Chapter 10: Who Else Knows
"You haven't eaten anything, Your Highness," Jiu'er whispered.
I looked down at the untouched bowl. Lotus porridge, still warm. I had been staring at it for a while.
"I'm not hungry."
"But the physician said—"
"Jiu'er," I said gently. "Please."
She lowered her eyes and stepped back. I wasn't angry. I just couldn't eat. Not when someone out there had memories like mine. Not when I didn't know if they were friend or threat.
The palace felt colder that morning. Not from the weather, but from the silence. Everyone smiled a little tighter. Spoke a little less.
I passed two concubines in the corridor. They bowed and called me "Crown Princess to be." I nodded politely, but I watched their hands.
One held a fan. The other, a peach blossom.
Both were symbols. One of secrets. One of betrayal.
In the Orchid Courtyard, I saw him.
Xiao Yuren. The Emperor's younger cousin. Scholar. Polite. Forgettable.
Except he wasn't. Not to me.
In my last life, he had died suddenly. Choked on poisoned tea. No one looked into it. No one cared. But now, here he was. Alive. Writing by the pond like he always did.
"Your Highness," he said, rising slowly.
I walked toward him, keeping my expression calm.
"What are you writing?"
"A poem," he said. "About winter. And snakes."
I stopped.
He smiled slightly. "Too soon?"
"Too obvious."
We looked at each other. The breeze stirred his scroll.
He lowered his voice. "We should talk."
"Not here."
"I'll leave a note under the old plum tree by sunset. You remember the one."
"I do."
I walked away without another word.
By the time I reached my chambers, my hands were cold.
He remembers.
He's one of them.
But how much does he know?
And more importantly,
How many of us are there?
---
Chapter 11: Beneath the Plum Tree
The sun was low when I reached the garden.
The plum tree stood near the outer wall, crooked and stubborn. Its white blossoms clung to the branches like ghosts that refused to fall.
I knelt beneath it, brushing aside fallen petals. The ground was still warm from the afternoon heat.
And then I saw it.
A slip of paper, pressed between two flat stones. Carefully hidden, but not too deep. A message meant for me.
I pulled it free.
The handwriting was different this time. Sharper. Quicker. As if the writer did not want to be caught lingering.
"The Emperor is not what he was. Someone is moving behind the screen."
That was it. No name. No seal.
But I knew it wasn't Xiao Yuren.
This wasn't a poem. This was a warning.
---
"Your Highness."
I turned. He was already there, leaning against the garden wall with arms crossed.
Xiao Yuren looked tired. Like he had been waiting for hours.
"You read it," I said.
"I wrote mine in blue ink," he replied. "This one… is not from me."
"So who sent it?"
He looked up at the plum blossoms. "I was hoping you would know."
---
I folded the note and slipped it into my sleeve. "We're not alone."
"No. We're not."
A breeze passed between us. It carried the scent of plum and smoke.
"Did you remember everything?" I asked.
"Not everything. Just… the end. The worst part." He paused. "The crown prince's smile as the gates closed behind me. The silence. That I remember."
I didn't speak. I didn't need to. I had lived that silence too.
---
We parted without another word.
But something had shifted.
I wasn't the only one who had come back from the grave.
And now, someone was watching both of us.
Chapter 12: Whispers Before the Storm
That night, the moon hung low and full. Not bright. Just heavy. As if it knew something I didn't.
I sat by the window with the second note in my hand. The one that wasn't from Xiao Yuren. The one warning me about shadows behind the screen.
The Emperor is not what he was.
Someone is moving behind the screen.
What did that mean? Had someone replaced him? Was he just a puppet? Or was it simply fear talking?
My thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door.
"Come in."
Jiu'er stepped in, eyes wide. "Your Highness. There's someone here to see you."
"At this hour?"
"She says it's urgent."
"She?"
"Lady Shen."
I paused. Lady Shen had once been my mother's closest friend. In my last life, she disappeared from court quietly. No warning. No explanation. Just vanished.
"Bring her in."
---
Lady Shen entered like a shadow. Slim, quiet, elegant in gray robes. She knelt deeply, too deeply for someone of her rank.
"You shouldn't bow like that," I said.
"You died once, my lady," she said softly. "It is only right I show respect to the one who came back."
I froze.
She looked up and smiled. "I know."
---
I waited, heart steady, voice flat. "How?"
"I saw the same signs. I felt the same pull. I have lived two lives, Your Highness. This is my second."
"And why come now?"
"Because your enemies have started to move. And you're not ready to face them alone."
I stared at her for a long time. The girl I used to be would have broken down crying. The woman I had become only nodded once.
"Then teach me."
Lady Shen smiled wider. Not kind. Sharp.
"It would be my honor."
Chapter 13: Tea and Teeth
Lady Shen returned the next morning with no fanfare. No carriage. No guards. Just a plain robe and a silk pouch tied to her waist.
We met in the side garden where the servants rarely walked. I had Jiu'er wait by the gate.
"I thought you'd come in later," I said.
"Revenge doesn't sleep late," Lady Shen replied.
She poured tea like a noblewoman, but her eyes were sharp the whole time. Watching my posture. My breath. My silence.
"You want to win this game," she said. "But first, you need to understand how they play."
I nodded.
"Lesson one," she said, sliding the teacup to me. "The palace doesn't run on truth. It runs on fear."
I sipped. It was bitter. Not poisoned, but close.
"You think power comes from the throne?" she asked. "It doesn't. It comes from the whispers in the hall. From the woman who gets to the Emperor first. From the eunuch who folds the wrong letter."
"And the Crown Prince?"
She smiled.
"The Crown Prince is a boy who was taught to smile when he lies."
I went still.
Lady Shen leaned forward. "So smile better than him."
---
Later, she led me to the old archives. A dusty wing of the palace no one visited unless they wanted to be forgotten.
"You'll read one file every day," she said. "Court records. Marriages. Bribes. Punishments. Learn how they destroy people. Then learn how to do it without being seen."
I swallowed hard. "And if they suspect?"
"Then you've already lost."
---
That night, I read until my eyes burned.
I learned the name of the maid who ruined a concubine with a fake pregnancy.
I learned how a single hairpin sent the wrong gift could collapse a family.
I learned that the sword was never the real weapon.
It was the smile.
And I would sharpen mine like a blade.