A Date with Emily (2)

Before Emily began talking, the two went into a teashop which offered private rooms. Shui didn't trust the arrays that were already there so he used talismans to fortify the arrangement after they got their drinks.

Emily took a sip of hot tea and steadied her breathing before she looked at Shui and began.

"How much do you know about what happened to Master?"

"Not much, actually. I was hoping you could fill me in."

It was a matter that was kept under wraps in the city she was from, so Emily didn't find his response alarming. She took a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing.

"It was about a year ago.

Master and I had lived in a city known as Rockshaw for around five years. As an array master on the Minor Ranking, Master Nikolai was well-liked by the city lord and was given the job of creating a set of arrays to protect his eldest son when he went out on trips. After successfully accomplishing this task, Master received even better treatment and so I could strut around with the pride that I was his disciple. However, this glory, was short-lived.

At the time, I didn't think that anything could go wrong. I was progressing in my training and Master was a respected figure, but all that changed before I knew it. On one day that the city lord's son left in his carriage, neither he nor his guards returned. The city lord led his entire force to search for him, but they could only recover his mangled corpse. We held a grand funeral for him, but if I knew what was going to happen next, I would have begged Master to escape.

Even during the funeral, everyone could see how gaunt the city lord had become. My master had been treated well by him, so he felt obligated to at least attempt to comfort him, but the city lord hadn't fully released his frustration yet. The moment he saw Master's face, he shouted at him and blamed him for killing his son. He said that if his arrays had worked properly, then his son wouldn't have died. My master tried to explain himself, but before he could react, the city lord smashed through his personal protection array pierced his chest.

And you know what the worst thing is, both the carriage and the clothes worn by the city lord's son on the day of the incident, weren't the ones that my Master modified."

After that story, Shui kept his mouth closed and allowed Emily to sort through her turbid emotions. He was no stranger to seeing a loved one die, and he also had family and friends to avenge, but he hadn't witnessed them being killed in cold blood so he couldn't fully understand her feelings. Maybe if he wanted to seduce her then he would try a hold her hand before going with a useless attempt at comforting her, but when he looked at her teary eyes, he felt that the best thing to do was wait.

...

Once Emily wiped her eyes, raised her head again and Shui could see that she was feeling better, he moved on.

"So, was it after that incident that you started getting targeted?"

"No, it was when I decided to participate in the Minor Ranking evaluation. After my master died, I felt nothing but hatred for the city lord, but subsequent to that incident he became a lifeless husk. I couldn't believe that he would lose himself after taking away my master, but he was too miserable as a target for my vengeance, so I moved my eyes to the ones who turned their backs on Master.

When he was alive they were so quick to befriend us, but once he died no one spoke about him anymore. They didn't even show up to the funeral and I was kicked out of the estate that they gave him. I hated them so much I could barely sleep, but I didn't know how to make them pay.

I didn't want to kill them, I just wanted to make them reflect on their ways. I wanted them to earnestly regret what they did. While I was pondering, I eventually heard about the Minor Ranking evaluation and decided to join so that I could gain the same status as Master and make them regret their infidelity. It was when I was preparing to leave the city that they first attacked. Luckily, though I was just in a small house, I made sure to fortify it with every array that I knew so the assassins were all killed."

"Do you know who sent them?"

Emily shook her head, "I wish I did. That way I could just..."

Emily clenched her fist as she thought of something, but never let it escape her mouth. Shui didn't try to pry but asked with one more question.

"By the way, how did you meet Adrian? You call him 'senior brother', but he doesn't look like an array master."

"That's right. Master let me attend classes from a inscriptionist so that I could expand my knowledge. Adrian was one of the students in those classes. Even after I was no longer allowed to attend, he still visited me from time to time. My family wasn't the best, so besides Master, he's one of the only people I trust. He even offered to protect me on this trip after hearing about the assassination attempt."

"..."

On the inside, Shui grimaced, but on the outside he stayed the same.

'What a convoluted mess.'

If he only considered the relationship they had in the real world, there was no way Shui would have continued to try and help Emily after hearing the full situation. He was fine with stories where there was one singular enemy that needed to be taken care, but killing a few people wouldn't help her.

'It's so hard being a big brother.'

Once she finished her tea, Emily languidly got up and tried to leave with a 'goodbye', but Shui stopped her.

"Wait. Do you have anything planned at the moment?"

"Uh, not really."

"Then follow me. I can't leave you alone when you still look so sad."

Before she could get a chance to refute, Shui pulled her hand and led her at his own whims. Although she had changed, he took a chance and brought her to a clothes store.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

To which Shui responded, "I don't know, call it a hunch but, I think you'll like it here."

Shui didn't want to mess things up with his own unknown level of fashion sense, so he relied on one of the store attendants.

"Please choose some outfits that fit her. Money isn't a problem."

"Understood. Please wait here for a moment."

The clothes here were made with special material so even cultivators could wear them in battle while still looking stylish. They were generally cheaper than tesora-rank artifacts, but the price might make Emily refuse so Shui kept them out of her sight.

When the store attendant came back with several dresses, gowns and robes, Emily right hand twitched but she showed no change in her facial expression. Shui wasn't concerned about it so he talked to the attendant and gave Emily a simple magenta dress to wear first.

"Try it on. I'm sure it'll fit you," he said.

If his guess was wrong, then she would likely try to refuse, but since she reached out and took the dress, albeit hesitantly, Shui knew he was right about her.

'That's my junior sister.'