Song ladled soup into a wooden bowl with mechanical precision. "Yes, my lady. Though I recall being called 'boring' last time when I forbade you from eating monster meat."
"That was different! That meat was delicious until it tried to bite back!"
"Precisely why it was forbidden."
Ji Xiulan sat nearby, his posture elegant even while lounging, long fingers holding a cup of tea Song had reluctantly offered him. "I see nothing has changed," he said lazily. "Still loud, still reckless, and treating your butler like a guardian deity."
Ling Yu gave him a look. "You're just jealous."
"Of what, exactly?"
"That I have someone who actually cares if I eat or die."
The words slipped out too fast, too carelessly, but the moment they did, silence fell.
Even Ling Yu seemed surprised by her own voice.
Song froze mid-motion, the ladle hovering above the pot. Ji Xiulan's expression flickered for just a heartbeat, something unreadable, sharp, and buried deep. Then he smiled, slow and cool.
