Soul Search [靈魂搜索]

Chapter 1.10

Cafe Athena, an upscale establishment within the centre of the Weiqi capital, represents over three century's worth of royal heritage and history ever since its foundation, during the pioneering years of the current Weiqi dynasty. With an imposing doorman to stop those who didn't make reservations, often a year ahead for those who had the means to do so, there were only a select few who could just breeze through the entrance casually. Of course, this is no obstacle for a royal like Lin Yinze- it is afterall well-known that the icon is under the proprietary of Weiqi's royal family. However, a lesser known fact is that on the hidden upper floors, private rooms reserved specifically for the leisure of the royal family exist, with security guards heavily planted throughout the floor.

Currently, four figures sat in one of these opulent and exclusive rooms, having just been chauffeured straight over from the academy's door by the prince's men. Wuqiong's mouth twitched as he watched Lin Yinze make orders to the security with a small smile, whilst his phone buzzed incessantly within his pockets. To either side of him, Bei Yuan and Zhi Xunmei had their attention fixed to their phones; however the former was leisurely swiping away without a care and letting out an occasional chuckle, whilst the latter held a stony expressionless face above the surface, yet had fingers furiously typing away under the table. 'Ah, I'm so glad I put it on silent' Wuqiong thought to himself, as he felt his phone go off from Xunmei's furious texts.

Tilting his head back towards the table to the three who had been waiting, Lin Yinze paused his orders to the patiently waiting security guard standing on his right and smiled dazzlingly towards Zhi Xunmei. "Xunmei, what sort of cakes do you like to eat? Would you like to see a menu? There is a huge variety of teas on there that I recommend highly-"

"Classmate Lin, I am not in need of afternoon tea. My intentions for today's activities were... simply to purchase the necessary items with Wuqiong." the ice queen curtly interrupted after looking up from her mobile to reply to Lin Yinze with a slight frown.

However, the prince was refined as ever and merely smiled refreshingly, "that's a pity, then I will go ahead and order the regulars that Yuan and Wuqiong prefer when they come here with me, I hope that Xunmei will take a liking to some of the cakes, do not hesitate if so. Xunmei, what about called me Yinze? Classmate Lin is a bit distant neh". Whilst waving his hand towards the security guard carelessly to go make the orders for them, Lin Yinze's eyes were concentrated on Zhi Xunmei with every word that he spoke. In response, Zhi Xunmei lifted one side of her mouth to form a wry smile.

Seeing that she simply did not speak and stared on expressionlessly, Lin Yinze continued on blithely, "also, do not worry for the class list, I have already sent for the goods to be purchased, which should take no longer than an hour. In the meantime, Wuqiong has told us that you are very shy so he has been spending more time with you, thus it's the perfect time for us to get to know each other- please feel free to relax in this room."

Watching this scene unfold, Wuqiong couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for the ML of this world, 'wow, you really have to admire the prince's persistence against such indifference' he thought condescendingly. As he was thinking this, he caught a blood-curdling gaze directed at Zhi Xunmei flash past Bei Yuan's eyes, catching Wuqiong entirely by surprise, to which he immediately adjusted his facial expression to feign that nothing was wrong. However, Bei Yuan must have caught the slight change in expression at that moment, as his default eerie and plastered smile was now facing in Wuqiong's direction, who simply met his eyes with a relaxed and innocent smile in return. After Bei Yuan refocused his attention back down to his phone, Wuqiong felt himself subconsciously let out a breath of relief.

'That was.. murderous intent directed towards Xunmei?'

Due to his experience as a system, Wuqiong was no stranger to the bloodlust he unmistakably perceived from the usually languid and playful Bei Yuan, who seemed to always have a carefree smile plastered on his face. There was no doubt that Bei Yuan was.. not a simple character, however his involvement as Lin Yinze's lackey was not clearly documented in the original Wuqiong's previous life memories.