The reflection suddenly froze mid laughter. The swirling mass in its eyes thickening and thinning on its own. Ceni turned back around and looked at it with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

It stayed in that position for an entire minute before returning to normal. It looked at Ceni with a grin, "Looks like the heavens are not blind little girl. They have sent you a present. An injured man with a lycan bloodline has just entered the city. It's extremely weak, to the point of nonexistence but that doesn't matter to us, it will do the job."

The reflection moved its right hand and words appeared on the mirror's surface.

"Send one of your men to a bar at this address. Tell him to get drunk and tell the people how 'generous' you are, that you would help anyone in need. They should take the bait."

Ceni's frown deepened, "Who is it?"

The reflection shrugged.

"No idea. It looks like they are running from someone so they should not have powerful backing. You don't have to worry about that."

Although still suspicious, Ceni agreed. Four days later she visited the man that was going to 'help' her awaken her bloodline.

Ceni stood in front of the unconscious Hao Xuan. She waved her hand, "Leave us."

Alte, Jin Wang and the other's walked out hesitantly. When the room was empty she placed her right hand over Hao Xuan's forehead and inspected. It was clear he was unconscious and would remain so for a while. Even his soul was so unstable that she could feel it clearly.

Ceni bowed from the waist.

"I'm sorry for this. I wouldn't do this if there was another option, please forgive me if you can in the next life."

The gold bracelet turned into smoke on its own and the shadowy figure appeared right next to her. It looked at Hao Xuan with a smirk.

"He can't hear you and you don't have anything to apologize for. Do the beast's feel sorry for their prey? It's the most natural thing in the world for the strong to take advantage of the weak. Don't feel bad about that."

When it was done talking, it waved its hand and a black jar about two inches in diameter appeared in its hand. It opened the jar and poured the contents into Hao Xuan's mouth.

"Give me some blood," it said extending its hand towards Ceni. She took out a small blade and cut her left palm, dripping all the blood into the figure's hand. The figure placed its right hand on Hao Xuan's chest and started writing something in a language Ceni couldn't understand.

A few minutes later he was done. Hao Xuan's abdomen was covered in this writing in Ceni's blood. The figure placed its palm over Hao Xuan's heart and spoke in a weird language. As soon as he was done, the blood markings started moving around on their own.

They formed a circle and slowly were absorbed into Hao Xuan's body. His eye's twitched and fists clenched. If he was awake he would probably be screaming from the intense pain.

"It's done. Check up on it every now and then. It shouldn't take more than four months."

"Alright," Ceni nodded. The figure turned into smoke and transformed into the bracelet once again, leaving Ceni and Hao Xuan all alone in the room.

She stared at his face with many emotions going through her heart. But then she noticed something, his lips were moving.

She leaned in, putting her ear close to his lips to hear what he was saying.

"Qing'er...I'm...sorry.."

He kept repeating over and over again.

She stood up and looked at him with a rueful smile.

"Is she someone you care about?"

But there was no response. She felt even more guilty. Despite the current circumstances, Ceni was not a bad person. It was just that she had no other option left now.

So to make herself feel better, every other day she would visit Hao Xuan. Talking to him about her own troubles, telling him stories of her childhood. It turned into a habit that she quite enjoyed. Being the princess of a major power, she couldn't really talk to anyone openly so this was a new feeling.

But now, even though the conversation was one-sided, she quite looked forward to visiting him. From every other day to daily to sometimes several times a day, the frequency kept increasing.

She visited him too many times to even remember.

On one random night, she was laying next to Hao Xuan in the bed. Her head rested gently on his arm as she spoke animatedly like she was talking to a close friend.

"You won't believe what happened today. Do you remember that senior sister I told you about? She also awakened her bloodline and was taken as a personal student by an Elder of the academ-."

Hao Xuan's lips moved, murmuring the same name he had so many times before.

"Xu.....Qing..."

Ceni paused. Her expression turning somewhat gloomy.

"I know I know. It's all about her. Why do you always talk about her? I'm right next to you but all you do is call out another girl's name. Such...a heartless man..."

Her voice started breaking up and tears rolled down her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm...so sorry," she repeated over and over again while stuffing her head in Hao Xuan's chest.

***

Of course, she kept most of it to herself.

Ceni looked towards Dai Yuan with a bright smile etched on her face, only her wet eyes were holding back tears.

"We met on the journey coming over to the academy. He was injured and knocked out for most of it. I visited him every single day, talking to him about things I couldn't say to anyone else. For more than two months I did that every single day because I didn't think he would wake up. And every time he would repeat another girl's name. Without even realizing, he would call for her in his sleep."

Dai Yuan saw the tears in her eyes and knew she was telling the truth. The pain in her voice couldn't be faked.

Only, she mistook the pain of guilt for heartache.

"I'm sorry, kiddo," she hugged her tightly.

Ceni who was holding back her tears all this time couldn't hold on anymore.. They rolled down her cheeks like a broken dam as she wept like a child.

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