Chapter 17: He Was Supposed to Be Dead
I stared at the robe for a long time. Not because of the fabric or the stitching, but because of the symbol.
A white fox. Thin. Delicate. Hidden just inside the hem.
Jiu'er kept glancing at me, waiting for a reaction, but I gave her none.
"Should I burn it?" she asked.
"No," I said softly. "Leave it."
She hesitated. "But it wasn't here this morning."
"Which means someone wants me to know it's here."
---
That night, I laid awake, robe folded on the table, moonlight sliding across it like a ghost's hand. My thoughts dragged me back to a voice I had buried. Soft. Teasing. A little cruel, but never unkind.
Only one man called me Little Fox.
Only one ever dared.
Li Shenzhou.
A minor general. Son of a disgraced noble family. Known for his battlefield scars and sharp tongue. He was never supposed to enter the palace. And yet, somehow, he did.
In my first life, he protected me once. Just once. And for that, they exiled him.
Three weeks later, he was dead.
His body never returned.
His name was never spoken again.
I never forgot him.
---
In the early hours before dawn, I returned to the robe. Ran my fingers along the hem.
Inside the lining was something stiff. Paper.
I slit the thread and pulled it free.
A note. Folded six times. Written in ink so faint it nearly disappeared.
You are not alone in remembering.
I saw you die.
I am not finished.
There was no signature.
But the moment I touched it, the candle beside me flickered.
The flame curled sideways.
The window slammed shut.
And from somewhere behind the wall, I heard it.
A whistle.
Low. Familiar.
Like the one he used to call me in the garden maze.
I froze.
The guards outside heard nothing.
Jiu'er was still asleep.
But I knew what I heard.
He was here.
And he had been watching me.
Chapter 18: A Whistle in the Walls
I didn't sleep.
Not after that sound.
Not after the note.
That whistle had come from inside the palace. I knew it in my bones. It was too familiar, too personal, too deliberate. It wasn't imagination. It was a message.
Jiu'er stirred just before sunrise, rubbing her eyes and sitting up slowly.
"Did you stay up all night?" she asked, frowning as she noticed the candle still burning low.
"I had things to think about."
"Did something happen?"
I folded the note and slipped it into my sleeve. "No. Just the usual."
She didn't believe me, but she didn't press. I had taught her not to ask questions when I stayed quiet. That, too, was a kind of protection.
---
After morning court, I walked alone along the eastern corridor, brushing fingers across the stone walls as I moved. There was no sign of anyone. No strange shadows. No whispers. Just silence.
But he had been here.
I didn't know what he wanted. I didn't even know if he was truly on my side.
Just that he had seen me die.
And now he was watching.
---
Lady Shen found me in the study later that afternoon.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, pouring herself tea without asking.
"I may have."
She paused. Her eyes narrowed, studying me carefully. "Explain."
I handed her the robe with the white fox stitched inside. Her fingers stopped at the symbol.
"This is... specific," she murmured. "Where did you get it?"
"It appeared in my chamber."
She didn't ask who sent it. She didn't ask why. She only said, "Someone wants you to know they're close."
"There was a note."
"Did they sign it?"
"No. But I recognized the message."
She sat down across from me and lowered her voice.
"Do you trust this person?"
"I did. Once."
"And now?"
"I'm not sure."
She gave a slow nod. "Then assume they're dangerous until proven otherwise."
I didn't disagree.
---
By evening, I had made a decision.
I would follow the sound.
Not by asking questions. Not by setting traps. That would make me look weak. Predictable.
No. I would leave a trail.
---
That night, I slipped into the garden maze — the same one where he used to whistle to me long before I became Empress.
Back then, we met by accident. I was still soft. Curious. He was bleeding from a sparring match gone wrong, and I had offered him a handkerchief.
"You walk like you own the moon," he'd told me.
"And you bleed like a poem," I had replied.
Now I returned to that same place. But not as a girl. Not as a crown princess. I came back as someone he had watched die.
I stood beneath the willow tree and whispered low.
"I know you're there."
No reply.
Not at first.
