"What happened to you?" he asked.
Yeri waved her hand dismissively, saying it was just an accident.
Xian's eyes lingered on her injured leg for a moment longer before his gaze shifted toward the direction Shin's car had disappeared.
A sinister chill flickered through his eyes like a blade briefly catching moonlight.
"He failed to protect you again."
"What?"
Yeri did not catch what he said, but Xian merely brushed it off as though it were nothing.
"If you're not too tired yet, would you like to see the old house where we used to hang out?" he asked with a faint smile. "That old tree is still there. Good thing they didn't cut it down."
Yeri shook her head. It was already late, and with her current status, it would look bad if someone lurking nearby twisted the situation into another scandal about her entering another man's house late at night.
Xian also did not insist and said goodbye shortly after.
Inside the manor, her mother was patiently waiting for her after receiving Yeri's message saying she was on her way home.
The matter regarding Venice also surprised Yeri, but as the saying went, those who played with fire would eventually get burned.
She had already warned Venice countless times about what kind of person Hadi was, yet Venice still chose to continue seeing him.
In the end, her current predicament was simply the result of her own actions.
"That cousin of yours is definitely up to something." Nina texted.
Yeri had been about to sleep when she saw the message. Curious, she looked into the matter herself and soon found Venice's livestream from an hour earlier.
Now Venice was blaming Calin for all the malicious things she had previously said and done?
Yeri could not help but scoff inwardly.
Well, none of this had anything to do with her anymore. If those two wanted to tear each other apart, then so be it.
--
The next day, it was almost noon when Yeri finally went downstairs for brunch.
To her surprise, she found Xian happily chatting with her mother.
"Awake? How's your ankle?" Xian asked after noticing her standing by the dining room entrance.
"Princess, do you remember Xian?" Madam Zhi asked while helping prepare the table. "That little boy you used to whine at whenever you wanted someone to play with you?"
Yeri rubbed the corner of her eyes and immediately protested, "I wasn't whining, Mom. Stop talking nonsense."
Madam Zhi laughed before heading back into the kitchen.
"I hope you don't mind me staying for a free meal," Xian joked.
Yeri merely rolled her eyes before suddenly noticing two tiny puncture marks on the side of his hand.
"That looks like a snake bite," she remarked casually.
Xian glanced at his hand before smiling lightly. "I was careless. Good thing it wasn't venomous."
Yeri frowned slightly as she looked at him. Come to think of it, she actually had no idea what Xian did for a living.
"Are you in politics too?" she asked curiously.
Xian paused briefly before chuckling. "Should I feel happy that you're suddenly showing interest in me?"
He leaned lazily against the chair before continuing, "But no, I have no interest in politics. Grandpa left me quite a large inheritance before he passed away, so technically I can live as some carefree young master who stays jobless forever."
Yeri "...."
As a Song, she understood that someone like Xian truly could live an extravagant life without ever needing to work. Still, she subtly sensed that he did not want to discuss his career any further, so she wisely chose not to ask again.
After the meal, Madam Zhi had to leave for business related to her jewelry boutique, while Xian once again invited Yeri to check out his house next door.
Yeri did not answer immediately. Noticing her hesitation, Xian seemed to understand at once.
"We can just stay in the back garden if you want," he said casually.
The two looked at each other, and Yeri suddenly felt awkward.
Xian merely smiled. "It's okay, I understand. I wouldn't want to become the reason you go viral again for all the wrong reasons."
The two exited through the backyard before entering the neighboring garden.
Yeri was surprised to see that the old tree Xian had mentioned the previous night was truly still standing there, like an old guardian stubbornly refusing retirement.
"Good thing they didn't cut this down..." Yeri murmured before suddenly noticing something higher up. "Wait, is that a tree house?"
Xian nodded. "After this house was sold, it passed through several owners. I think the first family went bankrupt and had to sell it. The second family had two children, so they built the tree house."
"How did you manage to buy the place back from them?"
Xian chuckled lightly. "If it's something money can buy, then it's never truly impossible."
Yeri did not comment further as the two gradually shifted to other topics while entering the house.
Aside from the old tree outside, almost everything else had changed from what Yeri remembered. Even the small library corner where she and Xian used to read together was gone.
The two chatted and reminisced so naturally that before Yeri realized it, late afternoon had already arrived.
Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly noticed something moving between the sofa pillows.
