The curtains shivered.
Not from wind.From presence.
Jiao Shui inched toward the balcony, each step a negotiation between curiosity and the primal urge to run far, far away. The moon outside poured its silver across the carved wooden floor, catching on the outline of someone standing in the shadows.
A man.Slim. Still. Silent.Like he had been carved from moonlight rather than born.
[System: Unknown entity detected.][System: Host, retreat.][System: I repeat: RETREAT.]
She ignored it.Because of course she did.
The stranger stepped forward enough for the moon to reveal him. His features were gentle, scholar-like, framed by soft dark hair and eyes that felt strangely… familiar.
He bowed slightly.
"Miss Jiao Shui."
She stiffened. "You know me?"
He smiled, and something in that smile unsettled her. It wasn't threatening. It was worse—knowing.
"I'm relieved you've awakened." His voice was calm, soothing like warmed tea. "His Majesty has been… tense."
[System: Translation: Emperor losing sanity: 12 percent.][System: Possibly dangerous.][System: Also entertaining.]
She shot the system a glare it couldn't see.
"And who are you?" she asked carefully.
He placed a hand over his chest. "Song Lingfang. Imperial historian."
Her breath caught.
This was the gentle one.The one the bullet comments had whispered about earlier.The one whose presence somehow tugged at memories she didn't have.
Song Lingfang looked at her with concern that felt too warm, too soft to belong in a palace built on sharp edges.
"You were found collapsed in the Lotus Pavilion," he said. "The Emperor ordered you brought here for treatment." His eyes flickered with something unreadable. "We feared the worst."
Jiao Shui rubbed her temples. "Three days gone… hallucinations… Emperors… and now balcony ninjas. Wonderful."
He blinked. "Ninjas?"
"Never mind." She waved him off. "Were you sent by the Emperor?"
A pause.
"No."
His tone was too honest, too quiet.
She narrowed her eyes. "So why are you here?"
Song Lingfang stepped closer, but not in a predatory way. More like someone approaching a frightened bird that might fly away if startled.
"I came because you called for me."
Her heart nearly flipped out of her chest.
"I—I didn't."
"You did," he said, eyes earnest. "In your sleep. Over and over."
[System: Host has triggered Hidden Flag: Past Connection.][System: Intimacy level with Song Lingfang +2.][System: Emperor Yang's jealousy probability increasing.]
Jiao Shui's stomach dropped."This is ridiculous," she muttered. "I don't even know you."
The historian gave her a soft smile that felt like déjà vu."You once did."
She opened her mouth to demand answers, but footsteps thundered down the hall.
Song Lingfang's expression tightened."He's coming. I must leave."
"Wait—"
He stepped back into the shadows of the balcony.
"Do not trust everything you see," he whispered. "And whatever you do… do not let the Emperor know I was here."
Before she could respond, he vanished.Disappeared as if the moon swallowed him whole.
The door slammed open.
Emperor Yang stepped in, robes flowing like a storm cloud ready to break.
His eyes scanned the room.Once.Twice.
Then sharpened.
"You're not alone," he said.
Her pulse jumped. "Who else would I be with? Your Majesty, I can barely stand without swaying!"
His gaze turned colder.
[System: Emperor Yang suspicion level +4.][System: Danger.][System: Host is screwed.]
He strode toward the balcony.
She panicked."Your Majesty, wait—"
But he pushed the curtains aside.
Moonlight.Silence.Nothing else.
Slowly, he turned to her.
"Someone was here."
"I don't know what you mean—"
"Do not lie to me."
His voice was velvet over a blade.Not loud.Not angry.But it thrummed with a destructive certainty.
He paused.
Then something unexpected, something frighteningly intimate, crossed his features.
"You laughed at me earlier," he murmured. "No one laughs at me."
Her throat tightened.She realized too late that she had stepped back—not because he was frightening, but because he was dangerously close.
"And yet," he continued, stepping forward again, "I did not punish you."
"Should I apologize?" she whispered.
He looked at her like she was a puzzle he desperately wanted to open.
"No," he said softly. "Just don't laugh… for anyone else."
Her breath caught.
And before she could respond—
[System: ALERT. ALERT. Incoming danger from east wing.][System: Assassins approaching.][System: Chapter ending required immediately.]
Jiao Shui blinked. "Assassins?!"
The Emperor stiffened.
"Jiao Shui," he said, voice turning iron, "get behind me."