The Devil Doesn't Show Its Tail (2)
The darkness stirred again, that familiar chill crawling up my spine like invisible fingers tracing every secret I kept buried. I knew better than to show weakness now. Not here. Not with eyes watching from every shadow.
They can never see the tail. Never.
The candle flame on the low table flickered violently even though there was no draft. I stared at the wax pooling like fresh blood and forced my breathing to steady. One slip, one careless word, and the delicate web of control I'd spent years weaving would unravel.
Outside the window, the distant sound of soldiers drilling carried on the night wind. Liu Bei... no, Lady Liu Bei would be expecting my report soon. Her trust was useful, but trust was just another chain if you knew how to forge it correctly.
I allowed myself the ghost of a smile. The kind that never reached my eyes.
Power wasn't taken with swords alone. It was taken with whispers in the right ears, with memories reshaped like clay, with desires twisted until they pointed exactly where you needed them to point. And I had become very, very good at hiding what I truly was.
The system window that only I could see pulsed once in warning, its glow the color of old bruises.
Residual detection risk: 12%
Memory alteration stability: 94%
Recommendation: Maintain current facade. Do not reveal true nature.
I closed my eyes and let the mask settle perfectly back into place. The devil never shows its tail. Not until the moment it strikes.
And when that moment came, none of them would see it until it was far, far too late.