On the way to the cafe that Emily had in mind, she chose to stand on the side of Shui's free hand in case he needed support. She didn't have much experience caring for the injured or elderly, but she was at least prepared to lend a helping hand. This considerate act did not go unnoticed by Shui, but he didn't say anything about it.
Once they reached the cafe and settled into the seats of their private room, Emily removed the cloak covering her head. Shui had to restrain himself from extending his perception so he could only now see her face. Her appearance naturally hadn't changed much since the last time they met, but it was still nice to see it again.
After Emily gave their orders to the waitress who came to their room, Shui began.
"Would you mind if I went first?"
"No. Go ahead."
There was no need to divulge everything, so Shui explained that he was in a conflict over treasure and had to use a dangerous escape spell, which put him in his current condition. He obfuscated the details and excluded the fact that he almost died and was feeling immeasurable pain, but there was no lie in his words. Of course, Emily was perceptive enough to realise that he wasn't saying everything, but she understood that it was more or less true.
"It's a good thing you were able to survive that incident. I know it's common for people to lose their lives over valuable treasure. With that being said, I have to ask, why did you give me Dull Harmony?"
"Do you have it on your person?"
Emily nodded and slightly lifted the right side of her coat to reveal the sceptre secured to its inner lining. Given her recent traumatising experience, keeping the sceptre close made her feel safer.
"I see. The reason why I gave it to you is as I've said before. For your protection."
"There has to be more to it than that. I can't believe you gave me an unrefined tesora-rank artifact just for my protection."
Emily had accepted his explanation before because she was mesmerised by Dull Harmony, but now that she had absorbed its innate insights, she knew that this one artifact was likely more valuable than anything even her master had possessed, and she had no way of returning it in the same condition as when she received it. Though she didn't think he had malicious intentions and the artifact had saved her life, she couldn't wrap her head around why she deserved so much goodwill from him.
Shui expected that she would ask this question, so he had prepared a response.
"You've absorbed its innate insights, haven't you? That means you can't simply return it to me, and you're now in my debt. How about we say that was my objective?"
Both Shui and Emily knew that his response was nonsense, but it was true that Emily couldn't return the artifact anymore, so this effectively stopped her.
"Fine. But when I grow into someone who can use Dull Harmony properly, will you tell me the truth then?"
"Sure."
'Though you probably won't believe me.'
Once Emily was capable of using Dull Harmony to its full extent, she would be strong enough to stand on her own so he could be honest with her despite fearing it would ruin their relationship.
Emily then told him about the assassination attempt she experienced and asked if Dull Harmony possessed the ability to automatically protect her. Although she had superficially refined the artifact, she only had a broad idea of what it could do.
"Yes, it can protect you without your command, but given your current cultivation it'll only work once a day, so be careful from now on."
"?!"
Shui said it like it was no big deal, but he was also aware that artifacts that could act on their own, even if it was just for simple commands, were usually at least of archaic-rank, so any lower-ranked artifact that could do the same thing would start wars if revealed. Shui suspected that this was only possible due to Alia's assistance and his insights into the flow of the five elements, and even if he tried again, he might not be able to make an artifact with the same function.
Dull Harmony seemed to grow heavier as Emily discovered more about its true worth; however, her life would be in danger if she let go of it, so she thickened her skin and held it close.
Shui smiled warmly at the sight, but he was still thinking about the assassination attempt.
'This has to be an inside job.'
He had believed that Emily would be safe inside the city with Dull Harmony with her, but the one next to her was unreliable, so he had to arrange additional protective measures.
"It's a good thing I gave you that gift. I knew you were being targeted, but for them to reach that close... By the way, do you know why assassins are chasing after you?" Shui asked.
It was a natural question, and since her past would be easy to investigate, Emily quickly decided to tell him her story. What she said matched up with what he knew, so Shui wasn't surprised. He was upset when he heard that she was ostracised after Nikolai was executed, but it made sense given that the city lord of Rockshaw was the one who executed Nikolai. It was actually fortunate that they didn't bully her to enter the good graces of the city lord.
Emily finished the tale of Nikolai's death without a tear, but the grief in her eyes was strong, so Shui waited until they received their orders before continuing. Emily ordered tea for both of them, but hers used common ingredients, while Shui could smell a soothing fragrance from his tea.
'It seems the claim that this is a potion in the form of tea wasn't false.'
No particularly special herbs were used in this tea, but it had a refreshing taste that made Shui forget his pain for a moment. Once he saw that Emily was feeling better, Shui continued.
"So, did the threats to your life begin after that incident?"
"No, I think it was when I was preparing to come to this city. 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 for me to feel motivated about taking revenge.
Instead, I wanted to make my master's legacy live on. I didn't want him to be remembered as an incompetent fool who was struck down for his failures. I wanted him to be known as the master of one of the greatest array masters of the kingdom. So as my first step, I wanted to place my name on the same Array Master Minor Ranking that he was on.
I didn't hide the news that I was leaving, but it was when I was preparing to leave the city that they first attacked. Luckily, though I was kicked out of Master's mansion and was living 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 at least..."
Emily clenched her fist as she thought of something but never let it escape her mouth. Shui didn't want to pry but asked one more question.
"By the way, how did you meet Adrian? You say you studied together, but he doesn't look like an array master."
"That's right. Master let me attend classes from an 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. I didn't interact with others much in Rockshaw, 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. I tried to stop him, but he's really too nice for his own good."
"..."
On the inside, Shui grimaced, but on the outside he stayed the same.
'What a convoluted mess.'
Based on his understanding of the situation, there should only be one person targeting Emily, but the motives involved made the situation a bit complicated. It would be simple to just swing his sword – well, after recovering – but for Emily's future he had to settle this matter carefully.
'It's so hard being a senior brother.'