Han Shuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was resigned as he allowed Phoebe to drag him onto the dance floor.
When he reached the dance floor, he noticed that a few merchants and other nobles were holding onto the waists of their ladies and dancing gracefully in the centre of the floor. Han Shuo stood dumbly in a corner after being led there by Phoebe, watching the others dance with narrowed eyes and praying that he wouldn't be too embarrassed later.
"Here, put your arm around my waist." Phoebe's body twisted as she stood opposite Han Shuo. Her slender jade hands rose as she placed one in Han Shuo's right hand and guided Han Shuo's left hand to her waist with her right hand.
When Phoebe's small hand landed in Han Shuo's large hand, Han Shuo's heart lurched slightly as it had never done before. A smooth, warm and boneless little hand felt quite pleasant to the touch. Han Shuo couldn't help but squeeze her hand, causing Phoebe's whole body to shake and her cheeks to flush unknowingly.
She glared at Han Shuo and said softly, "No monkey business allowed!"
As Han Shuo's big hand landed on Phoebe's waist, their bodies were flush against each other. They could smell each other's scent, and their breath even wafted into each other's mouths and noses when they spoke.
"Come, I'll lead you in the dance, just follow my rhythm." Phoebe was a little afraid to look directly at Han Shuo as she lowered her head and said this. She took a deep breath, placed her free hand on his shoulder and slowly walked towards the dance floor.
Phoebe seemed to let go of her reservations with the elegant and wonderful music. She didn't look down at the floor anymore, but stared at Han Shuo with her beautiful eyes. In a low voice, she explained the main principles of the dance to Han Shuo.
With Han Shuo's current intelligence and observation skills, he'd already grasped the main principles of the dance after one round of observation. When he listened to Phoebe's detailed explanations and was guided by her, he immediately grasped the art of dancing and slowly became familiar with it after his initial unfamiliarity.
Phoebe was a swordmaster, so her strength, flexibility and agility were naturally exceptional. After enduring the reforging from the magical yuan, all the various functions of Han Shuo's body were even more outstanding than an ordinary person's. When their two bodies leaned against each other and fell into the same rhythm, their dance style was very synchronised and quite mesmerising.
Their bodies used the fact that their hands were clasped together to move in incredible harmony. Han Shuo understood what Phoebe meant when she glanced over, and his footsteps moved with Phoebe's, moving slowly, quickly or turning. This kind of wondrous sensation caused waves of strange emotions in both Phoebe's and Han Shuo's hearts.
When the song was over, they both felt that they hadn't fully expressed their thoughts, so when the next song began, Phoebe pulled Han Shuo back into a dance form. Their strong harmony perfectly demonstrated another dance to perfection, and their handsome and beautiful forms drew much attention from the many eyes on the dance floor.
Just as he was feeling very satisfied, Han Shuo's eyes scanned the area and suddenly noticed Emily dancing with old Hahn not too far away. A pair of eyes full of the light of jealousy were fixed intently on him. This made Han Shuo's heart jump and he flashed a remorseful smile at Emily from afar.
Seeing that Han Shuo had only just noticed her gaze, Emily was a bit angry as she rolled her eyes at Han Shuo viciously, telling him that she was truly jealous.
There was really no way for Han Shuo to explain anything at this moment, and he could only smile wryly at Emily in the distance. At this time, several waiters appeared from three directions. Their gazes were darting back and forth and their steps were light and slow, as if they were trying to hide something.
Han Shuo hadn't paid much attention to them at first, but his sensitive ears seemed to filter out the wondrous music and heard a very, very faint tinkling sound. It seemed to be the sound that jade and jewels made when they struck metal.
His thoughts racing slightly, Han Shuo's expression tightened as he involuntarily began to closely observe the waiters who had just appeared. With everyone mesmerised in romantic dance steps, the appearance of several waiters holding trays of wine glasses was a bit jarring. In addition, although the waiters' gazes were calm, they would involuntarily travel to old Hahn in the middle of the dance floor, with a cold light subtly appearing when their eyes landed on him.
