Rain tapped gently against the roof of the Phoenix Pavilion.
Inside, the Empress sat alone, sipping chrysanthemum tea that had long gone cold.
She had not slept.
Not since Shen returned from Long Forest Ridge… alive.
"They failed," she whispered. "Again."
Then — a knock at the side entrance.Three soft taps.One long.
Her heart froze.
That signal hadn't been used in nearly twenty years.
The visitor was tall, cloaked in northern robes, with a pendant of bone and froststeel hanging around his neck — shaped like a crescent moon over twin dragons.
The Empress dismissed the maids.
"You should not be here," she said coldly.
"I should have come sooner," the man replied.
"Why now?"
He stepped forward and placed a sealed jade scroll on the table.
"The Sovereign of Aoqin bids you read this. It concerns the Vanished Prince. And the child who survived."
The Empress stared at the seal.
Ancient. Etched in northern runes.
She had seen it once before — on a night soaked in blood and betrayal.
She broke it open.
Inside was a prophecy, carved not by ink, but by soul-touched runes that shimmered under moonlight.
It read:
"When the twin stars rise beneath the Veiled Dragon, one will wear the crown… the other, the sky.One will bleed gold.The other will burn shadow.And from their war, the empire will be born anew… or fall to ash."
Her hands trembled.
She whispered: "It's real…"
The envoy nodded. "The North has waited. Now we move."
But the Empress looked away.
"No. You will wait again."
"Why?"
"…Because he doesn't trust me. And he shouldn't."
At that moment, in the outer city, Shen walked silently through a street of lanterns.
A festival for the Princess's survival was underway.
The people chanted his name — "the Gray Hero."
He hated it.
He never wanted fame.
But now?
"They're watching," he murmured. "And not just the court."
Back in the Phoenix Pavilion, the Empress sealed the prophecy and handed it back.
"One day," she said, "I'll tell him the truth."
The envoy raised a brow. "About who he is?"
"No," she whispered. "About why I let him go."
Far beneath the palace, in an abandoned crypt sealed to all but two people, a single name flared to life on an old memorial stone:
Li Yun — Hidden Twin of the Veiled Dragon