Night had fallen, and I was bored from acting possessed all day. Missing my newly developed crush, I somehow thought it was a great idea to go watch him hunt the spirit. Men look their most handsome when they fight, and I'm just a girl hoping to see some good sights.
I was lucky Hua my personal maid wasn't outside my door spying as she usually did.
I fastened the black hairpin into my bun, red flowers catching the low light. Two loose strands framed my face along with my bangs. My dress flowed around me, black silk layered with sheer panels, embroidered with silver-white peonies. The white puffy sleeves contrasted against the dark fabric.
I brushed deep crimson on my lips and applied silver around my eyes to make them sharper than usual. I glanced at the mirror once, then turned away. I'd make sure he saw me like this when I miraculously recovered from my "possession" after they finished hunting the spirit.
It might be the last time I see him. I had to make it count.
I walked out silently, scanning everywhere. The palace corridors felt different at night, shadows stretched longer, every sound amplified. I knew exactly where to go.
From a distance, I spotted Lady Chen, Liu Feng, and some guards drawing something on the ground, sealing techniques. It was the safest way to capture a spirit: find where it is, seal the area around it, then shrink the seal until you trap it. Most hunters do this when they don't know the spirit's abilities. More importantly, it prevents accidentally stepping into the spirit's realm a non-physical space controlled by the creature. Once a human gets dragged into a spirit realm, escape becomes nearly impossible. The realm bends reality to the spirit's will, disorienting even experienced hunters until they're consumed.
I'd read about this in the dusty books I'd used to fake my possession symptoms. The theory was fascinating, even if I'd never expected to witness it firsthand.
I crept closer, keeping quiet. The night air carried their voices clearly. I'm not usually the type to eavesdrop, but I saw Feng smiling in a way I'd never seen before, genuine, excited, almost boyish. Whatever they were discussing, I needed to hear it.
"Rui is back already?" Feng said, his whole face lighting up. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I could've gone and bought some gifts."
Lady Chen waved him off impatiently. "We have work here to deal with first. Your reunion can wait until after we've eliminated this spirit."
"But it's been three months," Feng protested, though he was already turning back to the sealing work. "The north is such a dangerous place too."
I stood frozen behind my pillar, watching him work with renewed energy, probably thinking about this Rui. His beloved who'd suffered in the north for three months without him and had finally returned.
My heart sank at the way his voice softened when he said her name.
I pressed my back against the pillar, taking a breath. This stung, but it wasn't devastating. I'd known him for barely a week. This was attraction, nothing more. I'd survived far worse disappointments.
I should just back down. There's no point fighting an already lost battle, especially one I was never really in to begin with.
I turned to leave, planning to return to my chambers and pretend this night never happened.
Lost in my dejection and not paying attention, I somehow ended up in an unfamiliar section of the palace. The architecture looked different here, more ornate. It wasn't until I heard voices that I realized I'd wandered into my younger twin brother Jianyu's pavilion.
I heard the sound of a woman crying. Muffled sobs mixed with soft moans and whispered words.
Curiosity overrode my sulking. I followed the noise.
Before I could fully see what was happening, Jianyu's voice cut through the air, and I barely recognized it.
"Please hold on for a little longer. Once my brother ascends the throne, you'll be my wife, and you won't have to work for that witch anymore."
His brother was most probably Tianyu, since Jianyu had given up his chance to support him.
His voice was low, panicked, desperate. Comforting in a way I'd never heard from him before. He was talking to his lover, someone who worked for "the witch."
I didn't need to think twice to know who that witch was.
"I'm bearing it all to be able to be with you," came the reply, a woman's voice twisted with fake, seductive sadness.
My heartbreak suddenly felt insignificant compared to this discovery. Catching an affair unfold in the middle of the palace was far more interesting than my romantic disappointment, especially since I averaged about five of those per month anyway.
Still hiding behind a pillar, I peeked out just enough to see the woman's face. The rest of the scene was hidden in shadow, but I could make out her features clearly.
The woman was Hua. My personal maid.
What? I had to restrain myself from audible gasping from shock.
My personal maid, who spied on me daily. Who reported my every move to my brothers. Who I'd never trusted but had been forced to tolerate.
They fell silent, and I heard movement, fabric rustling. I should have left then.
Instead, I stepped closer. The drama was too juicy to leave now.
What I saw next made me want to pluck my eyes out.
My personal maid Hua and my brother Jianyu, tangled together in passionate embrace. Making out deeply, desperately, like their lives depended on it.
Definitely not the sight I'd picked my favorite dress for.
It took them a while to notice me standing there. When they finally did, the color drained from both their faces. Our eyes met across the dim space.
Caught. By the worst person in Chongniang Palace.
Having an affair with a palace maid was scandalous enough for any prince. But Jianyu was officially engaged to Lady Wei, daughter of one of the most powerful families supporting his twin's claim in the heir selection. The Wei family's support was crucial to Tianyu's political future.
