YUN RONG XIAN (雲榮羡)

  Day 4, 4th Month of the Lunar Calendar, 6000th Year of the Yun Dynasty, Taishan Province, Tian’an Sect

  The frozen night air tunnelled through the stone paved corridors of the Imperial Palace of Taishan, its piercing blades sharper than arrows. The evening court had finished later than expected. I quickened my step and planted my hands into my deep sleeves.

  “Good day to you, Your Highness,” Immortal Ze Yijun spat, with such venom, that even the chilly air recoiled.

  What was he doing here?

  Ze Yijun would never voluntarily step into Taishan. Not even his corpse could be dragged here if he had any say in it. So, it was all the fishier that he had appeared at this late hour.

  “Good evening,” I answered.

  “What is Your Esteemed Highness doing out here on such a chilly night?”

  I should be asking you. Why are you trying to speak with me? You never speak with me.

  “The evening court has just finished.”

  Ze Yijun shuffled his feet. “Oh right.”

  What are you hiding?

  “And yourself?”

  “Pardon me, Your Highness. I don’t understand your meaning.”

  Stalling. Quite obviously, but effective, nonetheless.

  “What are you doing out on such a chilly night?”

  “Ah right, of course. Just enjoying the moon, Your Highness.”

  Right. And that explains why you are coming from the direction of the inner palace…

  Speaking of inner palace, why didn’t that woman attend the evening court?

  I ran my eyes across his outfit that was dyed cerulean, the only blemish being some violet flower petals clinging to his robe.

  Interesting.

  My eyes travelled to his face. I knew Ze Yijun and Ze Zhiwei were twins, but their sheer similarity was still unnerving.

  “Without your brother?”

  “He’s taking care of our mother, Your Highness.”

  I nodded. “Please give my respects to your mother.”

  He returned a grimace. “I will. But I must be going, Your Highness.” Yet he didn’t make a move to leave.

  The members of the Ze family were never good at acting, and it was clearer than ever that this flaw had been passed to Ze Yijun. I fixed my eyes on him and willed him to speak by staring alone.

  He shuffled again and breathed into his hands to warm up. Then he opened his mouth, and the words tripped and tumbled out.

  Just like his brother always did.

  “Right then, I must be going. It has been a big day for me, as Your Highness would understand.”

  ***

  The Empress was planning something. That much was certain.

  I waited until he left the vicinity before I move to teleport.

  Yun Shiqi was also a member of the inner palace.

  It was time that I paid her a visit.

  The Blooming Magnolia Pavilion—the residence of Princess Changping—lived up to its name. A single magnolia tree stood at the centre, its branches extending across the stone courtyard. Each movement of wind released petals that struck the tiles in irregular, overlapping rhythms. Ghostly starlight to dance on the marbled floor.

  Everything was in order.

  Except for one detail.

  A person in black leaned against a column near the study. They turned their head slightly as I arrived. Their presence was deliberate. Their awareness was precise. Inner energy radiated with restraint, but the density was clear. High-level cultivator.

  I drew flame to my palm. Controlled. Contained. If they moved first, I would incinerate them. I walked forward without pause, acting as if I hadn’t seen them. Let them reveal their weakness first.

  The figure lowered his hood.

  Gan Yuanxiao.

  The divine beauty found my eyes with their usual quiet certainty. Shadows peeled back from his face, revealing the familiar planes of his jaw, the stillness he always carried. Not the stillness of peace, but one like the eye of a storm.

  I extinguished the flame in my palm and finished my stride. I inclined my head to him, and he followed suit. His dark eyes were unavoidable, like a cat eyeing its prey.

  He readjusted his feet. “What brings you here, Crown Prince?”

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  I had a great distaste for the title, and I knew that Gan Yuanxiao had deliberately emphasised it to throw me off.

  A few more titles and I would be my mother’s caged bird.

  I smiled. “I should ask you.”

  Gan Yuanxiao was holding a ceramic jug and there was a trace of fermented spirits in the air. He peered into the jar, before tossing it over his shoulder. Clay shattered in the empty atmosphere.

  He brushed his hands. “Just enjoying the moon.”

  It seemed that ‘enjoying the moon’ was everyone’s default answer to my questions. I wondered how they might react if I told them that tonight was actually a moonless night.

  “Mhm,” I said, then turned my attention to the ground.

  The tiles should have been mirror-glazed, but all I could see was dust. Layers and layers of black ash-like substance. Like fresh coal.

  I looked around the empty hallways. My residence was always bustling with maids, servants, and eunuchs like some insect infestation. Yet my sister’s residence was as silent as a grave. The candles in the hallway had long burnt out, leaving only the silvery stars to guide the way of any passer-by.

  Laughter resounded. “Yes, this isn’t the best place to see the moon.” He casually leaned against the balcony rail. “But she’s here.”

  Gan Yuanxiao’s real personality was not romantic, and there were only a rare few times he revealed that. But his amorous act naturally came with the mask of being a heavenly beauty.

  Gan Yuanxiao and Yun Shiqi.

  Gan Yuanxiao was a prodigy despite his unknown origins; although, it was suspected that the Grand Chancellor had deliberately hidden the truth of his parentage.

  Yun Shiqi was a survivor, born in royalty but treated like a beggar; and her shameful origins were common knownledge.

  An unlikely pair but fitting.

