The hall bowed in one sweeping wave as the Emperor approached. Even the lantern flames seemed to bend toward him, trembling at the edges of his presence.
But the Emperor's attention was fixed on one person.
Jiao Shui.
His gaze held a quiet recognition, the kind that didn't belong on a stranger's face. It drew murmurs from the gathered nobles, low ripples of confusion and blooming suspicion.
Prince Yang stepped forward smoothly, though his jaw tightened for a fraction of a second.
"Your Majesty," he said, voice honeyed, "I was just explaining the terms of the Crown Princess selection."
"Yes," the Emperor replied, his tone warm and almost teasing. "And as usual, you explained it like a man reading a death sentence at a spring festival."
Prince Yang's smile thinned.
Song Lingfang stepped subtly closer to Jiao Shui, hands folded behind him but tension wrapped tight around his shoulders.
The Emperor's eyes flicked to him.
"General Song. You stand very close to what I requested."
Song Lingfang stiffened. "Your Majesty, with respect, she is a citizen under my protection."
"A citizen?" the Emperor echoed, amusement glinting. "That's a very delicate way to say you're attached."
Heat brushed Jiao Shui's cheeks. Song Lingfang inhaled sharply, caught between outrage and restraint.
Prince Yang watched the exchange with the stillness of a venomous serpent.
The Emperor returned his gaze to Jiao Shui.
"Step forward."
Jiao Shui did. Her pulse beat heavy, but her eyes stayed steady. She bowed, waiting.
The Emperor studied her with an expression too complex to decipher.
"Lift your head," he said.
She obeyed.
Silence enveloped the hall.
Then:
"You resemble someone," he said lightly, "someone I once lost."
A tremor rippled through her chest.Memory scratched the edge of her mind again — incense smoke, a hand brushing tears from her cheek.
Prince Yang's brows rose slightly. Song Lingfang's hands curled into fists.
"But," the Emperor continued, "the real reason I requested her is simpler."
He turned, addressing the hall.
"Jiao Shui saved my life."
Whispers erupted like wildfire.
Jiao Shui blinked, stunned. "Your Majesty, I—"
He lifted a hand. "Let me explain before you deny the truth."
Prince Yang's eyes sharpened dangerously.
The Emperor's voice softened.
"Years ago, when rebels infiltrated the outer palace, someone dragged me out of a collapsing pavilion. I never saw their face. I never learned their name. But two things stayed with me."
He raised two fingers.
"One, they wore a simple jade pin fashioned like a crescent moon."Two."Two, they whispered, 'Live, even if it burns.'"
The whisper echoed in her bones.A memory she had locked away in her past life — a moment before everything shattered.
Her knees almost buckled.
The Emperor's gaze gentled further.
"Only recently did I learn the pin belonged to the Shui Clan. And only one woman has returned from the destroyed branch of that house."
Gasps spread across the room.
"You."
Jiao Shui's breath stilled.It had been her.In her past life, just before Prince Yang's betrayal swallowed her world, she had saved the Emperor without realizing it — or remembering it clearly after her death.
Prince Yang's smile was thin, forced. "A charming coincidence."
"Not coincidence," the Emperor said, eyes flicking to him. "Fate."Then to Jiao Shui. "Or debt."
Song Lingfang stepped forward, voice controlled but edged with steel."Your Majesty, with respect, if she saved your life, shouldn't that grant her freedom, not… selection?"
The Emperor tilted his head. "An interesting argument. But I'm not imprisoning her."
His gaze warmed again as it returned to Jiao Shui.
"I'm offering her a place where I can protect her myself."
The words hung in the air like a blade suspended by a thread.
Prince Yang's expression darkened with barely contained fury.
And Jiao Shui — caught between two men who had altered the fate of her past life — felt the first threads of panic unravel inside her.
Because this wasn't about a selection anymore.
It was about possession.
About truth.
About resurrection.
And the Emperor's next words sealed it:
"Jiao Shui, the selection begins at dawn. But understand this—"his voice dropped, intimate enough to steal her breath"—you were chosen by me long before tonight."