Book 2 Chapter 41

The tension in the room ratcheted up quite a bit after Xiangyin’s mother made that declaration, and Willow’s mind spun at the implications. So the girl in front of her was Li Wanyu’s sister?

And he’d apparently done something to be labeled a traitor and had his spirit taken away.

Willow hoped he was all right and that this wasn’t her fault.

Though deep down she suspected that his current predicament was directly related to her. At the very least, his failure to capture her friends was caused by her. Even if she didn’t want him to succeed, she didn’t want him to suffer due to his failure.

She pushed those feelings away as best she could and focused her efforts on trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Yet the group seemed determined to keep shoving her into the spotlight.

“What spirit do you have?” Xiangyin demanded of her, clearly trying to not acknowledge what her mother had just said about her brother.

Not in a position to argue with the girl, Willow pulled out her raindrop spirit from their space near her core and introduced them. “This is my friend Calypso.”

Her friend wibbled and took in their surroundings in stride, but their main focus seemed to be the moon spirit lazily orbiting the room.

Thankfully Man Yue hadn’t done anything that implied they’d recognized her yet.

The other girl looked at the water spirit curiously. “Why does it have those red marks?”

Willow shrugged. “They were born like that. They’re still young so I don’t think the marks do anything.”

One of the other members of the delegation tittered. “No wonder you’re doing core training if you bound a newborn spirit like that one.”

Willow wanted to scowl, but managed to hold off.

“Would you like me to get a different server for your group if this one has offended your sensibilities, Xiuzhen?” A steely voice called out.

It was only then that Willow noticed Madame Park had entered the room at some point. Which was odd as she should’ve sensed her arrival earlier if nothing else. From the reaction of the delegation, no one else had noticed her enter either.

Xiangyin’s mother, who Willow now assumed was named Xiuzhen, gave the older woman a fake smile. “Not at all, Madame. We were merely teasing the child, nothing more.”

Madame Park raised a perfectly sculpted grey eyebrow. “Oh? Then I must have misheard you saying my standards had slipped, and you calling my student an urchin.”

Xiuzhen’s false smile sharpened. “As one ages I’m told hearing is one of the first things to go.”

The Madame snorted, surprising Willow. She’d never heard her teacher make such an indelicate noise before. “I’d hoped motherhood would’ve made you mature, but you’re still that same brat from all those years ago. No wonder you had to kidnap a husband for yourself, I doubt anyone would marry you willingly.”

The room began to darken and Willow felt the woman’s qi burn with white hot rage, and her daughter’s shift to confusion.

“You dare say such things to me, you miserable old crone?!”

Madame Park clicked her tongue. “My, still have quite the temper as well! If you’re going to behave like a child, should I spank you like one as well?”

Li Xiuzhen was on her feet in a blink and began gathering her qi, causing the room to darken even further.

The rest of the delegation looked on in growing concern.

Madame Park’s face split into a grin and Willow felt her invisible spirit move from her usual spot resting on the Madame’s shoulders. She then spread herself around the room and Willow sensed a gathering of qi all around them.

Li Xiangyin tugged on her mother’s robes, seemingly unconcerned by the potential for violence. “Mother, was what she said true?”

That seemed to snap the woman out of her rage. Xiuzhen’s qi was dispersed harmlessly and she let out a breath, the room returning to its previous brightness.

She then grabbed her daughter’s hand and began storming out without answering the girl’s question. “We’re leaving. The tea is vile and the hospitality much poorer than I remembered.”

The rest of the group hurried to follow her, with Man Yue being the last to leave. They orbited around Willow once before they left the room, the moon spirit letting her know that she’d been recognized as discreetly as they could.

She just had to trust that they wouldn’t reveal that information to others in their group.

“Have they left the building?” Madame Park asked of her a few moments later, and Willow nodded a confirmation.

Her etiquette teacher visibly deflated and her spirit coalesced around her shoulders once more, though she was still invisible to the naked eye.

Madame Park took a seat and grabbed one of the untouched teacups, taking a sip with a tired sigh. “That could have gone far worse.”

Willow took a seat next to her, and poured her some more tea from the pot when she finished the first cup.

“Thank you, Willow. I’d hate for this blend to go to waste.”

The girl nodded to her, and began visibly fidgeting as she had so many questions and concerns about what’d just happened.

Madame Park gave her one of her looks. “Cease your fidgeting, I know you can do better.”

Willow immediately did, though the familiar interaction eased her worries enough that she felt comfortable asking one of her questions.

“Why did you intervene so… aggressively?” She asked hesitantly. Sure the women were being rude, but not to the extent that her teacher would react hostilely to them in the manner she had.

Madame Park finished her second cup of tea as she deliberated her answer.

“First of all, they insulted my standards and the quality of my student. That sort of slight should not go unanswered. I gave her an opportunity to address it and make amends and she instead remarked upon my advancing age. So I may have… escalated.”

Willow did feel slight embarrassment from her, which made her feel like she might have gotten caught up in the moment and hadn’t been thinking properly.

However Madame Park usually didn’t do something like that without a good reason and this one felt insubstantial to her. “And the other reasons?”

The Madame fully turned to face her. “They were growing too interested in you. Next they would’ve asked for a demonstration of your abilities which would have revealed your shifting nature. As I alluded to earlier in the confrontation, the Li’s have a tendency to take what they find interesting. Bunch of magpies, the lot of them.”

So Madame Park did that to protect her?

She compared what she felt of Li Xiuzhen’s qi to what she knew of her teacher’s capabilities.

That confrontation was unlikely to have gone in favour of the Madame.

And she was pretty sure the steel haired woman knew that too.

Willow had a strong urge to hug her, but held back since she’d made it clear she disliked such contact.

Instead she did a seated bow, one that she was taught was for someone you owed a great deal to.

“Thank you, Madame Park!”

“Raise your head, girl. I didn’t risk my neck for you. Your mentor would have my head if I let you be captured. I just feared retribution from a madwoman over the Li clan.”

Willow had gotten pretty good at reading Madame Park by now, and came to recognize several of her tells in her qi whenever she lied.

It warmed her heart to see them as she gave a false reason.

“Of course, Madame.” Willow said with a small smile.