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Fates Parallel Chapter 51 - Compromise
🕑 Added 2021-03-29 17:31:19 +0000 UTCIt had worked. Lee Jia had nearly panicked when Eunae turned to leave—that was her only chance. Eunae had clearly been suspicious about something, and Lee Jia had noticed her searching around with her mana sense. However, Yan Yue had done a remarkable job at imitating Jia—from her mannerisms, to her posture, to the way she treated her friends. It was uncanny—was she really that easy to predict, or was Yue just that good?
Jia had thought that everything was lost when Eunae seemed convinced by Yue’s performance, and in the last moment, she had taken a huge risk. Since she still had control over her domain, she reasoned that even if she couldn’t access her dantian or her body directly, she should still be able to do so through the connection to her domain.
It was awkwardly performed, but she managed to reach down through her meridians, past the heart, and all the way to the dantian. From there, she could circulate her qi and activate her noxious aura. She had been a little leery about guiding the corrosive energy up through her body—and particularly past her heart—but it had worked without causing any harm or alerting Yue to what she was doing.
The effect on Eunae was immediate, and Jia felt a bit bad for subjecting her friend to such an unpleasant experience. She knew just how gross it felt from some of her failed attempts in practice, and she hated to subject anyone to it without a good reason.
Yan Yue clearly didn’t realize what was going on, and Lee Jia heard her voice ring out from all around her.
“Is this you? Did you do something to alert her? Whatever you’re planning, Jia you should give it up now, or else I—”
Yue’s threat was cut short by Eunae whispering quietly, her expression a complicated mix of sad determination.
“Jia...if I am wrong please—no, never forgive me for this. I’m sorry.”
A cold sweat formed on Jia’s body as Yan Yue began to panic.
“Eunae? What are y—”
Before Yue could finish speaking, Eunae raised her head and opened her eyes.
The entire world around Lee Jia was blown away, as if it had been made of dust and a sudden gale swept past. In its place, she saw Eunae’s beautiful, piercing blue eyes staring into her own. She could feel the power of her gaze boring into her soul, but she didn’t care. She was so relieved—so happy. Her Eunae had rescued her, and now she would do anything to repay her mistress, even if it meant her death.
“Are you Lee Jia?”
Eunae’s voice was like the most beautiful song Jia had ever heard, and for a moment she just wanted to lose herself in the rapturous sound of it. However, her mistress had asked her a question, and she couldn’t keep her waiting.
“Of course I am!”
Eunae’s eyes grew misty and she bit her lower lip. Oh no! Had Lee Jia answered wrong? She had made her mistress sad! Immediately, she began to contemplate ways that she could atone for her sin. Surely she should pay with her life for such a grievous transgression! Yes, she still had Eui’s extra knives in her ring, she would—
Suddenly, Jia’s thoughts went blank for a moment and she forgot what she was doing. She realized that Eunae had closed her eyes, and a few tears were streaming down her cheeks. For a second, Jia was shaken—she had been so happy a moment ago. Enraptured, even. As her thoughts returned to normal, she realized that a small part of her missed that feeling—wanted to go back.
“Jia, I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot, I should never have—”
She shook her head—there were more pressing matters right now. She grabbed Eunae’s hand and pulled her towards the bedroom.
“Forget it, Eunae, you were right! You just saved me, but Eui’s still in danger—we have to move!”
“Wha—!? But I thought that—wait, what’s going on?”
Eunae sputtered in confusion as Jia dragged her along and threw open the door to the bedroom. Inside, they were met by an empty room and an open window. There was no sign of Yan Yue within—nor An Eui.
“Damnit!”
Jia cursed as she let go of Eunae’s hand and dove through the window, rolling to her feet and searching for any sign of Yue or Eui. Without any sight of them, Jia instead closed her eyes and focused on her sense of smell. She was quickly able to pick up the distinct scent of the soaps that Yan Yue had borrowed from Hayakawa, and prepared to take off after them.
“Jia, wait!”
She paused and turned to see Eunae standing at the window with a look of consternation.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but if Yan Yue fled, then she’ll be expecting you to follow. If you chase after her now, you’ll be running headlong into a trap.”
Jia hesitated, glancing in the direction that Yue had fled in before turning back to Eunae.
“We don’t know that! She’s been following us around for days—when would she have time to set up a trap?”
Eunae shook her head ruefully.
“Long beforehand. That’s how Qin operates, Jia. If she’s a trained infiltrator, then she’ll have a safe place to retreat to—maybe even a place she’s intentionally let slip the location of. Do you know whether she’s working alone, or are there others?”
Jia blinked at Eunae in surprise and confusion.
“U-uh, she has allies. Two boys, Han Yu and Zheng Long. How do you know all this!?”
