"You knew," Luo He said quietly. Not angry. Not loud. Which somehow felt worse. Jin Su remained silent for a moment before answering carefully. "I knew something happened. Not everything." Luo He stepped closer.
"You were the only sane person in this entire mansion," he said flatly. "And even you ignored a problem like this?" Jin Su frowned slightly. "Su Kim refused to speak. She insisted she could handle it herself." "I will personally see to it she is desiplined but that is not the point."
His voice remained perfectly level. "I do not allow my family to be harvested by others while under my protection." The words were cold. Deliberate. Jin Su's eyes narrowed slightly at that phrasing. She remembered immediately what he meant.
Luo He had interfered few times before when powerful people attempted to exploit someone beneath his protection. And clearly he had no intention of standing aside now either. Then just as suddenly his expression calmed again.
Like nothing had happened.
He began discussing the matter logically analyzing the duke's influence, possible retaliation and which people within the capital might support or oppose him if conflict emerged. The shift was so abrupt it unsettled even Jin Su. One moment fury. The next moment calculation.
That was the frightening thing about Luo He. He did not stay emotional long enough for emotion to control him. Later that evening Luo He returned to Su Kim's courtyard. The moment he entered and saw her sitting quietly inside part of him genuinely wanted to slap her.
For hiding something this serious. But Luo He restrained himself. Problems were solved properly. Not emotionally.
He would not lash out blindly. Not without hearing everything first. So instead he spoke calmly and brought her away from her room.
Back toward the old room where he and Jin Mulan had once lived during the earlier days at the Jin estate. The room felt strangely familiar. Smaller than he remembered. Simpler. Yet somehow quieter than the rest of the mansion.
Su Kim sat nervously while Luo He remained standing for several moments before finally speaking. "Tell me everything." At first she hesitated. Then avoided the subject. Then tried minimizing it entirely.
But Luo He had always been unusually good at breaking through emotional defenses not through cruelty but through relentless pressure mixed with deep yet calm uncomfortable honesty.
Eventually her resistance cracked. And slowly she began telling him the entire story from the beginning. The road. The insults. The humiliation. The unwanted touching. The helplessness of being too weak to stop it properly.
Each sentence made the room colder.
Yet Luo He himself only became calmer and calmer. Which frightened Su Kim more than anger would have. When she finally finished speaking silence filled the room. Then Luo He spoke quietly.
"You disappointed me." Su Kim immediately looked up in shock. "I was trying not to cause trouble." "That was not your decision to make alone." Her lips tightened stubbornly. "I refused to become a burden." Luo He stepped forward sharply enough to stop her words.
His expression remained controlled.
Measured. Not furious. Which somehow made the moment heavier. "You are still thinking like an outsider," he said coldly.
Su Kim lowered her head silently. Tears began forming despite her efforts to suppress them. Because deep down she already understood he was right.
Luo He exhaled slowly and finally sat down across from her. "You are my responsibility," he said at last his voice calmer now. "Whether the world acknowledges it or not." He reassured her. Su Kim's shoulders trembled slightly.
"You do not carry these things alone simply because you think silence is noble." He looked directly at her. "If someone harms you I need to know. Not afterward. Immediately." For the first time since entering the room genuine guilt appeared faintly in his eyes.
"And this is partly my fault as well," he admitted quietly. "I left you isolated for far too long." Su Kim looked stunned hearing him say that. Luo He rarely admitted fault openly. The atmosphere softened slowly after that.
Not because the problem disappeared.
But because the distance between them finally began disappearing with it.
And before leaving the room Luo He rested a hand gently against her head.
"Do not worry about the duke's son anymore," he said calmly. "I will handle him."
Luo He walked toward the door. Before leaving however he paused briefly without turning around. "Tonight I'll stay," he said calmly. "So prepare yourself properly. I expect nothing less than excellence from my woman."
The words were spoken casually almost lazily yet they carried the same quiet confidence he brought into every room he entered. Then he stepped out without waiting for a response. The door closed softly behind him.
And Su Kim remained sitting there in silence her face still warm from everything that had happened moments earlier. Part of her wanted to be angry at how naturally he could say such shameless things. Another part of her felt relieved.
Because beneath the arrogance, the teasing and the control Luo He had made one thing unmistakably clear tonight.
She was not abandoned nor was she alone.
Su Kim remained seated long after Luo He had left the room. The silence felt strangely heavy around her. She slowly lowered her eyes toward her hands realizing they were trembling slightly.
Not from fear. From emotion. For so long she had convinced herself that she existed somewhere between worlds inside this mansion. Neither servant nor true wife. Accepted yet still uncertain of where she truly belonged in Luo He's life.
He was always moving forward. Battles.
Politics. Schemes. Women with greater status and strength than her. Meanwhile she stayed behind raising their son quietly within another woman's household. Even if nobody mistreated her loneliness still existed.
And the hardest part was never knowing whether she truly still mattered to him or whether she had simply become another responsibility he carried. But tonight for the first time in a long while Luo He had shattered that uncertainty completely.
Not through gentle promises. Not through pretty words. But through straight forward actions and certainty. Direct and absolute. "You are my woman." The words echoed in her mind repeatedly. To others Luo He could seem cold, manipulative even ruthless.
But Su Kim understood something most people did not. When Luo He truly claimed something as his he never let go of it easily. And the fact he intended to stay with her tonight after everything that happened it was not merely desire.
It was reassurance. A quiet declaration that she had not been forgotten despite the distance, the chaos and the countless things pulling him away. That realization softened something deep inside her.
The tears she had held back earlier finally slipped quietly down her face. Not from sadness. Relief. Because after days of carrying humiliation alone after forcing herself to stay strong and silent she finally felt protected again.
Wanted again. Chosen again. And somewhere deep inside her chest beneath all the exhaustion and pride she had carried alone a warm happiness slowly began returning.
After leaving Su Kim Luo He returned toward the laboratory grounds where servants were still preparing the equipment and materials for transport.
Large storage boxes had already been sealed. Spirit-inscribed containers were being wrapped carefully while several attendants waited nervously for further orders.
Luo He glanced at everything once. Then casually waved his hand. "Put everything back." The servants froze. One of them carefully asked, "Young Master back into storage?"
"Yes." Luo He said and left. The servant hesitated slightly. "But weren't these materials urgently needed?" One of them asked. "They still are," Luo He answered calmly. "I simply changed my mind about leaving."
No one questioned him further after that.
The Jin estate had already learned long ago that Luo He's decisions often appeared sudden right before they completely changed the direction of events. So the servants immediately began moving everything back to its original place.
Luo He stood silently afterward on one of the outer balconies of the mansion watching the workers move materials in and out while the evening wind brushed lightly against his robes. His thoughts however were already far ahead.
The Bloodline Evolution Catalyst was too important. And far too valuable to handle carelessly. Which meant one thing. He needed assistance.
Not ordinary assistants. Allies. People strong enough to stand beside him when the moment arrived. People he trusted enough to expose to fragments of the truth. And among all those around him
only one person came to mind first. Jin Mulan.
Without wasting time Luo He immediately prepared a letter himself.
Short. Direct. Exactly like him. Once sealed he handed it to one of the estate's trained messenger birds rather than using mounted riders.
The bird launched into the evening sky moments later vanishing rapidly toward the capital. The message inside read
simply:
Come back at your earliest convenience.
If someone tries to stop you tell them to mind their own business.
No explanations. No details. Yet anyone who knew Luo He well would immediately understand the meaning beneath those words. He has run into some trouble.