"L-Lord Shen?"
She looked at Shen Tang anxiously.
Most of Shen Tang's profile was hidden in the darkness. Shen Zhi couldn't see her expression or even the look in her eyes. That uncertainty made her heart pound like a drum. Terror left her weak and trembling, while one dark suspicion after another flashed and circled through her mind.
She felt dazed and regretful about her impulsiveness. Maybe telling Shen Tang the secret hadn't been a wise choice after all!
But what was done could not be undone.
The words were already out. There was no taking them back now. Shen Zhi felt like a condemned prisoner waiting for the executioner's blade to fall. Every breath she waited stretched into an eternity. By the time she came to her senses, sweat was already pouring beneath her collar.
"When did you find out?"
Shen Tang's tone was calm, revealing no hint of her feelings.
"...A-about a few days before I came back, I think..." Under the oppressive atmosphere created by the dim night, Shen Zhi experienced for the first time what it was like for her mind to turn to "elm wood." It felt bogged down in a mire, unable to move at all, her thoughts utterly blank.
All that remained was the instinct to answer.
"Exactly how many days?"
"E-exactly how many days? Um..."
Shen Zhi instinctively murmured Shen Tang's question back to her. Her teeth bit into her bloodless lower lip as she forced herself to remember.
But right now, her brain simply wouldn't work.
The harder she tried to remember, the more nervous she became. The more nervous she grew, the more her hands trembled despite her efforts to stop them. Tiny beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her breathing grew quick and shallow. "...I-I think it