The outskirts of the village stretched into a quiet, watchful forest. The silence felt more deliberate rather than natural.

Lieyin was to patrol the area for any signs that could help them. She moved through it with ease, her steps light against the earth, her senses sharpened by instinct more than effort.

But there were brief moments when her thoughts went back to Ru Yi...the hurt on her face when she accused her of trying to seduce men.

Lieyin would slap herself if she could. That was an unnecessary thing to say, even she knew that. Not that she was entirely wrong in having that conclusion in the first place.

Hadn’t Ru Yi successfully made Zhao Chen uninterested in the late Princess Lin Yuexin? Even right now, she had Yexue wrapped around her finger.

Lieyin had been unfortunate the morning before, walking into their shared room to see Yexue and Ru Yi melted into one. Their bodies completely pressed against each other as they slept. Even now the image wouldn’t leave her head.

"Apologize my foot," she muttered to herself.

Lieyin preferred the silence of the forest than the guilt that pressed into her ribs whenever she was around Ru Yi. Out here, everything was simple. Clear.

Or at least, it should’ve been.

The wind shifted, carrying with it the faint scent of sweat and steel. Lieyin could immediately tell it wasn’t the villagers or hunters.

Her lips curved slightly. "Finally," she murmured. She’d been looking for a way to release all the pent up anger and frustration that’d been pressing heavy in her chest. That was why she offered to do the patrol.

Lieyin didn’t slow down.

Instead, she adjusted her path, angling toward the source without making it obvious. Whoever was out there hadn’t mastered the art of subtlety.

Their presence disturbed the natural rhythm of the forest in ways she could feel more than see.

The first man revealed himself before Lieyin reached him. He stepped out from behind a tree with misplaced confidence, one hand resting lazily on the hilt of his blade as though he already owned the outcome of whatever was about to happen.

"Are you lost, girl?" he asked, his tone mocking.

Lieyin stopped a few paces away and looked at him—not in fear or irritation, but with a detached curiosity. As if she was studying something mildly interesting.

For a brief moment, neither of them moved.

Then she quickly closed the distance. Her blade flashed, too fast for him to react properly. He’d underestimated her abilities because she was a woman, and Lieyin used that to her advantage.

By the time his expression shifted from arrogance to confusion, she was already inside his guard, the edge of her sword resting lightly against his throat.

"What business do you have here?" she asked him.

He barely had time to answer the question before her blade moved.

The cut was clean and precise. He collapsed almost immediately, his body hitting the ground with a dull thud that seemed louder than it should have in the quiet forest.

Lieyin exhaled, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. "That was too easy."

She barely had time to step away before she felt another presence. This one was more careful, keeping to the shadows, holding back instead of rushing in.

That alone made him more interesting.

Without turning, she spoke lightly. "Why don’t you just come out so we’ll get this over with. I don’t have all day."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then a second figure lunged from the trees with far more speed and intent than the first.

Lieyin met him head-on.

Steel clashed, the sharp ring cutting through the stillness. He pushed hard, his movements tighter, more disciplined.

For the first time since entering the forest, Lieyin smiled, genuinely this time. The fight demanded more from her.

Each strike carried weight, each movement required attention, and for a brief, fleeting stretch of time, everything else faded away.

There was no village. No investigation. No lingering questions about nobles and missing children. And especially...

No Ru Yi.

It was just the rhythm of combat—the clean, intoxicating clarity of it.

When his blade grazed her arm, leaving a shallow line of blood, her smile widened instead of faltering. The sting barely registered as pain.

If anything, it sharpened her focus, pulled her deeper into the moment. She pressed forward, faster now, more deliberate.

The outcome was inevitable.

Her blade drove through his defense with ruthless efficiency, and the fight ended as abruptly as it had begun.

The man staggered before he fell, the forest swallowing the sound of his collapse as quickly as it had everything else.

Silence returned.

