General Wei dropped his head, and his eyes were lowered at the ground. He cupped his hands toward Minister Rui. He wasn't willing to openly admit his faults without dragging that sly troll down with him. Only a fool would play that role. If he was going to go down, he would go down while dragging down as many people as he could.

"Minister Rui must be mistaken. What do you mean?"

Minister Rui heaved in anger. His finger trembled as he spoke furiously, "You want to anger me to death, don't you?"

"Minister Rui, I've always respected you as a high ranking official. Please don't make it hard for this subject."

Minister Rui narrowed his eyes. Was the General making a hidden threat? Good. Very good. He underestimated this man. He swiftly turned to the Emperor, his hand cupped in respect.

"My ruler, please pass your fair judgment for me. This subject's daughter has suffered from this heartless man."

The emperor frowned. It wasn't his place to interference into family matters, but since Minister Rui had made such a massive fuss about it, and he needed to play it down.

"General Wei, what do you have to say about that?"

"It's true that I reacted unreasonably towards my concubine. However, she went insane and tried to kill me."

"She tried to kill you?"

The General ripped his coat and shifted his collar. Underneath the fabric, everyone can see the harsh black-purplish fingerprints of attempted murder.

The emperor frowned. He had heard from the Crown Prince that the concubine had suffered an injury. However, since it was too timely, he had suspected the concubine faked it to protect the General. However, if the concubine indeed did suffer a head injury and gone mad. Then there would be nothing to tie the General down. He tapped his fingers on the armrest of his throne. His goal was to weaken the General's troops, but this new revelation made it inconvenient.

Minister Rui quickly got down on his knees to plead.

"My ruler, how can you listen to his nonsense? How can a mere lady like my daughter cause anything to harm the General? She is only a level 3-grade nature connector. At most, she can only sprout vines, but even then, it won't amount to anything that would overpower a general."

The Emperor rubbed his forehead in distress, all this drama was causing his head to hurt. He wasn't stupid, everything he needed to steal the General's power came too quickly to him. Someone was pushing this forward behind the scene, but he didn't know what their motive was.

---------------------

Meanwhile, the 'little schemer' the emperor was worried about had just woken up. Hongyue slowly sat up in her bed, bewildered at how smoothly her body reacted. There usually should be a backlash, her body shouldn't be able to move at all for at least a week. She massaged her sore neck and kicked around with her cold feet, trying to collect her thoughts.

She frowned.

Firstly, the poison in her body is still there, but for some reason, it didn't really affect her body all that much anymore. Even without using her powers, she could feel it suppressed. While it was good news, she didn't feel all that happy about it.

How is she going to continue to act? Her heartless father probably thought she was dead, yet once again, she still alive.

Hongyue grinned wickedly, while it might stir suspension, it could help anger him to death.

If he dies, there will be no need to act at all.

Hongyue slipped her pale feet into a pair of worn-out slippers.

She could feel the chilly breeze slipping into her footwear. She glanced at the window and waved her arm to the right. The window's fabric instantly whipped over the open entry, sealing the cool breeze from entering.

She paused.

Right.

She nearly forgot.

She had intended to kill Concubine Mei the day before. After all, there was no point in keeping someone so useless. After someone is infected by a hex prepared by a siren, their mind would be so broken to the point they would kill everything until they died.

It was a highly forbidden spell that others could not produce unless they sacrifice a considerable amount of their lifeforce. However, Hongyue would only suffer a week of backlash.

This was the benefit of being a sirenic halfling.

Hongyue drew a half a circle on the table with her finger.

She could remember just before she could force her powers to cut off Concubine Mei's life, something inside of her held her back.

Her hand slowly formed a fist, her fingernails digging into her skin and piercing through the layer. The blood trickled down the sides of her soft skin and dripped onto the table, slowly following the outline of the half-circle.

<Connect>

Slowly but surely, a small wisp of vapor seemed to form a figure in front of her. Hongyue's eyes dilated. The faint figure in front of her was no one more than the previous owner of this body.

The real Hongyue.

"Why?" The sirenic halfling asked.

She didn't understand. Why did this weak human stop her when she was about to kill off the enemy who harmed her?

"Why?"

The blood from the table slowly floated upwards and vaporized. The vapor consolidated with the wispy form, and the figure solidified. The figure before the halfling merely stared but did not speak.

Why? Why did she look at her like that? Wasn't she helping this human exact her revenge?

"I saw your memories."

Bold but straightforward words.

The halfling flinched.

"So?"

The figure smiled wistfully and walked toward the cautious sirenic halfling. Reaching out her hand, the lost soul pointed to the top of the halfling's forehead.

"When our souls swapped spots, I saw your memories. I never saw anyone like you before...it made me admire you so much. I have nothing to my name...not even my own life. I won't amount to anything. So I've decided. I won't struggle for this body with you. I'll give this lowly life to you."

The siren frowned at her, "Why? Do you pity me?"

A moment went by before the figure breathed a soft answer.

"Yes."

The halfling laughed coldly, "If you have seen my memories, you should have seen my murders, so there's no need to pity me. Tell me what your conditions for allowing me to use your body are. Revenge? I can kill all of th-"

A quiet voice interrupted her.

"No, I just want you to live well."

What?

Live well?

Such sweetly spoken words brought anger instead of joy.

The siren slammed her hand down violently. "What is with all your generous words? Don't waste your time! Who would give a life away like that? Everyone wants to live. What is your condition, Hongyue?!"

"You don't trust me, do you? No, you don't trust anyone. Then let me be the first one you trust. I have no need for this body, so I truly wish for you to have it...The name Hongyue is not mine to call anymore. It never was...so it now belongs to you."

The words stopped short for a minute before quietly continuing, "When Concubine Mei revealed the truth about my mother's death, I've already given up on regaining this body. It's so pointless to stay in a place where I am extremely unwanted. My soul is already too far gone...I'm leaving this world completely soon, so I wanted to tell you something before I leave, Hongyue. I'll gift you this life of mine."

The siren sat astounded, her breath stilled as her heart pounded loudly in her ears.

Was this human saying she was giving away her life? To her? A wicked being?

No, she can't believe what the soul said.

Humans have always, always betrayed her.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

The figure smiled sadly.

"It doesn't matter. It's the truth. You'll believe my words someday."

She reached out once last time and touched the siren on the forehead before her figure quietly dispersed. Her soul crumbled down to tiny wisps and faded into the sirenic halfling's forehead.

The halfling opened her mouth only to find her voice wasn't able to form the words she wanted.

It was already too late, what could she have said?