Decision

Lu Yiyi thought it over carefully and could see nothing wrong with her arrangements.

Xu Yuan's situation would improve soon.

But...

What about the future?

This boy came from an ordinary background, with a clean family history.

He had performed so well.

All he had done—

In that tunnel, he had made the right choice and saved a little boy from ten years ago.

And it had only been an illusory Examination!

Yet that alone had made him a target.

The room fell quiet.

Outside the window, autumn winds stirred, and the shadows of trees swayed.

From the next room came an occasional groan of pain from Xu Yuan.

Lu Yiyi held a teacup in one hand, her slender fingers gripping it until they turned white. She went over the events of the past few days again and again: Lu Chenzhou's intentions, the emperor's tacit approval, and the two innocent students who had died. Bewilderment rose in her eyes.

Ever since that upheaval years ago,

that prince had basked in praise wherever he went, riding high with everyone gathered around him like stars around the moon, utterly unaware of how many people's bones lay piled behind him. She, meanwhile, had to tread carefully in the palace, isolated and without help. Even when there was just one person she wanted to save, a single word from that prince had drawn away all the guards.

If she had not arrived in time,

if those Ghost Monsters had gone after him—

he would probably be dead already.

She could not even protect an ordinary person, let alone anyone in the future. And this was the life she was supposed to live out.

What was the point of living like that?

Perhaps her mother had seen through it all. Was that why she had