The atmosphere inside the palace was heavy.
The laughter and relief that Prince Liang had created in front of the public had vanished the mont the royal family returned to the palace.
The black clouds had disappeared.
The strange voice was gone.
The citizens had accepted Prince Liang’s explanation that it was rely a prank.
But those present in the private council chamber knew better.
Far better.
---
The Emperor sat at the head of the table.
His expression was dark.
Beside him sat the Dowager Empress.
Princess Zhi.
Prince Liang.
The Empress.
Several trusted royal relatives.
No servants were allowed inside.
The doors were shut.
Guards stood outside.
No one spoke for a long mont.
The mory of that voice still echoed inside their minds.
---
Finally, Lady Chen broke the silence.
She lowered her teacup slowly.
"Everyone accepted Prince Liang’s explanation."
Her voice was gentle.
"But..."
She hesitated.
"What about the voice?"
The room grew quiet again.
Lady Chen continued.
"The monk perford protective rituals around the palace."
"The palace should be protected."
"How could sothing like this happen?"
---
Princess Zhi slowly nodded.
"I was wondering the sa thing."
She looked troubled.
"The monk specifically said the palace had protection."
"Yet that voice reached everyone."
Her hands tightened around her sleeves.
"And the feeling..."
She looked down.
"It felt real."
---
The Dowager Empress frowned.
For once, she looked genuinely worried.
"The monk’s abilities were not ordinary."
"He protected the palace himself."
"If soone bypassed that protection..."
She did not finish her sentence.
Because everyone understood.
That would an the enemy was stronger than they thought.
---
Prince Liang leaned back in his chair.
His playful attitude had completely disappeared.
The prince who joked before the public was gone.
Only a serious man remained.
He tapped the table lightly.
Then spoke.
"I think we are asking the wrong question."
Everyone looked toward him.
---
Princess Zhi frowned.
"What do you an?"
---
Prince Liang’s eyes narrowed.
"The question isn’t how the voice appeared."
"The question is..."
His gaze swept across the room.
"Who knew about the protection?"
Silence.
The room beca deathly quiet.
---
The Emperor imdiately understood.
His eyes sharpened.
---
Prince Liang continued.
"The monk’s protection was secret."
"Ordinary citizens didn’t know."
"Most officials didn’t know."
"Most nobles didn’t know."
He leaned forward.
"So how did soone know exactly when to challenge it?"
---
The Empress slowly nodded.
A thoughtful expression appeared on her face.
"He’s right."
Everyone looked toward her.
---
She continued calmly.
"The timing is too perfect."
"The voice appeared while the royal family was gathered in public."
"The warning specifically ntioned the royal family."
"The person behind it knew where we would be."
Her eyes darkened.
"And they knew enough to challenge the monk’s protection."
---
Princess Zhi’s face paled.
"You an..."
---
The Empress finished quietly.
"Soone close to us."
---
The words landed heavily.
---
Prince Liang nodded imdiately.
"Exactly."
"There is no other explanation."
---
The Dowager Empress felt a chill.
For the first ti, she realized sothing terrifying.
The danger might not be outside the palace.
It might already be inside.
---
The Emperor sat silently.
His mind replayed every strange event.
The lake incident.
The attempted suicide.
The attacks.
The black clouds.
The voice.
The strange cultivation stories appearing across the kingdom.
Everything.
All of it.
Slowly.
thodically.
Like pieces of a puzzle.
---
Finally he spoke.
"Soone is watching us."
His voice was cold.
"Soone who knows our movents."
"Soone who knows our secrets."
"Soone who understands exactly how to manipulate fear."
---
The room remained silent.
No one could argue.
Because it was true.
---
Princess Zhi swallowed.
Then asked the question everyone was afraid to say.
"What if..."
She hesitated.
"What if that person is in the palace?"
---
No one answered imdiately.
---
The Dowager Empress looked away.
Prince Liang frowned.