“I know I don’t act like it, Jia, but as much as it chagrins me I am a member of the ruling class. I’ve been educated on matters of warfare.”
“Warfare!?”
Jia was shaken—it felt like the situation had suddenly grown far, far beyond anything she was equipped to handle.
“Don’t panic. It sounds like they are only a clandestine scouting unit—and one still in training, at that. I doubt that their activities here are sanctioned by the imperial family. No, I would guess that their presence here is for an entirely private matter.”
Eunae stared pointedly at the hand where Lee Jia wore her dimensional ring, and in response she held it up to her chest defensively.
“It’s—more complicated than that, I think.”
“No doubt. Chasing after them is not going to get us anywhere—if anything, running into a trap like that will ruin any chance we have at rescuing Eui. If they plan to harm her, then they will have already done so, and nothing we can do now will prevent it.”
Jia clenched her fists and stared at the ground angrily. If they did anything to Eui she would—she didn’t know what she would do, but it would be unpleasant. Eunae smiled gently at Jia.
“I doubt they will hurt her, at least for the moment. So why don’t you come back inside and explain the situation to me from the beginning?”
Lee Jia cast a forlorn glance back in the direction that Eui had been taken in, but with a resigned sigh she nodded her head.
“Alright. Can we do it at your place? I want to fill Rika in as well. I think we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“Of course, but are you sure you want to leave your dorm unattended?”
Jia shrugged and shook her head.
“Only Yue can get in uninvited, and I don’t think she’s planning on coming back in the near future.”
---
Before leaving, they closed and locked the doors and windows, and Eunae set up a simple alarm spell that would last for a few hours, just in case. Then, they went back to Eunae and Rika’s house, where Jia explained to them everything that had happened over the last few days, from their kidnapping, to their uneasy alliance with Yan Yue, to her sudden betrayal at the mention of Eunae.
“That fucking bitch! I cannot believe the nerve of her! If Eui doesn’t do it, I’ll gut that little harlot myself!”
Rika expressed her displeasure loud and clear, and Jia wondered if perhaps Eui had been a bit of a bad influence. Eunae was frowning as she held a hand to her chin and pondered the situation.
“If what Yan Yue says is true, then she is playing a very dangerous game. She can’t afford to lose us entirely as collaborators, and her only allies are actually enemies to her true cause. I had initially expected that she would retreat to her safe house and call on her allies, but from what you’ve told me, it’s possible that she may continue to act alone, using Eui as a hostage to force us to act on her behalf.”
Lee Jia’s head was spinning as she tried to understand Yue’s motives and predict her actions.
“What does that mean for us?”
Eunae wobbled her head back and forth a bit as if trying to make up her mind on something.
“I’m not entirely certain, but I suspect that she will continue to hold Eui hostage—at least until she feels that her position is safely unassailable. She’ll make deals for her release, but she’ll continuously renege on them in order to keep her leverage over you until such time as she feels she no longer needs it.”
Jia clutched her head in her hands and groaned.
“Uuugh, what are we supposed to do, then?”
“I think the answer to that comes down to two things—Yan Yue’s next action, and whether we can convince Hayakawa Kaede to cooperate with us.”
“What do you mean?”
Eunae had an unusually intense expression on her face, as if she was concentrating on a particularly vexing puzzle.
“Yan Yue must be feeling quite desperate right now. With her secret exposed, she’s at risk of losing everything. In the worst case, she may choose to simply cut her losses and abandon her chances at freedom for a relatively comfortable position within her sect as Zheng Long’s wife.”
Takeda scoffed and crossed her arms with a frown.
“So? Serves her right. Why does that matter to us?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. Yan Yue can’t so easily undo the ruse she’s already established. She promised a mountain expedition to search for signs of Jianmo, and failing to deliver on that would require her to give a good reason. Furthermore she has to prepare against her sabotage of the mission being discovered.
“At this point, she’s forced to pick one option and pursue it to the exclusion of the other—either she continues to pursue her freedom, or she abandons it entirely to secure an unassailable position in Zheng Long’s good graces. You know her better than we do, Jia—which path do you think she would take?”
Jia considered the question for a moment before shaking her head in dismay.
“I don’t really know. She got upset with me when I pointed out that she was using Zheng Long as a safety net—and I do genuinely think she wants to be free of her familial obligations. If it were me, it wouldn’t even be a question—I’d chase freedom no matter what. I just don’t know if Yue is the type who would give up her lifestyle for it.”
Eunae nodded and sighed.
“Perhaps she’s feeling just as conflicted about it. In that case, I think I have an idea. We might be able to tip the scales a little bit and make cooperating with us more appealing than the alternative—or at least easier.”
Takeda looked back and forth between Jia and Eunae, a confused expression on her face.
“Wait, what? I don’t get it, why are we trying to work with her? She’s brought all this on herself. All we need to think about is how to rescue Eui!”
