Vivian slumped on the edge of the bed, her wrists wrapped in layers of bandages. The pain in her flesh was nothing compared to the devastation in her heart.
Her fingers gripped the cold recorder tightly as she listened to Lu Yingheng's gentle final words over and over.
He had known all along how dangerous the road ahead was, had already guessed that the consortium was secretly plotting to kill him, yet he had never told anyone. He had borne every scheme and murderous threat alone, and in the end, gone to his death alone.
Tears fell silently onto the bedsheet, spreading into faint damp patches.
She sat in silence for a long, long time, from the fall of dusk until deep into the night.
Despair, unwillingness, and hatred piled up in her heart, until at last they all became a weighty responsibility.
Long Er's words still echoed in her ears. She was now in charge of all the Dragon Emperor Guard, and she could no longer throw her life away.
She would have her revenge!
She would create a world with him in it!
Vivian took a deep breath, her eyes red and her fingertips trembling slightly. She exported the complete audio from the recorder and sent it to Alice and Hoshimi Miyabi separately.
They were the two girls Lu Yingheng had trusted most while he was alive, and the only people who could now stand beside her in pursuit of revenge.
Night blanketed the Thymefield residence. The entire villa was so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.
After the march ended that day, Alice had locked herself in her bedroom and refused to open the door, no matter who knocked.
She lay beneath the covers, her shoulders shaking ceaselessly. Muffled sobs caught in the bedding, hoarse and broken, enough to make anyone's heart ache.
Outside the door, Leoniel had never left, gently patting the wooden door again and again.
"Alice, my sweet daughter, will you open the door? Don't shut yourself in there alone."
There was no answer from the room, only intermittent, muffled whimpers.
Leoniel's heart ached, and he continued gently:
"I know you're hurting. I am too.
Lord Dragon Emperor saved the lives of our entire Thymefield Family. If he hadn't saved me back then, I would have died long ago.
With power like his, how could he possibly have been trapped and killed by Ethereals in a Hollow? Nothing about this has been right from the start."
His voice grew solemn, filled with resolute anger:
"As head of the family, I promise you that I'll mobilize all of Thymefield's research networks, intelligence networks, and contacts to investigate every detail of this disaster. I will find the truth!
Please come out. Don't torment yourself like this, all right?"
Alice heard every word beneath the covers, but she simply didn't dare open the door.
Throughout the day, she had forced herself to remain gentle, staying by Vivian's side as Vivian broke down and went wild with grief, softly comforting her and patiently trying to console her. Everyone thought Alice was merely saddened and regretful.
But no one knew that her own world had already collapsed completely, just as Vivian's had.
Memories played over and over in her mind-
He had bent down gently to brush fallen snow from her hair;
He had taken her, shy and reserved as she was, through the long streets of New Eridu in his spare time;
He had always been gentle and understanding, always protected her and treated her kindly.
He was the only person she had ever secretly cherished in her heart and quietly loved for years.
Just as she was drowning in grief, almost unable to breathe, the phone on the floor suddenly lit up.
Alice had intended to ignore it, but when she saw that the sender was Vivian, her heart tightened. She forced back her tears and reached for the phone.
She opened the chat to find an audio file waiting there.
Her fingertips trembled as she pressed play.
Lu Yingheng's gentle voice, tinged with regret, slowly filled the room, every word piercing her heart.
"I'm sorry that, in the end, we have to say goodbye like this... I'm sorry I've made you all sad... What happened to me was most likely a deliberate ambush by an evil consortium..."
Those few words shattered the last of her composure.
Alice curled up sharply, her back against the cold corner of the wall. She wrapped her arms tightly around her knees and buried her head, sobbing as her tears broke free, impossible to hold back any longer.
She didn't know how long she cried before she finally managed to steady her breathing. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks streaked with tears, and her chest ached with a painful tightness.
She couldn't keep crying.
She couldn't let their enemies trample at will on the world he had done everything to protect, or on the women he had protected.
Alice wiped away her tears, a determined fire burning in her eyes. Clutching her phone, she walked to the door, one step at a time, and with a click, pushed open the door that had remained shut.
Leoniel, who had kept watch outside all night, immediately stepped forward when he saw his daughter finally emerge and pulled her into a tender embrace.
"My sweet girl, you finally came out."
Alice leaned against her father, her voice hoarse and choked.
"Father... I'm so heartbroken."
