She kept staring for a while longer.
"Alas—"
With no other choice, the old woman finally shook her head, looked away, and sighed.
Though she had long since guessed the truth, she had no proof. So all she could do was offer them the sort of warning an elder might give to younger people:
"You two had better be careful."
"The Impermanence Token isn't omnipotent, and don't assume the Heavenly Court's officials are all a bunch of good-for-nothings."
"Especially the investigators they send out. They're not ordinary clerks from some government office. They really can uncover things."
She paused. Seeing that the two girls didn't seem to have taken her words to heart, a complicated, rueful look flickered in her cloudy eyes.
"You can't keep a fire hidden under paper forever. There's no wall in this world without cracks."
"You two..."
"Anyway!"
"Take care of yourselves."
She had made herself perfectly clear. After all, others might not know who was behind those events, but how could she not?
She had simply never imagined things would go so far, nor thought Lin Daiyu before her capable of such a thing. That had truly exceeded her expectations.
"..."
"..."
Yet despite the warning, Tanchun and Daiyu remained perfectly composed. Their eyelashes barely even fluttered.
They simply continued to sip their tea at an unhurried pace, pretending not to understand—as if the old woman's words had been nothing more than meaningless small talk, with not the slightest connection to them.
"Ah—"
Only after a long while did Lin Daiyu let out a soft sigh of her own. It was as faint as a wisp of cloud about to disperse, yet carried an indescribable meaning.
"I really don't know what you're talking about, Auntie."
She raised her eyes and met the old woman's somewhat