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Chu Yun\'s mind was still reeling from experiencing such a slew of revelations in such a short span of time.

However, he had come to a devastating conclusion: The conversation Chu Hean had with him in that inn, where he lied about the engagement, had been a test -- one Chu Yun failed.

Perhaps if he had shown more empathy, perhaps if he hadn\'t treated his brother like a problem he needed to solve, and passed him off into Tan Ruo\'s hands like a mischievous puppy -- Chu Hean would have opened up to him about his real reason for being in Haolin.

Master Chen led the three of them out of his office, back they way they had come. The night was cold and as these thoughts ran through his head, Chu Yun shivered in his watterlogged robes, being forced to remember every opportunity he had to reach out to Chu Hean, but had dismissed him instead.

Thinking about it, his relationship with Chu Hean had been very superficial for some years now, it was just that Chu Yun was too self-absorbed to notice. It shouldn\'t have surprised him that Chu Hean had kept an entire secret life hidden from him. 

He had always worried about his brother, but worrying about someone wasn\'t the same thing as loving them.

Master Chen and a few silent veiled disciples led them towards a pavilion at the edge of the academy walls, and towards what looked like guest quarters.

"You are welcome to stay here for the night, and rest," Master Chen said, opening one of the doors with his staff. "There are changes of clothes and fresh bedding in the chests. Feel free to wash up. Someone will bring you warm water and a basin."

He left after that, but the two disciples stayed behind to impart on them the importance of respecting Harmonious Resonance\'s hospitality and staying in their rooms until morning. Chu Yun and Xiao Zai stayed in the room, while Hua Nanyi was shown to the one adjacent.

Xiao Zai opened his mouth as if to speak the moment the door closed, but Chu Yun raised one finger in front of his lips. He hadn\'t heard the telltale sound of footsteps growing distant.

The two of them remained in silence for minutes, until the disciples at the door eventually left, and moments later two others arrived with some food and a bucket of warm water and basins for them to quickly wash up.

Chu Yun still waited for a time until they couldn\'t hear anything else out in the corridor before whispering to Xiao Zai. "Show me the letter."

Xiao Zai took it out from where it was crumpled inside his pocket and spread it out on the table between the two of them.

As Chu Yun\'s eyes flew over the crinkled page, it became obvious that Chu Hean hadn\'t given them a letter. It looked like a contract, and there was almost nothing written on it.

"Target: Second Prince of Zui and Husband

Means: Any

Payment: 1000 gold taels

Commissioner:"

In place of a name, the \'commissioner\' section only had a red seal stamp.

Chu Yun could immediately guess at who that stamp belonged to, but Xiao Zai\'s muttered, "that bastard", confirmed it.

"We need to keep this," Chu Yun said, already folding the paper into a small square, making it easier to hide and keep safe.

This was another thing they could use against the King when the time came to implicate him in the false accusation of Xiao Yao\'s treason, which resulted in his execution. 

The law applied to the commoner as much as to the King -- in theory at least. But Chu Yun hoped that ordering his own son\'s murder was too much for most people. 

"Why did Chu Hean give us this?" Xiao Zai asked in confusion, his eyebrows drawn. "I mean, I assume from the secrecy of this place, and Master Chen\'s words, that they destroy the contracts as soon as they read them. There is no need to keep them if they\'re all as straightforward as this one."

Chu Yun agreed with him. "The less steps there are in a gambit, the lower the chance for mistakes. They don\'t keep the contracts, I\'m sure of it. Which means that Chu Hean saved it."

He worried at his bottom lip, his mind whirring. "I don\'t think he meant to carry it out. I think when he first came to Haolin he wanted to warn me about it, without exposing himself or Harmonious Resonance."

Xiao Zai scoffed. "He had an interesting way to go about it."

"Perhaps I wasn\'t willing to listen," he smiled self-deprecatingly. "I think he wanted to teach me a lesson."

"Well, fuck that," Xiao Zai said, his expression darkened. "I\'m not opposed to omegas learning martial arts, or doing whatever else they want, but this," he pointed at the square of paper between Chu Yun\'s fingers. "is too much. They obviously accept any contract they get! Just doing who knows what, for whom knows who, indiscriminately."

He was right, but Chu Yun had a different way to look at it. "It\'s pragmatic, they don\'t take sides, they probably don\'t know anything about their marks." He shrugged. "A blade has no say about who wields it."

"Then their lives belong to someone else as surely as if they were following an alpha spouse\'s orders."

Chu Yun nodded. "Still, it must be freeing in a way, to be told you can be a blade, when all your life you\'ve been told you were meant for soft things," he sighed. "Who else could you lure with a promise like that but an omega?"

The more he thought about it, the more Chu Yun realised that Harmonious Resonance must have existed for decades, centuries even. Operating in total secrecy, leaving behind a slew of suspicious deaths, but no way to trace them back to the responsible party. 

"The one thing I don\'t understand is how did the Crown Prince of Su become involved in all of this," Xiao Zai said. "He\'s the odd one out."

"He said he wanted to see the King of Zui deposed, and I believe him." 

He sucked on a fortifying breath, remembering Gu Wei\'s last words to him. Any child of Xiao Yao\'s was a threat to Xiao Zai\'s ascension to the throne.

"We have to consider the possibility that not only does Ru Long know about his connection to your uncle, but that maybe he\'s his child -- and that he knows that too."