The banquet hall was in chaos.
Shadows still clung to the walls like living stains, and the nobles stumbled over each other in their panic. The prince's dagger lay shattered on the ground, its blade reduced to blackened shards.
Do-hyun didn't remember running.
His lungs burned, his vision blurred—but the cold night air told him he was outside, staggering through the palace gardens. His left arm pulsed with an unnatural warmth, the shadows writhing under his skin like caged beasts.
*What have I done?*
Then—a hand seized his wrist.
*Ji-hoon.*
The older man's face was pale, his grip iron. *"Move. Now."*
---
*The Escape*
They slipped through the servants' passages, Ji-hoon's steps sure despite the darkness.
"They saw you," Ji-hoon hissed, shoving Do-hyun into a hidden alcove as boots thundered past. "The prince, the nobles—*everyone*."
Do-hyun's breath hitched. *Dead. I'm dead.*
Ji-hoon's eyes flickered to the boy's shadow-wreathed arm. "And *that*—"
A scream echoed from the banquet hall. Then—*silence.*
Ji-hoon stiffened. "No. She's here."
---
*The Queen Dowager's Intervention*
Back in the hall, the nobles stood frozen, their faces slack.
Queen Dowager Mun stepped forward, her silk robes whispering against the blood-streaked floor. The air around her **rippled**, heavy with the scent of burnt herbs and something far older.
*"You saw nothing,"* she murmured, her voice honeyed, *yet echoing with something not entirely human.*
The nobles' eyes glazed over.
A merchant blinked. "Why… why are we all standing here?"
The prince swayed, clutching his head. "I—I was drinking. Too much, perhaps."
The Dowager smiled. **The memory of Do-hyun's power dissolved like smoke.**
Only **one** man resisted—Lord Han, Lady Seol's father. His gaze sharpened for a heartbeat, meeting the Dowager's. Then, with a shudder, he too looked away.
*Good enough.*
She turned to the captain of the White Masks. *"Find the boy before he remembers what he is."*
---
*The Slums – Safe, For Now*
In a crumbling tenement far from the palace, Ji-hoon barred the door.
Do-hyun collapsed against the wall, his arm finally still. "They'll kill me."
Ji-hoon didn't answer. Instead, he tossed a bundle of rags at him. "Change. Now."
Outside, the city slept—*unaware of the hunt beginning in its shadows.*