Lin Rui was running out of excuses to keep Lian Zhi near him. He knew the reasons he gave were thin.
He had used too much of "let's plan the counter coup" to invite Lian Zhi to his quarters, but only ended up having conversations that had nothing to do with war. He started to ask her to walk with him during palace inspections, claiming he needed a "woman's perspective" on the servant quarters. He asked for her opinion on minor ceremonies that any low-level official could have handled. He even started lingering in the dusty north corridors just because he knew she would pass through them at noon, pretending to study scrolls he had already memorized.
Every time she spoke, the knot in his chest loosened. She had a way of raising an eyebrow at something stupid he said, or muttering a sarcastic comment under her breath that made him have to hide a smile, slipping some modern words that made Lin Rui felt like home. She no longer felt like a 2D character in his story. She felt alive.
