"Wash your face and go to sleep now. You have a survival dimension to construct at dawn."
The bamboo fronds rustled shut.
Master Jiu Zui vanished into the shadows, leaving her sitting alone in the cool, capsaicin-scented dirt of the main courtyard.
For ten long minutes, Lin Ji'an did not move.
She sat in the dirt, her knees pulled to her chest, her chin resting on her forearms.
Her mind was a chaotic, whirling vortex of conflicting data, ruined tropes, and the irritating realization that her alcoholic master was correct.
She had let her boundaries slip.
She had loved the comfort of Wangchen's quiet, unbothered presence so much that she had ignored the terrifying, highly possessive yandere architecture he was silently building around her existence.
"He really was going to tuck himself into my bed," Ji'an whispered to her knees, a hot, uncontrollable blush creeping up to the tips of her ears. "The guy has zero chill. Literally and elemental-ly."
