The lights in the backstage lounge had dimmed considerably at some point.
Lady Zhaorong calmly adjusted her collar. "I'll have someone escort you back. It isn't safe outside right now."
"You mean the Empress's Vault?" The young man lounged lazily on the sofa, his fingers lightly sliding over Lady Zhaorong's shoulder.
"You should understand just how tempting a complete Dao Beacon is."
The young man seemed thoughtful. "So the rumors outside are true? Teacher, you were once one of Her Majesty the Empress's most trusted ministers. Do you also know things... that even the imperial family does not?"
"I don't know." Lady Zhaorong shook her head. "The Empress never truly trusted anyone around her."
"No one at all?"
"Perhaps there was one. But perhaps only."
"Who?" The young man blurted out, "Lucia? Or Artesia? I heard that Your Highness Oudina was Her Majesty's favorite."
"Herself."
The young man asked curiously, "I've never met Her Majesty the Empress. I'm very curious—what kind of person was she in your eyes, Teacher?"
Lady Zhaorong fell silent for a long while before slowly saying, "After you return this time, don't come out on your own again."
Perhaps because he had been satisfied, the young man's previously haggard expression now carried a trace of radiance.
He wrapped his arms around Lady Zhaorong from behind after she had finished arranging her clothes.
"'On my own' isn't quite right. If Mother Queen hadn't agreed, do you think I would really have had a chance to come out? The palace is filled with her people. You should know that in her eyes, I'm merely a puppet. The threads wrapped around me have never broken."
"Then you need to endure even more." Lady Zhaorong spoke flatly.
"Extreme endurance would only make Mother Queen suspicious." The young man nuzzled against