As Han Shuo continued his observations, he noticed that the waiters were slowly gathering in one area. He also judged that Emily and old Hahn's footsteps would travel to where the waiters were in a few breaths. Han Shuo felt vaguely uneasy as he noticed the waiters' gazes.
His mind now racing, Han Shuo tilted his forehead forward and brought his lips up to Phoebe's ears. Lost in the dance, Phoebe suddenly felt Han Shuo's movements and her heart was thrown into confusion. The flush in her cheeks spread to her neck.
She moved her neck slightly to the left, as if to put some distance between Han Shuo's lips and her neck. Then she quickly lifted her head and glanced at Han Shuo after moving her head like that, noticing that Han Shuo had furrowed his brow. This made her heart panic even more.
She hesitated a little and seemed to be deciding on something, rolling her eyes inwardly at Han Shuo. Her neck didn't move any further and stayed there as she seemed to be waiting for something with her cheeks flushed.
"These waiters seem to want to take action against old Hahn and Madame Emily. I made a joke about old Hahn just now. Go there with me now and I'll repay him for his favour." Han Shuo finally placed his lips next to Phoebe's ears and said softly.
Her body had trembled in anticipation at first, then Phoebe's body had gone from soft and pliable to quite stiff after Han Shuo spoke his words. A trace of disappointment flashed through her heart as she widened the distance between herself and Han Shuo to indicate with her eyes that she understood.
Looking into Phoebe's eyes, Han Shuo knew that Phoebe had fully understood his intentions, considering how in sync he was with her. He nodded and said little more, secretly changing their dance moves together. The two of them swapped positions with another couple at an unknown moment and danced quickly towards old Hahn and Emily.
As far as Han Shuo was concerned, he wasn't doing this to return some kind of favour to old Hahn. He did it because Emily was there. Emily was dancing with old Hahn and when she saw Han Shuo winking at her, she thought that Han Shuo felt guilty and wanted to explain something. She glared at Han Shuo angrily and turned her head so as not to look at him again, still seeming to be very angry.
As he saw the danger approaching, Han Shuo's heart grew calmer and calmer. His gaze focused on the bodies of the waiters, mentally mapping out their plan of action and timing. He measured everything clearly and calculated exactly when they would make their move.
When Emily and old Hahn finally started to move towards a corner, Han Shuo's big hand on Phoebe's waist suddenly exerted force and they took two quick steps towards Emily.
At the same time, the gaze and demeanour of the waiters who'd been waiting for quite some time suddenly changed drastically from their peaceful appearance. A cold and stern presence emanated from their bodies. The waiter with the tray of wine glasses in his hand suddenly threw it forward, sending the tray and its contents flying towards Emily and old Hahn. Their bodies moved at the same time as a dagger, glittering with cold light, stabbed at old Hahn and Emily like lightning.
Emily and Old Hahn had been dancing to the graceful music when their faces suddenly changed drastically, but by the time they reacted, the deadly attack was already close at hand. One dagger stabbed at Emily as four more stabbed at old Hahn. The five assassins moved quickly and cleanly. It was obvious that they were old hands with a lot of hard training under their belts.
Suddenly a sharp, harsh whistle sounded, all the more piercing in the midst of the melodious music. The Demonslayer Edge shot out of Han Shuo's sleeve like lightning, following his thoughts, and aimed at the dagger that was heading straight for Emily.
Han Shuo and Phoebe had quickly spun to old Hahn's side at this time, charging into the other four assassins who were attacking old Hahn before they'd had a chance to react.
Having made their preparations long ago, Han Shuo and Phoebe acted to defend at the same time. Han Shuo used a dwarven forged dagger to block a hit, Phoebe's longsword whirled violently and deflected two daggers into the sky. Taking advantage of the opening, Han Shuo pushed hard with his back, trying to push old Hahn away from the danger zone.
