When leaving the garden, Feiyin paused briefly beneath the main Shed Pavilion of Youlin Courtyard.
The night was already deep. By all reason, the people living here should have been asleep… yet a faint light still shone from a window that had not been fully closed.
Feiyin walked beneath that window and heard a young girl quietly sobbing.
“Waa… Sister Feiyin… I do not believe it…”
She remembered the owner of that voice. The girl was from the Southern Great Archipelagoes.
Several years ago, when the girl was stealing small things on the street with other vagrant children, she had accidentally tried to steal from the Maid Team Feiyin was leading.
Naturally, those unlucky children were all escorted to the city security office.
After receiving criticism and education, their relatives came one after another to pay the fines and take them home… leaving only this girl, whose family never appeared to pay for her.
Because she insisted that her parents would come for her, two officers stayed with her from early morning until the evening of the next day.
During that entire time, no one came to the security office looking for her.
Since the girl came from the Southern Great Archipelagoes, which was also Feiyin’s homeland, Feiyin became slightly interested in her.
She quietly observed the girl for two days.
After confirming the girl had been lying to the police, Feiyin paid her fine and brought her into Honglian Palace.
Feiyin arranged for her to become a servant in the palace.
From that day onward, the girl admired and loved her like an older sister.
Feiyin remembered that just one day ago the child had greeted her cheerfully and given her a flower crown.
So Feiyin concealed her presence and slowly floated upward.
She rose to the window and saw the wheat-skinned girl lying over the desk, her eyes red and swollen from crying.
“Sister… how could Sister possibly be part of the Demon Race? She must have been framed…”
The girl was writing a letter. Feiyin saw that it was a defense written to clear Feiyin’s name.
At the beginning of the letter she had written the name of the recipient she imagined: the Duke.
It was obvious she had never written such a letter before.
Several crumpled sheets already lay on the desk, showing how carefully she had been choosing her words.
This time she seemed satisfied with what she wrote, but tears kept falling uncontrollably from her eyes and stained the heartfelt handwriting on the paper.
The girl angrily wiped her eyes. She hated that her tears would not stop falling.
She grabbed the paper, intending to crumple this letter as well… but a sudden wave of sleepiness stopped her.
“Strange… why am I suddenly… so sleepy…”
The letter slipped from her hand. Under the effect of a spell, the girl fell asleep at the desk.
Feiyin slipped into the room along the shadows cast by the lamp.
She took a blanket from the girl’s bed and gently draped it over her.
“Thank you.”
When the girl woke the next day, she discovered a flower crown on her head woven from flowers unique to the Southern Country… identical to the one she had once given to the older sister she admired most.
…
Like most areas of Honglian Palace, the Duke’s main residence also had a garden filled with flowers and trees.
But unlike the others, this garden possessed something unique.
At its center stood a spherical glass greenhouse. Under daylight it appeared crystal clear like a giant crystal sphere.
At night, it shone like a luminous pearl, sparkling beneath the combined glow of artificial lights and moonlight.
Feiyin entered the garden.
She saw the glow of magic lamps inside the greenhouse, proving someone was there.
She walked to the door and gently pushed it open.
“You have come. Is everything arranged?”
The ruler of the Northland, Melia Clausel, held a watering can and was watering the flowerbed in front of her.
Beside her stood a tall, white-haired housekeeper holding gardening tools.
He was the chief steward of Xilong Pavilion, Wright.
“Yes.” Feiyin stepped forward and stopped not far from Melia. “Everything is arranged according to your wishes, Duchess. They will take the Master away at dawn.”
Melia did not turn around. Half of the flowerbed still awaited watering. Feiyin did not rush her and simply waited, glancing at the flowers growing there.
Their petals were red like flames, blooming only in autumn. Feiyin knew the flower’s name.
“Thousand-day Lotus.”
“They are beautiful, are they not? I decorated the festival floats with them this year.”
After finishing the watering, Melia finally turned around and looked at Feiyin with her usual gentle smile.
“Are these flowers meant for the people in the plaza who were destined to die in your plan? Though the flowers are precious, their color is a little too bright for mourning.”
Feiyin knew the woman was not as gentle as she appeared.
Melia was the leader of the human Industrial Revolution.
She built the most prosperous city in the world upon scorched earth.
She was the absolute master of this palace and this city.
Ever since Feiyin reported the plans of the young demons to her, Melia had arranged everything into a drama fully under her control.
Including Feiyin herself, everyone was merely an actor in her play.
“This is my favorite flower. Aside from compensation money, it is the most precious thing I can personally offer them.”
“You seem to feel no guilt. If you had evacuated the people in the plaza beforehand the way you relocated the mansion staff, the casualties might have been fewer… or perhaps none at all.”
“I have already mourned them,” Melia replied calmly, without the slightest change in expression.
“If I had evacuated them, it would have told those people in the Imperial Capital and those demon children that their plan was exposed. Under such risk, they would never have acted. In fact, the little girl from the Demon King’s family who led them was hesitant from the very beginning.”
“So to push them forward, you had me tell the Imperial Capital about Vera’s presence in the mansion. You are truly ruthless. Were you not afraid they might really hurt Princess Vera?”
“That could never happen. I eliminated every possibility.”
Melia answered decisively.
“So everything is proceeding according to your design,” Feiyin continued calmly.
“Through the attack on the third day, you obtained the corpse of that demonized official and secured undeniable evidence against the people in the Imperial Capital. You also successfully retrieved the Frosted Demon Sword they had been hiding.”
