Chapter 133 - The Perfect Plan

“Ask the maiden?” Yuzu hesitated, “Are you sure she can help us?”

“Why not? If we pray to her then she should be able to hear us.” Char Char replied with confidence.

“Well, we’re not at the shrine-“ Yuzu came up with the simplest reason she could think of, “Maybe the prayers won’t reach her.”

“Hmm?” Char Char looked confused for a moment, “If she can’t reach us from here, how did she warn you about the wine bottle?”

“That’s-“ Yuzu was caught off guard by the simple question. She’d already as much admitted to Char Char that she had something to do with the White Maiden, and obviously Yuzu hadn’t gone back to the shrine recently. In the end she could only mutter, “I... had a vision from her... Earlier today.”

“You were at home, right? Well, your home is much further from the edge of the city than here... so I think she’d be able to hear us.” Char Char nodded resolutely, “At the very least it can’t hurt to try.”

“Alright.” Yuzu sighed inwardly. Unfortunately for us, the ‘White Maiden’ really isn’t going to be much help with solving this problem.

Char Char closed her eyes, lowering her head as she silently began praying. A thin white illusory line twinkled in Yuzu’s spiritual vision as a gentle bead of prayer light hovered in the air in front of her. Yuzu touched the bead and Char Char’s prayers echoed in her mind.

“White Maiden, I am here with Yuzu, we found the bottle you told her about... Please, tell us what we need to do with it.”

Yuzu racked her mind for ideas.

The most obvious solution would be to get rid of the bottle somehow, bringing it somewhere so that it wouldn’t be able to cause harm. Although she couldn’t be sure, it seemed logical that the bottle wouldn’t spontaneously open, otherwise how could Gantt guarantee that it would be poured for Sansen’s toast?

The problem with this solution was that Gantt would definitely know that someone had tampered with his plans. From the warning signals of her spiritual intuition over the evening it was clear that he was watching the ball unfold, whether directly or indirectly. The more she meddled the more he would suspect that she, the White Maiden was involved.

Gantt was certainly aware of her existence, after all both Medusa and Ming Ru had approached her. These two were both heavily involved in the resurrection of Deka, which Gantt was a part of. However Yuzu guessed that he was still undecided about the White Maiden’s allegiance.

Like Argus had said, who would want to make an enemy out of Fate?

However, if he knew that Yuzu was actively interfering with his plans then that would be a clear signal that she was working against him.

At that point he might actively target the shrine in the forest, preventing visitors from praying to her or even attacking the shrine directly. The shrine was currently her lifeline and her only way of directly entering the white world, which she needed to do to retrieve the chest. She absolutely had to preserve it.

Therefore she could not get rid of the bottle directly.

Her lips pressed together in a frown as she couldn’t come up with an answer for Char Char.

After a moment Char Char opened an eye, glancing over at Yuzu. She stared at Yuzu for a moment.

“What?” Yuzu asked irritatedly. She was already trying to come up with an answer as the White Maiden, what did Char Char want Yuzu for?

“Aren’t you going to pray?”

“O-Of course. I was just gathering my thoughts.” Yuzu replied.

Why do I need to pray to myself? Yuzu grumbled inwardly. She clasped her hands together while lowering her head.

Char Char nodded and closed her eyes once more as she prayed to the Maiden once more for help.

Naturally, Yuzu wasn’t going to pray to herself, but she maintained the act as she went through her options.

If she couldn’t get rid of the bottle ahead of time, what about disrupting the plan at the last possible moment? In the vision, when Sansen Zhao made the toast he was assisted by Chloe and Corbin Nao. However they were taken by surprise and reacted too slowly.

Corbin Nao tried to freeze time but couldn’t hold the effect. After he failed, Chloe took out a mirror that tried to suck the blood wine monster into it before cracking and failing. Their response was disorganized and they also didn’t coordinate their efforts.

If I subtly alert them ahead of time that something will happen, perhaps the moment that the wine monster reveals itself they’ll be able to freeze it and suck it into the mirror. Yuzu nodded inwardly, her eyes shining as she saw a path to success. Even though Corbin only held the freeze on the monster for two seconds, that would be enough time for Uncle Zhao to get out of the way. Also, after he fell off the balcony the blood monster quickly perished, meaning that it can’t live long at all after being released.

As she thought about it more Yuzu found herself somewhat admiring the method of assassination. It was discreet and difficult to detect before the bottle was opened. The victim was killed within moments, and then the murder weapon - the monster - destroyed itself and turned into blood, leaving behind almost no evidence for the ensuing investigation. The killer didn’t need to interfere, meaning he could keep his hands clean throughout the whole event. Most likely he wasn’t even present at the ball tonight.

