The Royal Library of the Tang Palace was nothing like Leena had ever seen.
Sunlight streamed through latticed windows, casting gold over rows upon rows of carved wooden shelves. Scrolls and bound books stretched higher than she could reach, their spines inked in neat, ancient characters.
The air smelled of aged parchment and sandalwood.
Leena's fingers itched to touch the scrolls, to open them and let the secrets spill out.
If heaven existed for me, she thought, it would smell like this.
Maya lingered near the doorway, fidgeting. "This place is too quiet," she whispered. "Like it's… listening."
Leena barely heard her. Her heart had slowed, the tension of the last days easing in this sanctuary of knowledge.
Then—
A soft humming drifted between the shelves. A tune—light, playful, completely out of place in the solemn library.
Leena froze.
"Who's there?" she whispered.
From behind a stack of scrolls, a tall figure appeared.
He was young, perhaps mid‑twenties, with a mop of dark hair and a smile so wide it nearly split his face. Ink stained his fingertips, and his long scholar's robes were a little crooked, as though he never quite stood still long enough to fix them.
"Well, well, well…" he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"So you're the infamous foreign enchantress who captured the Seventh Prince's icy heart!"
Leena blinked. "Excuse me?"
The man clasped his hands dramatically over his chest, stumbling forward as if struck by her mere presence.
"Ah, just as I imagined—big eyes, soft face, the kind of heroine who could melt even Brother Ice!"
"Brother… Ice?"
"That's what I call Li Wei," he said with a grin, leaning conspiratorially closer.
"You know… cold, serious, terrifyingly perfect. But now…" He gestured at her with a flourish.
"He brings a foreign beauty into the palace and rides through the streets with her? The court is losing its mind!"
Leena put a hand over her face, cheeks burning.
"I am his physician. Nothing more."
"Physician, concubine, secret wife—oh, the details don't matter," the scholar said cheerfully, circling her like she was an exotic artifact.
"What matters is—" he lowered his voice, eyes dancing with glee,
"—I am your new ally. I adore romance. And if anyone dares gossip about my dear Brother Ice, I will… well…" He paused. "I will write a poem about their stupidity."
Leena didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He bowed with exaggerated grace.
"My name is Chen Yu, Royal Scholar and lifelong friend of your prince. Also… expert in palace gossip and surviving boredom."
Leena found herself smiling despite everything. His presence was like sunlight breaking through a storm.
Chen Yu leaned casually against a shelf, suddenly more serious.
"But I didn't bring you here just to talk about love stories, Doctor Leena."
His voice dropped to a whisper, his smile fading.
"There is something you may not know about the prince…"