My capricious master

"Just like how the three clans knew well enough to hide their eggs in numerous baskets to ensure their survival, our clan had been doing the same," Xia Fang slowly explained. "Only we adopted a different version from theirs—and for us, it wasn't a ploy to guard against them like they did with us."

"Though we really should have," she added in a faint voice, lowering her gaze to her cup before looking up again.

"After our founder died, the clan began taking preemptive measures to prepare for the worst-case scenarios, to ensure we'd remain standing even if the unthinkable happened," Xia Fang said with a somber expression.