Reborn as the Henchman Who Protects the Villain novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Lantern Feast
A year later, the Hall of Unlit Lamps had a hole in its roof.
The elders had argued for three months over whether it was a good idea.
Then the Sect Lord had said it was, in the tone he used for arguments he intended to win.
Now a round of clean night sky hung over the dais, and the moon stood in it.
Its light fell straight down on the black chair.
Beside the chair, along the wall, stood nine lamps of black stone that had never been lit in the whole history of the valley.
Tonight they were all burning with a small steady silver flame.
Shi Wen stood next to them in a new black coat with a lantern stitched in silver at the collar.
He was holding a cup of Founding Day wine in both hands, and he was nervous.
He did not know why.
He had stood here a hundred times in the last twelve months, and nobody had tried to kill the Sect Lord at any of them.
It was probably the nine sects.
They sat in their colors down both sides of the Hall, with three hundred Valley disciples among them.
There were plates of dumplings on every table.
For the first time in a thousand years, everyone was looking up at the roof and smiling.
The Heron Lake arbiter had brought a gift of tea.
Red Cliff had sent a crate of persimmons.
A thin pale young man in a grey servant's coat stood against the far wall with a water jar on his shoulder.
He had come with the infirmary party from Heron Lake, and had not been looked at by anyone since he arrived.
Shi Wen nodded to him once.
The young man's eyes dropped to the floor, and then, slowly, he nodded back.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Reborn as the Henchman Who Protects the Villain are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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