Night slid over the Inner Palace like ink poured slowly, deliberately.
Jiao Shui returned to her chambers under escort. The guards were polite. Too polite. Their steps matched hers exactly, as if she were already part of the architecture rather than a person moving through it.
Restricted within the Inner Palace.
A gilded cage always smelled nicer than iron.
The moment the doors closed, the bullet comments flooded back with reckless enthusiasm.
That was terrifying.She stood her ground.He didn't punish her immediately. That's worse.Delayed decisions are how emperors sharpen knives.
Jiao Shui exhaled and leaned against the door for a heartbeat longer than proper decorum allowed.
"Calm," she murmured to herself. "Think."
She crossed the room and poured tea she had no intention of drinking. The steam curled upward, reminding her unpleasantly of incense smoke in the audience hall.
The Emperor had retreated.
Not because she'd won.
Because he was recalculating.
A soft knock came.
Her fingers stilled.
No one announced themselves.
She set the teacup down and said, "Enter."
The door opened just enough for Xiu Kai, her maid, to slip inside. Her expression was tight, eyes darting behind her before she closed the door again.
"Princess," Xiu Kai whispered, "the palace walls are talking tonight."
That confirmed it.
"Who?" Jiao Shui asked.
"Everyone," Xiu Kai replied grimly. "The Ministry of Rites. The Inner Court. Even the embroidery bureau. Word spread fast. Too fast."
Jiao Shui's lips curved faintly. "So he allowed it."
Xiu Kai hesitated. "Your Highness… the Emperor visited the Ancestral Shrine after court."
That drew Jiao Shui's full attention.
Visited alone.That's bad.That's very bad.
"When?" she asked.
"Immediately after you left the hall."
Jiao Shui closed her eyes briefly.
When Xi Wuian went to the shrine, it meant he was reminding himself who he was. And what he was entitled to take.
"Anything else?" she asked.
Xiu Kai swallowed. "Prince Yang has been seen moving freely between courts tonight."
Of course he had.
Jiao Shui dismissed her maid and stood alone in the lamplit quiet. The room felt smaller than it had this morning. The walls closer. Listening.
She moved to the window and cracked it open.
Cold air spilled in.
The Inner Palace gardens lay below, moonlight silvering the paths. Somewhere in the distance, laughter drifted faintly, servants unaware or pretending to be.
The bullet comments shifted, oddly subdued.
She's thinking again.She always does this when she's scared.She won't run. She never runs.
"I can't," she whispered.
Running would only prove she belonged in the net.
A shadow moved below.
Her gaze sharpened.
Someone stood beneath the flowering pear tree, unmoving, as if waiting to be noticed.
The moment she leaned forward, the figure stepped into moonlight.
Xi Wuian.
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
The world narrowed.
The bullet comments detonated.
He came himself.That's worse than a summons.That's affection wearing armor.
Jiao Shui did not step back from the window.
Neither did he look away.
Slowly, deliberately, the Emperor raised his hand.
Not in command.
In greeting.
A quiet knock echoed at her door.
Not urgent.Not formal.
Her heart beat once, heavy.
She did not turn around.
"Yunan," his voice called softly from outside. "You said you wanted to choose aloud."
A pause.
"I'm listening."
Cliffhanger hung between them like a held breath.