The moon shone silver over the Shoukang Palace, its golden rooftops glimmering softly in the night. Red lanterns swayed in the gentle breeze, throwing dancing shadows across the polished stone floors. The air smelled faintly of burning incense and night jasmine. In the distance, the lotus ponds shimmered under the moonlight, petals glinting like tiny jewels.
Inside the inner chamber, the Empress knelt beside her son, the Crown Prince. The boy lay on a low, carved wooden bed, his small body pale and trembling, wrapped in silk sheets embroidered with dragons and phoenixes. Each soft cough made her heart tighten.
The Empress herself was a picture of grace and worry. Her long silk robes flowed around her, heavy with gold embroidery of dragons and phoenixes intertwined across the fabric. The sleeves trailed slightly on the floor. Her hair was coiled high, pinned with golden lotus-shaped hairpins and jade ornaments. A few loose strands fell over her face, catching the flickering candlelight. Every motion she made was careful, as if performing a silent ritual. Her hands shook slightly as she brushed her son's thin arm.
Around her, a few silent attendants and guards moved carefully, adjusting silk curtains, carrying candles, and shifting incense burners. Their presence was almost invisible, but the weight of their quiet steps filled the room with subtle life.
In a corner, a healer observed silently, checking the boy briefly before stepping back, bowing, and leaving. His presence reminded the Empress that even skilled eyes could not yet provide a solution, adding to the tension in the chamber.
A trusted palace servant hesitated, then lowered her voice, as if the walls themselves could hear:
Your Highness… the stars have whispered of a child unlike any other. A blossom born beneath hidden light, carrying the mark of the lotus, blue as the evening sky and gold as the rising sun. Few shall know of her coming, yet she will appear when the tide of fate sways the Crown Prince's breath. Only she can weave the threads of life and shadow together, as heaven intends."
The Empress' gaze sharpened, her hands clutching the bed's carved edge. The candle flames danced in the reflective silk around her, casting shadows that seemed to move like whispering spirits.
"Then… she will come," she murmured, voice barely audible. "She must… I will not let him fade before her light reaches him."
Outside, the night was still, but the lotus ponds shimmered faintly, as if answering some unspoken summons. The palace itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the child foretold in a secret song of stars.
⚡ Yet fate is cruel. The child would not appear soon, nor would her path be clear. Years of shadow, betrayal, and blood would pass before her first cry was heard. She was not born only to save the Prince she was destined to bear the weight of the kingdom itself. A girl marked by the lotus, bound to bring sovereignty, hope, and a storm that could either save or shatter them all.