Du Yulin said nothing.
She did not turn around, only gazed at the moonlight beyond the pavilion.
The moonlight was dim and distant, like the embers left behind by that great fire ten years ago, still not wholly erased by time.
She murmured, "What about you? Back then, my parents entrusted all their possessions to you. That night, when the fire broke out, you took everything away... weren't you pleased with yourself?"
"Did you think that after ten years, I should have died long ago? That you never expected me to return alive?"
Her voice grew softer and softer, until it sounded as though she were speaking to herself. "No, what you really want to ask is—why didn't Wind and Rain Tower kill me? Why was Wind and Rain Tower the one that ended up reduced to ashes?"
"You must be very disappointed, aren't you? That's why you couldn't resist coming to see me tonight."
Those three sentences were like a poisoned dagger, sharp, merciless, and thrust out without warning.
The woman froze.
She had never expected Du Yulin to be so direct, to lay bare everything she wanted to say right in front of her without the slightest pretense.
The young lady from ten years ago, cold-hearted yet still somewhat innocent, had become completely unrecognizable.
Those eyes were too sharp—sharp enough to make her feel that every disguise she wore was laid bare beneath that gaze.
Yet she steadied herself.
After a moment of silence, she sighed and said faintly, "My goodness, as expected of the young lady. Only you could say such things. What could a wretched woman like me possibly have done?"
Her voice changed, becoming like a ghost in the dead of night, carrying a trace of resentment that could not be dispelled.
At once, she