The moonlight cut across his cloak like a blade of silver. I could not see his face, but his voice carried a weight that made my skin prickle.
"What secret?" I asked, forcing calm into my tone.
He took a slow step forward. The sound of his boots crunching on the dirt seemed deafening in the still night. "Do not play innocent. This land, this… little garden of yours. Do you think no one notices when a palace lady spends her nights digging in the dirt?"
My heart beat faster, but I kept my face smooth. "You speak as if planting food is a crime."
"Perhaps not a crime," he said, tilting his head, "but in this palace, even the smallest seed can grow into something dangerous. And I make it my duty to know where danger comes from."
I stepped closer, refusing to be cowed. "Then you waste your time watching me. I plant because I enjoy it. That is all."
His lips curved faintly in the moonlight. "Lies taste sweeter when spoken with confidence. Tell me, Lady Shi, are you always this bold?"
I felt a spark of irritation. "Are you always this nosy?"
For a moment, silence hung between us. Then he laughed a low, deep sound that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Interesting," he murmured. "I am the Third Prince. And now that I know you are interesting, I will be watching you more closely."
Before I could respond, he turned and melted into the shadows as if he had never been there at all.
I stood still for a long time, my breath uneven. The Third Prince I had read enough palace history to know he was a man to tread carefully around. Clever, ambitious, with a reputation for getting what he wanted. And now, for some reason, I was on his list.
By dawn, I had shaken off the encounter at least outwardly. The seedlings were growing, and so was my resolve. If I was to survive here, I needed more than a secret farm. I needed allies.
That morning, I asked Xiaolan to fetch me cloth scraps, dried herbs, and a small wooden box. Mei brought ink and paper.
"What are you making, my lady?" Mei asked, watching me arrange the herbs in neat bundles.
"Medicine," I said simply. "Herbal powders for cough, teas for fever. The physicians in the palace are skilled, but they think only of complicated remedies. Sometimes the simplest cure works fastest."
Xiaolan's eyes widened. "Do you know about medicine?"
I smiled faintly. "A little." In truth, I knew enough from my past life to surprise even seasoned healers here.
By midday, I had sent the box of herbs to the small kitchen used by the lower-ranked servants. That was where real connections were made among the people who overheard everything and spoke freely when nobles were not around. If they owed me a favor, I could hear whispers before trouble reached my ears.
The plan worked faster than I expected. That evening, a kitchen maid slipped me a folded piece of parchment. "From someone who says he owes you a debt," she whispered.
"Inside was a single line. The Crown Princess is planning to test you at the Mid-Autumn banquet".
I burned the note immediately, but the message was carved into my mind.
The Mid-Autumn banquet was in three days. That meant three days to prepare, three days to guess what trap the Crown Princess would set.
And in the middle of my plotting, a message arrived that changed everything.
It was from the Fifth Prince the man in green robes who had smiled at me in the garden. He wished to meet privately.
My fingers tightened on the parchment. The Third Prince was watching me. The Fifth Prince wanted to meet me. And the Crown Princess was plotting against me.
The seeds I had planted in my little garden were not the only ones growing.