The glass shards shattered all across the floor, like a giant abstract art while making it impossible for a person to move inside the room without getting hurt.
It took a moment for Ming Yue to regain her bearings from the shock of the sudden accident. She took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.
Since she stood facing in the opposite direction of the window, a few of the glass pellets hit her back, but still, she didn't even move a little bit.
Just as she looked at the broken window with narrowed eyes, hurried footsteps were heard from outside, followed by Wan Yi Jun's worried voice at the door.
"Ming Yue, what happened? Are you alright?" He knocked at the closed door and inquired. He just came down to take some water from the kitchen, and all of a sudden, he heard a loud crash from Ming Yue's room.
"Give me a second, master." Ming Yue replied while tiptoeing towards the door without stepping on the glass pieces.
She somehow managed to reach the entrance and pulled open the door to see a distressed Wan Yi Jun at the doorstep.
"What happened?" He asked once again and scanned Ming Yue, top to bottom,
"The window broke." Ming Yue casually answered and widely opened the door to reveal the room's state. "I mean the glass broke," She corrected herself and moved to a side so that Wan Yi Jun could enter the room,
However, instead of stepping inside, he just stood there and looked for any injuries on Ming Yue.
"Did you get hurt?"
"No, master." Even though she felt a stinging pain from her back, Ming Yue pretended that she was alright.
"What happened here?" Wan Yi Jun inquired as he looked at the shattered glass on the floor.
"I was standing here and all of a sudden, the window glass broke down."
"Hmm." Wan Yi Jun attentively nodded and carefully walked towards the open window,
"Master, don't go over there." Ming Yue warned when she saw Wan Yi Jun walking over the sharp glass pellets on the floor while wearing a pair of house slippers.
Hearing her voice, Wan Yi Jun stopped in his tracks and looked at the window.
Under the dark sky, he could see the faint outline of Wisteria garden's traditional annexe house.
The haunting sight of the old mansion where Wan clan lived for hundreds of years, along with the howling sound of cold wind and the murmuring of the trees, sent a chill down Wan Yi Jun's spine.
Though he haven't seen anything supernatural in the compound, he had heard from others that they had seen some figures wandering in the traditional house, scaring everyone else.
For some reason, Wan Yi Jun felt that someone was watching him from the darkness.
No matter how much he tried, he couldn't find any traces of any intrusion or external force.
"Did they change the window pane?" He asked while focusing on the glass pellets on the floor. Even though several trees grew beside the building, he couldn't help, but overlook that the windows got broken by the tree branches.
The intensity of the crash was so high that the entire window glass broke.
"Yes. Maybe the workers have forgotten to lock the windows." Ming Yue came up with an excuse and bent down to clean up the mess on the floor.
"But I asked them to use the impact-resistant tempered glass. There is no chance it will break this easy, just by the window." Wan Yi Jun, who looked at the mess in the room with his police brain, couldn't reason it, no matter how much he tried to overlook it as a natural accident.
"Ahhh..." A slight wail pulled Wan Yi Jun out of his thoughts, and he quickly turned back to see Ming Yue crouching down on the floor.
He couldn't believe that she was picking the sharp glass pieces with a bare hand as if it was nothing.
He let out a heavy sigh and carefully strode towards her.
"You have already injured your arm. Why bother with the cleaning? Leave it there," He chided the girl who acted so carelessly in such a situation. She was already having trouble doing things with one of her arms injured, and yet, she didn't think twice before cleaning up the mess.
"What if someone steps in it?" Ming Yue replied while pressing on her hurt finger. Thankfully, it was just a minor cut.
"Who is there to step in it apart from us?" Wan Yi Jun argued back in the same tone,
"But, still, we need to clear out the glass pellets." Ming Yue replied as he lowered her eyes and began to pick up the large glass pieces from the floor.
However, even before she could say something, Wan Yi Jun's strong hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her up from the crouching posture.
Ming Yue, who never anticipated such an action, almost lost her balance and fell onto his muscular chest in a glimpse.
The moment Ming Yue sensed the warmth that spread over to her body from Wan Yi Jun, she quickly took a step back, only to stumble on her step,
However, Wan Yi Jun, who had quick reflexes, caught Ming Yue before her foot got lacerated by the same glass pieces she had collected.
"Why it is so hard for you to understand my words?" Wan Yi Jun sounded
"You can clean it when your wounds heal. As for now, let's lock this room and get a worker to change the window glasses."
"I will take the room next door."
"Take the guest room on the first floor."
"W
"But Nechan, what if you get caught? He is someone who got the license to kill anyone pose threat to their country." Kousuke tried to remind Ming Yue, who refused to hear their pleadings to stay safe.
"He is a law-abiding officer, unlike others. I'm damn sure that Captain Wan Yi Jun will never kill me without a court trial, at least over the pity for his childhood friend." Ming Yue bitterly added as if she wasn't afraid of anything.
"Are you crazy, Nechan?" Kousuke almost jumped up from the bed and roared in anger, "Do you have any idea what the hell did you just said? Take it back...Take it back."
"Yaa...don't be childish." Ming Yue ruffled Kousuke's hair and brushed off it as a joke.
"No. You have to take it back...How can you even say that "M" word?" Kousuke threw tantrums like a five years old child and even dragged Yojiro into their debate.
"I have only one request." Yojiro who had no intention to meddle in the debate turned towards Ming Yue and said in a flat tone. "Maybe some conditions, too."
"Hmm."
"Every day, take out some time and talk to Tora. Otherwise, he would call us and easily figure out that you have already left this place." Yojiro stated as a matter of fact. Since Ming Yue was not fond of phone conversations and got busy with her new "maid" job, Tora used to call either Kousuke or Yojiro to make sure that his fiance was doing well.
"Yaa...are you allowing Nechan to leave?" Kousuke, who got shocked by witnessing the unexpected change in Yojiro's attitude, shifted his target from Ming Yue to the other.
"Nechan has already made her mind, and now, it is impossible to stop her." Yojiro shrugged his shoulders in helplessness. He was well aware of the fact that when it comes to the safety of her family, Ming Yue will be ready to do anything, no matter how difficult and dangerous it might be.
"Thanks, Yoji." Ming Yue patted Yojiro's shoulder as a gratitude gesture.
"Nope, what I want is a word in return...A blood vow to be exact," Yojiro negotiated as cold as an iceberg.
"What?"
"I will be tracking your each and every action, and you should promise me that you won't take it down...never...ever. If you are willing to do it, I will stay loyal to you. Otherwise, I will inform Tora and Big brother that you are fooling around in imperial."
"Fooling around?"
Though Ming Yue was pretty surprised that even Yojiro had started to blackmail her, she decided to agree for the sake of her brother's peace.
"I agree."
"You can't just agree...Every morning and night, you should call us and assure us that you are safe over there."
"I will call you every morning and night. Now what?" She asked and glanced around the room to look for some sharp object.
She let out a sigh and walked beside the vanity table in the room to pick up a paper cutter.
"You asked for the blood vow, right? I'm not sure this thing works." Ming Yue opened her palm and grabbed the sharp end of the paper cutter.
"I, Hayami Terada of Kobayashi Clan, swear that I will never do anything to put myself or you two in danger and agree to whatever condition that my brother, Yojiro, had put forward to assure my safety." She stated in a crystal clear voice and cut her palm before extending it towards Yojiro, who stood there like a statue.
"Fine now?" She asked without any change in her demeanour,
"Hmm. So, When are you leaving?"
"He said that he will pick me up from the central square."