The capital had always been a city that slept lightly.
Even after midnight, lanterns glowed outside teahouses, patrols crossed the streets, and merchants prepared for the following day's business.
But during the past several nights...
Something strange had begun to spread across the kingdom.
Not a disease.
Not a rebellion.
A rumor.
A whisper.
---
"It happened again."
"I saw him."
"No... it couldn't have been him."
"I swear on my ancestors, I saw a man in a black hood."
The whispers spread from tea stalls to marketplaces, from noble mansions to humble cottages.
Every storyteller seemed to have a different version.
Some claimed the hooded man was a wandering immortal.
Others insisted he was an assassin.
A few believed he was the ghost of an ancient general who had returned to seek revenge.
No one knew the truth.
Because no one had ever seen his face.
---
Near the eastern market, two night-watch guards walked their usual patrol.
The younger guard yawned.
