Wen Ji stumbled back a step, hand flying to her mouth as her breath hitched. "It's… you?"
Doubts crept into her mind; the shock made it impossible for her to think straight.
Where did the queen go?
Had she been impersonating the queen for a long ti?
Is there no escaping this woman?
Several thoughts appeared in her mind, but she did not have the ti to dwell on them.
The figure standing in the queen's place tilted her head, the white smile still curving across that unstable, faceless void. The veil-like frills of her dress fluttered, though there was no wind in the room.
"I should be surprised you rember ," the girl-shaped thing replied with a soft laugh, her tone sweet and cruel all at once. "But I suppose the nightmares are… morable."
Wen Ji's throat clenched. Her entire body stiffened as that old fear crawled up her spine like sothing half-dead trying to claw its way into the waking world.
No words could co out of her mouth, but her fear made the smile on the woman's face more twisted.
The girl's smile dimd.
"You've been wasting ti," she said now, her voice suddenly sharp. "And now I can see that the emperor has started to doubt you. You are losing his favor… So how will you even gain his trust and find the information we need?"
Wen Ji's lips parted, her voice trembling as she forced the words out. "The envoys from the Feng Empire arrived two days ago… I couldn't move with them around. One of the won in the group gives a feeling that she can even see in my soul state while I am in the spirit realm."
The faceless girl said nothing at first. Her smile lingered—just a little thinner now—as she stepped lazily around the room, each movent slow, deliberate, like a predator circling prey too pitiful to run.
"I needed ti," Wen Ji added quickly. "Once the delegation leaves, the palace will lower its guard again. I can make my move then."
But even as she spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly.
She's asking questions… She doesn't know everything.
"I see," she whispered. "And here I thought you were just frightened. But you've been making excuses."
"No," Wen Ji said, more firmly this ti. "I can't act recklessly with the Feng envoys here. One wrong step and everything falls apart."
She hesitated, then added carefully, "And… there's also that male envoy who seed to have made so kind of deal with the emperor. Although I don't know the contents of the deal, I feel that it might affect the plans in so way."
That silenced the girl completely.
The curved smile froze.
"…A man?" Her voice dropped an octave. "Who?"
Wen Ji watched her carefully now. "He's been close to the Emperor. The official news says that he ca from the Feng Empire to negotiate so deal with Emperor Quan, but I heard the emperor talk to the sect leaders of the three great sects that he was the man who saved the Temple of the Eternal Body and revealed sothing about the plot of the Red Dawn Cult…"
Wen Ji saw the scary little girl pause, even for a millisecond, but that was a big enough reaction from her.
But she did not let it show on her face and continued speaking, "He gained the support of the three great sects, but for so reason he is still staying in the royal palace, and I don't know why."
After a brief pause, she continued, "To find more information, I tried to seduce him, seeing that he was only a young man, but he seems to be wary of ."
She went on to narrate everything that she had done in the past few days and her encounters with Noah.
The girl turned her head slightly. The flickering streaks of light that ford her face went still for the first ti.
"What is his na?"
Wen Ji saw it then—the faintest crack in the monster's composure. The tiniest tremble in the air around her.
She pressed forward.
"His na is Noah."
The smile vanished.
The lights on the girl's face flickered once—then collapsed inwards like snuffed-out embers.
She stood still.
Absolutely still.
Then, slowly, softly, she whispered, "Noah… where have I heard the na?"
Wen Ji listened from the side but did not say anything or interrupt her words.
The girl finally moved, her stillness breaking like glass under pressure. Her voice returned, low and sharp.
"Then speed up your work," she said, turning away from Wen Ji with a swirl of her veil-frilled skirt. "No more delays. I want results. Soon."
Wen Ji opened her mouth to respond, but the girl's next words cut her breath short.
"And Wen Ji," she added softly, without turning back. "You should know better than to play gas with ."
Her head tilted slowly to the side, just enough for the edge of her eerie, featureless face to be seen. The voice that followed was honey-laced horror.
"Do you rember what happened to your partner?"
A wave of cold washed over Wen Ji.
She did rember.
Her body trembled involuntarily, and the fear etched on her face returned the twisted smile to the girl's void-like face. It stretched wider this ti—almost mocking.
Satisfied, the creature began to walk toward the closed doors of the room.
As she took a step, her body slowly started to shift back to the queen's form once more. But just as she started to change, a voice rang in the room, stopping the process halfway.
The girl froze mid-step, and the air in the room suddenly stilled; even Wen Ji could feel the tangible air pressing on her skin, making her frown.
The girl turned, slowly, her head moving in stiff, jerking motions as her gaze zeroed in on the darkest corner of the chamber.
From the shadows, a golden-haired man stepped forward.
His steps were unhurried, his expression unreadable beneath the calm mask he wore.
His eyes—deep and gleaming with quiet power—locked onto the creature in the pink frills.
Wen Ji's breath caught in her throat.
Noah.
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