Dalgyal crouched under the doorway, entering his mistress’ office. The lights were off, the room illuminated only by the evening sky spilling through the full-length windows.

His mistress was lying on the couch, lazily on her stomach. She’d kicked her heels off. Her dress was disheveled. But Dalgyal had been serving her long enough to know that such was not unusual.

She looked up with a cold glare before tossing aside her handheld gaming device and baring her fanged teeth.

“(What the fuck do you want? I just got to the boss fight,) motherfucker!”

Dalgyal frowned, his lips rubbing uncomfortably on the cloth of his faceless mask. Unrestrained hostility in both Korean and English? His mistress was in a poor mood. Normally, he would have excused himself immediately... but the circumstances were strange.

He bowed low, presenting a wireless phone with both hands.

“(A phone call, Agisshi.)”

She groaned, planting her face against the seat cushion and waving her bare feet.

“Ugggh... I’m so fucking sick of talking to a certain someone and her sycophant lackeys.”

“(It is... someone else, Agisshi,)” Dalgyal returned quietly. “(He claims that he is someone we cannot offend.)”

His mistress turned her head to the side, sweeping a messy lock of red hair from her face, “(Who the hell talks like that? Are they Korean?)”

Dalgyal bowed deeper. “(They spoke in English.)”

She gestured to the coffee table, so he knelt beside it, reverently placing the phone on its surface.

His mistress reached over and pressed a button.

“Alright,” she sighed. “Whaddya want? You’re on speaker.”

“Scarlet.”

The caller said one word, but Dalgyal’s mistress jolted upright with uncommon haste.

“Orabeonim! H-hey. I uh... I’m sorry I haven’t called.”

Dalgyal squirmed uncomfortably. He rarely heard his mistress speak on the phone without cursing-- not to her father nor any of her elder brothers.

He’d also never heard her apologize.

“A human was killed,” said the caller. “Her name was Esha Ansari.”

“Oooh, a girRrrrl?” his mistress said, “She your girlfriend or something, Oppa?”

Dalgyal furrowed his brows, again chafing his raw skin against his mask. His mistress’ words and actions were always difficult to predict.

“My relationship with this person is of little importance,” the voice said.

“Then why’re you really calling? If you just got back in town and want some company...”

“The rules were broken, Yeodongsaeng. Ansari was killed in her home and drained to naught more than a husk.”

Dalgyal watched his mistress seize up and her whole body tremble.

“I... understand, Oppa,” she said quietly.

She stood up, “I’ll call you back in an hour! No, just-- just gimme thirty minutes!”

The phone clicked-- the sound of a receiver returning to its hook. The hum of the dial tone hung in the air.

His mistress took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A thin line of blood dripped down from where her left fang pierced her lip.

“Listen up... (Gather up the youngest... everyone young enough to enter homes uninvited without repercussion.)”

She clenched both of her fists, the flare of her red eyes cutting through the dim light, “You find this fucker. And you jam the biggest, sharpest stake you can find up his FUCKING ASS!!”

----------------------------------------

Yan Xue woke up in a room she didn’t recognize.

She screamed.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Her entire body was aching so much, she started to cry.

She was hot. She wanted to throw off her blanket, but moving her arms--

Everything. hurt.

Muscles she didn’t know she had were screaming in pain. Even her scalp hurt! The fleshy part of her ears hurt?!

What happened?

Someone in a suit came in, his head covered in bandages.

Shay screamed again. He screamed too, guarding his face with his arms.

They were both screaming.

Then, Grandpa Wei showed up. He beat that guy up and kicked him out.

Shay was pretty sure she blacked out shortly after.

When she woke up again, she was in a tub, up to her neck in... mud? Her muscles felt like they were on fire, but it was a lot better than when she found herself in bed.

(Also, she was naked, but she decided to ignore that fact because of the extraordinary circumstances.)

She was in a bathroom of some kind.

There was a shower stall in the corner with no shower head-- just an opening in the ceiling. Was that some kind of rich-person shower?

Marble tile walls. Natural stone tile flooring.

Fur bath mats. Ew. It was probably real fur.

