Country F
Leng Manor, Late Evening
The vast halls of the Leng Manor had never felt so hollow.
In the drawing room, a quiet fire flickered in the hearth, but it couldn't warm the air between Leng Meixuan and Ning Ruomo, who sat side by side, their laughter long gone.
They had seen the photos. The whispers. The twenty-person gathering in Country C. Lu Jingyan, poised as ever, her chin high and eyes bright with the gleam of new beginnings.
"She looked…" Meixuan trailed off, swallowing the word she didn't want to say.
"Untouchable," Ruomo said for her. "Like she never belonged here."
The admission hung heavy. Meixuan glanced toward the tall windows, rain tapping gently against the glass.
"She was always too good for this place," Ruomo added, a rare note of softness in her voice. "And we made sure she felt it."
"We hated her because she shined brighter," Meixuan murmured. "Not because she did anything wrong."
A silence fell—thicker, deeper.
Then, footsteps. Light, unhurried.
Leng Yumo stood in the doorway, arms crossed, an unreadable expression on her face. A glint of something darker in her eyes.
"You two look like you just realized what shame feels like," she said coldly.
Ruomo bristled, but said nothing.
Yumo stepped forward. "You smiled when she walked out of this house. Laughed when she had nothing. Now look at you—mourning a crown you knocked off her head yourselves."
Meixuan stood slowly. "Yumo, we didn't—"
"You did," Yumo snapped, her voice sharp. "You treated her like filth because you thought she no longer mattered. You mocked her when all she did was survive."
The tension in the room shifted, cut with truth.
"She wasn't born one of us," Ruomo murmured. "Maybe… that's why it was easier to push her out."
Yumo blinked slowly, anger tightening her jaw. "Then you shouldn't call yourself Lengs."
At that moment, Madam Leng entered, her gaze sweeping the room like a blade. Elegant and austere, she said nothing for a long moment.
"I heard the noise," she said quietly. "And I heard your words."
She turned to Meixuan and Ruomo.
"You both come from bloodlines of status, wealth… and pride. But never have I seen such joy taken in another's downfall." Her tone was low but sharp. "You lost more than her respect. You lost mine."
[
The silence was suffocating now.
"She was once our family," Madam Leng added. "And still showed more dignity walking away than you ever did sitting here."
Ruomo turned away, eyes burning. Meixuan looked down, voice trembling. "We didn't realize it would feel like this."
"No," Madam Leng said simply. "You didn't think she would rise again."
Yumo stepped closer. "But she did. And she's everything you're not brave enough to be."
Then she walked out, leaving them in silence, shadows flickering across their faces faces no longer smug, but stunned, hollowed out by the sting of truth.
And for the first time… the guilt finally began to settle in.