And on the path ahead, in the direction she pointed, a black figure sat motionless beneath a tree.  

The fading sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting half his body in shadow, obscuring his features.  

His head was bowed, his face hidden, but the silhouette carried an uncanny familiarity.  

The snow-white cat brushed past the man’s feet as Lin Qi followed.  

He hadn’t intended to stop, but in the moment they passed, his gaze inadvertently flickered toward the figure—and his steps faltered.  

The girl in his arms saw it too, gasping aloud:  

“Sun Cheng!”  

The last person they expected to find was right here.  

The young master of the Sun family, whose disappearance had thrown the capital into chaos, was still wearing the prison garb he’d vanished in. In broad daylight, he sat in the outskirts, blocking their path.  

His head remained lowered, as if lost in meditation.  

They halted. Sui Tan wriggled free from Lin Qi’s arms, eager to investigate, but he seized her wrist.  

“Miss, be careful—it could be a trap.”  

But his warning came too late.  

Before the words fully left his lips, a cold arrow shot from the side.  

Even as he yanked her back into his embrace, the razor-sharp tip still sliced through her sleeve, cutting into her arm. A vivid splash of crimson bloomed across the fabric.  

“Miss!”  

Lin Qi’s voice cracked with panic. Sui Tan slumped against his chest, her forehead pressed tightly to him, her delicate hand clutching the bleeding wound. Yet she stubbornly refused to look up.  

“Miss…”  

His heart pounded violently as he reached out, trembling, to check her injury. But before he could, Sun Cheng—who had been still as if asleep—suddenly stood and bolted into the forest.  

At the same time, a familiar “meow” sounded. The snow-white cat reappeared from nowhere, darting after Sun Cheng into the distance.  

“Go after them!”  

Sui Tan’s forehead was slick with sweat from the pain, but the moment she lifted her head, her first words were urgent:  

“Don’t let Sun Cheng escape!”  

“But—”  

Lin Qi hesitated.  

He knew this chance was rare—that Sun Cheng couldn’t be allowed to slip away. But he also couldn’t ignore Sui Tan’s increasingly labored breathing.  

Her warm exhales against his hand now burned like fire.  

“No buts!”  

Sui Tan’s voice was steel. With what little strength she had left, she shoved at him—the push as feeble as a kitten’s paw.  

“Lin Qi, they’ve already lured us this far. If Sun Cheng gets away, the trail goes cold!”  

She struggled out of his hold. “I can stand—go, now!”  

Fresh blood stained her robes in grotesque splotches.  

Yet even then, she swayed but steadied herself, lifting a deathly pale face. Despite the sweat beading on her brow, her resolve never wavered.  

Lin Qi’s outstretched hand met empty air. His lips parted, but no words came.  

In the end, all he could do was cast one last, lingering look at Sui Tan before turning away and giving chase.  

Yet just before he leaped into motion, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing back.  

The girl stood unwavering amidst the spreading crimson on her robes, like a blade piercing heaven and earth.  

Unyielding. Eternal.  

Suppressing the tremor in his chest, he surged forward.  

Sun Cheng and the cat were still fleeing madly. Lin Qi, frantic, abandoned all restraint. In a single bound, he closed the distance—first striking Sun Cheng unconscious with a chop to the neck, then lunging for the cat.

But the snow-white cat seemed to have eyes on its back. With a sharp “meow,” it twisted midair, its snowy fur brushing past his fingertips—just barely evading his grasp.  

A flicker of unease shot through Lin Qi. Following the cat’s escape, his gaze landed on a figure cloaked in black.  

The snow-white cat leaped into the man’s arms in a few bounds. The black-clad figure cradled it, stroking its fur with a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes.  

“Long time no see. You’ve kept me waiting.”  

Lin Qi’s eyes widened. “It’s you.”  

The inexplicable sense of familiarity finally clicked into place.  

From the depths of his memory, he recalled where he’d seen that snow-white cat before.  

Xiang City.

The city where he had once again proven his helplessness.  

And now, here in the capital, thousands of li away from Xiang City, the same mysterious black-clad man and the same snow-white cat had appeared at the scene of another unsolved case.  

Lin Qi took a deep breath. Threads of suspicion—stretching from Xiang City to the capital—flashed through his mind. Instinctively, he stepped forward, his guard up, sensing malice in the man’s presence.  

“No need to be so wary of me.”  

The black-clad man’s lips curled, as if amused by Lin Qi’s blatant hostility.  

“I only invited you here to ask—what exactly is your purpose, hiding your identity to serve as your fiancée’s shadow guard?”  

He paused, then struck like a drawn blade:  

“—Your Highness, the Third Prince.”  

If Lin Qi had been a cat, every hair on his body would have bristled.  

For a heartbeat, his breath stopped. His sword left its sheath in a blur, its edge leveled at the man before him. His voice was ice.  

“Come at me if you dare. Leave her out of this.”  

The ruthless glint in his eyes, sharp as the blade’s gleam, bore no resemblance to the untouchable, moonlit prince of rumors.  

This uncharacteristic Third Prince made the black-clad man chuckle. Still petting the cat, he mused,  

“Even so, I can’t help but wonder—what kind of magic does Miss Qin possess, to make you so different?”  

With that, he gestured behind him.  

“Forgive my boldness, Your Highness.”  

As his words faded, the distant figure of the girl—already swaying unsteadily—suddenly lurched and vanished from sight.  

“Sui Tan!” Lin Qi’s cry tore from his throat, all pretense forgotten.  

His first instinct was to rush to her, to ensure her safety.  

But reason clamped down on that impulse, forcing him to remain rigidly in place, locked in this standoff.  

The black-clad man shrugged.  

“No need for concern, Your Highness. I’ve no intention of harming our future Third Princess. She’s merely… fallen into a trap.”  

“However—”  

He paused meaningfully. Lin Qi stiffened, slowly turning his head.  

Only now did the man let his malice spill forth, his smile dripping with venom.  

“The dart that wounded Miss Qin was poisoned.”  

Lin Qi’s fists clenched so tightly his palms bled.  

“But don’t worry, Your Highness. I happen to have the antidote.”  

With a flick of his fingers, he produced two vials from his sleeve, holding them up.  

“One is a lethal poison. The other is the antidote that will save your beloved.”  

“I’ll give you both. You have a fifty-fifty chance to save her—if you dare to gamble.”