Jia was on Takeda’s side on this one, but Eunae shook her head ruefully.
“If she continues to pursue her freedom, then that gives her reason to keep Jia’s ring secret. If she takes the safer option, it means war—possibly literally. She’ll keep up the ruse long enough for her allies to realize that there’s no sign of Jianmo on the mountain, then conveniently discover that Jia actually has Zhihao’s ring.
“Once that happens, not only will they consider Jia to be responsible for his death, but the rest of us will be judged as being complicit to it. They won’t rest until Jia is dead or they are, and whichever the result—it will become a political incident.”
Jia felt sick as he self-consciously fidgeted with the invisible ring on her finger. Why did she ever get the stupid thing? She wished she hadn’t been so greedy in demanding everything from Yan Zhihao. She definitely didn’t think that Elder Qin had done her any favors by stepping in on her behalf.
“C-can’t I just give it back peacefully? I don’t know if this thing is worth the trouble anymore. If I’d known how important it was, I would have just emptied it and given it back.”
Eunae smiled sympathetically at Jia and shook her head.
“There’s two reasons you shouldn’t. One is that it’s a poor attitude to have, as a cultivator. One day, you’re going to have any number of secrets and artifacts that are coveted by other practitioners. Some of them, you may have to defend with your life. That attitude will be taken advantage of by others, and open you to being robbed senseless.
“The other is that it’s too late. There’s really no version of this where they discover that you have the ring, but don’t suspect you of killing Zhihao. In all likelihood, Yan Yue herself doesn’t entirely believe your story about Jianmo—it was simply expedient for her to act as if it was true.”
Takeda groaned in frustration and slumped in her seat.
“Ugh, this is all so pointless. Just because that idiot Zhihao got ahead of himself and pissed off some ancient xiantian monster. Ok, Eun-eun, what’s your idea?”
Eunae’s smile became just a little bit sinister, and Jia was suddenly very glad that she was on her side.
“Well, that’s where Miss Hayakawa comes in...”
---
Yan Yue wanted to break something. Everything had gone completely sideways and it was all that accursed monster’s fault. Everything she had planned and prepared for was going up in flames. She no longer had any idea what to do. She couldn’t think, she was exhausted, she still hadn’t slept since her ki awakening, and she had a headache that wouldn’t go away because An Eui wouldn’t stop shouting.
“LET ME OUT YOU COWARD! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
It had been like this for hours. Yan Yue had even changed Eui’s dreamscape to a blank void, but she had somehow figured out that even if Eui couldn’t see or hear her, she could still hear Eui. She was tempted to put her back to sleep, but she needed to maintain control over Eui’s body—Jia was bound to track her down eventually, and she needed the leverage.
It was surprising that Jia hadn’t showed up already. Yue had expected her to come chasing within the hour, but obviously Seong Eunae had reigned her in—or just enthralled her. They were probably planning some kind of attack, or preparing for a trap. It had already been hours and the sky was beginning to get dark.
She was even beginning to think that perhaps they had just decided to abandon Eui and make some kind of preemptive strike when she finally saw Lee Jia approaching the wooden cottage from the edge of the forest. Of course, she had Seong Eunae and Takeda Rika with her.
“Stay at the edge of the forest! Not one step closer!”
Yue held a knife up to her own—or rather, An Eui’s throat.
“One false move and I will slit her throat and make my escape. Don’t test me on this!”
The three girls raised their hands in placating gestures. Yan Yue nearly looked at Eunae’s face to check her gaze before catching herself—stupid! The stress and exhaustion was getting to her, and she was making mistakes.
“Cover her eyes with a blindfold or something! If you think I’m falling for the same trick twice, you’d better come up with a better plan.”
Seong turned away to face the opposite direction and pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve, tying it around her face to hide her eyes.
“My apologies, Miss Yan. It wasn’t my intention to spook you—it had slipped my mind.”
Bullshit! Obviously, she was flaunting her power—threatening Yue with a fate worse than death. There seemed to be a lot of those in Yue’s life recently.
“What do you want!?”
Yue shook her head. What was she saying? She sounded so weak. She should be making demands of them, not asking for theirs, but she didn’t even know what she needed right now. It was impossible to think with—
“You’re just like your fucking brother! No—worse! He was a piece of shit, but he was honest about it! You’re just a piece of shit with pretty makeup!”
“SHUT UP!”
Yan Yue looked up from screaming to see Jia and Takeda giving her strange looks. Of course, they couldn’t hear the never-ending stream of vitriol that Eui was spewing. It wasn’t the first time Yue had experienced such resistance to her techniques, but Eui was uniquely relentless, and seemed to have an unmatched talent for profanity.
“Well!?”
Jia seemed startled by the outburst, but she schooled her expression and cleared her throat.