If they ever found out about this betrayal...
Tianyu would lose his mind, alongside his chances for the throne.
I felt a spark of satisfaction. Here was leverage I'd never expected to gain. Information that could shift the entire balance of power in the palace if I chose to use it. Which I obviously would, even if it's just to see them miserable for a few days.
Upon seeing me, Hua and Jianyu jumped apart. Hua froze completely, her face a mask of terror. Jianyu took a step toward me, his expression shifting from shock to calculation to something that looked dangerously like panic.
"Yan, wait- you didn't see anything—" he started, but his voice lacked conviction. We all knew exactly what I'd seen.
I didn't let him finish. I'd heard enough, seen enough, and suddenly felt very aware of how alone I was with two people who had everything to lose if I talked.
I turned and ran away.
I knew what my brother was capable of when cornered. Words, fists, threats, nothing was off the table for him, he would do anything to silence me.
And now I had him chasing me through the palace corridors like a mad dog.
What a twist of events. Chongniang Palace, apparently filled with lovers and political scandals, who would have thought?
I kept running, my white crystal heels uncomfortably tight for this kind of activity, but it wasn't like I had much choice. Behind me, I could hear Jianyu's footsteps and his increasingly frantic calls of my name.
Initially, I'd planned to return to my pavilion and lock myself in until morning. But in my panic and unfamiliarity with this section of the palace at night, I somehow ended up somewhere completely different.
As I ran, I passed warning markers that looked like the ones I'd seen the spirit hunters placing earlier, symbols meant to keep guards and palace residents away from their hunting ground. I ignored them in my rush to escape Jianyu.
Maybe I shouldn't have.
All I saw was an open doorway, so I ran through it without thinking.
It was dark inside. No guards stationed nearby. White banners fluttered in the night breeze outside the windows.
I was too overwhelmed to immediately notice where I was, only that I had never been in this part of the palace before. But I'd lived in Chongniang Palace my whole life. How was that even possible?
Behind me, Jianyu was still shouting. I wasn't really listening anymore, focused only on the fact that his shouting seemed to be getting louder rather than farther away.
Couldn't he just go back and finish his disgusting affair?
Suddenly, the air around me changed. A smell hit my nose, strong, metallic, unmistakable.
Blood.
I passed by a strange figure in the darkness. My mind barely registered it as I hurried past, too focused on escape to process what I'd seen.
What a mess this night had become. And of course, I was walking deeper into it instead of finding my way out.
I finally entered what seemed to be the main chamber, and that's when I realized where I was.
A massive portrait dominated the far wall. A woman of ethereal beauty, painted with such skill she seemed almost alive. She stood in a garden of white lotus flowers, a lake stretching behind her. The scene looked fresh, serene, yet hauntingly beautiful.
The painting captured a time when everyone was happy, when the palace held joy instead of schemes and secrets. A time I'd never been allowed to experience.
I didn't recognize the specific artwork, but I knew immediately who it depicted.
The long-dead queen. My father's beloved wife. Lina and the twins' mother.
Her personal artifacts were displayed around the room, delicate fans, jewelry boxes, silk scarves arranged like shrine offerings. This was her wing. The place I'd been forbidden to enter since birth.
For a moment, standing before such masterful artistry, I found myself lost despite everything. My mind, already weakened by the night's emotional upheavals, craved the peace this place seemed to offer.
I might have stayed lost in that peaceful trance if the smell hadn't hit me again.
Blood. Stronger now.
That metallic, iron-heavy scent that had no business being in this sacred space.
This wing was supposed to be pristine, untouchable. Only my father and his three legitimate children were allowed to enter, and only to pay respects to their lost mother and wife.
So how had it become stained with blood?
Jianyu finally caught up with me, bursting through the doorway with fury written across his face.
Oh, wonderful. Now I'm stuck here with him.
I looked at the painting again.
But this time, she stared back.
It was dark enough that I couldn't trust my eyes completely, but I could swear her painted gaze had shifted. Her eyes seemed to glow with a red light that had nothing to do with the moonlight streaming through the windows.
A painting. But somehow alive. A presence watching me.
Blood in a place where it shouldn't exist.
How was this possible?
Only one explanation came to my increasingly panicked mind: a dark spirit, haunting the dead queen's portrait.
I froze completely.
Whatever Jianyu was shouting behind me faded to meaningless noise.
My body locked up. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe properly.
Something was pulling me toward the painting. Not physically, something deeper than that. Something that bypassed my conscious will and spoke directly to whatever part of me was most vulnerable.
Enchanting me.
And then everything went black.
But just before consciousness left me completely, a final thought managed to surface through the supernatural influence clouding my mind:
Blood. A haunted painting. This feeling of losing myself.
This was the work of an evil spirit, pulling me into its realm.
I was damned for sure.
What I hadn't known was that I was double damned.
Because that unfaithful brat Jianyu, who'd been chasing me through the palace, got pulled into the spirit realm right along with me.