The invitation arrived in a coffin-shaped box lined with poisoned rose petals.
"Dearest Traitor," it read in the Death Queen's elegant, venom-dipped calligraphy, "You survived the first tea party. Let's see if you can survive me meeting your other women. Bring your own antidotes. XOXO – Your Future Widow."
Luo Feng stared at the box, which promptly bit his finger.
[System Alert: High-Risk Social Event Detected]
[Mission: Survive the Tea Party Without a Bloodbath]
[Reward: Death Queen's "Blessing" (Whatever That Means)]
[Failure Penalty: Becoming a Sentient Throw Pillow in Her Boudoir]
The Fox Spirit, currently lounging with all nine tails fanned out (and still faintly glowing from the last System glitch), grinned. "Oh, this is going to be delicious."
Li Qing, sharpening her sword with concerning intensity, said nothing.
[The Guest List From the Nine Hells]
The second tea party was held in the Death Queen's "cozy" abode—a floating palace made of black crystal and the preserved screams of her enemies. The attendees included:
The Death Queen Herself – Sipping tea laced with enough neurotoxin to drop a dragon.
Lady Ling – The Sword Saint's sister, tuning her guqin menacingly.
The Ice Phoenix Matriarch – Literally too cool to look at anyone.
The Veil Dancer Assassin – Flipping a dagger with "I'll kill you later" eyes.
The Nine-Tails Fox – Who showed up uninvited and immediately stole a scone.
The Fox Spirit's tails immediately started wagging with excitement. "I'm putting fifty spirit stones on the Death Queen stabbing someone first."
Her fifth tail (the one that remembered everything) snorted. "Please. The Ice Phoenix will throw the first glacier."
[The Tea Party: A Symphony of Doom]
Round 1: Poisoned Pleasantries
The Death Queen smiled sweetly as she slid a teacup toward Luo Feng. "Drink. It's new."
The tea was, predictably:
40% acid
30% crushed hopes
20% actual tea
10% something that moved
Luo Feng drank it anyway. His Poison Immunity had leveled up since last time.
The Nine-Tails applauded mockingly. "Brave little patchwork man."
Round 2: Passive-Aggressive Gifts
Lady Ling presented Luo Feng with a new guqin. "So you can stop borrowing mine."
The Veil Dancer tossed him a dagger. "For next time you fake your death."
The Ice Phoenix simply froze his sleeve to the table.
Round 3: The Fox Spirit's Gambit
Xiao Jiuying slammed her hands on the table. "Okay, let's settle this. Who here has actually tried to kill him?"
Every hand went up.
"Who's succeeded?"
Only the Nine-Tails raised hers—then laughed at Luo Feng's horrified expression. "Oh, you didn't know? That time in the Blackfang Ravine? That was me."
[The Disaster: A Betting Pool Turns Bloody]
The Fox Spirit's tails had been taking bets the entire time.
First Blood: The Veil Dancer (threw a dagger at the Nine-Tails)
First Poison: Death Queen (spiked the sugar cubes)
First Property Damage: Ice Phoenix (froze the entire tea set)
Then—the Wife of Ashes' ghost flickered into existence, sipping spectral tea.
The room froze.
The Nine-Tails' smile vanished.
"You," she hissed.
The ghost raised her cup. "Me."
[Check-In Complete (Barely)]
[Reward: Death Queen's "Blessing" (A Locket of Her Hair)]
[Penalty: Now Owes the Fox Spirit 200 Spirit Stones]
As they fled the collapsing palace (again), the Nine-Tails' voice followed them:
"Next time, I'm hosting."
END OF THE CHAPTER43