"Dummy…"
Peng Jianwei froze slightly behind the mask.
Then Zi Yuanling lifted her head.
Whatever fragility had shown on her face a moment earlier was pushed down beneath a clear, quiet determination.
She shook her head once, firmly, as if driving away hesitation itself.
"If that is the only path that can save this dynasty and destroy the plague that took my parents… then I will walk it."
From that day onward, the atmosphere inside the quiet bamboo house changed.
Neither of them spoke again of the complicated emotions that had briefly surfaced between them.
Peng Jianwei continued to wear his peculiar mask and address her as "Young Miss Zi," while Zi Yuanling still called him "Brother Peng" with the same familiar tone.
On the surface, their relationship remained that of a benefactor and the girl he protected.
Whatever unspoken feelings might have existed were deliberately pushed aside, buried beneath the weight of the path they had chosen.
They began to plan.
