Sun wobbled precariously, on the verge of toppling over. This is it, she thought, bracing herself as she squeezed her eyes shut—

Then, a lean, well-defined hand shot out from the side, seizing Madam Sun’s wrist in a crushing grip.

With a sharp twist, Madam Sun yelped and finally let go.

“Lin Qi!” Sui Tan gasped in relief.

Lin Qi stared at her, his eyes turbulent with unreadable emotions. His throat worked as if he wanted to say something, but all that escaped his lips was a shaken whisper: “Miss.”

But Sui Tan had no idea what heart-stopping realization had struck him in that split second. She balled her fists, ready to charge past him—

Meanwhile, Madam Sun, now sprawled on the floor, slapped her thighs and let out a wail so loud it could rival a funeral dirge.

“My son! How unjustly we’ve been treated! Not only were you wronged, but now, in your absence, they dare come to our home and bully your poor mother!”

She howled at the black-and-gold robes Lin Qi wore:

“The Qin family is too arrogant! Flaunting the imperial guards like this, assaulting an official’s wife right in her own home!”

“And why shouldn’t we?!”

Lin Qi’s expression darkened slightly, but Sui Tan’s almond eyes flashed as she retorted without hesitation:

“Imperial guards don’t hit women or children—and you’re no child, so why shouldn’t we hit you?!”

“Besides, the problem here is Sun Cheng himself!”

“You little—!”

Madam Sun’s rage flared. Abandoning her theatrics, she sprang up, reaching for Sui Tan’s hair again:

“If it weren’t for your Qin family, my son would never have ended up like this!”

Sui Tan couldn’t believe the sheer absurdity of this woman.

Even though her son was the one who couldn’t stay faithful, who got himself tangled in a murder case—in her eyes, it was still the Qin family’s eldest daughter who was cursed, the Qin family who seduced and framed him, her poor, innocent boy who must have been deceived.

Faced with such injustice, Sui Tan refused to back down. She charged forward, firing back with sharp words. Lin Qi stood silently beside her, watching with an unreadable gaze.

He watched as she raged about Sun Cheng’s fickleness, how her sister’s sincere love had been thrown to the dogs. He listened as she condemned Sun Cheng for dragging innocent people into the hunting grounds, leading to a young woman’s gruesome death.

He observed as she traded verbal blows with the minister’s wife right in the main hall of the Sun residence—until Minister Sun himself finally appeared, coldly “escorting” her out.

“Second Young Miss Qin.”

Behind them, Madam Sun continued to wail about her son being corrupted by wicked women. In front, Minister Sun regarded Sui Tan with impeccable courtesy that somehow still dripped with disdain:

“The Sun residence does not welcome any member of the Qin family.”

With that, the gates were slammed shut, leaving them unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

Sui Tan fumed, but there was nothing she could do. She kicked the threshold hard, then plopped down onto the steps in a huff.

“Miss.”

Lin Qi sat beside her.

This trip had been a near-total failure—nothing gained but a shouting match. As her anger cooled, Sui Tan realized she’d acted rashly. She slumped against Lin Qi’s arm, muttering stubbornly:

“This damn minister’s household is way too shady!”

“It is,” Lin Qi agreed, reaching up to smooth her disheveled hair. One stubborn lock stuck up from the earlier scuffle; he gently pressed it down.

“The Sun residence has deep, dark waters.”

The girl leaning against him fell silent, clearly disheartened. Lin Qi hesitated, about to offer more comfort—

“Meow.”

A snow-white cat darted past their feet.

Lin Qi stiffened, his gaze instinctively followed it.

The cat turned its head—its inky black eyes, eerily human-like, locked onto his. Deep, fathomless, as if swallowing everything in its gaze. Yet, inexplicably familiar.

For a moment, Lin Qi felt dizzy, as if he’d seen this cat somewhere before.

But before he could recall where—

“Meow.”

The cat vanished, slipping into the alley beside the Sun residence with effortless grace.