Yinyue stopped speaking and lifted a finger to her lips. Ronghe pursed his lips before he uttered another word. His ears pricked up at the soft noise of someone treading on the rooftop above them.
A flash of black went past him. No noise. He only felt the air moving past like a sudden wind. Ronghe narrowed his eyes, recognising the hallmark move of Qisha syndicate's Ghost Steps skill. Yinyue was no longer sitting in front of him. He turned around slowly, still on his knees.
She stood by the untidy desk in her study, holding something gleaming in her hand. It looked like a dagger. Ronghe furrowed his eyebrows, troubled by a thought — Wasn't her study guarded?
The hidden guards he sensed earlier would have taken the intruder down. What was going on?
He kept still, watching her eyes following the sound of the movement above. A tingling sensation crept through his body, a mix of anticipation and thrill.
Yinyue's eyes tracked the sound of the movement above. Like a predator stalking prey. But in this game of cat and mouse, who was the predator, and who was the prey?
Little mouse is going to die, Ronghe glanced upwards to the ceiling.
Yinyue walked from behind her desk without making a sound. Held in her hand was a long dagger with its freshly sharpened blade reflecting the sunlight in the room.
She glanced at the still kneeling Ronghe and signaled with her dagger for him to get up. He slowly got up, careful not to make any noise. Her eyes returned to the ceiling.
Ronghe could also hear the soft treading noise. Whoever moved on the rooftop is highly skilled from the heavy roof tiles.
Her head tilted slightly and her eyes narrowed. The dagger in Yinyue's hand remained steady. Unfaltering. Not even a tremble. The steadiness spoke of an experience he can't even imagine for a young teenage girl.
Ronghe noticed the few scars on her hand. Her lips parted in front of him and her chest rose. Ronghe averted his gaze, recognising her move aimed at killing or maiming the spy on the roof.
One deep breath and then launch an attack — that's how his father instructed them when they learnt martial arts during his childhood. All Dayan men had to learn how to fight. From a lowly farmer to even the Dayan Emperor.
Scholarly discourse didn't build their empire, but the blood of countless warriors created the sturdy foundations for the empire. How many people did this Killing God kill in battle, he wondered.
Her face looked familiar. Ronghe never met this Grand Prince in his first life. There was no female Grand Prince then. In his first life, he remembered Hushiyi was a grand prince in his first life. Yet now, Hushiyi is an imperial prince under the younger Grand Prince's thumb. Where had he seen her? Ronghe racked his brains while the uneasy silence continued in the room.
He blinked his eye for a moment, in time for watch her spring upwards. A bloodcurdling shriek came from the top. Blood slowly dripped, drop by drop, from the ceiling, pooling on the ground. Ronghe savoured its sickeningly dry, sweet metallic scent.
The dagger was still stuck at the ceiling. Half of its blade plunged into something up there.
Yinyue landed on her feet, away from Ronghe and the blood pool. She walked to the doors with no display of urgency. Her expression was calm. She kicked open the doors.
Ronghe frowned at the sight of ten guards, including 02 and 04, standing outside the doors. When did they arrive? He didn't hear them coming. Were they the hidden guards?
"Make sure the person's alive," she spoke to them while their eyes turned to the dripping ceiling. None of them betrayed an expression — as though they were used to seeing such a scene.
Before Ronghe could react, she closed the doors and turned around with a faint smile, as though nothing had happened. "So where were we?"
Ronghe blinked at her words and tone. Both didn't match the situation before him. "I-I don't recall, maybe—"
Another blood-curdling scream rang out. The screams reminded Ronghe of the screaming pigs struggling to escape before being dragged to slaughter.
"SHUT HIM UP!" she yelled at the ceiling.
Muffled sounds followed. Ronghe noticed the blood drips stopped at the sound of someone being dragged across the roof tiles.
"Now, back to where we were," she said.
Ronghe stared at the tempting crimson pool of blood growing on the wooden floor board and then at her with an arched eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you're scared of a bit of blood?" She asked.
He almost choked at her condescending tone. Scared? Was she challenging his manliness? Ronghe wasn't scared of blood. The smell exhilarated him, but he didn't want to show his true self in front of the Grand Prince.
If circumstances didn't force him to keep a low profile while he built up his own capabilities, he would have joined the military.
He shook his head. "Just thought your study might be better without smelling like a butcher's stall."
Yinyue sniffed around and rolled her eyes. "I smelled worse. This scent, compared to some places I've been, like the butcher's store, smells far better."
Ronghe cleared his throat politely and picked up his cup of tea to sip.
"Ah, I forgot you are a scholar with a delicate constitution."
Her words made his throat react. He choked on his sip of tea, coughing and spluttering. Was she insulting him again?
Yinyue was nothing like any lady he knew of — the Killing God is quite a butcher. She almost looked pleased at spilling blood. Only a butcher can smile while chopping off parts of a pig's carcass.
"Your Highness, please allow me to leave. I have matters to attend to." Ronghe got up and bowed.
"I suppose Ahan can wait in my residence then."
Ronghe stood still. He didn't like her threat using his servant boy, Ahan. But if he didn't comply, she would hold Ahan captive. He wondered why she wanted to detain him. The doors, his escape route, seemed so near, yet so far from his reach.
"Grand Prince, would you like to interrogate the intruder?" 02's voice wafted in from the other side of the closed doors.
Ronghe took a step back, unsure of what to do.
"Bring him in," Yinyue said.