Zhang Xi walks in and runs straight into the panel still hovering over the table, displaying nearly half a million Scales in front of everyone. She stops in the doorframe, her eyes fixed on the number, then on Veric's Plates, then back to the panel, as if she needs to confirm three times over that it isn't some cheap trick.
Her serenity cracks.
I don't see greed on her face. I see shock. I see the exact instant the proposal stops sounding like the ambitious talk of a Rank D and starts carrying real weight.
Her legs lose their strength bit by bit, and Zhang Xi drops to her knees near the door, still staring at the panel in disbelief.
Rhayne is the first to move. She rushes over and kneels beside her, gripping her shoulders gently.
"Are you all right?"
I want to lie.
I want to say I'm sorry, that none of it was intentional, to invent some comfortable excuse to soften the impact of the scene. But that would be useless. Worse, it would be dishonest.