Lieyin stood still for a moment, her breathing steadying as the last traces of adrenaline faded. She looked down at the blood on her blade, watching it drip into the soil, dark and quiet.

She needed this.

For a second, something flickered across her expression. Something colder. Emptier.

"Still not enough," she said to herself.

She wiped the blade clean and turned away, intending to continue her patrol, but her attention caught on something else.

Tracks.

More than two sets, lighter and quicker, leading away from the scene.

Scouts.

Her gaze followed the direction of the retreat, and a slow dangerous smile returned. "So they were watching."

The realization should have excited her. In a way, it did. This meant the bandits were organized and cautious. It meant there would be more fights, more resistance.

More of that clarity she craved.

But as she crouched to study the tracks, something else crept in. Something that didn’t belong to the forest, the fight, or even to her.

A feeling.

Faint, distant, but unmistakable.

...Ru Yi...

The name surfaced before she could stop it.

It wasn’t a sound or a signal she could explain, but it settled in her chest with quiet insistence, unravelling the calm had given her. It wasn’t pain, not exactly. But it was close enough to make her uneasy.

Just like the incident at the market, when she hadn’t been there to protect her.

For the first time since stepping into the forest, hesitation crept in. Then it was gone just as quickly.

She stood abruptly, her expression hardening as the lingering satisfaction from the fight dissolved into something sharper, more urgent.

Without another glance at the bodies, she moved.

This time she didn’t bother with silence.

Branches snapped underfoot as she cut through the forest at full speed, her thoughts no longer steady, no longer controlled.

The question burned at the edge of her mind, relentless and unwelcome.

Was Ru Yi safe?

Not that she was worried about the maid. She was just making sure the person doing all of their domestic duties was fine and sound.

By the time the village came into view, the answer felt like something she couldn’t afford to guess. She didn’t even slow down when she reached the house.

The door slammed open under the force of her movement.

"Ru Yi..." Her voice came out rougher than intended, edged with something dangerously close to panic.

Her eyes swept through the room in an instant, searching, assessing, refusing to settle until they found—

There.

Ru Yi stood inside, unharmed, whole, exactly where she should. She was saying something to the little boy beside her. So lost in what she was doing that she didn’t hear Lieyin come in.

Shen Lieyin stopped.

For a moment, she didn’t move at all. She simply stood there, watching, as if confirming the reality in front of her.

Then...slowly, the tension in her shoulders eased. "She’s fine," she said quietly to herself.

Lieyin stepped further into the room, her grip on her sword loosening, though not completely. Something restless still lingered underneath the surface.

For once, violence had not been enough to silence the restlessness that was always building inside of her. And that unsettled her far more than anything she’d ever faced.

"Ru—" Lieyin couldn’t say her name out loud. She usually resorted to calling her ’the maid’. But Ru Yi already heard and raised her head.

The serene expression that had been on her face prior to Lieyin’s entrance immediately fell. She immediately grabbed Xiao Yi’s hand, ready to retreat to the other room.

"I was worr—" Lieyin cleared her throat. This uneasy feeling wasn’t because she’d feared for Ru Yi’s safety. "I came back to make sure you didn’t run away."

Ru Yi narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "I’m not surprised, you’ve always thought the worst of me."

Lieyin cleared her throat. Again.

"Where are the others?"

Ru Yi bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from yelling at Lieyin. It wasn’t like she would ever stand a chance against the second triplet.

"Qingyue isn’t back from seeing the village head. Yexue went to the residence Madam Xiao suggested I work at. The merchant’s wife needs a personal maid."

Lieyin bit her bottom lip. "But you’re already our personal maid."

Ru Yi put her free hand on her waist. "It’s not like you can pay for my services," she shot back. "If you’ll excuse me."

Lieyin opened her mouth but couldn’t form any words. She didn’t like the idea of Ru Yi being with another woman in a closed space.

"What if I pay you?" she blurted out just as Ru Yi was leaving. "To work only for me."