Lady Chen lowered her eyes.
The Empress sat quietly.
The Emperor remained expressionless.
---
Because they all had the sa thought.
---
If the enemy was inside the palace...
Then anyone could be suspicious.
A servant.
A guard.
A noble.
A concubine.
An official.
Anyone.
---
Prince Liang finally broke the silence.
"Then we do what the enemy expects least."
---
The Emperor looked at him.
"What?"
---
A small smile appeared on Prince Liang’s face.
Not playful.
Sharp.
Dangerous.
---
"We act normal."
---
The Empress imdiately understood.
Her eyes widened slightly.
---
Prince Liang nodded.
"If the enemy is watching us..."
"We give them nothing."
"No panic."
"No investigation in public."
"No visible suspicion."
---
The Emperor slowly nodded.
"Continue."
---
Prince Liang leaned forward.
"We pretend we believe it was a prank."
"We continue our daily lives."
"We let them think they succeeded."
His smile deepened.
"And while they relax..."
"We watch."
---
The room fell silent again.
---
Because it was a good plan.
A dangerous plan.
But a good one.
---
The Emperor looked around the room.
At his family.
At the people he trusted.
Or thought he trusted.
---
Then he gave his order.
"No one speaks about tonight outside this room."
"Not to servants."
"Not to ministers."
"Not to anyone."
---
Everyone nodded.
---
The eting ended soon after.
People slowly left.
One by one.
---
But as the Empress walked beside the Emperor through the palace corridor, she felt uneasy.
The black clouds.
The voice.
The warning.
---
Sothing was coming.
She could feel it.
---
And sowhere deep inside the palace...
Hidden behind smiling faces and polite greetings...
Soone was already preparing their next move.
The night was quiet.
Unlike the warmth and laughter filling the Duke residence, the Imperial Palace felt strangely heavy.
Inside the Dowager Empress’s private hall, only six people were present.
The Emperor.
The Empress.
Princess Zhi.
Prince Liang.
Lady Chen.
And the Dowager Empress.
The servants had all been dismissed.
The doors were closed.
Only lantern light illuminated the room.
The atmosphere was serious.
The conversation had returned once again to the attack on the Empress.
The Emperor sat silently, fingers tapping lightly against the armrest.
Prince Liang frowned.
Princess Zhi looked thoughtful.
The Empress remained calm.
Then unexpectedly—
Lady Chen spoke.
Her voice was hesitant.
As though she had been struggling with the thought for a long ti.
"Your Majesty..."
Everyone looked at her.
She lowered her eyes briefly.
"There is sothing I have been thinking about."
The Emperor nodded.
"Speak."
Lady Chen took a deep breath.
"Whenever strange incidents happen..."
She paused.
"...Shin Gu is always missing."
Silence.
The room imdiately beca still.
The Dowager Empress slowly lifted her gaze.
Lady Chen continued.
"The night the Empress nearly died..."
"Shin Gu was nowhere to be found."
"The day Princess Zhi’s tragedy occurred..."
"She disappeared again."
"The day the palace felt strange..."
"She was absent."
Her voice lowered.
"And now..."
"The voices heard "
"She was missing again."
The lantern flas flickered softly.
Nobody spoke.
Lady Chen looked troubled.
"I always believed she was praying."
"Or cultivating."
"But..."
Her brows furrowed.
"The more I think about it..."
"The stranger it feels."
The room fell into deeper silence.
Prince Liang imdiately shook his head.
"No."
His answer ca without hesitation.
Everyone turned toward him.
Prince Liang frowned.
"Shin Gu is a pious person."
"She spends most of her ti helping others."
"She studies scriptures."
"She performs rituals."
His voice was firm.
"I refuse to believe she is involved."
Lady Chen looked conflicted.
"I am not accusing her."
"I simply feel uncomfortable."
Prince Liang sighed.
"Coincidences happen."
