The Phoenix Mirror Principal stepped forward.

His face was still uneven from the kiss Lin Xuan had blown across the line earlier. The hand on his hilt had not relaxed since the courtyard had emptied around them.

Yu Lan stood half a pace to his right, the formal smile still in place, the slight rigidity of her posture suggesting she had rehearsed this conversation in her head on the way over and was now committed to seeing it through.

"Young Master Lin Xuan." Her voice was even. "Allow me to formally introduce my betrothed, Wen Liyang. Principal Representative of Phoenix Mirror Sect this year."

Lin Xuan inclined his head the minimum a courtyard exchange demanded.

"Young Master Wen. A pleasure."

Wen Liyang did not return the inclination.

"Young Master Lin. You blew a kiss at my fiancée during the ceremony. In front of fifteen thousand people."

Lin Xuan blinked.

"...At your fiancée?"

"Yes. At my fiancée. Her dignity is not entertainment for the spectators."

Lin Xuan tilted his head a single degree to one side. He let the pause hang.

’Hehe, let’s play a little.’

When his face arranged itself, it was somewhere between confusion and quiet amusement.

"Young Master Wen. With respect. The kiss was not for Madam Yu."

Yu Lan’s lips parted.

Wen Liyang’s brow drew together.

"...Then for whom?"

Lin Xuan held the man’s gaze. Small smile.

"For you, of course."

Silence.

Wen Liyang opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

"...Excuse me?"

"Young Master Wen. You have been watching me from the moment our delegations took their positions. With intensity. I assumed the interest was mutual. The kiss was a gesture of acknowledgment. Madam Yu was simply standing in the line of sight."

Yu Lan turned her head very slowly toward her betrothed.

Wen Liyang turned his head very slowly toward Yu Lan.

"Yu Lan. That is not what happened."

"...I see."

"Yu Lan. I have not been watching him. I have been watching the line of representatives the entire morning, as is appropriate for a Principal —"

"I see."

There was something cool in the way she repeated it the second time.

Lin Xuan kept his face entirely composed. Only the shine in his eyes had moved up by one grade.

"Young Master Wen. Forgive me if I read you wrong. It happens. The Phoenix Mirror robe is striking on you, by the way. Red and white suits your shoulders particularly well."

Wen Liyang took a half step back without meaning to.

"...What?"

"The shoulders. The way the seam falls at the collar. It is a flattering cut. My mother used to say that you can tell a man by how his collar sits at the throat. Yours sits beautifully."

It was a lie, Lin Xuan doesn’t have a mother. He was just messing around with Wen Liyang.

Yu Lan coughed softly into her sleeve.

Wen Liyang was a different shade of red now. Not the rage red of earlier. A new color, harder to name.

"Young Master Lin. I think there has been a misunderstanding."

"There has been no misunderstanding on my side, Young Master Wen. I know what I saw. I know how I responded. If you are uncomfortable with the response, I apologize. The fault is mine for assuming."

Wen Liyang opened his mouth for something, anything, a recovery.

Lin Xuan winked at him. It was a small wink, slow enough to look accidental if anyone generous was watching. One more grain of sand dropped into a bucket already close to spilling.

A visible shiver climbed Wen Liyang’s spine.

"I have to go. We have to go. Yu Lan, we are leaving. Now."

He turned on his heel and started walking, fast.

Yu Lan stayed where she was for one more beat. She looked at Lin Xuan. Her smile was completely gone now, and what had replaced it was something curious. The smallest tilt of her head. Her eyes moved from Lin Xuan, over to her retreating betrothed, and back to Lin Xuan again.

She studied her own betrothed’s back as he walked away, and the look she gave him was not the look of a woman who had just been embarrassed in public.

It was the look of a woman who had been told something interesting and was now reviewing every interaction of the last six months with new framing.

"Young Master Lin Xuan."

Her voice was light.

"It has been illuminating."

She inclined her head, slow and proper, and walked after Wen Liyang with no particular hurry.

Wen Liyang noticed she had not caught up. He stopped three paces ahead, glanced over his shoulder at her, found her walking at a leisurely pace, and called her name.

"Yu Lan. Hurry."

"Coming, my love."

