The parchment in her hands held more promises than anything Xiao Hui could ever think of.
It also held more betrayals than anything she could ever imagine.
How odd; it was just a simple parchment yet it had the power to make a person vanish out of existence. How could such immense force exist in the world?
When Wei Piying revealed that the artifact had been in her possession all along, it had caused the usually docile maid to leap and try to snatch it from her. All her manners had vanished in that moment and looking back to it, she still could not understand how she let that happen.
Lucky for her, a strong gush of wind allowed for enough force for the vixen to let go of the paper and Xiao Hui managed to get her hands on it.
She, with trembling hands, folded open the parchment and peered in to look at it. She expected some words, in either black ink or red, to be written but it had nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was simply a blank sheet of paper.
Seeing her face and how pale it got, Shi Ming asked impatiently and with the barest hint of concern, "Well? What is written there?"
The maid remained mute, forcing the courtesan to check for herself. She leaned in to glance at the paper and gasped, alerting Han Bingwen who also came over to check.
At this point the spoilt mistress was getting annoyed because of the shift of attention. She pouted, hoping that the previous King would notice but he was too taken by the parchment in Xiao Hui's hands.
What happened next was sudden and rather unexpected but not uncharacteristic if one thought about her personality.
Wei Piying, in a fit of rage, ordered her cat companion who was, until now, rather passive and content in watching the events unfold. "Xiao Zong, go snatch that paper back!"
The cat stood up from where it was sitting but made no move to go away from its place.
Not known for her patience, the vixen once again ordered, this time louder, "Go snatch that paper!"
Xiao Hui, Shi Ming and Han Bingwen looked up from the parchment when they heard the rage in her voice, but it was too late. With one great leap, the cat pounced on the artifact and tugged.
The maid retaliated by pulling back towards herself which the cat once again resisted.
Realizing what the result would be of this petty but desperate back and forth, Han Bingwen yelled out in warning, but the deed was already done.
All Xiao Hui could see in front of her was a piece of the parchment held between the cat's fangs while a smaller piece was on her hand. The rest of the world faded away and only the cat and the torn pieces remained.
A wave of nausea took over her and she placed a hand to her forehead to keep herself calm. Her other hand clasped the piece of paper so tightly that it almost made it crumple.
Somebody was speaking. It sounded like a woman's voice but it seemed so far away. What she was saying was all garbled up.
"Xiao Hui!"
"Xiao Hui, wake up!"
Another woman's voice? It did not sound like one. This one was deeper than the other she had heard before. Perhaps this time it was a man's.
Some more murmuring in the background. She closed her eyes even tighter. The murmuring continued and then, suddenly, stopped. A brush of a hand was the only warning before she was exposed to light. She squinted her eyes as the dark void disappeared and she was left trying to make her eyes adjust.
Groggily, she tried to sit up but was pushed down instead. A bowl of water was placed in front of her mouth and the same hand opened her mouth to pour it in. She did not realize she was so parched until the water reached her throat and it tasted like the sweetest of nectars.
After drinking to her fill, she lifted her head up to get a look at her savior and felt her jaw dropping. It was none other than Shi Ming - the woman she believed hated her the second most after the Tyrant King.
The courtesan frowned seeing the other's look of shock. "What, not pleased to see this one after waking up?"
Hastily, the maid shook her head. "This one does not mean to be rude. She is just....perplexed."
Trying to change the topic, she asked, "What happened? Did Noble Lady Wei-?" She stopped before finishing the sentence. Did Noble Lady Wei take the parchment, was what she wanted to ask.
Shi Ming was quiet as she placed a cloth on Xiao Hui's forehead. The silence made goosebumps crawl in her entire body. What was going on?
Finally, the courtesan was ready to talk. "After the maid's...episode, Noble Lady Wei ordered her cat to...." She trailed off gazing at the distance. She then shook her head when the maid gave a displeased hum.
"Perhaps it is better if this one showed instead."
Not waiting for the maid to answer, Shi Ming walked off to a place Xiao Hui knew not. She craned her neck desperately to see what the other was doing but her body refused to comply. Dejected she laid back down and decided to simply wait.
The courtesan arrived pretty fast. She looked guilty, which went quite against the character that Xiao Hui knew. Her hands were also behind her back. The maid wondered on what it could be? Hopefully it was the parchment.
Hesitantly, Shi Ming revealed her hands. The things she had been hiding were not as bad as Xiao Hui expected them to be. They were worse.
Instead of what had been just two halves of the parchment, they seemed to have multiplied. Now in the courtesan's palms laid more than six pieces of parchment.
"After the maid fainted, Noble Lady Wei was extremely pleased and ordered her cat to bring back the half that it had. Then, she took that piece and ripped it into tiny pieces."
The pieces in Shi Ming's palms seemed to be mocking her. It was almost as if each and every of them were saying the same thing: You have failed, Xiao Hui. You have failed me.
"Are these all?"
The courtesan stared at her for a moment. Xiao Hui was not sure what she saw in her face but the other simply nodded and replied, "These are all excluding the one Xiao Hui had in her hand. That is with Bingwen."
Xiao Hui fiddled with one of the pieces. She wanted to cry but for some reason tears refused to escape from her eyes.
After what seemed like ages, she placed the pieces on the ground. The courtesan looked at her with slight surprise. "Does Xiao Hui not wish to hold on to them?"
Lightly brushing her hands on them, the maid replied, "Does it even matter? The parchment is torn, that is all there is to it. There is nothing this lowly one could possibly do now."
"B-but," stammered Shi Ming, clearly not satisfied. "is it not better to-"
"Please leave it be."