A subtle stiffness crept into Fu Miaoxue’s expression.

Du Lai continued: “And those playing cards last night — do you know why I was always able to guess your suit? Because the cards were marked.”

Fu Miaoxue’s gaze grew cold, fixed on him.

“Making petals appear above your head was also prepared in advance. You were watching my right sleeve, so you didn’t notice what my other hand was doing.” Du Lai went on. “And those coins — they’re double-sided. Professional magician’s coins. So I can make them show tails whenever I want, show heads whenever I want…”

“Enough!” Fu Miaoxue snapped, her voice sharp. “Close your mouth!”

Du Lai pressed his lips together. The corner of his mouth curved in a faint, contemptuous smile.

If you demystify every trick, what’s the fun in any of it?

Fu Miaoxue glared at him with barely contained fury. “You think, if you make me lose interest in you, I’ll let you go? I’m telling you — that is never going to happen. Either you stay here with me, or I send you down to the second floor to give my Eureka and Mira a meal they’ll remember. What do you say?”

Du Lai’s expression hardened.

No one had told him what Eureka and Mira were — but he had a very clear idea of what was in that second-floor room.

Before this operation, they had conducted a thorough investigation of the young miss of this estate. They knew she was pampered, high-handed, erratic, and utterly without restraint. Apart from the household tutor, who could rein her in to some degree, no one else in the estate dared to defy her.

That was part of why Du Lai had taken the initiative to approach her.

He and Fu Miaoxue were the same age. He was young and good-looking, and he could do magic tricks to delight her. He hadn’t worried about hooking her attention.

But none of them had anticipated that Fu Miaoxue would turn out to be genuinely unhinged.

In the garden, Du Lai stood before her — no begging, no more pushing back, because neither would have been remotely wise.

He was thinking quickly, turning over the possibilities in his mind. How do I get out of Fu Miaoxue’s clutches?

Just then, Fu Miaoxue suddenly smiled.

If you set aside her thoroughly abnormal way of thinking, her smile, taken on its own, was genuinely striking — like a beautifully dressed doll in a display window, the kind that made everyone want to stop and look.

“I understand now. You’re angry with me, which means no matter what I ask you to do, you won’t do it with any real sincerity.”

Fu Miaoxue’s smile was bright and clear as she said, slowly:

“Grandfather always said — if you want to keep someone by your side, fear alone isn’t enough. You have to let them taste something worth staying for.”

The words came out of nowhere, and Du Lai felt a flicker of unease as he heard them.

Fu Miaoxue gave a small tug on the chain in her hand. Du Lai was yanked half a step forward, and his brow creased.

“Come on — I want to show you something~” Fu Miaoxue smiled, turned, and started back the way they had come.

The chain pulled at his collar. Du Lai glanced at the bodyguards on either side, then bit down on his frustration and fell in behind her.

Bai Youwei lingered at the back, watching both of their retreating figures. She glanced down at the time, let out a quiet, helpless sigh, and followed after them.

……

What surprised Du Lai was that Fu Miaoxue had brought him back to her room.

He had assumed he was about to be put back in the cage. Instead, Fu Miaoxue turned to the bodyguards and said: “Wait outside. No one enters.”

One bodyguard said: “Miss, this man is very quick. Without the cage, there may be a risk.”

Fu Miaoxue extended one hand. “Give me the shock whip.”

The bodyguard hesitated for a moment, then unclipped the whip from his belt and placed it in her hand with a deferential bow.

It was a short black leather whip. At the tip, a cluster of fringe concealed extremely fine conductive copper threads — capable of dropping a bull in an instant.

Fu Miaoxue closed her fingers around the whip and said lightly, “You may go.”

The bodyguards filed out one by one.

The room now held three people: Fu Miaoxue, Du Lai, and Bai Youwei.

Fu Miaoxue shot a strange look at Bai Youwei. “Why are you still here?”

Bai Youwei let out a quiet sigh. “Honestly, I’d rather not be — but what can I do? We’re friends.”