A FEW HOURS LATER
EMPEROR LIANGWEI POINT OF VIEW:
I was working on my paperwork hoping to finish faster so I could see i Shen. A servant knocked at the door and walked in quickly. I knew he wasn’t bringing good news.
"She’s gone, Your Majesty."He said.
The words echoed louder than the soldier’s voice. The air stilled. My pen stopped mid-stroke. I turned slowly.
"Gone?"I asked.
"She left before dawn. Took her horse. We only realized once the stable boy found this."He explained.
The soldier held out a folded piece of parchnt. I snatched it. No seal. Her handwriting, precise, sharp, like every stroke had sothing unsaid behind it. I unfolded it and read.
Lianwei, She’s here now. i Feng. The one everyone’s been waiting for. The one the stars were supposed to send you. I understand now. I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did or event wanting the wedding between us. I shouldn’t have believed I could be anything more than a placeholder. But I did even when you stopped our wedding. I was foolish. Don’t co after . Let her have the place she was ant for. It was never mine to begin with. i Shen
My hands didn’t shake, but sothing cracked inside . Sothing old. Sothing I had barely started to believe in.
"She saw her?" I muttered. "Already?"
The doors opened behind before I could breathe.
"My son." Ca my mother’s voice, light and pleased. "You won’t believe who has arrived. The real i Feng! She-"
"She’s not real."I said.
The words ca out low, deadly. The Empress Dowager blinked.
"What?"She asked.
I turned, my eyes burning.
"She’s not real to . She never will be."I said. "I don’t wnt her."
"But-"She started.
"You don’t get it. None of you ever did. You brought dolls and wives and destined girls with crimson hair and perfect smiles and none of them none of them were her."
"Lianwei-"My mother tried to stop .
"She left." I hissed, stepping closer. "She left because you pushed her. Because you made her feel like she wasn’t enough again."
"She’s unstable." She snapped, losing her patience. "She was never ant to be your Empress-"
"She was the only one who ever saw and stayed."
I glared at her.
"You think this is over because so prophecy girl finally showed up? No. This, this is war. I don’t care what hair colour i Feng has. I don’t care what the stars wrote. I’m not choosing fate." I crumpled the letter in my fist. "I’m choosing her. Get my horse."
"Lianwei-"She started.
I ignored her and turned to the door.
"Lianwei stop!"Empress shouted as I reached my horse.
I was done being patient. Done smiling for their gas, for their pretty dolls wrapped in political silk and fake compassion. The mont i Shen left... again... sothing inside snapped so violently, I swore even the gods flinched. I was halfway across the palace grounds, fury blazing in every step, when the courtyard gates slamd shut ahead of . Of course.
Empress Dowager, i Feng, and now half the Inner Court stood in my path like they thought they still had a leash on . Guards tightened formation, steel ready not for defense, but against .
"Your Majesty." The empress began softly, the voice of a woman who thought motherhood made her bulletproof. "Please co inside. Let’s speak calmly. I know the girl’s departure has upset you-"
"Girl?" My voice was sharp. "That girl is the reason this empire still breathes."
i Feng stepped forward, long red sleeves fluttering like she thought she was in a romance poem.
"Your Majesty, I ca because I was told you needed-’She started.
"I don’t need you!" I roared, and even the guards flinched.
She recoiled. Minister Ru tried to step between us.
"Your Majesty, please! You’re not thinking clearly-"He started.
"I’ve never thought more clearly in my life."I said and reached for the sword strapped at my hip.
Guards reached for theirs. The air cracked as steel sang free. I pointed it, not at the guards, not at i Feng. At the Empress Dowager.
"You locked her out. You brought that thing-" I jabbed the sword slightly toward i Feng. "-into my court and thought I’d forget her face?"
"Lianwei." Her voice shook. "You will put down that weapon this instant."
I took a step closer.
"No." I said, low and quiet and terrifying. "You will listen. For once."
Silence stretched like a blade across the court.
"You dismissed i Shen. You told she was a distraction. You made her leave. You looked into her eyes and decided she was unworthy because she didn’t claw for power."I said angrily. "She never was a toy, she was my woman but you made make her feel like she was not enough."
I let the blade drop slightly, but only slightly.
"And now? Now you offer a copycat?" My eyes burned into i Feng. "A counterfeit dressed in my regret."
"Your father-" Empress began, desperate.
"My father was a fool too. And I will not inherit his blindness."I said.
Even Zeyrith, the god inside my mind, sounded rattled.
"If you start monologuing about burning the world down for her, I’m breaking the fourth wall and calling the heavens."Zeyrith said.
"Shut up." I hissed under my breath.
"Copy that."He said.
I turned my back to them all.
"You wanted an Emperor who follows your orders. You got one for too long. Now you’ll deal with ."I said.
One boot in the stirrup. I tightened my grip on the reins.
"Wait!" The empress called out, voice cracking through the courtyard.
I didn’t turn. Not yet.
"Please, Lianwei." She tried again, gentler now. "You’re not thinking. You can’t throw your future away for a girl who-"
That did it. I wheeled the horse so fast it scread beneath , eyes wild. The Empress stumbled back a step as I looked down at her, my jaw locked.
"You still don’t understand." I said. "You still think this is about a throne."
She started to speak, but I wasn’t listening. Instead, I whistled. A sharp, low sound that carried across stone and wind like a blade. The reaction was imdiate. Shadows moved. From the rooftops, from the trees, from behind pillars, my n appeared. Loyal to . Not the Empire. Armor black as obsidian. Eyes unreadable. And every last one of them stepped forward, blades drawn. The guards loyal to the empress faltered. Even the ministers backed up. It was clear now. I hadn’t been just building an empire these years. I’d built a kingdom within a kingdom, one that followed only . The empress’s eyes widened.
"You-"She started.
"Anyone." I said coldly." "Who tries to stop from finding her, will be treated as an enemy of the crown."
A sharp breath passed through the court.
"Okay." Zeyrith muttered in my head, for once not joking. "This is not the script anymore. This is borderline tyrant-turned-devotion-fueled villain arc. Which is fine. Totally fine. Just... warning next ti you go full imperial berserker."He said.
"Noted." I replied without humour.
"No seriously, man. I can feel how much you an this. You’d burn this entire empire for her."He said.
"I will."I said.
I turned my eyes one last ti to the Empress, who stood frozen, not in fear of death, but of sothing worse: That I was no longer her son. Not the heir she had shaped. But sothing darker. Sharper. Soone who would tear down a dynasty to protect the woman she once dismissed. I gave a small nod.
"Open the gates." I commanded.
Steel creaked. And I rode through, my riders forming behind like shadows stitched to my will.
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