"A long time ago, I made a promise to myself that I would shatter the heavens, burn my own karma to ash, do whatever I could do, just to sit here in this garden and watch you scowl at me. Do not ask me to quantify a sacrifice, little bird, when the reward I received is sitting right in front of me."

Ji’an’s brain short-circuited.

If Xiao Yichen had said something like that, it would have been wrapped in a threat of murder.

If Xie Wangchen had said it, the courtyard would be covered in three feet of black ice.

But Lin Feng said it with calm, unshakeable sincerity.

Ultimately, it was pure devotion of a brother to his sister, delivered without an ounce of shame or hesitation.

A burning flush erupted across Ji’an’s cheeks, spreading rapidly to the tips of her ears.

She felt her heart hammer in a chaotic rhythm against her ribs.

She slapped his hand away, scrambling backward on the stone bench so fast she nearly tipped it over.

"You... you are impossible, Brother!" Ji’an stammered, flustered and pained by his calmness, her arrogant chef persona entirely failing her. "I’m just trying to have a serious conversation with you, and you... you just... sit there and act like a... a stoic protagonist from a cheap novella! Stop being so intense!"

Lin Feng laughed, the deep, rich sound echoing in the bamboo grove.

He leaned back in his chair, picking up his polishing cloth again, looking smugly satisfied.

"As you wish, Martial Uncle," he said, chuckling as his eyes danced. "But the answer remains no. Now, if you are finished yelling at me, the kitchens have prepared a batch of sweet lotus cakes. Would you care to join me, or must you return to your packing?"

Ji’an stood up, her face still burning, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I am leaving! And I am taking the lotus cakes with me!" she declared, turning around and retreating down the pebble path, desperately trying to fan her overheated face.

Behind her, the Vanguard Commander watched her go, the calm, gentle smile never leaving his face.

He was an immovable wall, and Ji’an was quickly realising that throwing herself against him only resulted in her own emotional concussions.

***

If dealing with her fiercely protective and frustratingly sincere eldest brother within the walls of the estate was difficult, navigating the streets of the capital city alongside him was a waking nightmare.

The Azure Empire’s high society had a problem.

They had too much wealth, too much free time, and a voracious appetite for scandalous gossip.

And currently, the hottest, most incendiary topic in the capital was the relationship between the stoic, legendary Vanguard Commander and his mysterious, breathtakingly beautiful, white-robed "younger brother."

The performance at the Grand Royal Banquet had been the catalyst.

The flute and sword duet had been so emotional, so intimately synchronised, that the noblewomen of the court had collectively lost their minds.

They had taken the undeniable, heavy tension between the two siblings and immediately run it through the filter of a highly toxic and tragic BL romance novel.

Ji’an had tried to avoid it.

She had actively staggered her schedule.

If Lin Feng went to the eastern markets, she went to the western districts.

If Lin Feng attended a military briefing, she went to the blacksmiths.

But the universe, and the competence of the Vanguard Commander, conspired against her.

Two days before her departure, Ji’an found herself walking down the Avenue of Azure Dragons, the most prestigious commercial district in the capital.

She was hunting for a specific, high-grade Fire-Forged Iron Skillet to replace the one she had melted during the dungeon raid.

She was dressed impeccably in a pale blue young-master’s tunic, a silver guan holding her hair, projecting an aura of cool, untouchable grace.

As she exited the blacksmith’s forge, the skillet safely stored in her spatial ring, she turned the corner and collided directly with a solid wall of dark blue silk and muscle.

"Oof!" Ji’an grunted, stumbling backward.

A large, leather-gloved hand instantly shot out, catching her by the elbow, steadying her with effortless strength. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Careful, little brother," the familiar, deep baritone rumbled. "The cobblestones here are uneven."

Ji’an looked up, suppressing a groan.

Lin Feng stood before her, looking majestic in his casual military attire.

He hadn’t just ’coincidentally’ run into her.

He was standing outside the blacksmith shop with the relaxed posture of a man who had been waiting for exactly twenty minutes, knowing her exact itinerary.

"Eldest Brother," Ji’an sighed, pulling her elbow from his grasp, though he let go reluctantly. "What an unpredictable and random surprise! What brings you to the artisan district?"

"I required a new scabbard," Lin Feng lied flawlessly, not holding a scabbard.

He looked down at her, his eyes warm. "Have you finished your errands? The sun is hot today. Let us walk back to the estate together. I know a tea house nearby that serves excellent cold-brewed jasmine."

It was a perfectly innocent, brotherly offer.

But as Ji’an stood on the sunlit avenue, her enhanced hearing picked up a sound that chilled the blood in her veins.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

It was the sound of a dozen silk folding fans opening simultaneously.

Ji’an slowly, mechanically turned her head.

Sitting on the second-floor balcony of an opulent, open-air tea house directly across the street was a congregation of at least twenty noble daughters, princesses, and young duchesses.

They were all leaning over the intricately carved wooden railing, staring down at Ji’an and Lin Feng with the manic intensity of starving wolves who had just spotted a bleeding lamb.

"Did you see?" a loud, breathy whisper drifted down from the balcony, entirely failing to be subtle. "The Commander caught him! Just look at the size difference! The Young Master looks so small and fragile standing next to the Eldest Young Master!"

"Look at the way the Commander is staring at him!" another girl hissed, vibrating over the railing, her face flushed red.