The palace had changed.
Not visibly.
The same crimson walls stood beneath the afternoon sun.
The same guards patrolled the corridors.
The same servants carried trays through the endless palace halls.
The same bells rang at the appointed hours.
Yet something beneath that familiar calm had shifted.
Rumors had begun moving through the palace again.
Whispers of strange footsteps.
Whispers of shadows.
Whispers of a woman appearing where no woman should have been.
And at the center of all those whispers stood one person.
Shin Gu.
For three days, she had barely slept.
She had become frightened of empty rooms.
Frightened of mirrors.
Frightened of footsteps.
Frightened of the darkness beneath her bed.
But what confused everyone most was what she kept repeating.
"The Empress is taking revenge."
Prince Liang had heard those words more than once.
And he couldn't understand them.
Not even slightly.
Because he knew something the others didn't.
