That weekend, Li Xuanyin invited them to stay at his estate. He asked them to stay for the weekend.
To him, it was just a mansion—walls and space. But to others, it was a castle of silence, secrets, and shadows.
Mei Linghua drifted barefoot into the private living room, her silk pajamas whispering against the cold marble floor. Her gaze halted on Yue Lusi and Yue Chuchu, silent figures caught in the hush of dim lighting.
"Aunty, you're awake?" Li Feiyi's voice, gentle and hesitant, broke the stillness.
"Unnie… did she leave already?" Chuchu's whisper trembled, a fragile thread clinging to hope.
"How would I know?" Lusi's voice was barely audible—soft, distant, like a ghost echoing through a closed room.
"Go change. Dinner will be ready soon." The voice—calm yet firm—came from the dining room. Command dressed in velvet.
"Okay," Linghua murmured, vanishing back into the hall like mist.
Dinner passed like a dream. Chuchu sought refuge in the guest room, Feiyi slipped away into his sanctuary, and Li Xuanyin, as if weighed by invisible burdens, invited Yue Lusi to share his master bedroom before vanishing into his study—a space sealed in solitude and silent work.
It was past midnight when Yue Lusi, restless and curious, found herself walking quietly down the corridor. She paused at the study door, then pushed it open just as a whisper shattered the night's illusion.
"Gege… you know I came back from abroad for one reason. To marry you," Linghua's voice floated like a mournful melody through the room.
Xuanyin's words were a blade wrapped in frost. "Can't you stop this? You know the only one I've ever loved… is her."
Linghua's face twisted. "Are you even sure it's her? You haven't even confirmed it."
"I'll find out in time," he murmured, turning to the window where the moon hung like a silver truth. "If she's the one—the chosen one—I'll know. Until then, do your part. Watch her."
Yue Lusi stepped into the room before his last sentence faded into air.
"What's going on?" she asked, her voice light with feigned innocence—pretending she hadn't heard, though in truth, she hadn't caught the final words.
"Nothing," Xuanyin said, turning swiftly. "But why are you still awake?"
"I saw the hour… you hadn't gone to bed." Her concern was soft, almost tender.
"I'm sorry for making you worry." Xuanyin offered a smile, fragile and faint. "Let's go."
He walked to her and placed a hand at the small of her back. Together, they left Linghua standing alone in the room, her presence fading into silence like an unfinished thought.
"You're pushing me into a game of death," Linghua whispered to the empty space. "Forcing me to become what I swore I never would. Let's see who survives this, Xuanyin… Don't wake the demon in me."
She stood in the dim light, heart pounding. Anger and despair coiled in her chest like twin serpents. The silence weighed heavy, suffocating. She stared out the window. The garden below shimmered under the moonlight—peaceful, mocking.
She would not be erased. She would not be forgotten.
Linghua moved with quiet resolve. Her footsteps left no trace as she crossed the hallway and entered the master bedroom. Xuanyin lay sleeping, one arm wrapped around Lusi.
"Lusi." Her voice was a whisper but held the force of a storm.
Yue Lusi stirred. Her eyes fluttered open, confusion giving way to wariness. "Linghua? What is it?"
"I need to talk. Outside."
Lusi hesitated, glanced at Xuanyin—still and quiet—then nodded. She rose, slipping out of the room with Linghua. The door closed gently behind them.
Xuanyin's eyes opened in the dark. A flicker of shadow passed through them. Then he closed them again, feigning sleep.
In the hallway, tension thickened like fog.
"What is it?" Lusi asked, her voice cautious.
Linghua stepped forward, her gaze sharp, unwavering. "Leave him. Xuanyin belongs to me. I came back for him, and I won't let you take him."
Lusi stiffened. "He made his choice. He chose me."
Linghua's eyes shimmered, rage blooming beneath the surface. "I won't let you destroy what I built. What I waited for."
Lusi exhaled, steady and calm. "Linghua, you can't force love. You can't trap someone into a life they don't want. You have to find your own peace."
"I can't!" Linghua's voice cracked, tears glistening. "Not after everything. Not after all I gave."
'Yes, Lusi... I can't force love'
she thought
'but I can force death. I can crush a soul exactly how I choose.'
Lusi reached out gently, placing a hand on Linghua's shoulder. "Let it go. Before it consumes you."
Linghua pulled away. Her gaze hardened into something almost inhuman. "We'll see," she whispered. "Stop being selfish… Because in the end, you will always kill him."
She turned, leaving behind the echo of her words and a corridor soaked in tension.
Lusi stood frozen. "You will always kill him." The sentence repeated in her mind like a curse.
What did she mean?
A whirlwind of emotions surged within her. Sadness. Empathy. A quiet dread.
Linghua's pain was real. Her desperation, human. But it was Xuanyin that Lusi loved—deeply, fiercely, irrevocably.
She knew now this wasn't over.
Linghua wasn't walking away.
And whatever came next, Lusi would be ready.
She returned to the bedroom and slid under the covers. Xuanyin's arm instinctively pulled her close.
She curled into his warmth, eyes heavy with worry. And sleep, when it came, was laced with questions she couldn't yet name.