Leoniel gently patted her back, his eyes full of grief:
"How could I not be? Our benefactor has fallen, and heaven and earth mourn him. But the dead are gone, and we who remain can't do nothing but cry.
Only by uncovering the truth and killing our enemies with our own hands can we truly honor him."
Alice abruptly raised her reddened eyes and looked straight at her father, her gaze unwavering:
"Father, I have evidence. I know who killed him."
The atmosphere at the Hoshimi Family residence was just as heavy and solemn.
The room was bathed in soft, warm light, yet it could not dispel the chill in the slightest.
Hoshimi Miyabi rested quietly in the arms of her mother, Hoshimi Kiyohime (the author couldn't find the name of Hoshimi Miyabi's mother, so this will have to do for now), her expression frighteningly calm.
But Hoshimi Kiyohime, who held her, was still trembling slightly. Clear traces of tears remained beneath her eyes; she had evidently just finished a bout of bitter crying.
During the catastrophe that brought down the Old Capital, the Hoshimi Family had come close to annihilation.
Lu Yingheng had ventured into danger alone, saving her from the Hollow's corruption when she was on the verge of death, along with most of the Hoshimi Family, and giving the family a chance to survive.
That debt of gratitude was etched into the Hoshimi clan's very bones and blood.
Hoshimi Kiyohime gently stroked her daughter's black hair, her voice hoarse from crying as she forced a tender smile:
"Miyabi, don't bottle it up. If you're hurting, say so.
Your father has already mobilized all of the Hoshimi Family's secret contacts, intelligence networks, and investigators. They're working without sleep to examine every suspicious detail of this Hollow disaster. They'll find a clue."
Hoshimi Miyabi slowly raised her eyes. Her dark gaze was calm and deep, without tears, yet it held an immense weight.
She looked quietly at her mother and spoke, enunciating every word:
"Mother, there's no need to investigate. I already know the whole truth."
Hoshimi Kiyohime froze. "You... you know?"
"It was done by someone."
Hoshimi Miyabi's voice was steady, but carried a bone-deep chill. "It wasn't an accidental disaster. Someone deliberately plotted to kill him."
She looked directly into her mother's eyes and asked solemnly:
"Mother, if the mastermind is a top consortium entrenched in New Eridu, with deep roots and overwhelming power, would the Hoshimi Family... dare to seek revenge with me?"
Hoshimi Kiyohime was shocked at first. Then tremendous anger surged in her chest, and a rare fierce fury appeared on her face.
She seized Hoshimi Miyabi's hand, her voice ringing with unyielding resolve, every word emphatic:
"Outrageous! Why wouldn't we dare?"
"Half the lives in the Hoshimi clan were saved by Lord Dragon Emperor!
If he hadn't risked his life to save us back then, I would have become nothing but bones in a Hollow long ago, and you wouldn't be alive today!"
"He is a benefactor whose kindness the Hoshimi Family can never repay!
Let alone a top consortium-even if we had to make an enemy of all New Eridu, the Hoshimi Family would have nothing to fear!"
"If we can avenge him, the whole clan will gladly fight!"
Hearing her mother's unequivocal answer, Hoshimi Miyabi's eyes flickered. Silently, she opened the audio file on her phone.
The gentle, familiar voice slowly sounded, expressing regret, offering apologies, and revealing the consortium's plot. Every word came through clearly.
Hoshimi Kiyohime's expression changed dramatically several times in an instant-
First came the piercing grief of hearing his final words,
Then the utter shock of learning he had been deliberately murdered,
And finally, blazing fury filled her eyes. She clenched both fists tightly, her knuckles white.
"What vicious wolves... what a poisonous scheme!"
Unable to sit still any longer, she sprang to her feet.
"Wait here! I'll go find your father right now! The Hoshimi Family will never let such villains go unpunished!"
With that, she turned and strode hurriedly away to put the whole family to work preparing for battle.
The room fell quiet once more.
Hoshimi Miyabi sat upright alone, lowering her eyes to her phone screen.
In the pinned chat, the alliance message Vivian had just sent lay before her:
[I am Vivian, the hidden superior of all the Dragon Emperor Guard. I now formally invite Alice, the Thymefield Family's eldest daughter, and Hoshimi Miyabi, the Hoshimi Family's eldest daughter, to form an alliance and secretly oppose the TOPS Consortium.]