The moment the voice sounded, a draft made the candle flame flicker.
"Who's there?" She jolted in fright.
Before her words had faded, Xia Lun stepped out of the shadows by the window. The wavering orange candlelight fell across his face, making him look terrifying, like a vengeful ghost from a story come to claim her life.
"You must have overheard my conversation." The girl clenched her fists and leaned forward, her voice low and threatening. "Xia Lun, I'm warning you. If you try anything, Derino won't let you—"
Whoosh.
The blade tore through the air with a dull boom and swept across the girl's soft throat in an instant!
Drip, drip, drip.
Tiny beads of blood seeped from the cut, ran down the cold, sharp blade, and fell to the floor one drop at a time.
The girl's eyes went wide. She did not dare move. Only after a long moment did a searing pain suddenly reach her brain!
A hair's breadth closer, and her throat would have been slit!
"A-are you here for money?" Her teeth chattered, all her earlier bravado gone. "Don't kill me. I'll give you whatever you want. This Manor alone has nearly a hundred thousand Perth Coins!"
Xia Lun still said nothing. Like a monster beyond all communication, he slowly circled behind her. The candlelight cast a deep shadow that swallowed the girl bit by bit like a rising tide, then stretched toward the distant window.
She could not see Xia Lun's expression, but she did not dare turn around. The blade was still pressed against her neck.
Fueled by her imagination, fear and pressure grew rapidly in the silence, spreading like blood-red mold through rotting matter. Her heartbeat quickened and her breathing grew heavy. As time dragged on, her vision slowly narrowed. Her