Logically, she was still somewhere in Grandpa Wei’s mansion. (It was a pretty big bathroom.) So at least she was safe. (As long as there weren’t any goth girls in the parking lot waiting to beat her up.)

There was a knock at the door.

“O-occupied,” Shay said breathily.

Wow. Her neck muscles hurt when she talked.

“Xiaoxue,” the voice said, “It’s your grandfather. I’m coming in.”

Shay started to cry. She didn’t want that. But still, Grandpa came in, his bushy eyebrows furrowed in an expression of concern.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’dun knOW,” she mumbled.

Grandpa crouched down beside her to look at her eye-to-eye, “How much do you remember?”

Shay blinked a few times. (Thankfully, her eyelids didn’t hurt.)

She remembered Tyvan asking her something similar. Why did people keep asking her that?

“Xiaoxue, do you at least remember coming to my office on Friday?”

“You mean... yesterday?” Shay asked, ever-so-hopeful.

“It was not yesterday,” Grandpa said.

Shay let out a long, drawn out sigh. “How many days did I forget about this time?”

Her grandfather opened his mouth, but hesitated.

“You... hm. We had dinner Friday evening and you went to bed shortly after.”

So that’s what happened. She crashed after eating? But since Grandpa was treating her so nicely, that must have meant he accepted her as his disciple. Hopefully. She hoped she didn’t do anything embarrassing while she was sleepless and delirious.

“I’m sorry, Grandpa Wei,” she said. “I wanted to start training as soon as possible... but I didn’t sleep well at all last week.”

As soon as she said that, she realized... despite her body being in so much pain, her mind was clear and awake. Of course, that was a damn shame, because sleeping meant her body would be healing.

And she was crying again-- but those were tears of pain, not just regret! WHY did everything hurt?

“It’s fine that you don’t remember,” Grandpa said with a gentle smile. “You trained until just before dawn.”

“I did what?”

“You trained. For... several hours. Mostly running. You ran so much, you bled all over the sidewalks. There were complaints.”

“Oh, my god, Grandpa, I’m so sorry,” Shay cried.

“Sorry? Don’t be sorry,” Grandpa huffed, “It was the most inspiring thing I’ve seen in damn near 50 years. As soon as your body recovers, I’ll start teaching you our Eternal Sun sect’s basic martial forms.”

Shay sniffled before murmuring a pathetic ‘okay.’

“Good, good,” Grandpa nodded. He stood back up and cracked his neck like a delinquent. “Also, don’t worry about school. I had Secretary Fu call them last week to excuse your absence. There was an, uh-- incident, so you only missed three days. And, apparently, it’s your mid-term break right now.”

Shay stared into space for several seconds. Last... week? Incident? And Spring Break?! But that was... supposed to be in two weeks, not right now?

“Just focus on yourself for now, Xiaoxue. I’ll have the maids change out the medicinal mixture soon. Ask them for anything you need.”

He clenched his fist, grinning, “and if any of them give you trouble, just take another ear! GahahaHa!”

“...wh-what?”

Grandpa’s laughter trailed off. “D’ah... nevermind.” He turned to leave before adding, “By the way, a... friend of yours left you a message. It’s on the desk of the room you’ve been using.”

A friend?

That was weird... but that made Shay strangely excited.

She hadn’t told anyone she was going to her grandfather’s place. Thinking about it... she should have at least told Heidi. Oh, but the ‘battle-buddy’ rule was only for going somewhere dangerous-- so she was fine.

Did that even still apply to her? Raia told her she was supposed to be fired. But... she hadn’t received her ‘you’re fired’ paperwork yet, so maybe she was still technically Tyvan’s employee?

If so, the plan was still on! She was going to learn martial arts, cultivate into a badass, and then come back and mop the floor with Raia’s face.

(--figuratively, anyway. She didn’t actually want to hurt her or anyone, even after all that.)

Shay sank back down into her mud bath, thinking about the future. No-- for the future, she had to make use of the present. Grandpa had already agreed, so she just had to soak up all their sect’s knowledge like a sponge and train martial arts like a machine.

And then... everything would just work out. Then, she’d get her perfect fairytale ending.

Probably.