Reunion

Alice had meant to keep an eye on Lin Lei, but when she realized that the people taking him away belonged to her cousin Aierlan's household, she wasn't worried and let things play out.

Lin Lei walked a step ahead of the guards, glancing back every few steps. Nearby, several maids were supporting Aierlan. They passed through the banquet hall's doors, guarded by soldiers, and, amid the knowing smiles of passersby, led him to the carriage waiting outside.

This carriage was entirely different from the ones Lin Lei usually used. His were pulled by ordinary nags, and traveled only about as fast as he could run. They usually had just two horses and jolted along the road.

The carriage waiting outside was pulled by four fine steeds, all Bronze-rank magical beasts called Cloud Horses. They had scales like lizards, thick layers of horn protecting all four hooves, and manes the color and shape of dark clouds. They were remarkably swift.

Once inside, Lin Lei discovered that the carriage was far more spacious than it appeared from outside. Even with all four of them inside, they didn't feel cramped at all.

Lin Lei sat on a cushion made of soft silk and cotton. He watched the maids in yellow and red lay Aierlan on a quilt made from heavenly silkworm silk. Only then did he take a good, long look at her face.

"Hey, Aierlan and Miss Alice really are cousins. Their eyes are so alike—and beautiful. If they didn't have different voices, I'd have a hard time telling who was Aierlan and who was Alice."

Lin Lei looked at Aierlan's face in astonishment, making the girl, who was pretending to be drunk beside him, tense up.

Did this guy realize I'm faking? What do I do, what do I do...? No, I absolutely won't admit it. As long as I don't, he has no proof...

Clatter.

Just as Aierlan lay with her eyes shut, lost in anxious thoughts, something shaped like a conch shell slipped from her clothes and fell.

Oh no, my Sound-Transmitting Conch. I'm done for...

Aierlan's heart sank. It was one misfortune after another.

"What's this?"

The Sound-Transmitting Conch rolled across the carriage and came to a stop right in front of Lin Lei. Curious, he picked it up and turned it over in his hands.

"This is a seashell, right? We must be pretty close to the sea."

Lin Lei looked at the maid in red, who was about to ask for the conch back. She swallowed the words she'd been about to say and answered calmly.

"That's right. The westernmost part of Flower Territory borders the sea, and it isn't far from here. These shells are a specialty of the coastal towns. They're nothing special."

Hearing the maid's answer, Lin Lei nodded and handed Aierlan's fallen item back to them. It was a girl's personal possession, something she kept close to her, so it was probably valuable. He didn't feel right holding on to it and playing with it.

When Aierlan heard Lin Lei return the item, her worried heart finally settled.

The conch wasn't an ordinary seashell. It was a novelty acquired through trade between the human and sea folk: a sea-folk mage had used their clan's secret arts to reinforce an ordinary conch and turn it into a magic conch.

A magic conch could transmit messages over long distances, up to two kilometers. Human mages had also managed to decipher the spells on one, but the magic conches they made could transmit messages only ten meters—less than the range of a voice-transmission spell.

At the banquet, Aierlan had secretly activated the Sound-Transmitting Conch to call over the maids and guards who had been separated from her. That was how she'd set up the whole kidnapping.

Aierlan was rebellious by nature. Whenever she saw something she liked, she wanted it for herself. Her father had spoiled her rotten since childhood, and she often did things that made no sense.

This time, she'd taken a liking to Lin Lei. His tall, cool, handsome appearance had made her fall for him at first sight. After speaking with him and realizing he hadn't shown the slightest interest in her, she decided to get him back to her home first and take her time winning his heart.

The carriage pulled by four Cloud Horses traveled extremely fast, cutting the usual journey time in half. And unlike an ordinary carriage used by commoners, it didn't jolt and sway along the road.

After getting out, Lin Lei stretched his legs and stepped away from the carriage. He found himself in a sprawling garden estate, only slightly smaller than the Lord's Mansion he'd seen. It was filled with exotic flowers, rare plants, and famous paintings.

He glanced at the people around him. These weren't the guards who had escorted them earlier, but a whole new group of faces. This household certainly had plenty of guards.

"Someone, find Centurion Lin a place to stay. Take him to Room One in De Garden."

After getting down from the carriage, the maid in red called over a waiting servant and arranged a room for Lin Lei. Just like that, he was inexplicably lodged in Aierlan's home.

Only after Lin Lei had gone some distance did the maid in red get back into the carriage to report to Aierlan, who was still pretending to sleep.

"Miss, Young Master Lin has left. You can get up now."

"He really left?"

