"How is this possible?! How can everything begin to unravel when it went smoothly for 300 years?!"
Kage Ou's hand slammed onto the table, loud enough to shake the wine cup until it leapt and shattered on the floor. His breath came in sharp bursts, fury flashing in his wide eyes—mixed with disbelief, wounded pride, and the sting of ego.
Xio watched the cup crack. His own cup trembled where it sat, vibrating faintly. He reached out silently, fingers circling it to steady the trembling, both in porcelain and in himself.
"Uncle..."
But before he could say more, Kage Ou had already risen. He paced the room like a storm brewing, the soft rustle of his black-gold robe trailing after him. Xio's hand hovered mid-air, lips parting to speak again—
But Kage Ou cut him off without looking.
Xio shut his mouth. Lowered his hand.
"Those two Yin Lans... what were their names, Xio?"
His tone was impatient, sharp. He kept pacing, occasionally throwing glances at his Jian sword like a man debating violence. His fingers twitched toward it, but he didn't draw.
Xio tried again, gently.
"Uncle... life is unexpected. Things may go smoothly for years, but that doesn't mean they always will. Time shifts. People change. We'll find a way to contain it. I promise, this issue won't cross into Bài Rùxiān. It started outside—it'll end outside too. We—"
"Don't teach me, Xio. Just because you're the 2nd Grandmaster doesn't mean you've surpassed me."
Kage Ou's voice turned glacial. He stepped closer.
Xio sat frozen beneath that cold stare. He lowered his eyes to his lap, knowing he had said too much. Again. He could feel the familiar spiral beginning, the silent chain reaction he was always too slow to stop.
"...Just give me their names again. The 2nd Dao and that Lan— they're recent, right? Twenty-six? Thirty years ago? Or even younger?"
His voice remained eerily calm, but the tension in his jaw betrayed him.
Xio swallowed thickly. His exhausted mind was sluggish, swimming through fog. The lack of sleep pressed on his skull like invisible hands. But seconds passed, and still he didn't answer.
Too slow.
Kage Ou huffed and stepped to the table. Finding the wine cup shattered, he grabbed the bottle instead and drank directly from it—desperate, gluttonous gulps echoing in the tense air. His throat worked furiously, like each gulp could drown his fury.
He slammed the bottle down with a thud, eyes burning into Xio.
"You still haven't said their names."
Xio froze.
A sharp crack—
The back of Kage Ou's hand collided with Xio's cheek. The sound echoed.
Xio gasped, his head whipping sideways from the blow. Pain bloomed red across his cheek, and his tongue caught between his teeth, blood trickling from his lip.
Then—hands in his hair. Yanked back. A terrifying grip from behind.
Xio's breath caught. His body froze. Old panic, ancient and trained into his bones, flared like a whip across his spine. He dared not move.
"Or are you hiding something from me again?"
Kage Ou's mouth was at his ear, voice a whisper so soft it chilled.
Hot breath on cold skin.
Xio trembled, helpless.
He could only pray—please don't see the bite marks. Don't see Kirihito's marks.
Kage Ou yanked his head back harder. Xio gasped, a crack forming in the calm mask he wore. It was too much. His mind blurred.
Eyes shut tightly, words spilling from his lips—
"N-no... It's Suji... the 2nd Dao... and the Lan... 5th grade—Kansai."
Kage Ou laughed. A dark, amused sound.
"Still brave, aren't you? Always were. Even as a child—so defiant. So foolish. And yet, I forgave you. Do not test my grace again."
Xio blinked, eyes red, skin burning, breath trembling.
"I still question if your obedience is real—or if you've only learned to lie prettier."
Xio's voice cracked.
"N-no, uncle! I'm different now! I'm not like before! I—I—"
The words tumbled out, broken, unarmed.
Kage Ou remained unmoved.
"Didn't catch that," he whispered, mockingly sweet. "Speak louder. I'm getting old, boy. A young Dao like you shouldn't sound like a dying cat. Where is your lion's roar?"
Xio swallowed. His chest rose and fell with shallow, panicked breaths.
"I... I'm changed. Uncle... I'm... always—"
"Yes, yes. Go on. You're doing well."
Kage Ou cooed, his voice a parody of warmth. He cupped Xio's cheek gently, thumb brushing over the angry red swelling.
Xio flinched, shrinking into memory. That touch. That same touch from years ago, after each punishment, each correction. That hand—so gentle, so cruel.
He could still hear the screams. The torn diary pages. The crying child.
"A-always..."
He whispered, as if it could protect him.
"Yes? Always...?"
"Always... beside no one but Hai Jin... Lanxie's side. No one... else."
His voice was barely there, weak as breath.
"Nobody else."
Kage Ou whispered again, now caressing Xio's scalp. The shift in touch was deceptive—gentle, but not kind. It was the softness before the snare.
"Nobody else," Xio repeated.
Kage Ou smiled—slow and poisonous.
"That's my boy."
He tilted Xio's face upward with pride dark as oil.
"My 2nd Dao and 1st Jade... Xio Zhan."
And for a moment, the silence was complete—only Xio's ragged breath remained, and the weight of chains that no one could see.