Meanwhile somewhere far away north of Ming Kingdom in a luxurious dimly lit room.
The masked man, the very one who had saved Shen Yao knelt respectfully on the floor. But contrary to his brutality when he dealt with those assassins from earlier right now, he was trying to reduce his sense of existence as much as possible wishing he was anyway but here right now
He had survived a lot of tricky situations which he wasn't supposed to but none of that made kneeling in this particular room feel like anything other than what it was. Suffocating and Uncomfortable
He delivered his report.
Every word of it. The events of that night laid out in great detail — the assassination attempt, the hired contract killers, his late intervention, the pill he had been instructed to give to him, the footsteps approaching before he could do anything further. He kept his voice steady head bent down. He watched the floor in front of him and listened to his own words land in the silence of the room and felt, with each one, the air in the room grow colder and colder he felt a chill run down his spine
The man on the throne didn't move.
He was young — twenty-five, perhaps. He sat straight his hand placed on the arm rest randomly lightly tapping in a slow-paced motion. The light from behind him obscured his face, making it harder to read his face and expression.
But his eyes were visible
Azure blue. Striking in the specific way as if they didn't belong in this dim room— too vivid, too expressive and hard to ignore. They had experienced changes since the masked man started his report. Not rapidly. Just steadily, the way water temperature changes — slowly dropping until it suddenly turned very cold.
The masked man finished speaking but at this time he was well aware of the and didn't dare stand or move from his position
The room held its silence for long enough that he began to question whether he had actually spoken or only thought he had.
"Yu Xie" a cold voice said not betraying the feelings of its owner
A shadow appeared beside the masked man without sound quiet almost unnoticeable. It bowed once as if receiving an order then both figures were gone quickly disappearing into the shadows.
The man in black robes sat on his seat for a while contemplating maybe then he sighed stood up and walked out
He moved to the outer room with the unhurried calm of someone whose anger lived very far beneath the surface his fists clenched — he felt angry, but he had learnt long ago that reacting without a plan was dangerous and so he had to wait.
He walked through the quiet corridor and turned right before entering one of the rooms he found his seat and sat down
The tea was where it always was in the middle and so he poured some in his cup and took a slow sip as if savoring the test
"What do you think? " He asked the question aimed at the other person in the room
He hadn't looked at the other person in the room when he said it nor when he walked in. He didn't need to because he already knew who it was. The white robes were visible in his peripheral vision — pristine, unhurried, his eyes caught the plate of snacks that had been half eaten suggesting they had been here from the beginning listening to everything.
A sigh.
"Second brother." The white robed young man's voice carried a helplessness as if repeating something he had emphasized for long "You can't keep doing this. Leaving whenever you want. You haven't stabilized your position and they're still watching. You know that better than I do"
The man in black robes lifted his head. The look he gave was brief as if saying you don't need to remind me of somethingI already know
The white robed young man sighed helplessly like he had known this was going to be the other's reaction.
He was, apparently, accustomed to this. Then seeing that the other young man was losing his patience he quickly answered his question.
"I don't think they've noticed yet," he said, his tone shifting from resigned to careful. "But it's too coincidental." He frowned. "The timing—"
Hearing that the white robed young man felt the same as he did, the black robed man's hand slightly tightened on the cup in his hand enough to form cracks but not break it
The white robbed young man had been paying attention to his companion, so he noticed " but second brother It's almost that time," the white robed young man said quietly. "Before then, we can't afford anything suspicious. Nothing that draws too much attention or gives them a reason to look in our direction."
The man in black robes glanced at him and nodded
Then he looked down at the cup in his hand having made a decision internally
"Before that time comes", he thought, "I'll have to deal with it."
He drank his tea.
Outside the half-lit room, the moon shone brightly acting as a witness to the changes happening under it.