Xia Lin was woken by the clatter of plates downstairs.
He rubbed his eyes and went downstairs to find Kade already busy in the kitchen, preparing their last breakfast.
"Morning." Xia Lin yawned.
"Morning." Kade looked back, faint dark circles under his eyes. "Didn't sleep well last night?"
"Well enough." Xia Lin pulled out a chair and sat down. "What about you? You look worse than I do."
"I was worried Mother might get up to something in the middle of the night." Kade smiled ruefully. "I couldn't get to sleep, so I figured I might as well get up early and make breakfast."
Before long, Sera and Celia came downstairs one after the other.
Sky was the last to appear.
She wore spotless gray combat clothes, her long silver hair meticulously combed, and her expression was so icy that it seemed nothing had happened last night.
"Morning." She offered a curt greeting, then headed straight for the table farthest away.
Xia Lin blinked.
That distance... she's at least three meters away, isn't she?
Sera raised an eyebrow and whispered to Xia Lin, "Tsk. Looks like someone's 'tender embrace' yesterday left our dear Inquisitor deeply traumatized."
"Shut up." Xia Lin rolled his eyes.
Celia asked quietly, "Is Miss Sky... still angry?"
"She's not angry." Xia Lin watched Sky deliberately keeping her distance. "She's embarrassed. For someone like her, with order and self-discipline etched into her bones, losing control like that yesterday... probably felt worse than death."
"So now she's using physical distance to rebuild her psychological defenses," Sera said gleefully. "Tsk, tsk. Poor thing."
"Stop enjoying her misery." Xia Lin sighed.
Kade came over carrying a tray of fried eggs, sausages, and freshly baked bread.
"Oh, your mother hasn't come down yet?" Celia asked curiously. "It's already this late..."
Kade