New Task!

Fang Yuan let out a quiet sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You really are the worst sometimes," he muttered, though his voice lacked any real bite.

Fang Jingyi just smiled like she had won a small, private war.

But the atmosphere slowly returned to sobriety as Fang Chen walked forward and placed a sealed scroll on the table in front of Fang Yuan.

"This came in early this morning," he said. "Directly from Gu Lanyue's personal courier. That makes two messages total, all marked urgent."

Fang Yuan's gaze lingered on the scroll.

The wax bore the crest of the Gu family, an orchid carved into obsidian, delicate but cold.

He did not open it right away and instead kept staring at it for a while.

Fang Jingyi watched him closely, her earlier playfulness fading to a quiet concern.

"If we delay too long, they may take offense," she said.