The tournament grounds were already busy by the time Kael arrived.Cultivators moved through the open space around the platforms in loose groups, some stretching, some talking, some watching the early matches with idle interest. The usual noise of it rose and fell around him as he walked, the crowd shifting to make way without him having to ask.He barely noticed any of it.His feet knew the way to platform four. The rest of him was somewhere back in the estate, standing in a corridor outside a room, replaying a conversation he hadn't even been part of.She had asked Keith not to tell him.He pushed the thought aside. Again. The same way he had pushed it aside three times already on the walk over, and the same way it had come back each time without being invited.He stepped onto the platform and faced his opponent.The man across from him was broad shouldered with a straight sword at his hip and the kind of stance that said he had been fighting for years without ever losing a serious

The evening meal arrived at the usual time.The maid set it down without ceremony, adjusted the cup on the tray out of habit, and left the same way she always did quietly, efficiently, without lingering. Her footsteps faded down the corridor and the room settled back into silence.Kael waited until they were gone completely.Then he leaned forward and brought the bowl close.There it was. Faint and bitter and buried exactly where it always was, patient as ever, as though whoever was behind this had all the time in the world and no concern whatsoever about being caught.Three times now.He sat back and looked at the covered tray for a moment. Then he rose from his chair, set his outer robe straight, and moved to the door.The maid hadn't gone far.He picked her up at the end of the inner corridor, keeping enough distance that his footsteps wouldn't carry. She moved at an unhurried pace, the empty tray tucked under one arm, her path taking her back through the wing toward the washing ar

Kael found his father in the east study.Keith was still working through the household records when Kael pushed the door open, the same stack of papers spread across the table that had been there that morning, only thinner now. He looked up when Kael entered, his expression shifting into something more attentive."Sit," Keith told him.Kael sat.He didn't spend long building up to it. There wasn't a clean way to frame it, so he didn't try. He simply told Keith what he had seen that morning. The alcove. The empty kitchen. The narrow side door that no one else used during active hours. The woman who had come through it and crossed to his tray without hesitating, who had lifted the cover and added something and replaced it in under fifteen seconds, her eyes checking the doorways first the way a person did when they had learned through repetition exactly how much time they had.Keith listened without interrupting once.When Kael finished, the room was quiet."You've been watching the kitc

It was Riley.She stepped inside without a word, her eyes moving past him toward the bath area the way they always had, as if nothing had changed, as if the past week of distance and silence and closed doors had simply not happened at all.She carried a large empty basin in both hands.Kael watched her cross the room, set the basin down beside the bath, and begin the quiet work of removing the used water, her movements steady and efficient, the same way they had always been.She didn't look at him.He didn't know what to say.He stood there holding his outer robe, running through several things in his mind and finding each one lacking before it reached his mouth. An explanation. An apology. Something that acknowledged what she was doing here without making it worse by saying it badly.He came up with nothing that felt right.So he let her be.What he didn't know was that she had gone to Keith the night before. Not long after the estate had gone quiet, she had found his study and knock

Everyone finally breathed in a sigh of relief. That young man had been saved.If that attack had landed, then his future would have been gone. The Instructors knew this and thus, they also didn't allow such to happen.In no time, Ron was carried away by the members of the Draven Clan.The referee soon announced the next match and the competition continued.The Ladeson Clan members dominated most of the match securing six spots. Leave four empty spots.One spot belonged to James. Then another spot to a member of the Blackmoor Clan.Another belonged tona rouge cultivator who had been so overwhelming, crushing all of his opponents.And the last spot?That was not yet decided.It was Kael's match and he was yet to fight."Next up, Number Three Vs Number 9," The referee called, signifying the beginning of the last match."Brother..." Lina spoke, her voice low holding Kael's hands."Don't worry..." Kael forced a smile, patting his sister's arms.His opponent was an Early Stage Qi Gathering