Through the eyes of Zhuge Yui Lan
The pale evening light still rested on the bluish-gray tiles as Yui Lan crossed the clan's outer gates.
She hadn't lingered in the city. If she returned too late and her overprotective elder brother noticed her absence, complications would follow.
Even so, despite her hurried steps, it was nearly nightfall when she returned.
In the clan's grand hall, silk lanterns hung from the ceiling like captive moons, spilling golden light over tables laden with wine, meat, and spiritual fruits. Laughter, clinking cups, and excited chatter echoed like a rushing river.
She didn't need to ask why.The Zhuge clan's performance in the martial arena that afternoon had already spread through the city like a wind of good news. A brilliant feat—at least, according to everyone else.
But the brilliance of celebration did not reach her eyes.
Quite the opposite.
With every smiling face, Yui Lan felt the weight of a worry none of them could understand.
In her past life, during the fifteen years she spent trapped beneath Grey Sky's sky, her elder brother had never once allowed the Zhuge name to be called in those arenas. Never.
On the contrary—and with an almost artistic efficiency—he had made the clan fade from public sight. The Zhuge name became mist; a family that lived in the city, but to most was nothing more than an old rumor.
And now... he had chosen the opposite.To step into the arena. To shine. To win.
It was a change she had never witnessed.
Her fingers, hidden within wide sleeves, clenched lightly. The memory of the past and the sight of the present did not align. A fracture had opened in the timeline, and she feared she was its cause—even if indirectly. Perhaps some action of hers, however small, had shifted the silent path she once knew.
And if so, the future she planned grew more and more uncertain.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.
And as much as she wished, she could not simply look at her elder brother and ask:— Why are you acting differently in this life?
Her eyes swept across the hall.
The younger ones competed to see who could speak loudest, re-enacting arena moves with exaggerated gestures.
The elders, gathered at distant tables, drank with complacent smiles—the kind of men already convinced that victories in tournaments solved everything, even karmic debts.
At the center, one table overflowed with more food than ten mortal cultivators could eat in a week: smoking ribs of a spiritual beast, vegetables polished with golden sesame oil, rare fruits cut into ornate shapes.
Her elder brother wasn't there.That did not surprise her.
Convincing him to stay in a place that noisy would be harder than making him endure prolonged torture.
As for Yu Jin... she hadn't expected him there either.
The clan had carved scars into him deeper than any blade, and not only on his body. Truthfully, outside of their immediate family, he had no ties holding him here.
But thinking this, she realized she hadn't seen her twin in some time.
She sighed—long and quiet—like someone releasing a thought they didn't want to carry further. Then she turned from the rowdy Zhuge hall and headed into quieter corridors.
Yu Jin's pavilion was set apart.
And with each step, Yui Lan felt the weight of memory, as though the path itself was paved with it.
Her feelings toward her twin were mixed.
First, there was love. How could she not love him?They were born beneath the same sky, in the same moment of high moon—first him, then her, like two notes in the same song. They grew up side by side, sharing the same courtyard, the same silly dreams, even the same punishments when their mischief was discovered.
She remembered childhood with cruel clarity:Yu Jin with dirt smeared on his face, holding a makeshift rope to tie the courtyard's side gate shut. She, giggling, helping him knot it as they whispered about their "grand plan" to stop Zhuge Su Yeon from going off to train.
Another time, they had scattered flower petals along the path to Su Yeon's pavilion, pretending it was a "coronation ceremony." Only the "throne" prepared was an old chair with a broken seat. She still remembered his expression—not anger, but not quite amusement either—and how Yu Jin laughed so loudly, as though it were the greatest victory of his life.
They had been childish pranks.Small rebellions against the world.
But time had shattered that image.
Because she hated him too.Hated him for what he chose.Hated that when the seal on his body broke and power surged like a violent river, he chose glory over family. After his awakening, he simply vanished—as if the clan was nothing but a shadow unworthy of carrying.