To his surprise, old Hahn wasn't pushed out of the way after his strong push. Old Hahn's upper body swayed slightly as he reached through the air to grab a flying tray. Pulling it behind him, Old Hahn blocked the last dagger with a loud clang.
The sudden appearance of Han Shuo and Phoebe had blocked three of the daggers that had been intended for Old Hahn, throwing the assassins' plans into complete disarray. The five waiters looked at each other and didn't move. They quickly retreated outside as screams and panic erupted on the dance floor as everyone tried to flee and hide.
Old Hahn and Phoebe both took aim at different assassins and immediately ran after them. As the two of them took action, Han Shuo quickly ran to Emily's side, grabbed her hand and said quietly, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, go after the assassins!" Emily was a high-ranking member of the Dark Mantle after all, she didn't show any panic and immediately lightly admonished Han Shuo.
"It's none of my business, it's fine as long as you're okay. Everything else is none of my business!" Han Shuo shook his head and randomly picked up a wine glass from beside him, staying where he was and slowly sipping at the wine as he looked at Emily, not having the slightest intention of getting up.
"You, you damned brat!" The meaning behind Han Shuo's words was obviously that he put Emily's safety first and was too lazy to care about anything else. When Emily heard his words, she was both angry at Han Shuo for not listening to her and touched by his concern. She pouted and rebuked him.
The dance floor was in complete chaos at this moment as the merchants reacted to the sudden developments. They all fled in mass panic to the courtyard beyond the dance floor. No one paid any attention to the conversation between Han Shuo and Emily.
Seeing that there were fewer and fewer people on the dance floor, Han Shuo and Emily finally stepped outside. As they reached the door, a grave, sharp sound was heard as the Demonslayer's Edge sliced through the desperately fleeing crowd and suddenly landed in Han Shuo's palm, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"The person who attacked you is dead!" Han Shuo said softly to Emily as he put the Demonslayer Edge down.
When the Demonslayer Edge had just flown back, it had flown close to the ground. The panicked people around it hadn't noticed, of course, but Emily had been walking with Han Shuo and had seen the Demonslayer's miraculous automatic flight with her own eyes. It had then hidden itself in Han Shuo's sleeve, leaving Emily stunned.
"What kind of weapon are you using?" Emily's voice trembled as she looked at Han Shuo in disbelief.
The Demonslayer's Edge, which could fly at will, naturally appeared mysterious and unpredictable in this world. It was understandable that Emily was so shocked.
With a mysterious smile, Han Shuo explained with a dashing air, "It has to do with the martial arts technique I'm training, I'm not at liberty to explain it. All you need to know is that my weapon is indeed a bit different."
"You wicked brat, how many secrets do you hide?" Strange lights danced in Emily's eyes as they focused on Han Shuo, asking with extreme curiosity.
Shrugging his shoulders, Han Shuo smiled without answering, giving off an air of unfathomable mystery. This made Emily's teeth itch to throw all propriety to the wind and bite him where he stood.
Just as Han Shuo and Emily were talking quietly, the chaotic scene slowly came under control as Phoebe, old Hahn, a slightly frantic Finance Minister Eevee and Lawrence with a darkened expression returned from all directions.
"One made it out, the others committed suicide. There was nothing to be taken from their bodies." Phoebe first looked at Han Shuo and Emily in surprise and spoke to Han Shuo in a low voice when she returned.
Han Shuo and Emily had already put some distance between them before Phoebe and the others had returned, and their expressions had returned to normal and didn't express anything special. Although Phoebe was curious why Han Shuo hadn't gone after the killers and stayed with Emily, she didn't ask anything.
"Little one, thank you for your help in saving me and Emily." Old Hahn said approvingly with a smile to Han Shuo after he came over.
"Not at all, think of it as me returning the favour after making a joke out of you earlier. Heh heh, this way, even if you were really narrow-minded, you probably wouldn't be able to find it in yourself to make trouble for me." Han Shuo glared at Old Rooster and said teasingly.
Old Hahn laughed heartily when these words were uttered, "Fascinating, what a fascinating little fellow!"