“Then on the fourth day, you had me deliver that sword to Princess Vera. Do you trust the Master so much that he can save her from the Demon Sword’s control? Or do you understand Relics so well that you know it would not harm her?”
“Both, perhaps,” Melia replied with a light smile.
“But mostly because I trust them. They are the Hero and the Sword Saint. This level of crisis is something they will certainly overcome. And besides, this was always a matter between Vera and Lian. They must resolve it themselves.”
“I must admit you were right. They arrived earlier than I expected. I thought I could retreat calmly. Fortunately the goals were already achieved. At the moment the Demon King awakened, your daughter awakened as the Hero. And the seeds of conflict were planted in the hearts of the Northland’s people. Guiding them to grow should now be effortless.”
“I must thank you for all of this, Feiyin. Without you, I could not have accomplished anything.”
“That is not true. I merely carried out your orders, Duchess. Even without me, you would have found countless ways to create this outcome. After all, this has always been your goal—to prepare the stage for the activities of the Demon King and the Hero.”
“I have only one question. Are you truly certain that the girl who appeared before you is the one you have been waiting for? Her appearance, voice, and age are all completely different.”
“Of course I am certain. The moment I saw her, I knew she was Lian. Because I am her wife.”
Infinite tenderness shone in Melia’s eyes, yet her voice remained firm as iron.
“And one more thing you said was wrong. I am not the kind of woman who simply waits.”
“I see.” Feiyin nodded lightly, then spoke the thought she had long wished to say.
“Because of the love of one person, this world that had already settled into peace will fall into chaos again. Your love is truly twisted.”
“Twisted? Mine?” Melia laughed. Her amber eyes, usually gentle, burned like two suns.
“No, Feiyin. Unlike you, whose love was defined by others, nothing except myself has the right to define the shape of my love. Not humans, not demons, not fate, not even the gods.”
Feiyin’s eyes suddenly flared crimson. Her magic power surged like a tidal wave toward Melia.
“Feiyin, Miss Melia is an ordinary human. What are you doing?”
Chief Steward Wright stepped forward and stood before Melia.
Dark golden dragon scales gleamed on the back of his exposed hand, and the dignity of a king naturally radiated from him.
“Ah, no wonder it felt familiar. So you are here as well, Your Majesty the Dragon King. You have hidden yourself for quite a long time.”
Feiyin’s pressure was blocked by Wright—or rather, by Dragon King Laide disguised as Wright.
As he moved, a Spatial Teleportation Gate opened beside Melia.
“Lord Saifei, are you listening too?”
“…Feiyin. How could you destroy my clone without saying a word?”
The person who stepped through the portal was Sage Saifei.
She glared at Feiyin while the magic circle in her eyes slowly rotated.
“I apologize for that, but it was the Duchess’s order. How can actors reveal their lines to each other on stage? Besides, why are you two so tense? Just like you, the Duchess is also my contract holder.”
“Then do not do things that might make this king misunderstand.”
Seeing Feiyin’s crimson glow fade, Laide stepped back and resumed standing beside Melia.
Saifei also let out a long breath, and the magic circle in her eyes vanished.
“Thank you, both of you.”
“Miss Melia…”
“It is all right, Lord Laide. Feiyin would never harm me.”
Melia walked toward Feiyin. Laide wanted to stop her, but seeing her determination, he could only step aside.
Melia opened her arms and embraced Feiyin. Feiyin returned the embrace.
The two women hugged like mother and daughter.
“Feiyin, I am truly grateful to you… please forgive me.”
“You do not need to apologize. I provoked you first. And I did not take your words to heart. Perhaps my love was once defined by others… but that is no longer the case. I also thank you for giving me this opportunity to fulfill my wish. From here onward, I will follow our contract and assist the Demon King’s rise once again.”
Both of them knew this was a farewell embrace. Yet this farewell did not mark the end of their contract.
Instead, it signaled the beginning of a new stage.
“Then I will leave everything to you. Do you truly not wish to say goodbye to Milin once more?”
“I have already said goodbye to the young lady. Soon, just as you predicted, she will begin the journey to search for Miss Lian and me.”
Feiyin smiled at her master, then turned and left the greenhouse.
…
Dark clouds forever covered the sky of the Demon Realm, hiding the sun, stars, and moon.
Beside a flowerbed in the Demon King’s castle sat a woman wearing black gauze.
“Why… why… do they always fail to survive this time?”
In the flowerbed before her, the white flowers had all withered.
She had poured all her effort into raising them, yet they could live only a few short days.
“Luc… where is Luc? Quickly bring me the seeds…!”
She grabbed a handful of soil mixed with withered petals and loudly called her daughter’s name, but there was no answer.
Only then did she remember that she had already sent her daughter far away to the Human Realm.
Luc would no longer stand beside her as before, helping her plant flowers.
“Damn it… damn it… it is all that woman’s fault!”
She screamed in agony, clutching her hair.
A vast surge of magic power burst forth, scattering the flowers in the bed.
“Ah… my flowers… I am sorry… I am sorry… Brother… Sister…?”
Seeing the flowers scattered across the ground, terror filled her eyes beneath the black veil.
She frantically gathered the broken petals and stems and held them carefully in her arms like treasures.
“Brother, Sister… do not worry. I will take you back from that woman. No matter what price I must pay… I will do it… my head hurts so much…”
She buried her head deeply among the petals, trying to catch a trace of their former fragrance to ease the pain that felt as though it would tear her skull apart.
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