In fifteen years, he returned to the Zhuge clan only twice. Twice.And in the end, when the clan was destroyed and her elder brother slain... the roots of that tragedy lay in problems Yu Jin himself had sown.
Yui Lan did not believe Yu Jin was a monster.No—if placed before any tribunal, she would swear he had only reacted, fought as he knew to survive.
But her love for him had been altered. He was still her beloved twin, but he was also the source of her pain, her loss. A loss that left a void not even four thousand years had filled completely.
And now, since she had returned in time, she had not spoken a single word to him.
There was no urgency; he was too busy reshaping himself, carving his own path. He would not notice her silence.
But that night, with the distant echoes of celebration and the moon watching overhead, Yui Lan decided it was time for silence to end.
The garden was calm, save for the trickle of water in a small stone fountain. Moonlight spread across the ground like a silver mantle, wrapping around the figure seated at its center. Yu Jin sat still, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees, eyes closed as though every breath was measured.
Yui Lan stopped a few steps away, watching. Her brother's face, half-shadowed by leaves, looked older than she remembered... and more scarred too.
— "I heard about your grand show in the arena," she said, voice low but clear enough to break the stillness.
Yu Jin opened his eyes slowly. Seeing her, a small but genuine smile touched his lips.
— "And I heard my sister has been walking around without guards," he replied, his deep voice carrying an affection that needed no exaggeration. "Seems we both decided to stir rumors today."
Yui Lan stepped closer, her tone serene but weighted with purpose.— "Rumors pass. Consequences remain."
Yu Jin raised a brow. For a moment, he froze, staring at her face—it was the first time he had seen her without the birthmark. He had likely known, but seeing it firsthand was different. A mischievous glint lit his eyes, the same one he'd worn in their childhood.— "So, did you come to lecture me? Or to congratulate me?"
She tilted her head slightly.— "Perhaps both. But... mostly, I came to speak with my brother. Not the cultivator."
For a moment, silence ruled the garden again. Yu Jin breathed deeply, closing his eyes briefly before opening them and gesturing to a stone bench nearby.— "Then sit. If we're to speak as siblings, I won't have you standing there looking as though you're about to judge me."
The tone was light, but the affection was real, mixed with an old longing.
— "I'm glad you're strong now," Yui Lan said, a serene gaze softening into a faint smile.
Yu Jin held her gaze for a moment and, as if her smile were contagious, answered with one of his own—proud, affectionate.— "Now I'll join Brother Yeon in chasing away your countless suitors camped at the clan gates."
Yui Lan laughed, soft as a breeze.— "So you'll defend me like you defended that girl from the next courtyard?" she teased, leaning forward slightly.
Yu Jin arched a brow, curious.— "You heard about that?"
— "Of course," she replied, voice almost lazy but laced with humor. "Beauties don't walk into the clan every day."
The two laughed together, and for a few moments, the weight of memories and years seemed to remain outside the garden.
But then Yui Lan lifted her face to the moon. The silver glow highlighted her delicate features, lending her expression a distant air.— "I'm worried too..." she said softly, almost to herself.
Yu Jin watched her in silence, reading gestures more than words.— "Worried I'll cause too much trouble?" he guessed, a half-smile softening the question.
She shook her head, still gazing upward.— "Worried you'll think you're alone in this world."
Yu Jin's breathing slowed, as if each word of hers settled into him with weight.
— "You're not," she continued, turning her gaze back to him. "You have me. You have that block of ice who's probably already asleep since sunset... and our little sister still waiting for us to wake her."
Yu Jin held her gaze, absorbing every syllable as if trying to store them. Several seconds passed before he answered, his voice lower than before:— "I know..."
The silence that followed was not cold. It was the silence that exists only between those who need prove nothing to one another.
Yui Lan stepped closer, leaning gently against him as if to steal his warmth—or perhaps only to confirm that he was still there, solid and alive.
— "Good that you know," she whispered, leaving the rest unspoken, as if the continuation were a secret meant only for her.