The night air was cool against his face as he walked, long steps carrying him through the palace grounds, the torches flickering like distant stars. Each time his mind returned to her, the warmth of her presence seemed to trail him, unseen yet unmistakable.
From the farthest ramparts of Hanan, silent and watchful, eyes observed him. The figure standing in the shadows felt the pull of the night.
"Minister Jade… the reason I came here…"
Hanan's gaze followed Jade's tall, steady figure as he moved through the palace grounds, each step measured and purposeful. The night air carried the faint scent of ink and pine, the torches along the corridors flickering like distant stars, casting long shadows that seemed to chase him with every stride.
It was only today that Hanan had learned of the Queen's secret mission to the Ash Kingdom—now abruptly canceled. He had harbored the hope that her absence might provide insight into Jade, who walked so closely to her, whose loyalties and desires were yet a mystery. That opportunity, however, had been swept away like autumn leaves before the wind.
Meanwhile, orders from his master, Tak—who had sent him from the Ash Kingdom—continued to arrive with unrelenting precision.
"Extract information about Jade."
Hanan's pulse quickened, the weight of expectation pressing upon him. Though he had served in the Hana Kingdom's military for many years, Jade remained an enigma, a man without discernible weakness. Every gesture, every word, every carefully measured silence only deepened the barrier between them.
'If this continues… if I cannot uncover even a fragment of his truth… Master Tak will cease to trust me.'
Tak was the most formidable figure in the Ash Kingdom's court, a man whose influence stretched across lands and armies alike. Yet even he, with all his power, had grown restless, displeased with Kim Jin—a rising figure who had secured Queen Genie's unwavering trust, a trust earned largely through Jade's skillful exploits as a spy in the Hana Kingdom.
Portions of the vast territory once firmly under Tak's control had been quietly ceded to Kim Jin by the king of the Ash Kingdom, a slight that burned like wildfire in Tak's pride. In his calculation, to bring down Kim Jin—who owed his ascent to Jade's cunning—Tak needed only one thing: to discover the man's weakness.
Hanan had been chosen for this delicate mission, sent secretly into the Hana Kingdom under the guise of loyalty, yet driven by the task of uncovering Jade's hidden vulnerability.
But the longer he remained among Hana's soldiers, observing Jade, the clearer one truth became: the man had no obvious weakness. Every gesture was precise, every word deliberate. Jade's mind and body alike seemed honed to impervious perfection, leaving Hanan frustrated and unsettled.
Still, a suspicion had begun to take root, sharp as a blade: Jade's composure wavered—ever so slightly—around Queen Genie.
'His demeanor changes around the Queen…' Hanan mused, narrowing his eyes. 'Normally impervious, detached, and unreadable, Jade's calm mask falters, replaced by something subtly human—softened, attentive, vulnerable.'
'Could it be…'
Hanan shook his head, forcing himself to dismiss the thought. To imagine that their bond extended beyond that of the Queen and the subordinate was reckless—an assumption without proof.
Yet Hanan could not shake the suspicion gnawing at him.
Jade's potential weakness was somehow tied to the Queen.
He lingered in the shadows, observing, measuring, waiting. Then, deciding to close the distance, he began to follow.
But Jade was no fool. A faint, deliberate sound reached him—a soft clack, distinct amid the hush of the palace grounds. His eyes narrowed.
'What's that sound?'
He slowed his stride, yet did not break his rhythm. The footsteps were gone—vanished as though swallowed by the night.
Hand resting lightly on the hilt of his sword, Jade turned slowly, the motion precise and unhurried, but every inch of him alert. His voice, low and cold, carried over the courtyard.
"Who's there?"
Hanan froze, pressed against the shadowed wall behind the administrative building. His pulse raced. The stillness of the night seemed suddenly amplified, every flutter of wind a herald of danger.
"It is better if you reveal yourself now," Jade continued, voice sharp as drawn steel. "Who are you?"
After a moment that felt suspended between heartbeats, Hanan forced a smile, awkward and brittle. With a tentative step forward, he emerged from the shadows, every movement betraying his unease under Jade's piercing gaze.