Startled, Yeri jolted backward in fright, stumbling and nearly spraining her ankle again as she fell sideways across the sofa.
"There's a cockroach!" she exclaimed in horror.
Xian followed her gaze before calmly reaching over and grabbing the creature with his bare hand.
"It's a beetle," he corrected. "More specifically, a common cockchafer. It probably escaped from its terrarium."
Yeri could not care less what species it belonged to. Anything remotely resembling a cockroach automatically earned a permanent spot on her blacklist of horrors.
She could tolerate rats and lizards just fine, but bugs with crunchy little legs? Absolutely not.
Seeing her frightened and disgusted expression, Xian could not help but chuckle.
"Sorry," he said amusedly. "Would you like to see my other pets instead?"
Yeri immediately shook her head vehemently.
"I remember you once said you wanted to become a biologist," Xian remarked. "Do you still want to pursue that dream?"
Yeri shot him a displeased look. "Yes, but definitely not that branch of biology. Entomology, was it?"
Xian laughed softly. "Alright then. But I also have some exotic plants you might find interesting."
After thinking for a moment, Yeri finally agreed.
The two headed down to the basement, where terrariums of different shapes and sizes lined the room alongside various laboratory tools and equipment.
Yeri was completely taken aback.
From snakes to beetles and insects she could not even name, several of the creatures alone were enough to make her flinch instinctively.
"I do have cockroaches, but they're not the usual house types," Xian said as he introduced them. "These are giant burrowing cockroaches, and next to them are Madagascar hissing cockroaches."
Yeri hadn't expected him to have such an unusual hobby. Or could this even be considered a profession? People with collections like these were often wealthy and earned quite a fortune.
Just as Xian was busy introducing a rare sleeping snake inside one of the terrariums, the phone upstairs suddenly rang.
"Take your time looking around. I'll go check who's calling."
Before Yeri could respond, he had already left.
She looked around the room again, her attention slowly drifting toward the beautiful terrarium plants arranged beneath warm golden lights. Some looked strangely enchanting, like miniature forests trapped inside glass prisons.
As she moved closer to the lab table, she noticed several papers scattered.
Yeri bent down to put them back neatly, while doing so, one document partially slipped free from beneath the pile: Neri Hospital Blueprint.
Why would Xian be interested in the hospital's layout? Was he an architect by any chance?
Out of curiosity, she casually flipped through the papers, only to freeze when she saw information regarding members of the Ricci family... and even Venice.
Maybe not an architect then... perhaps some kind of undercover detective?
Her gaze instinctively shifted toward the basement door.
Xian still had not returned. At the same time, guilt crept over her. Wasn't this crossing the line? This was clearly his private information.
She quickly tried putting the documents back into their original order, but while doing so, more names caught her attention.
Bryce Gate. Marco Fabian. Tiffany Rhian, and even Anri Rune.
Yeri's heartbeat slowly became uneven.
None of this felt unrelated to her anymore.
Every single person listed somehow had ties to her, and most of them had either harmed her or been involved in conflicts surrounding her.
Was it really just a coincidence that all their information was here?
Then a thought suddenly struck her mind.
But before she could process it fully, Xian's voice sounded from behind her.
"Do you want to know why I'm looking into these people?"
Yeri flinched violently before turning around, not even realizing when he had returned.
"Some papers fell," she said awkwardly. "I was just putting them back."
Xian merely shrugged, showing no trace of panic or anxiety over what she had seen.
For a moment, silence filled the room except for the faint rustling of insects and the occasional hiss of snakes.
Yeri knew her excuse sounded flimsy, and this was the kind of thing that would keep gnawing at her thoughts if she stayed silent.
Finally, she asked carefully, "I heard about Calin's filming accident... and what happened to her at the hospital. And that baby recording Venice mentioned..."
She paused before staring directly at him. "Was it you?"
Xian paused while tidying the scattered papers.
"Impressive," he said lightly. "You're quite sharp."
Yeri's confusion deepened, not expecting him to admit it so easily.
"Your next question should be why," Xian continued as he met her gaze directly. "You want to know whether this has something to do with you."
Yeri "...."
"Because they hurt you," Xian said bluntly. "And people like that deserve a taste of their own medicine. They deserve to suffer... and honestly, it'd be even better if they died."
For a second, she wondered if she had heard him wrong.