Zi Han stepped out of the laboratory and gently closed the door behind her.
The moment the door clicked shut, she let out a quiet breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
Her fingers brushed lightly against her temple.
Only now did she release the faint tension lingering in her shoulders, the slight tightness in her chest. Standing in that room, surrounded by questioning eyes, forced to defend herself with nothing but logic and composure… it had not been as effortless as she made it seem.
She had been nervous.
Not enough to lose control, but enough to know that one wrong word, one flicker of hesitation, could have tipped everything against her.
So she had stayed calm. Because any hint of fear would have read as guilt. She had known that from the moment the first person said, "since you were the last one in contact with it."
—
When she returned to the classroom, she had barely taken two steps inside before Shi Xian and Yu Wuxian turned toward her.
