The palace was a different place in the days before a festival.
Every corridor rang with hurried footsteps, every storeroom echoed with the clatter of crates being dragged out from storage. Silk banners were unrolled and shaken free of dust, gold-thread tassels glinting in the sun.
For the lower-ranked maids, it meant endless errands—running from kitchens to courtyards to storerooms until their feet ached and their backs throbbed.
For Elara, it meant something stranger.
She caught her reflection in a polished copper tray and froze.
Her lashes were longer. Darker. The faint blush in her cheeks from the day in the garden hadn't faded—it had deepened.
The novel was still filling her in.
"D!" B's voice snapped her back to the storeroom. "We need three more sets of lantern oil. Hurry—Guard 7 says the prince's courtyard must be lit brighter than the others."
On her way to the supply hall, she passed A directing two other maids in hanging silk streamers. A didn't look at her at first, but just before Elara was out of earshot, she called, "Careful carrying that oil. A single drop on your dress and the steward might think you're… careless."
It was a warning disguised as advice. Elara didn't rise to it. She carried the heavy jugs without spilling a drop.
That evening, as the lanterns were being tested in the eastern courtyard, Elara paused to watch. The golden light swayed with the breeze, casting shadows across the tiled floor.
She could almost feel the pull—like invisible threads tugging her toward that courtyard on festival night. It wasn't just a sense of fate. It was a scene. One she'd read before.
And in that scene, the heroine entered.
Rumors were already swirling. The "guest" was traveling with an escort from the southern provinces. She was said to be beautiful, refined, and—most tellingly—on personal invitation from the queen herself.
That meant she wouldn't just be attending the festival. She'd be seated beside the prince.
Elara stood there in the golden glow, the air thick with the smell of oil and silk dye, and knew the real game was about to begin.