But just as I turned to leave, I heard it again.
The whistle. Short. Two tones. Faint. From behind the garden wall.
I didn't run. I didn't shout. I only smiled.
"I thought you were dead," I said quietly.
A voice answered.
"I was. But not for long."
---
I spun fast, but there was no one in sight. Just the sound of soft footsteps vanishing around the corner. Not hurried. Not afraid.
I chased them, heart racing. But by the time I reached the gate, there was only an envelope pressed into the handle.
I snatched it quickly, looked over my shoulder, then opened it.
Inside was a folded page. Two words written in his handwriting.
Trust no one.
And underneath it, a name.
Xiao Yuren.
---
I didn't sleep that night either.
Because now I had a new question.
If Li Shenzhou was alive…
Why was he warning me about the only other man who remembered death?
Chapter 19: A Blade in the Garden
Morning came, but the palace felt colder than usual.
Even the birds didn't sing.
Jiu'er helped lace my sleeves, her hands moving slower than usual. I could feel her watching me in the mirror.
"Did something happen?" she asked.
I gave her the softest smile I could fake. "Nothing I can't handle."
But my fingers were still curled tight around the note hidden inside my inner robe. Xiao Yuren's name was inked across it like a bloodstain.
He had been helping me. Guiding me, in his strange, quiet way.
But now… someone from my past said not to trust him.
Why?
And what would he gain by lying to me?
---
I waited until court was over before I approached him.
Xiao Yuren was walking alone through the covered corridor behind the scholars' hall, reading over a scroll.
"Tell me something," I said as I stepped beside him.
He didn't flinch. Just turned to me calmly. "Only if it's not a riddle."
"You always seem to know when someone is lying. Do you use your eyes or your instincts?"
He smirked. "Neither. I use time. Sooner or later, people reveal everything."
"And if someone warned me not to trust you?"
He stopped walking. Closed the scroll gently.
"Then I hope they were handsome enough to make the warning sound romantic."
I almost laughed. Almost.
"But what would you say," I asked, "if I told you they remembered my death?"
His eyes sharpened. Not surprise. Not panic. Just interest.
"I'd say you're not the only one living a borrowed life."
"Then who are you really?"
He stepped closer, voice lower. "Someone who wants you alive long enough to win. Nothing more."
"And if I believed you were using me?"
He held my gaze without blinking. "Then use me first."
---
Later, I returned to the garden. Not the maze, but the peach grove near the outer wall.
I waited there. Alone. Like I had something to offer.
The wind stirred the petals.
And then I heard him.
A footstep. Deliberate. Light.
I didn't turn around.
"You left me a warning," I said aloud.
Silence.
"Why?"
A voice answered from behind a tree.
"Because you once told me you would never kneel to a liar. And now you are surrounded by them."
I turned slowly.
He stepped into the light.
Older. Rougher. Scar across his jaw. Eyes like the battlefield.
But it was him.
Li Shenzhou.
Alive.
Real.
Watching me like he expected me to break.
"I buried you," I whispered.
"They only buried my name."
"Why now?" I asked. "Why return?"
"I saw your death. And I saw who smiled when you fell."
My stomach twisted. "You were in the throne room?"
"No," he said, stepping closer. "But I saw it through someone else's eyes."
"What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, we heard it.
Footsteps.
Three of them.
Not mine. Not his.
I spun.
Guards. Red-robed. Armed.
Not palace guards. Not imperial.
Assassins.
"They followed you?" I hissed.
"No," he said coldly. "They followed the girl who asks too many questions."
He drew his blade.
And for the first time since my rebirth, I didn't feel like I was alone.
---
We fought beneath the peach trees.
Blood on the petals.
A whisper of war blooming in the garden.
When it ended, I was still standing. Barely.
And Li Shenzhou looked at me, chest heaving, and said,
"You wanted truth. Now you've earned it."
Then he pressed something into my hand.
A ring. Jade. Imperial.
Belonging to a prince who died mysteriously in my first life.
---
The game had shifted.
And someone in the royal bloodline had just been exposed.