While Xu Qing was off interrogating the crowd in search of the traitor who had revealed his Not-so-highly classified kink, Elder Nie Jing was left to wrestle with a much more bitter pill:
Han Yu had won.
And worse—he hadn't technically broken any rules.
"You dishonorable, uncouth, eye-spitting, sore-knuckled BRAT!" Elder Nie Jing barked, his voice climbing in pitch like an angry kettle ready to blow.
"You're forgetting the most important part," Han Yu said with the smugness of a rooster who'd just out-crowed the sun. "The winner."
"UGH!" Elder Nie Jing groaned, practically dry-heaving the word. But alas, duty was a cruel mistress. "Han Yu… is the winner," he muttered, his pride dissolving into the wind.
Whatever punishment he had planned would have to be delayed. There were protocols. Hierarchies. Paperwork. But rest assured, revenge was already penciled into his calendar.
"Hear that?" Han Yu cupped a hand to his ear, tilting his head dramatically.
Silence.
