There was a man in the mirror, roughly in his early twenties. His face half obscured by the shadows, all Kesi could see was a row of pearly teeth and a wide smile.
At least he had good dental hygiene, she thought to herself.
A single maple leaf fell in front of him, and he raised it to cover even more of his face with his slender fingers. The positions of calluses on those fingers told her only one thing.
Kesi whirled around, swiftly backing into a location that directly faced the small stretch of maple trees in the courtyard. Naturally, she didn't complete back herself into a corner but instead allowed for a sizable gap to run in the opposite direction if needed.
"Come out. You're too old for this fooling around," her voice rang out in the frisk night air.
Only the sound of rustling leaves responded to her request.
She reached for her sheathed dagger, the very same she had taken to be a gift from Mu Luming as they fought off the assassins during their first encounter.
Loosening her hold on the hilt and purposefully twirling it at her fingertips so that the faint light could flash from every angle of the blade, she feigned calmness.
If there was truly a killer in the yard, and she hadn't yet restored her youth, she didn't know how she could fight off him without the help of Mu Luming.
But yet, for some reason, her joints seemed to be less stiff than usual, and she could wield her weapons with ease.
"Come out!" Although her threat was pointed, her voice was low, careful to not wake any of the potential spies in the room or to bring Mu Luming to danger.
"Come out now, or I will burn down that entire stretch of maple leaves!" She stomped her foot on the cobblestone floor. "If we die, I assure you that we will die together as I set both you and me aflame."
"My my, having such a bad temper is bad for your health," a low chuckle accompanied the fluttering of gowns as a figure nearly soared over from the maple leaves.
Although he had a lengthy figure, his steps were so light that they barely made any sounds against the ground.
His light blue gown fluttered against the wind, outlining the shape of his broad shoulders. Kesi had to admit, very few killers had that type of body. He wasn't heavily built in any area, but at the same time, it was easy to see that he had spent his time at the gym, or whatever gym equivalent was in this world.
His long hair tied together in a messy knot atop his head, there was a certain careless aura to him, and his slight off-smile only completed the look.
Even if he was an assassin, he wouldn't be the type to head directly for her life, she decided. He would be the type that took his sweet time with her, luring her in by pretending she was in control of the entire situation, before giving her a bullet to the head. She had watched enough episodes of Criminal Minds to perform a quick behavioral analysis on him. If he wanted to directly kill her, he would not have waited until now.
That mental profile triggered a memory in her mind. Luring her in. Pretending she was in control. Killing her.
His face was entirely different from the one he had showed her moments before her death. She didn't understand why he had to shield his identity when she would take it to the grave, but maybe he also got a new physical identity like her?
Transmigration did some weird stuff that she was still trying to find the ropes through. So who knew for sure? It was better to take a stab in the dark.
"You're the agent from before, aren't you?"
He paused for a moment.
"Do you like this face better than the ones I had shown you at the bar?"
He stopped about a yard away from her, keeping a safe distance between them.
"I assure you, this body and the way it functions is better than that one as well." For some reason, a blush crept up his face. "So please don't be too disappointed with it. You're really quite light, and I could have carried you with one hand…"
Kesi wanted to kill him right now.
"You're the creep that tried to kill me? By pretending to be a wretched, foul, dishonorable…."
She racked her heads for more words, but all that seemed to matter was that he was standing right in front of her.
"How?" Kesi shook her head in frustration. "How did you do it? Put on an identity and physical appearance that was completely different from your own? I can understand the changes to your face but…" She surveyed him. "Your height. Your weight. Your muscles."
He didn't appear to be fazed at all.
"I wouldn't use any of those tactics ever again, and neither will you, so there's no point in asking me."
Kesi took a step backward.
"You're going to kill me, again?" She stealthily reached for her blade. "And then this will be your last mission?"
He only shook his head.
"I know we were both there only for the agency. But as you know, they had betrayed the both of us. We were given a chance to start over, in a world where the agency doesn't even exist." He took a step closer. "Don't you understand? This is a chance to live the lives that we always wanted but could never get in our past lives."
There was a sadness in his eyes, the very same that Kesi couldn't understand moments before her death the first time.
"I never wanted that life. And neither did you, Kesi."
Something snapped in her train of thought. She was no longer Code X, the star killer that obeyed every single order from her agency. She was now Kesi, the crown prince's nanny, a protector of some sorts.
"I…." She didn't know how to reply and only took another step backward in half distrust.
He drew his blade.