Chapter 102: She seems to doubt me?

The room’s scene was still rippling with warmth.

Shu Yue opened her eyes once more, let out a soft breath of stale air, and gazed at the now-empty room.

Through her airflow perception, there was no one else breathing around the room besides her.

Mrs. Mei Er hadn’t sent anyone to monitor her—not from the very beginning, and not now either.

She was indeed very confident that Shu Yue wouldn’t run, or rather, that running wouldn’t do Shu Yue any good.

Shu Yue didn’t dare test the waters.

Since Mrs. Mei Er hadn’t made any move against her for the time being, she wasn’t in a hurry to leave either.

Besides, Mrs. Mei Er had only said she couldn’t leave Frost City—within the city itself, Shu Yue should still be free to move about as she pleased.

It was just that after being warned by Mrs. Mei Er, Shu Yue didn’t dare do anything out of line anymore.

That incident at Needle Leaf Academy had caused quite a stir, giving Liya’s reputation a bit of a reversal.

It wasn’t a complete turnaround yet, but where there was a spark, there was potential.

As long as Shu Yue kept using Liya’s identity and stayed active in Frost City, she might very well scrub Liya’s negative reputation clean—and that was exactly what Mrs. Mei Er didn’t want to see.

“Am I only allowed to be a good-for-nothing?”

Shu Yue let out a soft sigh.

Sometimes trying hard was itself a crime; mooching off others was the right move.

What Mrs. Mei Er needed was a Liya who couldn’t affect Luolan.

Shu Yue’s actions had overstepped, and that was why those words were said—to make Shu Yue understand her place.

She thought of Xiya again.

Her Highness the Imperial Princess had surely not come to Frost City just to visit her aunt, but to use this opportunity to find her investors in the Northern Frontier.

Princes and princesses, after all, would inevitably be vying for the Emperor’s throne.

Shu Yue knew very little about the Empire’s upper echelons—she didn’t even know what channels existed below the princes and princesses.

This information was tightly controlled and rarely circulated downward.

Shu Yue, bearing Liya’s identity, had been dragged into a power struggle that seemed to reach far and wide.

However, Shu Yue had one advantage: she could run.

Not being able to run now didn’t mean she couldn’t later.

As long as she found an opportunity, she would still take off when the time came.

There was no shame in taking a detour around monsters you couldn’t beat in the early game.

Once her stats were built up in the late game, she could settle those matters in passing.

Shu Yue recalled a line Mrs. Mei Er had said—that if she needed any resources, she could ask someone to fetch them.

Since Mrs. Mei Er had said so, Shu Yue would thank her for her generosity.

Dragon Blood was naturally something to have in abundance, though she didn’t dare ask for too much.

If Mrs. Mei Er caught even a hint of something off, that would be bad.

Beyond that, there were other resources Shu Yue could request as well.

“Besides Dragon Blood, corpses—corpses of powerful beings…”

Shu Yue’s eyes gleamed.

To others, a corpse was worth practically nothing, but to Shu Yue, it was crucial.

She wanted to try some other applications of the Star Extraction Art.

She needed to break through to Tier 3, as fast as possible.

She no longer had any patience for ‘settling and tempering.’

Suddenly, Shu Yue furrowed her brow.

She turned her head toward the door.

A moment later, the bedroom door was pushed open from the outside.

Lin stepped in with her black leather shoes, walking right up to Shu Yue, who was sitting on the chair.

She tilted her little head up slightly, just staring at her.

The two of them both fell silent, locking eyes, not saying a word, not even making a move.

Shu Yue wore a composed expression on the surface, but internally she was extremely tense.

Lin had seen her true form yesterday.

What if Lin… had also seen her transformation?

After about ten seconds, it was Lin who ran out of patience first.

Lin gave a light huff and said:

“Hey, you troublemaker. After I left yesterday, Mother took you aside for a walk. What did you two talk about?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? How is that possible? Mother isn’t the type to waste time. You’re always lying!”

Based on her knowledge of Mrs. Mei Er, and how utterly dismissive Shu Yue’s answer was, Lin glared at Shu Yue with indignation.

Shu Yue was a little speechless, then spread her hands and said: “Your mother told me to play with you less.

She was afraid you’d corrupt me.”

“What did you say?”

Lin was stunned by Shu Yue’s words.

After blinking a few times, she roughly understood what it meant, her ruby-red eyes fixed on Shu Yue.

“She meant for you to stop contacting me, right?”

“Maybe?”

Shu Yue wore an uncertain expression.

She definitely couldn’t discuss yesterday’s conversation with Mrs. Mei Er with Lin—there was too much information packed into it, not suitable for a kid like Lin to get into her clean little head.

Lin looked at Shu Yue’s smug, punchable face and nearly couldn’t stop herself from throwing a punch at her head.

But she held back.

The purpose of coming here wasn’t to ask about what happened yesterday.

Lin felt that she couldn’t get involved in matters concerning Mrs. Mei Er, nor could she do anything about them, so she dropped that topic.

Lin shifted gears and asked a question that made Shu Yue’s heart skip a beat.

“Did you see a girl yesterday? Silver hair, a pair of jewel-like pale blue little horns on her head, and beautiful golden eyes—oh, right, diamond-shaped pupils. Vertical diamond pupils. About this tall.”

She placed her small hand flat just below her nose, giving Shu Yue a sense of the height.

Is she really that short?

Shu Yue looked at that height and her lips twitched slightly.

She thought to herself, if her own height was below the nose, weren’t her horns a complete waste?

The Silver Dragon Princess’s height had to include her dragon horns, right? If her horns didn’t count, that would be such a loss!

