Unusually tense all around

As Zhen Liu was mentally griping that he was somehow broadcasting romantic background music with nobody but Bellona being the wiser, two rather different but equally intense meetings were taking place in different parts of the city.

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Zhen Yan, Zhen Hou and Prince Carlos Ecaredies we're sitting around a tea table on the Zhen Clan estate with a freshly brewed pot of Golden Jasmine tea steaming before them. Granted, none of them except Zhen Hou had a desire to drink tea, the other two were locked in a rather... stupidly heated debate.

"Carlos, because you're my brother's...old friend, I am willing to let you graciously step away," Zhen Yan said sternly.

"What a strange coincidence," Carlos retorted condescendingly, "I was about to offer the same thing, due to you being Zhen Hou's younger brother."