Chapter 99: A shadow that answered
Many things happened at once, too fast for thought, too fast for breath.
Lin Guowei’s blade cut through the air, wild, desperate, lethal—aimed straight for Lieyin’s heart. Lieyin had moved out of the way, or so she thought.
"Lieyin!"
Ru Yi moved, but not like before. She didn’t stumble or hesitate.
One moment she was behind Lieyin, the next she was in front of her with frightening speed. Like the distance between them never existed. Like space itself had folded. Even Qingyue’s eyes widened.
Lin Guowei’s sword struck, a clean and merciless thrust straight through Ru Yi’s back. A sharp strangled whimper tore from her lips.
For a fraction of a second, everything stopped.
Yexue froze.
Lieyin’s breath caught, her eyes widening in something dangerously close to disbelief. "Ru Yi?"
There was no blood. None. Instead something else moved from the wound, from within her— A dark shifting shadow erupted outward.
It wasn’t liquid or smoke.
It was something deeper...something alive. It coiled around the blade like it had been waiting, like it had been awakened.
The metal trembled...cracked, then it was forced out of Ru Yi’s body. Slow and deliberate. As if it was rejected.
Ru Yi’s body arched slightly as the shadow spread across her back, swallowing the wound entirely.
The torn flesh closed and sealed, totally gone. But the shadow didn’t linger, it sank back into her like it had never existed. Like it never revealed itself.
The courtyard was dead silent. No one spoke or moved, unable to process what had just unfolded in front of them.
Ru Yi’s body went slack and she fell. But she didn’t hit the ground.
Han Shuying moved instantly, catching her mid-fall, one arm steady and controlled. Her gaze dropped to Ru Yi’s now un-marked back then sharpened.
Behind them Lin Guowei staggered, still alive and in shock from what he just witnessed. His eyes were wide but not with rage anymore. It had been replaced with fear.
"What...what are you...?"
He never got his answer. Han Shuying didn’t even fully turn before her blade flashed once, clean and final.
Lin Guowei’s body hit the ground for the last time, he was truly dead.
Yexue was the first to move, breaking out from the spell Ru Yi had cast over them. "Ru Yi!"
Lieyin didn’t know what to do. She stood rooted to the spot, her gaze lingering on Ru Yi who was now in Han Shuying’s arms.
For the first time since anyone met her, Lieyin didn’t know what to do. This was the first time since she was born that she’d miscalculated a move, but the even more endearing part was how Ru Yi had stepped in to save her.
Qingyue approached slower, her expression tightening with calculation. And also recognition of something that shouldn’t exist.
"She’s unconscious," Han Shuying announced. "But alive and well."
Yexue let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. "Then we need an energy healer now."
"No!" Han Shuying’s voice cut through sharply. "She’s coming with me."
All three sisters looked up.
"I need to take her to the capital," Han Shuying continued, already adjusting her hold on Ru Yi. "She requires adequate examination."
"No." Yexue’s response was immediate, voice firm and sharp. "She stays with us."
Lieyin didn’t speak but she stepped forward, that alone showed her stance on the matter.
Qingyue’s gaze met Han Shuying’s. "We can handle this ourselves. Her condition is of no concern to you." She tilted her head in a challenging gesture. "Or is there something more to it?"
Han Shuying looked between them in a condescending manner. "Can you really handle it when you can’t even take care of yourselves?"
"Better watch your mouth," Yexue replied.
Han Shuying clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Or what? You’re outnumbered and weak. Nothing good will come out of standing in my way."
"We don’t want trouble," Qingyue tried to reason. "She got hurt because of us, it’s only right that we take responsibility."
"Sometimes you need to come to terms with your own shortcomings." Han Shuying pulled Ru Yi closer to her chest. "There’s no healer that can give her proper care here in Tiancheng. We have the best already waiting in the capital."
Qingyue’s jaw tightened, but it would do no good if she lost her cool now. "Ru Yi can’t go back to the capital."
Han Shuying raised a brow. "Why? You were the ones exiled, not her," she said coldly.
The words landed like a blade.
"She’s not bound to your despicable fate," Han Shuying continued. "And whatever just manifested—" her gaze flicked briefly to Ru Yi’s back, "is not something you’re equipped to deal with."
Yexue’s teeth ground against each other. She’ll rather have someone tear her limbs out of her body than let Ru Yi get taken away from her. "You’re not going anywhere with Ru Yi."
Han Shuying didn’t raise her voice or argue. But something in her presence shifted, the weight of her authority.
Days ago she’d been under the triplets, obeying their every word and instruction. But right now the tables were turned, and it made her ego get drunk on power.
"You don’t get to decide that." Han Shuying looked at Yexue, a smile playing lightly at the corner of her mouth. "I don’t think you realize the amount of danger you’re in right now."
She looked at the imperial guards that stood around them. "You’re the hero of the day, but all that can change in the twinkle of an eye."
"Are you threatening us?" Qingyue asked.
Han Shuying shook her hair, her short hair swishing right under her chin. "Exiled princesses, wrecking havoc on every village they pass through..." she trailed off. "Do you catch my drift?"
Of course the three of them understood.
"Records can be forged, a poor village head can get accused..." Han Shuying looked down at Ru Yi with something eerily close to worry. "You’re already walking on a thin line."
"Han Shuying..." Yexue’s voice was pleading, a low desperate sound that would’ve appealed to Han Shuying in the past. Frustration burned in her expression. "Please...don’t take her away from me."
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