Seventeen days had passed since Shin Gu's death.
Seventeen days since the dark magic that had haunted the Imperial Palace for so long had seemingly come to an end.
For seventeen peaceful days, there had been no strange incidents.
No servants wandering into forbidden courtyards.
No mysterious whispers.
No black candles burning by themselves.
No one waking from nightmares with strange symbols carved into their skin.
The palace had finally begun breathing again.
Even the Empress's courtyard had returned to its usual liveliness.
Fen Yu had gone back to arguing with Wei Rong.
Wei Rong had returned to polishing his miniature sword.
Li Shen spent most of his time reading while pretending he couldn't hear either of them.
The Emperor had returned to his court duties.
The Empress had resumed her ordinary routine.
Everyone believed the nightmare had ended.
But they were wrong.
Because Shin Gu had never been the beginning.
She had only been a piece of something much larger.
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