Outside the City Walls
The rain had just passed and the sky had cleared; today, the weather was excellent.
Under the blazing sunlight, green willow leaves hung from the branches, layered upon one another in rich color. Wildflowers, dew-kissed, pushed up buds beside the roots of trees. On the muddy Great Road, the ruts of horse-drawn carriages had left their mark, with small pools of leftover rainwater reflecting the drifting clouds in the sky.
Two young girls in coarse linen dresses walked hand-in-hand, chatting and laughing as they went. The sunlight spilled a golden halo over their heads.
“We’re out here alone again, Su Ling—does this count as a secret meeting?”
Tii seemed to be in high spirits, her tone even more lively than usual.
“It—it’s not a secret meeting! Tii, don’t say such things!”
Then, Su Ling felt her arm being clung to by Tii, a soft and warm weight leaning over.
“So, should we do something that people in a secret meeting would do, hmm? For example…”
Vivid images flashed through Su Ling’s mind, her face heating up at once. She quickly shook her head, flustered, as Tii continued teasingly, “No, no, no, no, no! That’s not necessary!”
“Aww—” Tii deliberately feigned surprise, “Are you that shy? Su Ling, you’re so innocent. That day really was a bit too much for you, wasn’t it?”
As she said this, a sly look flashed across her eyes, her gaze drifting to a certain part of the silver-haired girl’s body, her smile both mischievous and oddly satisfied.
“But Su Ling, you’re not a child anymore. I’m telling you, if you don’t experience some grown-up things, you’ll never really grow up—”
The desire lurking in that gaze made Su Ling’s face and ears flush bright red.
“Stop, stop! We’re here to handle proper business!”
She decisively stopped Tii, clutching the front of her dress tightly with both hands.
Even between good friends, there were limits to what could be tolerated!
Tii chuckled softly, as if genuinely amused by Su Ling’s reaction.
“You really are… Even with the tension in the Palace, you can still laugh like nothing’s wrong,” Su Ling mumbled quietly. “Tii, don’t you feel any heaviness at all?”
“Not at all. I’ve seen plenty of things like this before; I’m long used to it.” Tii’s gaze lingered on her companion.
“But if you feel uncomfortable, Su Ling, then I’ll stop.”
“Eh… Really?”
“Of course—just kidding!”
“You—!”
Before Su Ling could react, in the blink of an eye, two little white hands reached out and seized her, Tii’s fingers curved gently, her face beaming with delight.
“Don’t be so stiff, Su Ling! You’re so small and cute!”
“Let me go!”
Su Ling struggled to break free, but her body was too slight, and she was quickly subdued and trapped in Tii’s arms.
She had to admit, after so much time together, she’d mostly gotten used to Tii’s outrageous personality—but even so, she was often caught off guard and teased into submission.
After playing around for a while, they finally reached a fork in the road.
Ahead lay two very different paths. One curved to the left, leading toward an old Monastery nestled among dense, verdant woods at the foot of the mountain.
The other ran straight ahead, reaching a broad, open field in the valley. There, a clear stream flowed through the grass, with a few cattle and sheep grazing in the distance. Smoke drifted from several farmhouses farther away.
The direction to the Marketplace was down the straight path.
“So we’ll split up here,” Tii pointed toward one of the roads.
“Mm.”
Su Ling nodded, wanting to say something but hesitated for a moment, then closed her mouth.
Tii’s eyes circled around Su Ling’s neck, as if searching for the reason for her unease. She smiled softly, breaking the silence:
“Alright, Su Ling, don’t worry. I’m just going to take a look. Nothing will happen.”
Su Ling nodded.
“Take care.”
As Su Ling’s small figure waved goodbye, Tii also responded with a gentle wave.
But as soon as she turned away, the smile on the red-haired girl’s face faded instantly, her eyes growing heavy and focused, as if she had become a different person in an instant.
The road to the Marketplace split here; it was along this route that Marentia had left for the mountains, then descended to the River Water below.
Tii walked forward along the sunlit road, wildflowers at her feet swaying in the breeze, her peripheral vision ever watchful.
Whenever a member of the Royal Family or their attendants wanted something from the Marketplace, they would send their most trusted people to purchase it.
When Moria had asked Marentia for the transportation map, she’d used this same excuse to send her away from the Palace.
According to the original plan, after Marentia left the Palace, she was to take the fork and head to the rendezvous point, then secretly hand the map over to the “Poet,” who would then covertly deliver the map to the Resistance.
But the plan went awry—Marentia fell to her death in the mountains, the map’s whereabouts became unknown, and the Poet vanished without a trace.
The whole truth remained shrouded in gloom; no one knew what had really happened.
Tii continued uphill, the muddy path growing more treacherous, patches of grass reaching over her boots.
If they’d been able to investigate earlier, perhaps they could have identified Marentia’s footprints from that night. But several days had passed, and rain had since washed the trail, making any clues nearly impossible to recognize.
“No, the rendezvous point couldn’t have been in this direction.”
Halfway there, Tii muttered to herself and stopped walking.
According to the plan, they were supposed to meet behind an old, abandoned Cattle Shed, accessible directly by cutting through the woods.
But for some reason, Marentia had deliberately chosen a more difficult route, even climbing steep slopes to circle over the mountain and cross the river.
Why would she go out of her way like that?
Lost?
Impossible—the Monastery’s tall spire was a clear landmark, and with the bright moon that night, no matter how lost she got, she shouldn’t have ended up climbing the mountain.
“Unless…” Tii’s expression grew grave. “She was being chased.”
The idea sent a chill down her spine.
According to the Guards’ report, Marentia’s death was an accident, a misstep and a fall; Moria claimed to know nothing.
But if Marentia’s death was somehow linked to Moria, then that sinister woman was perfectly capable of lying in wait, waiting for the right moment to strike again.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Tii broke into a jog, dashing over the dew-wet grass, weaving through the tangle of ancient trees, her ponytail streaming behind her in the wind.
Birds chirped overhead. Sunlight filtered through the crisscrossing leaves, leaving dapples of light upon the yellow earth. In a patch of muddy ground, Tii discovered a dagger left half-buried. She recognized it immediately—it was the standard-issue Dagger of the Guards.
Tii’s brows furrowed, an ominous premonition welling up inside her.
She scanned her surroundings, searching for more clues. In a thicket on a nearby hill, she found some crushed grass, still showing signs of having been trampled despite the recent rain—evidence that someone had struggled here.
“Something definitely happened here,” she murmured, rising to her feet and continuing her careful search.
Her footsteps became even lighter, ears straining to catch the faintest sound around her. Not far away, a crushed animal path seemed to lead toward the edge of the mountain forest.
Tii followed this little trail, her heart pounding.
The trickle of water by the fields, the rustle of leaves in the wind—all blended together in silence. At last, she reached the cliff’s edge. Peering down, she saw the swirling River Water below.