The Return Undeserved

The stew was now empty.

The entropy wards pulsed faintly on the ceiling, giving the dim chamber a low, warm hue. Almost cozy. If you ignored the cursed chains lining the walls.

Shen Yan sat cross-legged, arms behind his head, letting out a long, satisfied breath.

"Best damn meal I've had since that raid in Frostmere. You've got talent, Mu."

Su nodded, licking her spoon with all the elegance of a starving animal. "I think I found religion. It's lentil-based."

Camellya was already on her second bowl, legs tucked beneath her in a way that was simultaneously graceful and vaguely menacing.

"It's shockingly effective. Are you sure you weren't trained by a culinary sect?"

Jin Mu smirked. "I studied under starvation and stubbornness. They're brutal masters."

Xue Yiran stood near the entropy crystal, arms crossed. She hadn't eaten. Not because she didn't want to. But because she refused to let him win this battle of vibes.

"You're insufferably calm for a man who's supposed to be in chains."

Jin leaned back against the wall, folding his hands behind his head.

"Chains are conceptual. Like guilt. Or aristocratic dignity."

Camellya let out a small laugh. That… startled everyone.

Xue blinked like she'd been stabbed.

"Did you just laugh?"

Camellya, still sipping soup: "Not aloud."

"Anyway," Jin continued, "I assume the tribunal's still in six hours. Plan?"

Shen grunted. "We sneak in. Blow the vault open. Drop the documents. Flash the truth. Then…"

Su added, "Then we run."

Camellya looked mildly offended. "You're all terrible at conspiracies."

"Oh?" Jin raised a brow.

"A real operation requires decoys. Diversions. Disinformation. Ideally, a tragic backstory."

Xue muttered, "I have a tragic backstory."

Jin pointed at her. "You are the tragic backstory."

Su snorted and nearly choked on her third bowl. "Wait wait wait—are you two flirting?"

Xue turned bright red.

Camellya tilted her head thoughtfully. "Unclear."

Jin smiled. "Classified."

Shen buried his face in his hands. "We're all going to die."

They eventually settled down around the crystal flame, softer now.

Su sat near Jin, curled up under a cloak. Her eyes had that glassy look of someone still not quite used to peace.

"You sure it's okay to relax?" she whispered.

Jin didn't answer right away.

He reached into his robe and pulled out the black seal—his Order Sigil, faintly glowing.

"Peace is a detour, Su. But it's part of the road."

Camellya, eyes still on the flickering flame, added quietly:

"Even lightning must return to the sky between storms."

Xue finally sat. Not near them—but not far either. Just close enough.

"Tomorrow, we become traitors."

Jin looked at her.

"No. Tomorrow, we become the only people in the damn Concord telling the truth."

She didn't reply, but she didn't argue either.

As the flicker of the entropy wards faded into a dull blue hue, the group sat in silence. Comfortable. At ease. For once, not hunted. Not fighting. Not pretending.

Jin cracked his knuckles.

"Who wants a ghost story?"

Su gasped. "Yes!"

Shen muttered, "Do we have to?"

Xue: "No."

Camellya, smiling faintly: "Yes."

Jin grinned wide. "Majority wins."

The fire cracked softly.

Jin Mu adjusted his seated posture on the warm floor, cleared his throat like a storyteller about to address a royal court, and cast his gaze around the circle.

Su's eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Shen already looked suspiciously sleepy.

Camellya had pulled a rune-scroll from her coat sleeve, humming idly.

Xue Yiran? Arms still crossed. Lips tight. Sitting precisely two-point-seven meters away from Jin.

Perfect.

"This," Jin began, voice low, "is the tale of the Ghost Monk of Hollow Ridge. A man so bound by guilt he stitched his sins into the skin of his arms—runes that bled whenever he lied."

Su gasped.

Shen groaned. "I already don't like him."

"Each lie made him stronger… but also closer to death," Jin continued. "He killed kings with smiles. Buried saints under false oaths. Until one day…"

Camellya raised a brow. "Let me guess. A child changed him?"

Jin smiled. "No. A goat bit him and he fell off a cliff."

Su wheezed.

Shen blinked. "...Was that the plot twist?"

"No," Jin said. "The twist was that the goat inherited his power. The monastery was never the same."

Everyone stared.

Xue choked.

"I hate you," she whispered.

Jin tilted his head. "But are you entertained?"

She didn't answer. But her lips were twitching.

As laughter faded, Camellya stood slowly.

"Alright. I've had enough joy. Time for a minor betrayal."

Jin blinked. "...What."

Before he could move, Camellya flicked her wrist and a suppression rune flew from her sleeve—

—and attached itself squarely to his forehead.

"Oi—!"

His legs gave out.

Su gasped.

Shen sat bolt upright.

Xue finally laughed—an unfiltered, cruel, very real laugh.

"YOU FINALLY GOT HIM?!"

Camellya nodded, smug. "His resistance runes were calibrated for direct attacks. Not stealth inscriptions. Basic mistake."

Jin groaned from the floor. "You...broke the sacred Soup Pact…"

"And I'll do it again," she said, walking over and poking him with the ladle.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted the hot warden," he muttered.

Shen clapped. "Ten out of ten."

Later, when the rune had been removed (and Camellya had been bribed with the promise of dessert stew), the fire had dimmed and sleep took hold of the room.

Xue laid back stiffly on a conjured pad of spirit-thread. Her eyes stayed open. For a while.

Shen curled up beside a crate and used his scabbard as a pillow. He snored exactly once, then went still.

Su nestled beside Jin, blanket tight around her shoulders. Her breath evened.

And Camellya?

She perched by the entrance, half-awake, eyes glowing faintly in the entropy light. Still keeping watch. Still herself.

Jin stared at the ceiling.

"Funny," he murmured.

Camellya looked over. "What is?"

"A month ago, I was alone. Bleeding in a pit. Planning how to burn the world down."

"And now?"

He looked at the sleeping forms around him.

"I'm still planning to burn the world down," he said, softer. "But I don't want to be the only one watching it burn anymore."

Camellya didn't reply.

But after a moment, she reached into her coat and flicked another rune toward him.

He caught it.

"For your collection," she said. "Don't get caught again."

He smiled.

"I only get caught when I want to."

"Liar."

The entropy flames hummed.

In the distance above them, a clocktower in the capital chimed once. Five hours remained before the Tribunal.

But for now, in this stolen moment beneath the world's rot and cruelty, the regressor Jin Mu… slept.