Aierlan opened her big eyes and sat up. Like a thief, she peered out the carriage window, checking whether that guy had gone far.

Whew.

Watching Lin Lei being led to his room by several maids, Aierlan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She turned to the maids teasing her and hurriedly asked, "Hong Ling, do you think what I did was wrong? If he finds out, will Lin Lei hate me?"

The usually spoiled and willful Aierlan looked like a shy young woman now, with none of her usual tomboyish bravado.

"How could he? You've gone to so much trouble to pursue him. Even if he finds out, he'll only see how wonderful you are. How could he bring himself to get angry with someone as beautiful as you, Miss?"

Hong Ling smiled as she spoke. Who would've thought that someone as powerful as a Silver-rank Five expert would get knocked out by a few bottles of wine? She'd really come up with quite a plan.

"Really? Really...?"

"Of course. Don't worry. Young Master Lin will definitely be moved by you. And with your qualities, Miss, even saying a centurion is lucky to be with you would be an understatement."

After Aierlan questioned her over and over, Hong Ling answered each time, bolstering the girl's wavering confidence. As someone who'd been through it herself, Hong Ling knew that the thing a lovestruck girl lacked most was faith in herself.

Thinking of that, Hong Ling remembered her own girlhood and couldn't help letting out a low sigh.

Meanwhile, Lin Lei paced back and forth around the room, his restless steps betraying his anxiety. He looked at the guards outside, who claimed to be protecting him but were really keeping watch, and asked them once more,

"Has your young miss woken up yet? I have something very important to do..."

The only answer he got was a silent shake of the head. The guards had been ordered to keep an eye on the man before them and not let him leave. They could satisfy his other requests for food, drink, and entertainment as long as they weren't too unreasonable.

If they let Lin Lei leave the room, the guards on duty wouldn't lose their lives, but they would certainly be dismissed. So they were especially vigilant, leaving Lin Lei no chance to slip away under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

At that very moment, in the Lord's Mansion, Edward was talking with Alice.

"Father, Kil'jaeden's minions are about to act. The Banshee of the Shadow Council plans to stage a coup the day after tomorrow, during the spring hunt. Shouldn't we prepare in advance?"

Edward fell silent. He knew what Alice was talking about. Half a year earlier, he'd discovered dark forces in his territory, but at the time, he'd been preoccupied with the conflict with Dalaran and hadn't had the energy to deal with those insignificant pests. Now they'd made a qualitative leap, growing into an organization he couldn't afford to take lightly.

According to the results of the banquet's assessment, eighty percent of the people had been mentally bewitched. Forty percent were already so deeply ensnared that even killing the Banshees wouldn't restore them. If he took action, many of his longtime followers would leave him. He hesitated.

"Father, better a short pain than a long one. If we keep turning a blind eye, no one in our territory will survive—not even you or me..."

Seeing Edward still hesitate, Alice knew he couldn't bring himself to make the hard decision. Edward was getting old. He'd lost the decisiveness of his youth, and now he overthought everything, wavering and second-guessing himself.

Alice had the decisiveness and courage of youth. Seeing her father remain silent, she secretly made up her mind to decide for him.

By evening, Red Fire, tired of waiting for Lin Lei, followed his scent to the Viscount Mansion and found him sitting on a chair drinking tea. The long wait had evidently worn away the anger he'd felt at first.

He knew Aierlan must have woken up, but he didn't understand why she hadn't let him go home. The guards outside his door had changed three times, yet no news had come.

Have they already forgotten they brought someone here? Or...

With nothing to do, Lin Lei couldn't help letting his imagination run wild. When Red Fire suddenly bounded in, he happily hugged him. It was the best thing that had happened since he'd arrived at the mansion.

"Young Master Lin, the young miss would like you to join her for dinner."

Lin Lei had only just hugged Red Fire when a good piece of news came from a young servant dressed in green.

"Has your young miss proved I'm innocent? Did she say I can go home? Say something!"

At last, Lin Lei had heard something. He excitedly questioned the servant who'd come to fetch him, but the boy knew nothing and said nothing more. Lin Lei still hadn't gotten the information he wanted.

With no other choice, Lin Lei took Red Fire along and followed the green-clad servant, who led him to where Aierlan was having dinner. He'd ask her himself.

"Sit down. See if you like any of these dishes..."

As soon as Lin Lei arrived, Aierlan greeted him warmly.

He looked around the table. There were more than a dozen people: an imposing old man at the head of the table, a smiling older woman, several middle-aged couples farther down, and a few children eating. Beside Aierlan sat a young man, with an empty seat between them. It was Lin Lei's subordinate, Allen.