The edge of Yuzu’s lip curled up as a plan formed in her mind. One of the main strengths of the method was that it didn’t require any interference from the killer, however this was also its weakness. All she needed to do was give Chloe and Corbin a warning just before the wine was opened and they could react instantly to the attack. Since they wouldn’t have warning far in advance, it would be difficult to detect that the plan had been discovered ahead of time. It would be just as reasonable to assume that they were coincidentally on high alert and able to react in time.

Yuzu herself wouldn’t have to be in the room, she would just need to gather Chloe, Corbin Nao and Uncle Zhao’s strings ahead of time, so she could send messages to them.

“Caution!”, “Something’s wrong with the wine!”, “Use the mirror!”

These short messages could be whispered at the critical moment.

Yuzu peeked over to Char Char, who was still trying to contact the Maiden. With this plan, neither she nor Char Char would need to do anything. They could leave the bottle the way they found it. This way they could also avoid suspicion from any enemy observers.

It was a perfect plan!

“Did you get a response?” Char Char frowned as she raised her head.

“No.” Yuzu shook her head.

“I wonder if our prayers aren’t reaching her...” Char Char frowned.

“Maybe she doesn’t need us to do anything.” Yuzu suggested with a casual tone. “I think we should get out of here before someone shows up.”

Yuzu threw a cautious glance around the room. One of the golden strings was starting to solidify, indicating that a person was about to enter the cellar. Yuzu was aware of this, but she wasn’t worried. All she needed to do was alter the string a bit to delay his arrival and give them a chance to leave.

“That could be-“ Char Char said, when she suddenly perked up, her eyes glancing up towards the top corner of the room. Yuzu followed her gaze, suddenly realizing that Char Char had sensed the servant who was approaching the cellar door.

Yuzu wasn’t surprised, well aware of Char Char’s Chaos “sixth sense” Chaos domain ability to sense people around her. Char Char had already given the White Maiden a detailed rundown of her powers when she prayed at the shrine earlier that day.

“Someone’s coming down!” Char Char said in a hushed voice.

Don’t worry, I’ve got this. Yuzu wanted to state this out loud but she wouldn’t have a way to explain her confidence. Instead she grabbed the string and gently pulled it down the hall into a different room.

At the top of the stairs a waiter approached the door to the cellar, preparing to grab a few more bottles of wine to replenish the refreshments bar. He reached out to the door handle, but hesitated.

“Actually, why don’t I take a short break before I head back.” He smiled, “They won’t notice if I take a few minutes longer.”

He turned away and headed to the break room.

Inside the wine cellar Char Char grabbed onto Yuzu’s arm, “Wait, he’s leaving! We need to get out of here before he comes back.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Yuzu nodded.

The two girls left the room and rushed up the stairs, pausing at closed door at the top.

“Follow me.” Char Char said confidently, “The hallway is clear right now.”

“We should get back to the main area.” Yuzu said.

“Leave it to me!” Char Char grinned.

She opened the door to the hall quietly and snuck out, holding the door open for Yuzu while holding a finger up to her lips to signal Yuzu to be quiet.

Are you pretending we’re thieves sneaking away or something? Yuzu shook her head at her friend’s childishness as she walked calmly out into the hall.

After quietly shutting the door Char Char tiptoed ahead at a brisk pace, passing Yuzu who was simply strolling back toward the ballroom. Char Char paid close attention to her sixth sense as she led the way, ducking into side rooms occasionally to avoid passersby on the way out of the servants wing.

Yuzu let her friend play her game while keeping an eye on the strings. If Yuzu wanted to she could just casually walk out with Char Char simply by manipulating the strings. However, without manipulating the strings hiding in side rooms was also reasonable. Yuzu found it interesting how Char Char’s path avoided bumping into any strings, even though she was clearly using different senses.

Despite being from completely different Exalted kingdoms and domains, there was a subtle relationship shared between them.

“We’re almost clear.” Char Char whispered to Yuzu as they approached an intersection in the hallway. Yuzu could hear the soft din of conversation from several guests who were gathered around the corner. “We just need to wait for an opportunity to walk to the main hallway without being seen and no one will know we were in the servants wing.”

“Good job.” Yuzu said, patting Char Char on the shoulder. Once they mingled with the guests again Yuzu could relax slightly and prepare to save Sansen with her plan.

“We just need to figure out what to do after.” Char Char said.

“What we need to do about what?”

“About this bottle, of course!”

Char Char lifted up the green bottle with an elegant label that she had been discreetly carrying the whole time.