"Minister Jade, it is I—Hanan."
Only then did Jade ease his stance, the faint glimmer of suspicion leaving his eyes.
"My apologies," Hanan bowed lightly, his voice careful. "I was training alone on the palace hill and happened to return late to the military quarters. When I saw you walking lost in thought, I followed without calling out… and without realizing, I hid myself."
A thin silence lingered between them, broken only by the distant hoot of an owl from the palace grove.
Jade's lips curved into a small laugh, though it carried the weight of iron.
"You need not hide next time. It only stirs suspicion."
There was something sharp beneath his calm tone, like the glint of a blade sheathed but ready.
"Yes, I will keep that in mind." Hanan lowered his head in assent.
Without another word, Jade resumed his path toward the military quarters, his boots striking against the stone steps in an unhurried rhythm. The lanterns swayed faintly along the corridor, casting shifting shadows that stretched and folded over the walls like restless spirits.
Hanan hastened his steps, keeping just a pace behind, careful not to overtake him.
"So, how is your life in the military?" Jade's voice was low, even, carrying neither warmth nor distance.
Hanan straightened unconsciously.
"I… I have adapted to it to some extent now," he replied, the words awkward on his tongue.
Jade's gaze remained fixed ahead, unyielding as the palace walls themselves.
"Nothing difficult?"
The question struck Hanan with unexpected weight. This was, in truth, almost the first time he had spoken alone with Jade—let alone been asked about his well-being. To receive such a question from the highest authority of the Hana Kingdom's military felt overwhelming for one who was, at best, a nameless soldier.
In the Ash Kingdom, where he had once drawn his first breath, such intimacy of speech between ranks would have been unthinkable. Commanders there spoke to their men as one speaks to the ground they tread upon—without expectation of answer. Yet here, beneath the pale wash of moonlight over the palace eaves, the great Jade had spoken as though Hanan were a man worth hearing.
A thought stirred within Hanan.
'Perhaps this was a rare chance—perhaps the only chance—to bind even the faintest thread of human connection with Jade.'
"Nothing is difficult," Hanan said at last, his voice steadier, though his hands betrayed a faint tension at his sides. "Only I do not yet know how I can be of greater use to Her Majesty."
At the mention of "Her Majesty," Jade turned his head. His eyes, cold yet unwavering, settled on Hanan. That piercing gaze pressed down on him more than any blade could.
Hanan, though his chest tightened, felt his suspicion harden into certainty.
'His attitude toward the Queen… it is clearly different.'
"You need only devote your loyalty to the Hana Kingdom," Jade said at last, his tone measured, as though issuing an order. "That is how one truly aids His Majesty."
"Yes, I suppose so," Hanan answered quickly, forcing steadiness into his voice. "That is also what I believe."
He tried to keep the air unforced, as if the conversation were nothing more than passing talk.
"But I have heard, Minster, that you assisted Her Majesty even before she rose to the throne. You must be among her most trusted."
Silence stretched, heavy as mist between the lanterns.
Then Jade spoke, each word deliberate.
"Gaining Her Majesty's trust is not important to me."
Hanan frowned slightly.
"Not important? What do you mean?"
"No matter what Her Majesty thinks of me," Jade replied without hesitation, "my loyalty to her remains unshaken."
The words rang with such clarity that the night itself seemed to pause.
Hanan's thoughts tumbled over one another.
'Jade… a spy of the Hana Kingdom? Then how can he speak such words? If he does not know my blood ties to Ash, perhaps he only performs a role. But no—there was no tremor of deceit in that voice, no mask in that gaze. This is too sincere to be acting.'
Hanan stole a glance at the man walking a step ahead. Jade's expression remained composed, his stride steady, as though neither the weight of the kingdom nor Queen Genie herself could disturb his calm.
'Maybe… just maybe,' Hanan thought, his pulse quickening, 'Jade has already cast aside his life as a spy of Ash…?'
The thought was perilous, almost unthinkable. Yet the sincerity in Jade's words still echoed within him, refusing to be dismissed as mere artifice.
A faint gleam flickered in Hanan's eyes, sharp as a blade catching moonlight.