Her tone was clean. Her face was thoughtful. She did not hurry.

Wen Liyang waited. Yu Lan reached him eventually. They walked away together with the slight, telling distance of two people whose conversation in the carriage on the way home was going to be a long one.

Lin Xuan stayed where he was for a long beat after the Phoenix Mirror pair had crossed out of sight.

Lian appeared at his elbow. She had been waiting in the carriage with her usual professional patience and had walked over once the courtyard was clear.

"Lin Xuan. What was that."

"Nothing important, Lian. Tournament business."

"...Tournament business."

"Tournament business?"

Lian did not push. She turned and walked beside him toward the carriage.

He was three paces from the carriage door when Mira’s voice arrived at the back of his head, slow.

[ Xuan. ]

’What.’

[ Do you swing both ways? ]

’NOOOOO. NO. NO. NO. Mira, I like women. All kinds. But women.’

[ ...Are you sure. ]

’I AM SURE. I WAS JUST MESSING AROUND. IT WAS ALL FOR FUN.’

[ Lin Xuan. You just told a man that the cut of his collar was flattering. You complimented the way the seam falls at his shoulder. You winked at him. If you swing both ways, host, there is nothing wrong with that, but I would like to know. ]

’Mira. Mira. Listen to me. Mira.’

[ I am listening. ]

He climbed into the carriage. Lian climbed in after him, set her basket down, and busied herself with the water flask without making eye contact.

The carriage rocked into motion.

’It was a joke. A wind-up. The man threatened me with a hand on his sword in public. I returned the volley. I threw him off his footing. It was humor.’

[ Hm. ]

’Hm! What is that hm?’

[ It is a hm of, "I take note, host, but jokes that run for three full minutes with detailed descriptions of collar work stop being jokes at some point." ]

’...Mira.’

[ What. ]

’Do not do this to me.’

[ I am doing nothing, Xuan. I am observing how this love unfolds. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ]

’I am completely heterosexual.’

[ Of course. ]

’I am.’

[ Of course, Xuan. ]

’Mira, I swear on my mother that I am heterosexual.’

[ Your mother from the previous world? ]

’...Yes. I don’t have one in this one.’

[ Hm. ]

’AGAIN WITH THE HM. STOP IT.’

Across the carriage, Lian had stopped pretending to fuss with the water flask. She was now watching her Young Master with one eyebrow raised. Lin Xuan was very still, eyes fixed on the carriage ceiling, with the expression of a man losing an internal argument he had never agreed to have.

"Lin Xuan. Are you all right."

"I am all right, Lian. I am all right."

"...You are red."

"I AM NOT RED."

"You are."

"Lian."

"What."

"Whose side are you on."

"Yours, Lin Xuan. Always yours."

"Then say I am not red."

"I cannot lie to you. You are red."

He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the cushion behind him.

The carriage rolled on.

[ Xuan. ]

’No.’

[ One more question. ]

’No.’

[ Does the way the morning light falls on the collar of a Phoenix Mirror Young Master strike you as particularly... ]

’MIRA.’

[ (◠‿◠) Fine. I drop it. For today. ]

’Only for today?’

[ Only for today. ]

He let out a long breath.

The Skyedge residence appeared at the end of the street. The carriage slowed. Lian gathered her basket.

Lin Xuan stepped down first. Lian stepped down behind him. He walked toward the main courtyard with his face still slightly colored and his ego mildly bruised. Lian walked half a step behind him, the corner of her mouth working at something she was not letting onto the rest of her face.

She caught up to him at the threshold of the residence and stopped a beat before crossing.

"Lin Xuan."

"What, Lian."

"Do you perhaps like men?"

Lin Xuan’s mouth opened.

It closed.

"...Lian. Not you too. I was trying to provoke a rival; that’s called strategy."

She did not answer. She walked through the threshold ahead of him with the smallest smile she had allowed herself all day.

Lin Xuan stood at the door for a moment.

He looked up at the cracked beam of the Skyedge residence ceiling.

He looked back down at the threshold.

He stepped through.

[ For what it is worth, Xuan. ]

’What.’

[ The collar work was inspired. ]

He did not dignify that with a response.

He walked into the residence, closed the door behind him with one hand, and went looking for tea.