The Silent Gambit
Dawn bled through the palace corridors like a slow poison as I stood before the Crown Prince, the black jade token cold against my palm. The weight of it felt like a noose already tightening around my neck.
"You don't trust anyone." The Prince's lips curved in something too sharp to be called a smile. "That makes you valuable."
Xiao Jing's dagger-like gaze scraped over me from the shadows. "Or dangerous."
The jade in my hand bore the faintest carving—a character half-erased by time: Mystery. The same character from my mother's final warning.
"Find out who Han Sheng truly serves," the Prince murmured, "and you'll earn more than your life."
I bowed low, hiding the tremor in my hands. "This humble servant obeys."
Outside, the rain had turned the palace into a ghost of itself. The fog clung to my robes as I walked, each step heavier than the last.
Han Sheng's warning echoed in my bones: You'll meet him—or it—soon enough.
The black jade burned against my skin.
A key.
A curse.
A death sentence.
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