Chapter 8 · Survival Menu - Chapter 8: Serve the Death Soup

The tray was still spinning on the floor when Yan moved.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the cold storage room. The door shut behind us. Darkness. The smell of dried mushrooms and salted meat. My heart was hammering so loud I thought he'd hear it.

"She saw the page." His voice was low, right next to my ear. "How much did she see?"

I couldn't write in the dark. I reached for his hand and traced characters on his palm. One stroke at a time. Enough.

His fingers closed around mine. Tight. "We're out of time."

I pulled my hand back. Wrote again. What now.

"I don't know." He let go and I heard him pace. Three steps one way. Three steps back. The space was too small. "If Liu reports it—"

The door banged open.

Light flooded in. Liu stood there, holding a lantern. Her face was white. She looked at me. Then at Yan. Then back at me.

"Your Highness." Her voice shook. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you." Yan stepped between us. Casual. Like he wasn't just caught in a storage room with a mute maid at midnight.