"He told me that all debts are due when the full moon shines."
"What is he? A freakin werewolf?" Kesi muttered under her breath, half to herself.
"Or he said something along the lines of how debts can be checked…?"
"Did he say anything else? Do anything to you? Give anything to you?" Her words were rushed. "Did you say something to him?"
Mu Luming shrugged, an equally confused look on his face. "I thought he was one of the people sent to kill me, and unlike all the others, he had a sense of decency to warn me beforehand. So I just thanked him for his information and politeness, and he left."
For a split second, Kesi froze. Of the people she had been sent after to kill, some of them screamed, and others had cried. Some were left dead with their mouths gaping open in surprise, and others in horror. But never had she seen someone react to an assassination so calmly.
Who was this little boy? And what had he gone through in his past life?
"Oh! And he said that I would soon meet the most beautiful and brave elder sister that would save me from everyone that wanted to kill me! She would be a fairy under a curse, and I would be the one to break it!" Mu Luming ducked behind a wooden post, dodging Kesi's half-hearted punch. "And because of that, she would always stay by my side and never leave me."
Kesi didn't believe those fishy words for a single moment.
"If you make up anything else with that quick tongue of yours, I promise that I will tear it off with my very hands." She rubbed her hands together and smiled, her lips pursing together into a thin line.
"But without a tongue, I can't call you elder sister, Kesi!" He protested, pouting.
She took a step forward, smiling icily.
"Fine…fineeeeeee," he cowered in the shadows, dipping his head in shame. "He never said any of those things, but that doesn't mean they're not true!"
She flexed her fingers, motioning to grab him away from the wooden post.
"They're not true! They're not true! I made everything up!"
Seeing how Mu Luming's face lit up in horror, Kesi had a sudden childish urge to toy around with him.
"So you're saying that I'm not beautiful?"
His lips were slightly ajar. "You are!"
"Then I'm not brave?"
"You're the most brave person I've met!" He sulked.
"Then you surely must have met better elder sisters than me…" Her voice tapered off, and she closed her eyes to feign sadness as she collapsed onto the pitiful remnants of a wooden chair. On cue after countless years of practice, a single tear easily slid down the sides of her cheeks.
Much to her surprise, however, she opened her eyes to see a tiny figure scamper across the room and a little hand reach for her eyes. Standing on tippy-toes, Mu Luming's tiny fingers daintily brushed off the tear from her skin.
A little corner of the ice that had sealed her frozen heart for so long cracked off, and she felt a tremor run through her body. She couldn't tell if it was from his unique youth-granting touch or something else, but a newfound warmth seeped through his fingertips.
"Did he do anything else?" Her voice unknowing softened, shaking. "This is really important to me."
He shook his head. "I think his exact words were that 'Debts are revealed under the full moon.'"
Kesi was silent for a moment, and then she glanced out the window. Outside, the bright beams of sunlight beat down mercilessly. There was no moon in sight, much less a full moon.
"What day of the month is it?"
"There are seven more days until the next full moon." Unexpectedly, he answered her actual question without directly to the question she had posed. He saw right through her fake question.
Seven more days. She was deep in thought.
Perhaps the scroll that Death had given her would finally reveal something under the full moon. There were countless empty pages in the parchment book, and they had to hold some sort of information about her mission.
Although she didn't know how, but maybe this kid, Mu Luming, was truly Death's gift for her.
Her relief was short-lived.
"The Imperial Edict has arrived! All kneel!" A shrill voice suddenly sounded from the doorway, and a eunuch stood there with a golden scroll.
Exchanging awkward and confused glances with one another, Kesi and Mu Luming simultaneously dropped onto the floor.
"The Crown Prince is to join the company of the Emperor and the Empress immediately in the Imperial Gardens." The eunuch took a long pause, and the two motioned to stand up. He only cleared his throat, continuing, and the two of them immediately bowed back down. "End of the Imperial Proclamation!"
There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence, and it soon became obvious that the eunuch had been waiting for something more.
"We thank the Emperor for his…gracious Edict?" Mu Luming choked out, his words slurring together. "Your Humble Servant thanks The Holy Emperor for his words?"
Even without looking up, Kesi could already feel the eunuch's judgmental and burning gaze.
It was all too clear that Mu Luming knew even less about the palace and its rules than she did. And she already knew next to nothing.
This was going to be a long day. Or a short one, perhaps. Being beheaded or sentenced to an alternative way to die was always an option. And in that case, the day would be definitely cut short.
Maybe it would be better for it to be a long day after all.