The carriage ride from the Imperial Palace back to the Lin General's Estate was full of suffocating tension.
The vehicle itself was not the standard, spacious family transport they had arrived in.
Lin Feng, wielding the absolute, unquestionable authority of the Vanguard Commander, had simply commandeered a sleek, heavily armored military transport carriage from his own retinue.
With a few curt, unarguable words to their father, he had arranged it so that General Lin, Xuan, and the three half-sisters would return in the primary carriage, while he and Ji'an would ride alone in the Vanguard transport.
"My brother is exhausted from the performance," Lin Feng had stated smoothly to the General, his hand resting a fraction of an inch too heavily on Ji'an's shoulder. "The noise of the siblings will agitate his meridians. I will escort him back in quiet."
General Lin had agreed without suspicion, his mind still reeling from the emotional devastation of the flute and sword dance.
