The training grounds were quiet at dawn. Most guards still slept, and the mist clung low to the stone tiles.
Jin Xuan Yue stood at the center, shirtless, his blade glinting with morning frost as he moved — fluid, precise, deadly.
From the edge of the arena, Rui Shen yawned and flopped onto a bench, an apple in one hand. "You know, normal people sleep at this hour."
"Then I'm clearly not normal," Jin Xuan Yue replied, not breaking rhythm.
Rui Shen took a bite. "You haven't been sleeping much at all. Since... she arrived."
The prince's blade stopped mid-air. Just a flicker. Then it resumed.
"She?"
"Don't play dumb. Li Hua. The new maid. You've been... different since she came."
Silence.
Rui Shen sat up, more serious now. "You think it's her, don't you? Qing Yue."
Jin Xuan Yue finally sheathed his sword. "I don't know what to think anymore."
"You were never one to doubt."
"Because the truth was always clear," he said, voice low. "Now it's not."
Rui Shen watched his friend — tall, calm, but with that familiar storm behind his eyes.
"She has her scent," Jin Xuan Yue said quietly. "Her voice. Her habits."
"Maybe that's just what happens when someone haunts you for a thousand years."
"No. I've searched for her in every face. But this... this feels different."
Rui Shen sighed. "And if it is her? What then?"
Jin Xuan Yue turned to face him fully. "Then I have to know the truth. Even if it breaks me."
---
Meanwhile, deep in the archives beneath the palace, Li Hua turned the pages of a forbidden scroll with trembling hands. Symbols glowed faintly in the candlelight.
"Blood moon... celestial convergence... the seal truly weakens."
Her pulse quickened.
So it was real. The prophecy of the Demon Star's rebirth. The thing that destroyed her people… and could consume the heavens next.
And yet… the scroll also spoke of something else. A betrayal not by one man… but by an entire council.
Her grip tightened.
Was it truly him… or had she been lied to?
---
Far beyond the palace walls, on a mountain wrapped in fog and shadow, the Moon Goddess stood in ritual.
Her white robe fluttered in a wind that had no source. The demon beside her lit the last brazier.
"Nine nights remain."
"Yes," she whispered. "Nine nights until chaos is reborn."
She stared into the dark sky, and her lips curled.
"And when the heavens fall… he will finally understand what it means to lose everything."