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Chapter 1 — The Flower That Could Not Love
The Moon Palace was silent that night.
Silent, except for the soft cries of a newborn.
The Moon Empress held the tiny child close, her eyes heavy with both love and fear. The silver-haired Oracle's words still echoed in her mind:
> "She will love once in her life. And that love will burn the heavens and drown the seas."
Outside, the night sky shimmered with countless stars, yet the Empress felt only the weight of the prophecy pressing against her chest. She had seen the visions herself — her daughter's smile blooming like spring… only to be covered in ashes.
The door slid open. An attendant entered, carrying a small vial glowing with faint golden light.
"This is the Heart-Seal Elixir," the Oracle said softly. "If she takes it before her first breath of moonlight, she will never know love. She will live free from pain."
The Empress looked down at the infant — round cheeks, tiny fists, eyes still closed. How could something so small be destined for such ruin?
She hesitated, but in the end, her trembling hands tipped the vial. The elixir slid into the baby's mouth like a drop of liquid sunlight.
The crying stopped.
And so, Lian Yue, the Moon Empress's only daughter, grew up without the warmth of love in her heart. She laughed, she spoke kindly, she cared for flowers and friends — but when others spoke of longing, of hearts racing, of dreams under moonlight, she only smiled politely, as if such things were stories from a distant world.
She did not know that the heavens had already begun to move the pieces of fate.
She did not know that beyond the palace gates, two princes were already walking the paths that would one day lead to her.
And she did not know that even the strongest seal cannot keep the heart from beating when destiny knocks.
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