She had touched some herbs which she shouldn't have?

Where would she even have found such herbs to begin with? Things that could scald the skin in such a manner were not available in most places. They were completely out of reach for the general public.

It was literally impossible for someone like her to get her hands on them!

Was she perhaps lying straight to his face?

Anyway, he was only curious, and didn't really care regardless. Now that she had finished wrapping his hands up with some white cloth, he decided to take this opportunity to ask her the important questions that he had in mind.

"Hey, what day is it today?"

Hearing Hua Yan changing the topic, Hua Ci was relieved. She didn't really like talking about her hands, because that would definitely lead to some very awkward conversations.

When he looked at her hands, and had evidently noticed their tattered state, Hua Ci felt a little obligated to inform Hua Yan of some surface-level details, mainly because he had saved her from going through a lot of trouble by stopping the boxes from falling at the right time.

Just because she felt like this though, didn't mean she discussing these things. If possible, she wanted to avoid talking about her hands and some of the other related topics at all costs.

Because Hua Yan had so "considerately" started talking about something else, she was more than willing to give a proper response, despite finding his question a little weird.

"It's the 13th."

"Of which month?"

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By this point, Hau Ci had started to feel that Hua Yan was trying too hard to forcefully change the topic by asking questions with such obvious answers. Who wouldn't know what month it was? Hua Ci decided to play along, because she appreciated what she thought he was doing.

"It's Zuly."

Hearing her answer, Hua Yan went into deep thought. It was already Zuly… he had died in Ackril. That meant that he had fallen asleep for around 3 months.

"Are you going to ask me for the year too?" Hua Ci said jokingly, grabbing Hua Yan's attention and snapping him out of his thoughts.

Hua Yan wasn't planning on asking that question. He had already seen his sister with his own eyes, and he had already discerned that, while a lot of time had pa.s.sed since their last encounter, it wasn't in the scale of years.

"2150 of the Jindole Calendar," Hua Yan said simply, prompting Hua Ci to laugh.

"Hehe, at least you know that much."

"Yeah," Hua Yan replied, following up with another question, "Where's the Cleaners' Courtyard?"

"Eh?"

Hua Ci was taken aback, so he subconsciously let out a noise. She was actually heading to the Cleaners' Courtyard right now to deliver the vials in her possession. They would be used by the cleaners to contain cleaning solutions for future tasks.

"Why do you want to know that?" Hua Ci asked curiously, trying to get a feel for Hua Yan's intentions.

"Just interested," Hua Yan said, urging her with his eyes to give him a proper response.

"Isn't it common knowledge that the Southern Gate's Cleaners' Courtyard is located in the 41st Courtyard, just a ways off from the Western Gate?" Hua Ci answered, feeling a little unsure, "Unless—"

"Thanks for the info," Hua Yan interrupted mid-sentence, having no intention to continue the conversation any further.

She was not even able to finish her question before Hua Yan turned around to leave. She had only wanted to know if Hua Yan was not from this part of the manor. Then, it would make sense for him to not know where the Cleaner's Courtyard was. After all, the different divisions of the manor were pretty isolated because of all the compet.i.tion for resources that happened in the background.

Hua Yan had felt some troublesome questions coming up, so he didn't want to waste any more time talking about useless things. He immediately walked away, heading towards the 41st Courtyard.

"Wait a minute," Hua Ci called out, picking up her boxes and waddling over to Hua Yan.

She had asked what she did only because she wanted to know a bit more about Hua Yan, but it seemed as if Hua Yan didn't appreciate her nosey questions and wanted to avoid her as a result.

Hua Ci tried a different approach.

"I'm heading to the Cleaners' Courtyard right now. I can take you. Want to come?"

Considering her invitation, Hua Yan pondered for a bit. Since the girl seemed to have some business in the Cleaners' Courtyard, it would probably work best for him if he followed her along. This would save him a lot of effort in finding the place himself. Furthermore, he could also ask her for some information on the people that were most likely to be in the know about recent incidents.

Or, better yet, he could even ask her directly about what she knew.

Thinking up until this point, Hua Yan grabbed more than half of the boxes that Hua Ci was struggling with and carried them himself.

"Lead the way."

Hua Ci didn't expect his sudden kindness. A little lost for words over the gesture, she began to ask him to return the boxes back to her.

"Y-You don't have to carry them. Give them back, I can manage."

"You're too slow. I have urgent business, so let's make this quick. Walk."

Hua Ci tried to take the boxes away, but she wasn't tall enough to reach them. Furthermore, she was even burderen with her own boxes, so her mobility was limited.

Sighing, she could only walk forward. Though she had a strange expression on her face, she wasn't feeling bad in the slightest. It was nice to walk with someone.

'Hey," Hua Yan called out, trying to start conversation again, "Are you from Courtyard 37?"

"Y-Yes," Hua Ci replied, starting to feel self-conscious.

Why was he asking her this? A few moments ago, he seemed to have no interest in her. He hadn't even asked her for her name. Had he started to develop feelings for her?

As she thought these things with a flushed face, Hua Yan continued with his inquiries.

"Were you in the manor during the incident that happened 3 months ago?"

"3 months ago? What happened 3 month—" Hua Ci suddenly paused, finally realizing what Hua Yan was talking about, "The brawl that painted the courtyard in blood."

"Yes."

"Why… why do you want to know about that?" Hua Ci asked nervously, shaking in place.

That was a fight in which many of the guards from the Eastern Gate had died while trying to capture one of their targets. What was scary about it was that even one of the powerful Guard Colonels had pa.s.sed away in that battle.

Hua Ci had no idea why Hua Yan was asking about such a dangerous topic.

"Can you answer the question or not?"

"Y-Yeah, I was in the manor," Hua Ci replied, "But I didn't go outside because of all the commotion. All I know is that a lot of people were killed. A Guard Colonel had died. The criminal they were after had disappeared. And… one of the survivors had turned mad."

"Turned mad?" Hua Yan repeated, deciding to dig further into the issue, "What was his name?"

"I don't know, but he wasn't from my courtyard. I heard that he was from the Eastern Courtyards, and he was not a member of the guards."

Hua Yan was sure he knew who she was talking about. It was Hua Gwan! That crook was still alive! Hua Yan would make sure to deal with him properly this time around.

"Was there any mention of ash?"

"Uhh, sorry?"

"Ashes?"

"Not that I heard of… no."

Hua Yan could only curse Frenzy for giving him such a mission. Who would even pay attention to scattered ashes on the ground? He had no idea when he would hear information about them, let alone find them.

"You'll find them," Hua Yan told himself, "You must."