“Uh, w-we’re prepared to work with you in exchange for Eui’s safety. I just finished dealing with Hayakawa, and she’s agreed to take us up the mountain. Including you and your friends—”
“They are not my friends!”
The interruption gave Jia pause, but she soldiered on, regardless.
“R-right, um, your...colleagues? They can come too—I convinced her.”
Yue scoffed and flicked her tail irritably—that was odd, she didn’t normally have a tail, but the action seemed to come naturally.
“You’re bluffing! You heard Hayakawa, she was reluctant to give up even just her own invitation, let alone make promises on behalf of others. How could you have possibly changed her mind so soon? What could you have offered her?”
Jia’s gaze was steely as she glared at Yue.
“Everything. Everything she asked for and more—not just for her, but extended to any of her allies or subordinates. Plus a promise that no matter what kind of offers I get from Do Hye or anyone else, I would return with her to Yamato to serve as a retainer to the Hayakawa clan after graduating from the academy.”
Yan Yue nearly doubled over in laughter, but something stopped her. The determined, unflinching gaze of Lee Jia, combined with Takeda Rika’s sad, hesitant glances towards Jia seemed too real.
“You can’t be serious. That’s insane! Why would you offer so much just for—for...”
“For what, Yue!? For a treasure? For my life? To avoid a political incident? Take your fucking pick, because you won’t believe me if I tell you the real reason.”
Yue hesitated, searching Jia’s features for any sign of duplicity, but she saw only grim determination. Still, she had to know.
“Humor me, then. Why would you sign away your entire life to Hayakawa Kaede just to continue a ruse that no longer has any meaning?”
Jia sighed and shook her head. Her expression as she regarded Yue was one of...pity?
“For Eui, of course—and all the reasons I mentioned before—but not just that. It’s because I believe you. Because the fate that you described to me isn’t something that I would ever wish on my worst enemy.”
Yue chuckled mirthlessly and gave Jia a wry smile.
“Which I just so happen to be at the moment.”
Jia nodded once in acknowledgement.
“Kind of, yeah. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. You’ve put your life and your freedom on the line, and you can’t trust anybody with that—how could you? So I did what I had to do, as a show of good faith—I put my own life and freedom on the line as well.
“I haven’t told Hayakawa anything about you. I’ll continue to keep all of your secrets in confidence, on pain of death. Eunae and Rika have also agreed to silence—on the condition that you don’t betray me to Zheng Long, Han Yu, or Yan Hao, and that you release Eui immediately.”
Yue shook her head—it was a pretty sounding deal, but—
“If I give up Eui, what stops you from betraying me the moment you leave this place?”
“Nothing—you’re just going to have to trust me. But think of it from my perspective—I just gave away everything I had for this. I have nothing left to lose. If you don’t take this deal, I will fight you to the bitter end, and now that I belong to Hayakawa, she’ll probably take my side as well. That’s all three of your top threats arrayed against you.
“On the other hand, if you do accept, then I have no reason to betray you. I’ll even keep helping you train—though maybe a little less directly. We’re not going to be friends, or even allies—I don’t think that’s an option anymore—but as long as your best interests line up with mine, I don’t see why we should keep being enemies.”
Yan Yue thought long and hard about the offer. Everything Jia had said was true, and logically it was obvious that accepting was the correct option. The problem was that damned fox! She threw everything into chaos. A thrall of her predecessor could be made to do, say, or believe anything—but the moment their mistress willed it, they would throw it all away in an instant.
Lee Jia was compromised, and so was the Yamato girl, Takeda. By the Emperor, if she was as powerful as her predecessor, the entire academy could be under her thrall by now—no. Yan Yue took a deep breath to calm herself—Seong Eunae was not her predecessor, clearly. Yue didn’t know what her motivations were, but she didn’t seem as vicious or destructive as the old Seong Princess had been.
Yue made her decision, and walked forward.
“Stay still. Don’t move a single muscle!”
All three girls froze as she approached, until she was only a few armspans away.
“Don’t approach the cottage, understood? Leave right away. If I see any of you take so much as a step towards this place, I’ll contact my comrades and my master right away.”
Lee Jia’s eyes widened in hopeful anticipation. Yan Yue hoped she wasn’t making yet another enormous mistake. It was going to be a challenge explaining this new dynamic to Zheng Long, but she was sure she could spin it, somehow.
She threw the knife to the ground and sighed. She was not going to miss having An Eui in her head. Jia took a step forward and smiled.
“Does that mean you’re agreeing to—”
“—SHIT EATING, COCK SUCKING, INCESTUOUS, WHO—oh! Uh...h-hi guys...”
Eui turned beet red as the three girls stared at her in stunned silence.
...
Then Jia tackled her to the ground in a hug.
