The peach trees in the garden were in bloom, petals falling like snow as Jin Mei wandered through them with a thoughtful frown.
She had been watching Li Hua from the shadows for days now.
The girl was... too graceful. Too quiet. Too poised for a mere maid. Her movements were careful — but there was strength in them. And her eyes… gods, they weren't the eyes of a servant.
"She's hiding something," Jin Mei muttered, plucking a flower from a branch.
"Talking to yourself again?" came Rui Shen's voice behind her.
She rolled her eyes. "Better than talking to you."
"Ouch. My fragile heart."
She looked at him. "I'm serious. That maid — Li Hua. Something's not right."
Rui Shen grew quiet, serious for once. "You think she's dangerous?"
"No," Jin Mei said after a pause. "But I think… she's been hurt. And she's lying about who she is."
---
That evening, Li Hua found herself alone in the side courtyard. The moon hung low, full and silver.
She looked up, remembering a night centuries ago when a voice had whispered, "If I could trap the moon in a box, I would give it to you."
Her chest tightened. That voice… his voice…
No. That Jin Xuan Yue was dead to her. Or he should be.
She pulled out the jade pendant hidden in her sleeve — the one he gave her long ago. She clenched it tightly.
"I won't forgive you."
"What won't you forgive?" said a voice behind her.
Li Hua nearly jumped. She turned — Jin Mei stood there, arms crossed.
"You've been watching me," Li Hua said, hiding the pendant behind her back.
"I have. And you're not very good at pretending to be a maid."
Li Hua's lips tightened. "Believe what you want."
Jin Mei stepped closer. "I don't know who you are, or why you're here, but if you plan to hurt my brother—"
"I don't," Li Hua snapped.
Jin Mei looked at her carefully. Then, softer: "I think you already did."
---
Later that night, Li Hua slipped into the palace library, searching for another scroll mentioned in the archives.
She didn't expect Jin Xuan Yue to already be there.
He looked up from a book, gaze sharpening.
"I had a feeling I'd find you here."
"I—I was just—"
"Reading ancient texts on celestial convergence?" he asked, holding up the very scroll she came for.
Her throat tightened.
He walked slowly toward her, scroll in hand. "Tell me. Why are you interested in blood moons, maid?"
Li Hua tried to step back, but her foot hit the low bookcase.
"You're not afraid of me," he said quietly.
"Should I be?"
He stared at her long and hard. Then… slowly, he reached out and touched a strand of her hair that had fallen loose.
"Golden… just like hers."
Li Hua's heart stopped.
He let the strand fall. "But you can't be her. She would never come back here."
"She's dead," she said quickly.
He turned away. "That's what I keep telling myself."