If you added in her tail, Shu Yue felt she could even compare in length to Mrs. Mei Er.

She studied Lin, who had changed into a new outfit.

Although Lin’s personality didn’t take after Mrs. Mei Er, her looks really were similar—she’d probably grow up to be as tall and elegant as Mrs. Mei Er.

Height was determined by genetics; it didn’t count!

Lin was a little over five feet.

When Shu Yue manifested her bloodline and became the Silver Dragon Princess, she was a bit over four feet.

Add the horns and she was close to five feet.

Close to five feet was still five feet!

“Hey, answer my question.”

Seeing that Shu Yue had drifted off, a flicker of displeasure crossed Lin’s face.

She lifted her little leather shoe and stepped on Shu Yue’s foot.

Shu Yue glanced down, then looked up at Lin, who was about half a meter away.

That close, she could already smell the girl’s scent.

Unlike Luolan’s bland and colorless aura, Lin carried a scent of green peach—a sweet-and-sour little girl.

Shu Yue pulled her foot out and shot Lin a glare.

“Don’t know.”

Since Lin hadn’t immediately pointed a finger at her, it meant she didn’t even have a shred of suspicion.

Shu Yue simply lied.

However, Lin laughed.

“Heh, you don’t know? But I saw everything!”

Shu Yue’s calm expression faltered for just a fraction of a second, recovering quickly—but that was enough for Lin to catch the anomaly.

She walked to the direction Shu Yue had turned her head, wearing an expression as if she had seen through everything, and was confident her guess was right.

“You brought some woman home?”

“?”

“Don’t you know that you and my sister are still in the middle of a deal? Sneaking a woman in at a time like this—you’re insulting my sister!”

Flames burned in Lin’s eyes as she looked around, as if searching for something.

“Tell me, where did you hide her? Make her come out right now!”

“You… really have some imagination.”

This time, Shu Yue didn’t give Lin a dirty look, but instead wore an expression of concern for a girl who thought herself smart.

Lin was infuriated by Shu Yue’s look, and she started rummaging through Shu Yue’s room herself.

Last time she’d brought maids along to search.

This time, Lin was doing the searching alone.

Last time Shu Yue had helped her find it.

This time, Shu Yue definitely wasn’t going to transform on the spot to give Lin a surprise.

After Lin tore the place apart and searched every possible hiding spot, the result was naturally finding nothing.

She did find some strands of hair, but the color was different from what she’d seen last night.

Those strands were probably from the maids.

Could this guy have already made a move on the maids?

Lin turned her head to look at Shu Yue.

Shu Yue was sitting backwards on the chair, her arms resting on the top edge of the backrest, quietly meeting Lin’s gaze.

Lin felt she was probably overthinking it.

Shu Yue didn’t seem like the type to toy with maids.

The moment she arrived, she’d sent all the maids away and hadn’t kept a single one to attend to her daily needs.

Only when the maids came for their routine cleaning did they set foot in Shu Yue’s area.

“She’s already left, hasn’t she?”

“Listen…”

Lin reluctantly tried to save face.

“She left yesterday. I couldn’t have been mistaken.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Troublemaker, don’t deny it. I saw you. I absolutely can’t be wrong.”

Lin wore a righteous look, but Shu Yue wasn’t buying it.

Shu Yue met her gaze without the slightest flinch, tilting her head slightly, and said in an almost emotionless tone:

“Lin, then who is loyal to me?”

Lin opened her mouth, then closed it again.

All the arguments she had prepared suddenly couldn’t be said.

She could demand that Shu Yue not betray Luolan, but who was being fair to Shu Yue?

“Your engagement with my sister is fake, just a transaction. You’re also not allowed to do anything to wrong my sister during the transaction period.”

“You’re not allowed to wrong my sister, even if… even if you and my sister have…”

Lin couldn’t bring herself to continue.

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

Shu Yue found the topic boring, then said: “Enough.”

Lin looked at the expression of annoyance Shu Yue was showing her, and felt a strange ache, as if she’d had a fight with a friend over differences in opinion and the relationship had gone cold.

But she still wasn’t willing to give up, and asked again:

“You really don’t know?”

“Is there something I should know?”

Shu Yue answered the question with a question, refusing to respond directly.

She wore an expression of “our bond has faded,” but it was all an act.

Shu Yue was thoroughly enjoying herself inside!

As long as Lin didn’t suspect that she was the girl from yesterday, she’d never find Shu Yue, who was hiding right under her nose.

And as long as Shu Yue pretended to know nothing, Lin couldn’t do a thing to her.

Lin let out a long, quiet sigh, her gaze fixed on Shu Yue.

Before this conversation, she hadn’t suspected Shu Yue at all.

But after the exchange just now, she felt that Shu Yue didn’t seem like a boy, but rather a bit like a girl.

A girl?

But how was that possible?

Lin looked the Mirror Flower Water Moon Transformation up and down, trying to see something on Shu Yue.

Shu Yue’s face remained calm, but inside she was already panicking—even more than when Lin first arrived.

Why is this little sister staring at me like that?

No, I have to interrupt her casting…

Shu Yue could tell that Lin was brewing something.

To avoid falling into a passive position, she chose to take the initiative.

“Lin, how about we go play outside the castle?”

“Okay.”

Lin tilted her head and thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

She didn’t want to stay cooped up in the castle being bored anyway.

After receiving the affirmative answer, Shu Yue breathed a quiet sigh of relief, though she didn’t fully let her guard down.

Lin’s suspicion wasn’t cleared yet, but Shu Yue was confident that Lin could never see through the Mirror Flower Water Moon.

Then the two of them happily headed out.