Finley lowered the scroll.

Her glittering hazel eyes bore into the back of Abrial’s head. Since Abrial was facing away from her, she couldn’t see the lost expression on Abrial’s face. For a long time, Abrial was silent.

Then, she spoke. Her voice was oddly hoarse and slow.

“Finley…does this mean that I…could do bad things?” Abrial shifted slightly to gaze uncharacteristically panickedly at Finley, still clutching her outer robe to her bare chest. “There’s something inside of me…that could make me go insane? And just kill a lot of other people? Like those heartstone-carrying murderers thousands of years ago?”

“Abrial…” Finley sighed, closing the container of cooling cream. “It is not other people I am worried about. I am worried about you.”

“But Finley!” Abrial whirled around all at once, just barely holding the cloth in front of herself. It slipped down a bit, revealing her lower collarbone, but she didn’t notice. Finley averted her eyes with a jerk. “What happens to me isn’t the problem! If this thing inside me makes me go crazy or explodes with power, then, if this scroll is right, I could harm a lot of people like a madperson! I could be — evil, like the Emperor!”

“You will not hurt people,” Finley said seriously. “To begin with, the true chaos of a heartstone is not released unless a heartstone carrier undergoes an utterly emotionally traumatic event, which causes great internal chaos. In addition, though you did not receive the Heart of Ice technique as treatment when you were born, the containment tattoo behind your ear is a good assurance that the spiritual energy of your heartstone will remain sealed within you body.”

Abrial’s hand rose to the back of her ear.

She had completely forgotten she had a tattoo there until Bi Chanjuan’s lesson, when it had begun to itch and smoke. Suddenly, she remembered something that crazy old fortune-telling woman had told her many months ago when she first left the house:

And the other thing — keep that tattoo behind your ear safe, or you might end up in a bad state.

Abrial’s eyes widened.

“Finley,” she murmured, “Are you saying this tattoo really is from that technique in the scroll? The one used to contain heartstones, or whatever?”

“Yes. It is inked in the style of the Tattooing Containment Technique. After searching in the scroll tent for some time, I found a drawing of the formation of characters used in the Tattooing Containment Technique. The structure matches the design behind your ear.”

“But…Who gave it to me? Who would know that I had heartstone and use that technique on me?”

Finley pursed her lips, seeming reluctant to speak, though in the end, she did. “...I believe it was…your parents. Knowing heartstone carries are born only in the Year of the Lotus, they must have checked whether you possessed one and had you tattooed for your safety once they discovered you did.”

Abrial’s finger ran over the smooth skin behind her ear. It was strange to think there was a tattoo there she had never seen. It was in such a discreet spot; if no one had told her, she might never have found out there was something there!

“I’m still confused…The scroll said the Heart of Ice technique is even better than the Tattooing Containment Technique, didn’t it? And it said…what did it say? That all newborns born in the Year of the Lotus were treated with the Heart of Ice technique. Was I not? Why not? What happened so that I wasn’t?”

Finley picked up the scroll, rolling up neatly. Its thick, spotted paper chafed loudly, though she was gentle and respectful of it, tying it carefully closed.

“This scroll is outdated. It was written before the Emperor’s overthrow of the previous dynasty and massacring of the kingdom. Naturally, after the Emperor took the throne, the Wei royal clan was almost all murdered. As the Heart of Ice technique is one specific to their clan and extremely difficult and dangerous to master properly, the practice of treating newborns in the Year of the Lotus disappeared with the clan. Since the Emperor usurped power, almost no one has been treated with the Heart of Ice technique.”

After a moment’s silence in which Abrial absently rubbed the tattoo behind her ear with a lost expression and Finley hastily averted her eyes from Abrial’s collarbone, where the cloth covering her had slipped down even more, Finley cleared her throat.

“Abrial, do you know who the last person in Gongkua to be born with a heartstone was?”

Abrial shook her head, eyes wide.

Finley’s hazel eyes glimmered seriously.

“It was the Emperor.”

Abrial’s blood ran cold. Finley continued in a steady, calm tone:

“In the past thousands of years, those born with heartstones who went on to commit significant crimes all gained infamous titles. The Emperor’s title among magicians is ‘The Cold-Blooded Demon of Torture and Murder’.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“The Cold-Blooded Demon of Torture and Murder…” Abrial repeated beneath her breath. A chill shivered down her spine. Suddenly, she frowned. “Um…isn’t that a mouthful? It’s a little too much, if you ask me.”

