William Clark: "Is it 'the less you say, the fewer mistakes you make'?" He smiled faintly. "Best not to. If you don't refuse, she can arrange everything for you, including how you die."

So terrifying?

Alice Carter was already starting to feel afraid of that empress dowager. "If I end up getting you killed, whose fault is it?"

William Clark looked up, gazing deep into his eyes. "It would be mine."

Alice Carter: With you saying that, I feel relieved.

William Clark put down the book in his hand. "You've been by my side for ten days. Have you learned how I speak?"

Alice Carter thought for a moment. "I haven't, but I know that just smiling is enough."

William Clark: "Hmm?"

Alice Carter sat up straight, seriously analyzing, "I've figured it out, William Clark. As long as you smile, everyone around you gets scared half to death. They either kneel or lower their heads, not even daring to look at you! I can learn that, so they won't have time to notice anything strange about me."

"Oh, of course, there are all kinds of smiles—cold, faint, weird—but to me, they all look fake when you do them."

He asked, utterly confused, "Is it really that funny? Why are you smiling all day long?"

William Clark's expression went blank for a few seconds, then he looked at him, the corners of his lips slowly lifting, only to fade away just as quickly, like a wisp of wind.

"Indeed, there's nothing funny about it." He gave a casual assessment.

Alice Carter blurted out, almost without thinking, "So you're just pretending to be crazy? Trying to seem mysterious? So everyone will be afraid of you?"

William Clark tilted his head, pondered for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Now that's actually a little funny."

Alice Carter: "..."

Wanted to curse.

Alice Carter took a deep breath. "I'm being serious."

William Clark was quite candid, tapping his finger on the table, half-smiling. "You want to have a heart-to-heart with me?"

Alice Carter was puzzled. "Aren't we having a heart-to-heart right now?"

William Clark said, "That's not how you have a heart-to-heart."

Alice Carter: "What?"

With your crazy attitude, have you ever had a heart-to-heart with anyone? Teaching me how to do things?

William Clark smiled ambiguously. "A heart-to-heart is a gradual process. You'd better get to know me first."

"First, know that I was born in the cold palace as a child, unloved. My mother was mad, outsiders were snobbish, and I experienced all the warmth and coldness of human nature." He propped his chin, speaking lightly. "Then know that as a child I loved candied hawthorn, and that I have a knot in my heart about kites. Step by step, start by catching my attention, then get close to me."

Alice Carter: "..." What the heck?

William Clark read his expression, smiled, and continued, "Start with meticulous care, then deep, affectionate gazes, uncontrollable longing, or do the opposite—show dislike and doubt right in front of me. If you're smart, create opportunities—guess how many kites have 'accidentally' landed at my feet over the years?"

Alice Carter was a bit confused. "What are you actually trying to say?"

"The steps to a heart-to-heart," William Clark lowered his head, black hair falling, smiling as he spoke. "Alice Carter, you just skipped several steps at once. You know, all those men and women before you only dared to ask me questions like this after carefully going through every step, when they wanted to have a heart-to-heart with me."

The "damn" in Alice Carter's throat was swallowed back, his pupils trembling, his voice not even sounding like his own. "You—you think I'm deliberately seducing you?!"

What kind of god-level misunderstanding is this??

If I called you a fairy, would you really become one??

William Clark turned away, laughing nonstop, hand covering his lips. After coughing for a while, he shook his head. "No, I just suddenly remembered something."

When he brought up these things, he didn't show any extra emotion, just calmly said, "Why do they think I like having heart-to-hearts with people?"

Alice Carter pulled at the corner of his mouth, flopped down, and was about to sleep. "Talk if you want, don't if you don't!"

William Clark looked up, gazing at him seriously, lips curving into a smile. "No. I'll talk with you. Whatever you want to ask, I'll answer."

Alice Carter was truly shocked by what he just said, sat up straight, and felt it necessary to pull his thoughts back. "I think you really do overthink things. Maybe those people genuinely care about you? Do you really think that just because someone is nice to you, they're after something?"

William Clark thought for a moment, then looked at him with innocent seriousness.

"I never denied their concern."

Alice Carter: "..."

Honestly, that sounded really selfish and self-important. If anyone else said it, it would come off as ungrateful and pretentious.

But the moment William Clark looked over quietly, Alice Carter only felt a chill.

His eyes were beautiful, that mole cold, filled with pure doubt.

At some point, Alice Carter realized that when William Clark wasn't acting crazy, he was actually scarier than when he was.

William Clark's gaze drifted out the window, past the endless palace.

The red glow of the Pagoda had faded, and the bright moon shone on the flying eaves.

His expression looked gentle in the candlelight, black hair flowing over pale collarbones, and he suddenly asked, "Do you still remember that wall in 'Eastern Continent Miscellany'?"

Alice Carter was stunned for a moment. "I remember." The wall that stood above the Sea of Heaven, blocking the merfolk's way home.