The flame symbol on the stone pillar wasn't old.
Not weathered. Not dust-worn.
Fresh. As if carved only hours before.
Yun stood in the darkened corridor, staring at it with a tightening in his chest.
The shape matched the pendant tucked beneath his robe—the same sigil from his mother's letters.
But this wasn't hers.
Someone else had left it here.
Someone inside the manor.
Or someone who had slipped past its gates unnoticed.
At dawn, the first message arrived.
A folded piece of black parchment, slid beneath his door.
No seal. No signature. No markings.
Just four words, written in elegant silver ink:
"Come to the lantern."
Yun stared at the message.
It could've meant many things.
But he already knew which lantern.
The red one.
The red lantern room was cold in the morning light. Its soft glow had faded, the air dry and still.
But someone had been here.
He found a second note on the altar where incense was usually burned.
This one was different.
It wasn't a threat.
It was a riddle.
One flame seals the truth.Two eyes watched her fall.The third flame opens the gate……if the heir dares recall.
Yun read the lines three times.
They didn't make sense.
Not yet.
But the word "heir" made something shift in his chest.
Later that day, Yun and Lady Shen met in the garden again, away from servants, behind a trellis of moonflowers.
He handed her both notes.
She read them in silence.
Then looked up at him. "You're being contacted."
"By who?" he asked.
She didn't answer immediately.
"I've heard whispers in the capital," she finally said. "Of a sect long thought disbanded. The Order of the Third Flame."
"Another secret sect?"
"Not just a sect," she said. "A shadow archive. They don't fight. They remember. They collect forbidden knowledge, seal dangerous bloodlines, and protect… or destroy… legacy techniques."
Yun's heart quickened. "You think they knew my mother?"
"I think they still do."
Yun took a slow breath.
Everything was moving faster now.
And the ground beneath him felt thinner by the day.
That evening, as the rain began again, he returned to his mother's sealed study.
He lit a single candle and sat at her old desk.
He laid out the riddle.
One flame seals the truth.Two eyes watched her fall.The third flame opens the gate……if the heir dares recall.
His mother's pendant sat beside the note, the crimson jewel glowing faintly in the dim light.
He picked it up.
Pressed it to his palm.
Focused.
For a moment—nothing.
Then… warmth.
Then pain.
His mind flooded.
Flashes.
A woman's scream.
A blurred face at the balcony.
A figure in white robes.
His mother's voice—urgent, gasping.
"Protect the boy. No matter the cost."
And then darkness.
He opened his eyes with a gasp.
The candle had burned nearly to the base.
His hand trembled.
The pendant had activated something.
A memory fragment.
A sealed moment.
And someone else had been there the night she died.
Two eyes.
Two witnesses.
Maybe not just Li Chen.
Maybe someone closer.
He slipped the pendant back under his robe.
As he left the study, a shadow moved ahead of him.
He turned sharply.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He followed silently—down the side hall, through the lotus corridor.
At the end stood a girl.
A young maid. Barely sixteen.
Her face pale. Hands trembling.
She bowed quickly. "Young master… I—I saw something…"
Yun frowned. "What is it?"
She looked around nervously. "Please… not here. Too many ears."
He nodded. "Come."
They moved into the empty tea courtyard.
The maid looked terrified.
"I—I served your mother, back then," she said. "Only for a short time. But the night she… she died… I saw someone."
"Who?"
She shook her head. "I can't say. If I speak it… I'll disappear."
"You're safe now."
"No one is safe," she whispered. "But I know this… she gave something to Lady Shen. Before she died. Something no one else knew about."
Yun froze.
"What did she give her?"
"A sealed scroll. Hidden in a red silken case. She said… only if the heir returns should it be opened."
Yun's mind raced.
So Lady Shen had known all along.
And hadn't told him.
He returned to her chambers late that night.
No servant stopped him.
She was alone, reading by the fire.
"You knew," he said without greeting. "About the scroll. About what my mother left."
Lady Shen looked up slowly.
"You saw the maid," she said. "I wondered when she'd talk."
Yun didn't hide the anger in his voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wasn't sure you were ready," she said softly. "Even now… I'm not."
He stepped forward. "That's not your decision to make."
Her lips parted, but no words came.
Then—slowly—she reached under the low cabinet beside her seat.
And drew out a red silk scroll case.
She offered it with both hands.
"I kept it because I promised her I would."
Yun took it.
Their fingers brushed.
Neither moved.
The fire crackled.
And behind them, the red lantern on her altar flickered once.
Then again.
Then turned blue.