Jiao Shui felt the world tilt.
Not gently, like a dream rolling her back into sleep, but violently, as if someone had grabbed the horizon and shaken it until everything slipped sideways. Her vision blurred with lantern light and silk curtains, shadows spilling across marble floors as footsteps approached.
A palace?
Her fingers curled against embroidered bedding far too luxurious to belong to her. She pushed herself up, instinctively scanning the room.
Gilded pillars.Oil paintings of past emperors glowering down at her.A brazier burning sandalwood, the smoke swirling like quiet warnings.
And then the bullet comments burst into view.
[System: Host has awakened. Finally.][System: Try not to die within five minutes, okay?][System: Good luck. You'll need it.]
She slapped at the air.The comments didn't go away.
"Oh no," she whispered. "I'm hallucinating again."
The comments flickered angrily.
[System: We are NOT hallucinations.][System: Rude.]
A deep voice rumbled from the doorway."...Hallucinating?"
Jiao Shui froze.
The man standing there looked sculpted from dusk itself. Black robes embroidered with gold-tracing clouds, long hair tied with a jade clasp, and eyes so sharp they felt like blades resting against her throat.
She recognized him from memory not her own.
Emperor Yang Chenxuan.Ruler of the Dawn Empire.Cold, calculating, rumored to have a heart carved from obsidian.
And currently staring at her like he was deciding whether to exile her, interrogate her, or simply burn her existence from the archives.
"You're awake," he said.
She blinked. "Um… yes? I think?"
A bullet comment flickered.
[System: Host, bow.][System: Bow or perish.][System: Preferably bow AND don't speak.]
Too late.
She had spoken, and the Emperor's eyebrow lifted.
"Think?" he repeated, voice cool. "You think you are awake?"
Jiao Shui did what any normal person would do when confronted with a powerful ruler and a snarky hallucination system.
She laughed.
She didn't mean to. It just spilled out of her in a completely inappropriate bubble of nerves.
The Emperor's expression cracked. Just barely.A twitch. Almost imperceptible.
[System: Host what are you doing STOP LAUGHING][System: Abort mission abort mission—]
She clapped a hand over her mouth.
"I—I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I'm just… overwhelmed."
He stepped closer. Slowly. The way a predator moved when it already knew the prey couldn't escape.
"You were unconscious for three days," he said. "My physicians believed you had lost your mind."
"Oh, good," she blurted. "That means we're starting with low expectations."
[System: HOST.]
Silence dropped between them like a guillotine.
For a moment she swore he might actually laugh. His gaze softened by a fraction, curiosity threading into it.
"You are not what I expected," he murmured.
Then the softness vanished. Replaced with steel.
"You will explain everything later," he said. "For now, rest. And do not wander."
He turned and left, the hem of his robe sweeping across the marble like a dark tide.
The door clicked shut.
Jiao Shui collapsed back into the pillows.
"…What just happened?"
The bullet comments flickered triumphantly.
[System: Good job not dying.][System: Barely.][System: Next time try not to laugh in the Emperor's face.]
She groaned into the pillow.
Then another comment appeared.
[System: Host has unlocked Plotline: Forbidden Attraction.][System: Warning: Emperor Yang's interest level +3.][System: This is dangerous. Proceed recklessly.]
Jiao Shui sat up.
"…Proceed what?"
The lanterns flickered, and a cold breeze drifted across the room.
Someone—or something—was standing just outside her balcony.