Some people choose to follow commands whispered from the shadows…
But once the heart begins to speak for itself, no shadow can silence it.
⸻
A cool night breeze swept gently across the veranda of Donghua Palace,
carrying whispers from the past through the air.
Beneath the long cast of moonlight, Jiang Xinluo sat alone.
In her hand was a small wooden box containing a single sheet of paper and a jet-black seal.
A faint night bird's call echoed—
not natural, but a coded signal.
She rose silently, walked to the concealed curtain behind the palace wall, and pulled it softly.
A faint grinding of metal followed, and a hidden door opened, revealing a man cloaked in gray.
"Princess Jiang Xinluo… your mission is starting to drift."
His flat voice rang in a room devoid of even lanternlight.
"Our kingdom did not send you to be swayed by sentiment.
Remember what you are here to do:
Extract the secrets of the Li Kingdom and isolate Crown Prince Feng Yuhan from his internal power base."
Xinluo said nothing.
She had never been afraid—
but this time, her heart quivered slightly.
"What if I believe that virtue outweighs power?" she asked softly.
"Virtue is what losers tell themselves to feel better," the man replied before vanishing into the shadows.
The hidden door closed, leaving only silence.
Jiang Xinluo stood there for a long time, locked in a storm of conflicted thoughts.
⸻
The next morning,
in the herb garden of the central palace, Wen Yichen was tending to Qinglian, a rare herb used to cleanse the blood.
He pulled a small notebook from inside his robe and began recording something in neat handwriting.
Soft footsteps made him glance up—
Jiang Xinluo was standing across the herb beds.
"You've come… for medicine, or for answers?" he asked directly.
Xinluo looked away briefly before replying,
"I know you're a close friend of Princess Xianlan…
I want to know what she believes in—
in a world where everyone wears a mask."
Wen Yichen chuckled softly.
"Xianlan isn't naïve.
She knows the world is a stage full of actors.
But she still believes that even in a world of performances,
someone, somewhere, will choose not to lie about what matters most."
"And what about you?" Xinluo asked again. "Aren't you afraid of being betrayed?"
"Less afraid than I am of becoming someone who doesn't dare trust anyone at all," he replied.
⸻
That same day,
Feng Yuhan appeared at the Empress's Palace to report progress on the poison investigation.
As he left, he met Xianlan's gaze briefly at the edge of the hall.
She offered a small smile—
a silent message: "I'm still standing."
He raised an eyebrow slightly in reply—
"And I'll always be watching from right here."
In this moment, saying nothing at all was the language they understood best.
⸻
That afternoon,
in the study behind Xianyan Palace,
Xianlan sat reviewing the latest investigation notes from Wen Yichen.
Inside was a lead:
the merchant who had imported the fake cosmetics was linked to the Left Chancellor,
a man deeply connected to Noble Consort Su.
"You're about to expose someone…
and rest assured, they won't go down quietly."
Wen Yichen's voice echoed in her memory.
Xianlan bowed her head, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply.
She was playing a game where even the loser… had to die quietly.
⸻
That evening,
Jiang Xinluo sat alone in her chamber,
clutching a jade ring—
a keepsake from her Li Kingdom mother.
She knew:
if she stayed on her current path,
she would eventually become Xianlan's enemy.
But then the image of that resolute woman—standing tall amidst poisonous mist, refusing to let silence devour truth—
flashed into her mind.
"I… won't let a woman like her fall because of my mission."
She stood.
Took a short ceremonial blade from her dressing table—
And buried it beneath her bed.
"When the time comes…
I'll choose my own path."
⸻
In a secret chamber deep behind the inner palace,
the same cloaked man appeared again.
He laid out a scroll of names from the Li Kingdom.
A crimson circle surrounded one:
Xianlan.
And beneath it, only two words were written—
Must disappear.