The light of dusk scattered down, coating the magnificent Imperial Palace in a layer of dim gold.

Jiang Zheyu and Zexun were on their way out when Yan Luo and Hui happened to be returning. The two groups ran into each other.

The faint smile on Jiang Zheyu’s face slowly vanished.

The sight of them inevitably reminded her of that night—of their contemptuous tones and condescending attitudes as they described her as a little mouse, hiding in the shadows and spying.

’They’re the little mice! Their whole family are little mice!’

Yan Luo, like so many aloof and resilient female protagonists, had a calm, cold gaze. She, too, saw Jiang Zheyu and Zexun.

Her gaze lingered on Jiang Zheyu for only a moment before shifting to Zexun. In a cool, clear voice, she offered a greeting. "Chief Judge Ze, what a coincidence." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Yes, quite a coincidence, Special-level Researcher." Zexun replied courteously, then politely greeted the man beside Yan Luo. "Deacon Hui."

Deacon Hui, the owner of Star Investment.

Hui, standing beside Yan Luo, was also exceptionally tall. He had gray hair and a pair of cold, off-white eyes. As a member of the female protagonist’s harem, his looks were naturally impressive. His features were handsome, and a scar that looked like a cigarette burn marked his brow bone.

His entire demeanor was exceedingly distant and grim.

Zexun greeted Hui, but Hui didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stared at Zexun with his off-white eyes, and the air grew quiet.

Just as everyone thought Hui was going to snub Zexun, Hui finally gave a slow nod and spoke. "It is quite a coincidence, Chief Judge Ze."

Zexun, of course, knew the man had paused deliberately before answering.

But Zexun was magnanimous—or perhaps he simply looked down on such petty ploys. He felt no annoyance and paid it no mind.

Yan Luo actually had a favorable impression of Zexun. He was a Chief Judge of the Judicial Court, and the justice he administered was fair. He also possessed a strong sense of righteousness. In legal cases, he never judged a person by their status or Spiritual Power Level, but rather from the perspective of the facts and the impartiality of the law.

The Judicial Court had many judges, but only a few were called "Chief Judge." Zexun was one of them.

He treated females who had no spiritual power with the same respect as those who did.

This, more than anything, was why Yan Luo had such a good impression of him.

So now, seeing Zexun with a female she detested, her opinion of him soured.

’He should be with a female who has no spiritual power,’ she thought. ’That would be a truer testament to his noble character.’

So now that Zexun was proving to be no different from other Male Beastmen—chasing after females with high Spiritual Power Levels—the image she held of him in her mind began to shatter.

Jiang Zheyu was a female with an extremely high Spiritual Power Level.

Yan Luo had known that for a while.

’Females with high Spiritual Power Levels are all so vile,’ she thought. ’They take advantage of the preferential treatment they get in a world where status is defined by spiritual power, squandering money and hurting others without a second thought.’

"Where are you heading, Chief Judge Ze?" Yan Luo asked, her expression calm and unreadable.

Zexun’s reply was polite but distant. "To the Observatory Tower."

The moment Yan Luo heard this, she understood. Zexun was taking the female beside him to the Observatory Tower to watch the stars.

Her image of Zexun immediately shrank in her mind. He was no different from other Beastmen, chasing after high-level females and trying everything to win their affection.

"Oh. Then goodbye." The expression on Yan Luo’s face turned cold.

’I must have been blind to ever think Zexun was different from the rest.’

Seeing the cold expression on her face, Hui, who stood beside her, completely misinterpreted it. He assumed she liked Zexun and was now jealous and upset to see him going out with another female.

He already detested Beastmen like Zexun, who were born into privileged administrative families. They always carried an air of condescending nobility, as if any outsider could immediately distinguish the aristocrat from the slum dweller.

Besides, when his Female Master, Yan Luo, spoke to Zexun, her tone and attitude were different. How to put it? They were significantly better than when she spoke to him.

’These people always wear those false, prim smiles,’ he thought. ’It’s sickening to look at.’

Zexun, of course, had no idea that his polite and proper demeanor was seen as false and prim in Hui’s eyes.

He ignored Hui’s increasingly bone-chilling glare and walked away, holding Jiang Zheyu’s hand.

After Zexun, Jiang Zheyu, and their guards had left, Hui turned to Yan Luo with an unreadable expression. "Heh, still looking? They’re long gone. What’s the matter? Like his pretty face? Sad, hurt, and jealous now that you see him on a date with another female?"

Hui always spoke with a condescending, mocking tone.

Yan Luo frowned. "What’s gotten into you now?"

Hui seized Yan Luo’s wrist. "Am I wrong? Don’t you like that pretty boy? Your voice was so sweet when you spoke to him, so why is it so harsh with me?"

"You’re hurting me!" Yan Luo struggled, but she couldn’t break free.

Hui dragged her by the hand back into the palace. Yan Luo was forced to break into a trot to keep up with him.

"Hui, what is wrong with you!" Yan Luo gritted her teeth. "I don’t like Zexun! Can you stop being so paranoid?"

"How is it that you have so little patience for me, but so much for that pretty boy?" Hui dragged Yan Luo into a room and threw her to the floor.

He slammed the door shut behind him.

Yan Luo’s shoulder ached from the impact, but that lunatic Hui was already bearing down on her on the cold floor!

"Yan Luo, have you forgotten who took you in?" Hui’s off-white eyes were bloodshot. "Now that your status is higher, have you forgotten how I protected you? You’re happy to see these Male Beastmen from the Imperial City, aren’t you? Jin Yu, Zexun, and those other Beastmen... do you think they’re better than me? That I can’t compare? That someone from the slums like me doesn’t have clothes that smell as nice as theirs? Huh? Is that it?!"

The man’s voice, cold as ice, lashed out viciously. He was sensitive and insecure, prone to emotional breakdowns and fits of rage over the smallest things.

If Jiang Zheyu were here, she wouldn’t have been surprised at all. Some of the villains in the female protagonist’s harem were just this unhinged and sensitive. And with the protagonist’s own fiery personality and lack of eloquence, their "love-hate" dynamic was only natural.