The manor buzzed with shallow laughter and rustling silk. An announcement had gone out: the patriarch was holding a private gathering for key family members, a rare event since the late Madame Li's death. Li Yun stood in the shadow of the main hall's curved roof, arms crossed as he watched nobles shuffle in like painted masks at a festival.
The invitation had not come to him.
It came to Lady Shen.
From a balcony above, she descended with silent grace, dressed in a deep violet hanfu embroidered with silver cranes. Her face, as always, betrayed nothing. Yet Yun saw it—the rigid posture, the clipped breath. She was walking into a den of knives.
And she knew it.
Yun waited in the garden, hidden behind a wall of peach blossoms. From here, he could listen without being seen. The Flame Sigil beneath his skin pulsed faintly, warning him of a gathering storm.
Inside the hall, Li Chen stood beside the patriarch's second wife, whispering quietly into her ear. They glanced toward Lady Shen with smiles too wide to be sincere.
The patriarch himself—Yun's father—sat stiffly on the dais, his once-robust frame thinner, shadowed by illness or guilt. His eyes never quite met Lady Shen's as she bowed.
"My lord," she greeted.
"We've summoned you," Li Chen said smoothly, "to speak of Yun."
Lady Shen didn't blink. "What of him?"
"He returns stronger than before. Sharper. Some might say... too sharp."
"A boy grows. That is not a crime."
"Unless he returns with secrets," Li Chen pressed, "or new allegiances."
Lady Shen's voice never trembled. "I know of no such things."
"But you do protect him, don't you?"
Yun's hands clenched into fists beneath his robes.
The patriarch finally spoke. "You will tell us if the boy becomes dangerous."
Lady Shen inclined her head. "I would never allow harm to come to this family."
Li Chen's lips twitched. "Good. Then we're agreed. You'll keep watch. And report."
—
Later, she returned to her chamber and found Yun waiting in the shadows.
"They're turning on you now," he said quietly.
"I've endured worse," she replied, closing the door.
"They want you to betray me."
"I won't."
He looked at her, searching for weakness, for hesitation. He found none.
But what he did find was something rawer: worry. Not for herself. For him.
"You shouldn't have listened," she said.
"I needed to know how deep this goes."
Lady Shen moved to pour tea, but her hand trembled. Yun took the kettle from her gently, their fingers brushing.
"You've protected me long enough," he said. "It's time I protect you."
"You don't know what that means."
"I do. More than ever."
Their eyes met—and held.
But just as the silence thickened, a scroll was slipped beneath the door.
Yun picked it up.
A black wax seal. The mark of the Order.
He broke it.
"The First Flame must rise before the Mid-Autumn Moon. Find the Ledger hidden beneath the Willow Altar. Do not trust those born of blood."
Lady Shen read it over his shoulder. "They're calling you into their game."
"They started it when they killed her," Yun replied.
She didn't ask who her was. She knew.
—
That night, Yun slipped into the ancestral temple. Beneath the Willow Altar, behind cracked stone and worn incense trails, he found a hidden compartment.
Inside it was a thin book, bound in red silk.
A ledger of secrets.
Names. Transactions. Betrayals.
At the bottom of the last page: Li Chen.
And next to it, a date—barely a week before Yun's mother had died.
—
He returned to Lady Shen's chamber past midnight.
She sat on the balcony, hair unbound, robes lighter than before. He didn't knock.
"I found it," he said.
She turned slowly, eyes catching the moonlight.
"Then it begins," she whispered.
Yun stepped closer, placing the book before her.
"He was behind it. My exile. My mother's death. Everything."
Lady Shen touched the ledger like it might burn her. "If you act now, they'll destroy you before the truth comes out."
"I don't care."
"I do."
Her voice broke.
He stepped into the moonlight fully, the glow highlighting the new strength in his face. She stood.
And they stood there again—too close.
"Don't make me lose you too," she whispered.
"You never had to lose me," he replied.
His hand brushed her cheek.
She didn't move.
And for a heartbeat, the world stood still.