Finley nodded, her face serious. “It is the most extravagant title yet, as he has committed the most atrocious volume and brand of murders. He is considered the most demonic heartstone carrier among them all, and he still lives, hated by all magicians. Most magicians would be happy to see his bones crushed to dust.”

“Crushed to dust?” Abrial frowned. “Isn’t that too harsh? Is it his fault he was born with a heartstone that made him go insane?”

Finley’s eyes gazed at Abrial thoughtfully.

“Is it too harsh? He killed so many people that it is said their piled corpses would make a mountain higher than Mount Zuigao. For four hundred years, he has exterminated, persecuted, tortured and murdered almost all of Gongkua’s magical population. Isn’t it likely that, in addition to the rush of power from his heartstone, the Emperor also harbored true evil intentions and killed out of cold blood? How else could he commit such a massive amount of atrocities? Perhaps it is also possible that he had a reason…but whatever the case, too many people hate him, and he has killed too many. The vast majority of magicians would display his head on a pedestal in revenge if they had a chance.”

Abrial gulped.

“Finle…why are you telling me this?”

“Because,” Finley’s eyes glinted solemnly. “I do not want anyone to harm you. If the magicians at this camp found out you carry a heartstone, even though you are not a threat, they will for certain want to banish you, or else treat you like a criminal, just because of the unfair association with the Emperor and other infamous criminals.” Her eyes flickered, averting to the ground.

“I do not want that to happen to you.”

Abrial looked at Finley, surprised.

Why does Finley look…angry? Or dejected? Or…I can’t even tell what she’s feeling, as usual.

With her eyebrows drawn down, Abrial thought for a moment. As she considered this situation, a heaviness formed in her chest. It was uncomfortable, and Abrial disliked it. This odd feeling of there being a monster crawling inside of her, waiting to tear out…she hated it to the point that it made her squirm where she sat.

However, to be honest, she was already feeling highly bored after sitting here reading and talking for so long. From her point of view…

There was only one thing to do.

“Finley, can we go and eat something?”

Finley blinked, evidently puzzled.

“You aren’t…worried?” she asked, surprised.

Abrial furrowed her brows, thinking. From Abrial’s point of view, filling her stomach with something delicious was the most important thing right now. Who wanted to talk about history and painful things all day? No matter how much her insides were crawling and uncomfortable, she didn’t want to sit here thinking about this for too long.

“Not…that worried,” answered Abrial with a shrug and a sparkling grin. “You said it yourself, I’m not a threat to others with this containment tattoo, and as long as word doesn’t get out about me having a heartstone, it’ll be fine! Nothing to worry about. And even if word gets out, who cares? I don’t…not really. If other people don’t like me because of it, it’s their own problem. I just have to be careful and not try to practice shadow magic again, right? So that I don’t start smoking and stuff. And also, I’ll be careful to, um, not undergo a really emotionally chaotic event. Then something like this won’t happen in the future! So what’s there to worry about?”

Finley was speechless.

Abrial nudged her impatiently.

“Let’s go get something to eat. I read too much and now my head hurts, so I need to eat some dumplings and soup!”

As she struggled to her feet, Finley reached out belatedly to try and pull her back down.

“Abrial, you are not fully healed yet, I will bring you something — ”

Both of the young women froze.

Abrial had accidentally let go of the outer robe she had been holding over her chest. After that long conversation, she had actually forgotten she wasn’t wearing anything on her upper body!

Abrial’s face exploded with crimson. Her whole body felt numb and frozen!

What’s worse, when she looked down at Finley, Finley was staring straight at her with wide eyes! Like she couldn’t look away!

“What are you looking at?!” Abrial panicked, almost in a shriek. She covered her chest with her arms very violently. “Stop looking!!!”

“I’m sorry!” Finley gasped, covering her eyes. “I’m sorry!”

Hearing the commotion, another female healer slipped between the slides to check that everything was all right.

“Is everything all right? I heard shouting — ”

She froze, taking in this shockingly suggestive scene: two women both with hotly blushing faces, one of them with an inner robe half-pulled down around her waist and her chest on…on full display. What’s more, they were sitting so close together they could have just been doing…doing…anything!

Abrial wanted to just dig a hole in the ground and become a radish for the next three hundred years. If she grew to be a nice radish, maybe she could collect enough face to face the human world again.

From where she kneeled on the ground, Finley shrieked at the healer:

“LEAVE! DO NOT LOOK! LEAVE!”

Like there was a trail of smoke on her shoes and a thousand bees chasing her, the poor healer woman ran away.