"Not everything is a conspiracy."
The Emperor remained silent.
The Empress remained silent.
Princess Zhi remained silent.
Because all three of them knew sothing Prince Liang did not.
They had already suspected Shin Gu.
Long ago.
After the lake incident.
After the strange events surrounding the palace.
After Princess Zhi’s loss.
Investigations had been conducted.
Secretly.
Carefully.
Repeatedly.
And every single ti—
Nothing.
No evidence.
No witnesses.
No mistakes.
Nothing at all.
The Emperor finally spoke.
"We investigated her."
Prince Liang looked relieved imdiately.
"There."
"I knew it."
The Emperor continued.
"We found nothing."
The relief on Prince Liang’s face deepened.
But then the Emperor added quietly—
"That does not an she is innocent."
The room beca still again.
Prince Liang blinked.
The Dowager Empress slowly turned toward her son.
The Emperor’s expression remained cold.
"If soone is clever enough..."
"They can hide their tracks."
No one disagreed.
Princess Zhi finally spoke.
Her voice was soft.
"When I lost my child..."
The room fell silent.
The pain in her voice remained even now.
She looked down briefly.
"I trusted everyone."
"I suspected nobody."
Her eyes hardened slightly.
"Now I trust nobody completely."
Prince Liang looked uncomfortable.
But he said nothing.
The Dowager Empress sat quietly.
Listening.
Thinking.
Rembering.
Lady Chen’s words echoed repeatedly in her mind.
Whenever Shin Gu disappeared...
Sothing happened.
One coincidence.
Two coincidences.
Three coincidences.
Perhaps even four.
At what point did coincidence stop being coincidence?
The thought unsettled her.
Because she knew Shin Gu well.
Or at least—
She thought she did.
A gentle woman.
A pious woman.
A respected woman.
But now—
Doubt had entered her heart.
Small.
Barely noticeable.
Yet present.
The Dowager Empress hated it.
Because once doubt entered—
It never left.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her teacup.
The Empress quietly noticed.
So did Princess Zhi.
Neither said anything.
Duke Lian Zheng was not here.
No advisors.
No ministers.
Only family.
And for the first ti—
The Dowager Empress was questioning sothing she had always accepted without hesitation.
Lady Chen lowered her voice.
"I hope I am wrong."
The words sounded sincere.
Because they were.
Even she looked troubled by her own suspicions.
Prince Liang shook his head again.
"You are wrong."
"Shin Gu has helped many people."
Lady Chen nodded.
"Perhaps."
But her confidence was gone.
The Emperor suddenly stood.
The movent startled everyone.
His gaze swept across the room.
"Enough."
The room fell silent imdiately.
The Emperor’s voice beca firm.
"We do not accuse without evidence."
Everyone nodded.
"Nor do we ignore patterns."
His eyes darkened.
"Continue observing."
"No confrontation."
"No accusations."
"No mistakes."
Princess Zhi understood imdiately.
The Empress understood too.
They would wait.
Watch.
Gather proof.
The Dowager Empress slowly looked down at her tea.
Her reflection stared back at her.
Distorted by the ripples.
For the first ti—
She rembered every mont Shin Gu had appeared.
Every conversation.
Every suggestion.
Every coincidence.
And the more she thought—
The less comfortable she beca.
Across the palace, in a distant courtyard, Shin Gu sat beneath the moonlight.
Calm.
Peaceful.
A faint smile resting upon her face.
She believed everything was proceeding according to plan.
She believed her secrets remained hidden.
She believed nobody suspected her.
But she was wrong.
Because tonight—
A tiny crack had finally appeared.
Not in the Emperor.
Not in the Empress.
Not in Princess Zhi.
They had already been suspicious.
No.
The crack had appeared in the one person who mattered most.
The Dowager Empress.
And once suspicion entered the Dowager’s heart—
It would continue to grow.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Relentlessly.
Until the truth finally ca to light.
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