The clock struck midnight.
Moonlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Ji Yanluo's penthouse, casting silver shadows across the marble floor. The city below glittered, unaware of the quiet storm brewing in the silence above.
Bai Zhiqi stood still in the center of the living room, the folds of her muted jade hanfu falling around her like ripples of water. Her face was calm, too calm. But her fingers, tightly clutching the veil she'd worn earlier at the pavilion, trembled slightly.
Across from her, Xiao Lin calmly folded a soft cloth, as if she hadn't just faced down Bai Lanyue earlier with the ease of a phantom.
"Who are you?" Bai Zhiqi asked, voice soft but firm.
Xiao Lin paused. Her back was turned, but her shoulders stiffened.
"I've been with you for almost a year," Zhiqi continued. "And until today, I never questioned your role. You came quietly. Obedient. Efficient. Perfectly forgettable."
She stepped forward. "But today… you were faster than Bai Lanyue. You stepped in front of me before she could even lift her hand. You didn't just protect me. You predicted her."
Silence.
"I've seen those kinds of movements before," Bai Zhiqi added quietly. "Years ago. In the courtroom. Around my mother."
Xiao Lin turned slowly.
There was no smile on her face now. Only a quiet calm, like the surface of a deep well—one that could drown you if you fell in too far.
"She would've unmasked you," Xiao Lin said. "I wasn't going to allow that."
"Why?" Bai Zhiqi asked, eyes narrowing. "Why go that far? You're an assistant, aren't you?"
"No," Ji Yanluo's voice cut in from the hallway.
Both women turned. He walked in, wearing black loungewear, his expression unreadable. "She's not just an assistant."
Bai Zhiqi's brows furrowed. "Then what is she?"
"She's a shadow." Ji Yanluo's tone was deliberate. "Mine. Trained under Ji family's internal security. Not listed. Not traceable."
Zhiqi stared at Xiao Lin. "So all this time, you've been watching me? For him?"
"I was placed by him," Xiao Lin admitted. "But I chose to stay."
"Why?"
Xiao Lin tilted her head. "Because you're more dangerous than you think. And people like you attract enemies before they realize they have any."
There it was—that quiet truth that hung heavier than any accusation.
Zhiqi took a step back. "So what happens now?"
"You keep doing what you've always done," Ji Yanluo said simply. "Take control. Use the storm."
Xiao Lin stepped forward, eyes steady. "And I'll keep covering your blind spots. Whether you want me to or not."
Bai Zhiqi held her gaze for a long moment, then slowly nodded.
A bitter smile touched her lips. "So I had a shadow all along... Guess it's true what they say—revenge doesn't walk alone."
And in that penthouse high above the city, revenge began to sharpen its second blade.