In the darkness, Sean Xuan didn’t see it: at the instant Lance Quinn jumped, a steel wire shot from Lance’s arm with a snap, anchoring into the cliff face. Lance clung to the rock, suspended against the sheer wall.
There’s no way he’d throw his life away.
"Palace Lord." The Skyvault Palace guards rushed up and saw Sean Xuan standing there alone. Sean didn’t say much, just pointed to the cliff and ordered, "Check if anyone’s down there."
"Yes, sir." Guards lined the cliff’s edge. After one incense stick’s time, they returned to report, "Young Master, there’s no one there."
The guards double-checked with torches, but found no trace of Lance Quinn.
Escaped by jumping off the cliff? Is there some route down there I don’t know about?
A thoughtful look flashed in Sean Xuan’s eyes. He ordered the guards, "Leave twenty men here to keep watch. The rest, return."
"Yes, sir!"
The next day, before Serena could ask, Sean Xuan straightforwardly told her, Prince Nolan, and William Wang about the assassin incident. All three already knew something had happened last night, so Sean’s words didn’t surprise them.
Prince Nolan and William Wang had no intention of interfering in Skyvault Palace’s business, nor did they ask questions—just nodded to show they understood.
Only Serena was visibly startled when she heard the assassin was Lance Quinn. Her mouth dropped open; if Prince Nolan hadn’t kicked her under the table, she wouldn’t have snapped back to her senses. Even so, Sean Xuan still noticed something was off about her.
"Serena, what’s wrong?"
"Uh... I was just wondering, with all our traps so tightly set, how did he get up here?" Serena was genuinely puzzled—she considered Skyvault Palace’s traps flawless, so how could Lance Quinn sneak in without a sound?
"He climbed up using the cliff behind Skyvault Palace." After waiting all night and seeing no one come up, Sean Xuan was sure Lance Quinn had escaped.
A dazzling new-generation talent of the martial world—he really lives up to his reputation.
"Huh? Isn’t that cliff supposed to be a dead end? It’s so deep—how did he manage to climb up?" Serena just couldn’t figure it out.
Sean Xuan shook his head too. "No idea. Once this is over, I’ll send someone down to check. We can’t let people keep exploiting that gap. Don’t worry, Serena—he was spotted right when he showed up, Skyvault Palace didn’t lose anything. Besides, he didn’t take the death route to get here, so even if he reached Skyvault, he couldn’t have gotten anything useful."
"Okay." Serena nodded, saying no more, but her eyes kept darting around, looking a bit guilty. Sean Xuan didn’t notice—he was busy prepping for the trap-testing experiment and had a lot to arrange.
Checking the time, it was almost time to start. Sean Xuan kept Prince Nolan, William Wang, and Serena behind to set things up. Nolan and William nodded, letting Sean get to work. Serena stayed silent, but from the look on her face, she clearly wanted to say something but hesitated.
She wasn’t sure whether to tell Sean Xuan that she knew Lance Quinn. But she doubted it would matter, and was genuinely torn.
"Just do what you want. There’s no need to overthink it." Others didn’t know why Serena was so conflicted, but Prince Nolan did. He picked up his tea and kindly offered his advice.
"But..." If she said it, would she be betraying Lance Quinn?
Ugh... this was honestly painful.
Serena buried her head in her hands, looking miserable.
"Serena, what’s wrong? Got something on your mind?" William Wang couldn’t ignore her, even if he wanted to.
"Yeah." Serena nodded emphatically.
"Can you talk about it?" William asked, testing the waters.
Serena didn’t hide anything and said straight out, "If you know two people who are enemies, and you’re stuck in the middle, what do you do?"
Serena put it simply, but William and Prince Nolan weren’t stupid. Once they connected the dots, they understood instantly: "You know Lance Quinn."
It was a statement, not a question. William was already certain Serena knew Lance Quinn, and she didn’t plan to deny it: "I do."
Prince Nolan’s eyes flickered. He picked up his tea, letting his wide sleeve shield his face so no one could see his expression.
"Are you worried about Lance Quinn?" William asked again.
"A little, yeah. You and I both know how dangerous Skyvault Palace is for outsiders. But I trust him—he’d never set foot in a place this deadly unless he was absolutely sure he could survive. That man values his life." Serena didn’t know Lance Quinn all that well, but she was sure he’d never take a risk without being prepared.
"If that’s the case, what are you worried about? Worried about Sean Xuan?" William had noticed how kind Serena had been to Sean lately—he was honestly jealous.
Of course, Serena used to treat him well too, but he still felt jealous. If only he could keep her by his side forever and never let her leave—though he knew that was just wishful thinking.
"I know Lance Quinn, and I’m most familiar with Skyvault Palace’s mechanisms and traps. If I don’t explain things clearly, it could cause a misunderstanding." Serena gave a bitter smile.
Call her paranoid or overly cautious, but after Prince Nolan and William’s probing, Serena didn’t want anything like this to happen again.
It hurt...
"Serena, didn’t you say you weren’t going to hold a grudge about that?" As soon as Serena brought it up, William’s handsome face scrunched up.
Women are so petty. And you should never believe what a woman says—she’ll say she doesn’t care, but then keep harping on it afterwards.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, but truly, I don't blame you for what happened. After all, I'm not the original her anymore, so it's only natural you had doubts." The fact that she could say this calmly meant she really didn't mind anymore.
These days, immersed in machinery and gunpowder, Serena Feng realized she couldn't restrain herself to be a cloistered noble lady who never left her doors. Since that's impossible, there's no need to hide her differences anymore—she might as well show them openly.
She, Serena Feng, is simply different from other women. If people don't like it, they don't have to look.
"You are you, Serena Feng." Ninth Royal Uncle hadn't expected Serena to bring this up so suddenly; after a moment of shock, he finally spoke.
"Serena... you—" William Wang's pupils contracted; he hadn't expected Serena to say this out of the blue either.
"It doesn't matter. You both already knew; hiding it from you was never easy, and I never truly meant to hide it anyway." Serena gave Nolan and William a strained smile—clearly, saying it wasn't what she wanted, but something she was forced into.
William was about to say more when Serena suddenly stood up, cutting him off: "It's almost time. Let's go to the viewing platform and see just how powerful Young Palace Lord Xuan's traps really are."
With that, she led the way out, not caring what Nolan or William thought.
Sighing, the two men could only follow. They were just as eager to see how formidable the Skyvault Palace mechanisms really were.