  “You seem troubled, Your Highness,” he said.

  I hadn’t intended to meet him here, and I wasn’t someone who participated in small talk. But maintaining my silence was a sure way to be suspicious, especially to the keen eye of Gan Yuanxiao.

  “How fairs my sister?” I asked.

  He gave a grin, further accentuating his sharp jawline.

  “You could ask her yourself.”

  Yun Shiqi wouldn’t tell me anything beyond court affairs even if I asked. Our sibling relationship was purely transactional. She had always kept it that way, and I didn’t contest.

  “Perhaps,” I replied.

  He laughed again, loud, and heartily, compared to the deafening silence of the night.

  “Your Highness, I wonder why you’re so guarded against me.”

  Gan Yuanxiao straight forwardness was a refreshing take compared to reality. The royal family was like a forest of blades; a single wrong move and blood would spill. With my family built on the bodies of the less fortunate, it paid to be more careful.

  “Sometimes, things don't always go as planned,” I said.

  “You really are the Crown Prince, Your Highness,” he concluded, as repositioned his foot to clear the path for a small beetle crawling on the timber veranda. Strangely considerate.

  His gaze travelled to the study room. I followed it. Longing pulled faintly at the corners of his mouth, softened the arch of his brows, lit his obsidian eyes.

  “She seems different these days,” he said.

  I gave a slight nod. He took it as reassurance and smiled.

  A mistake.

  Gan Yuanxiao was too beautiful. Not in any specific romantic sense—just objectively so. The kind of face that attracted everyone: young and old, cunning and sincere alike.

  He was the type of person that brought trouble just by existing.

  A light breeze rushed through the trees, playfully toying with the leaves that swayed obediently. We were like those leaves. Rustled by the wind of the Empress’ command, forced to sway. Leaves rained off the tree after a more brutal wind whipped through.

  Yun Shiqi already had a marital agreement. And my mother always got what she wanted.

  My sister would have to choose.

  Gan Yuanxiao turned his head toward me, an amused expression on his face. “You’re awfully quiet, Your Highness.”

  What irony. My thoughts were louder than claps of thunder as they swirled within my mind.

  The heavenly beauty pushed his hand through his hair. “If you want to say something, say it, Your Highness.”

  When I looked at him, he was grinning with sparkly white teeth. He was expectant, like a child longing for a candy. It was funny seeing a man, thousands of years older than me, exhibiting such childlike behaviour.

  “I’m curious about your relationship with my sister. When did that happen?” I said, taking on the role of an overprotective brother.

  It was the best way to explain my ad hoc appearance. At any rate, there was no need to dwell on the former conversation. Family ugliness should never be exposed.

  Gan Yuanxiao raised an eyebrow. “I am surprised Your Highness is interested in such things.”

  I was not interested.

  The four-letter word that began with an ‘l’ was nothing more than a trick. Some searched desperately for it, some sought to possess and dominate over it, some treated it as a game. But once you experienced it, there would be hell.

  The Emperor’s affairs alone shown me the reality of it. As soon as the wave of one had subsided, a new one arose. Pain, misery, tears. Who knew that four-letter word could contain such grief.

  Yun Shiqi was the best example.

  Gan Yuanxiao turned away from me.

  “I first met Ah Qi just after the Liantai Sect Incident. It had been an accident. But I never regretted it.”

  An accident indeed. If Yun Shiqi hadn’t shown interest in marriage, the Empress wouldn’t have insisted on marrying her off to that stepcousin. Everyone should play their role.

  The corners of his mouth turned up.

  “You know, Your Highness, you could find someone too. There are many young ladies who would be interested,” he joked.

  I cleared my throat, offering him nothing more than a polite gesture. As if to add to the growing irony, he flashed a smile that matched his glittering charismatic countenance.

  I wondered if his act intended to seduce females and males.

  We turned at the sound from the study’s door. The hinges were not well-oiled, judging by the dying cat noises it made. Yun Shiqi stepped out, wearing her favourite jade green dress. Her silver peacock combs glinted in the moonlight, perfectly matching her ebony hair. She shut the door behind her and glided towards us.

  Gan Yuanxiao extended his right arm, and she hugged it towards her chest. She warmly smiled at him. “Sorry for keeping you late.”

  He tapped her nose with a finger. “No worries. Shall we go?”

  Yun Shiqi cast a glance in my direction.

  “Whenever you want,” she verbally said. But a quiet voice drifted into my mind. “Brother, why are you here?”

  I fixed my eyes on her hazel ones. “I wanted to let you know that the Empress is likely making her move.”

  And to find out if you knew why Ze Yijun had been prowling around the inner palace this evening.

  We all stared at each other. I smiled at Gan Yuanxiao hoping to break the tension. Her mouth remained upturned.

  “I don’t want to talk about marriage matters.”

  Interestingly, that was the first thing on her mind. Love did indeed cloud judgement. I stepped toward the side of the balcony.

  Her eyebrows narrowed at my movement. Yun Shiqi smoothed out her silk dress even though there was not a single crinkle on it. She pinched her lips together, then exhaled violently.

  “Let’s go,” the princess said.

  I knew she wasn't just telling Yuanxiao that they were leaving. The night had aged, yet the air was silent. Not even the buzzing of insects could be heard.

  I called after her. “Enjoy the evening.”

  She did not reply.