The study was quiet in a way that felt deliberate.
Not empty.
A large desk sat near the window where soft daylight spilled across sheets of paper, ink, and an unfinished map marked with careful lines and symbols only someone like him would understand at a glance.
Yonghui sat off to the side, legs folded comfortably beneath her, completely absorbed in a board game she had set up for herself. The pieces were arranged neatly, but not rigidly—like she was testing possibilities more than following rules.
Across from her, her grandfather didn't look up from his work immediately.
His brush moved slowly over the map, marking positions, adjusting boundaries, redrawing lines that didn't sit right with him. He worked like someone who had already seen the outcome of several wars and was only interested in correcting the next one.
Yonghui made her move on the board without looking at him.
"I think this one is winning," she said casually.
Her grandfather hummed in acknowledgment but didn't turn.
"Only if your opponent lets you think that far ahead," he replied.
She glanced up at that, then back down at the board.
"So I should assume they won't?"
A pause.
His brush stopped for a moment, hovering over the map.
"No," he said finally. "You should assume they will do something you didn't consider at all."
Yonghui tilted her head slightly, thinking, then shifted one of her pieces.
"That makes planning pointless."
"It makes planning flexible," he corrected.
That made her pause longer this time.
He finally set the brush down and leaned back slightly, eyes moving toward her rather than the map.
"You don't win situations by predicting them perfectly," he said. "You win them by not breaking when they change."
Yonghui tapped a piece lightly against the board, considering that.
"And if everything changes at once?"
A faint exhale left him, almost like he expected that question.
"Then you stop trying to win the shape it becomes," he said. "You focus on not losing yourself inside it."
She looked up at him properly now.
"…that sounds like giving up control."
He shook his head once.
"No," he said. "It's knowing what control actually is."
He turned back to the map, adding another mark without hesitation.
"Most people think control is forcing things to obey them," he continued. "It isn't. It's choosing what you refuse to let affect your judgment."
Yonghui didn't respond immediately.
Instead, she moved another piece on her board.
Slower this time.
More deliberate.
"…so I should care less about the pieces and more about the board," she said.
A small pause.
Then her grandfather nodded once.
"Exactly."
————
The command cut through the air. The guards moved instantly.
Spears lunged forward, sharp, direct.
Yonghui's body reacted. She dropped low.
Her legs folding beneath her in one clean motion.
The spears sliced through the space where she had been standing.
A breath escaped her.
Her eyes widened slightly.
…what was that…
The memory. So sudden.
Was that…
…my life flashing before I die?
A beat.
Her palm pressed against the stone, breathing controlled but tight. The moment from the flashback still clung faintly at the edge of her thoughts, but she forced it down.
"Stop this at once!"
The minister's voice cut through sharply. He stepped forward, face tense. "What are you doing?"
All eyes were on him, even Yonghui's.
But the monk answered him before anyone could act.
"A body dead for five days does not rise without cause."
His voice was calm. Unshaken. Somehow he had gotten himself straight after the chaos in the mourning hall.
"This is no longer something human."
That word spread instantly.
Fear followed it. Then panic.
A woman cried out suddenly, collapsing slightly where she stood.
"My child… what cruelty is this…"
Yonghui froze for a second.
"…wait. I'm not...." she was about to speak but her attention shifted to the guards.
She noticed too late.
The guards were adjusting again.
Their stance widened slightly. Weight shifting backward.
Yonghui's eyes widened. Her thoughts screamed at her.
"....they're preparing to strike again."
Yonghui was still low on the ground and needed to get up quickly.
But the spears went up first. All at once.
They left their hands in a controlled arc, rising into the air above her like a coordinated signal rather than an attack. The motion wasn't natural—there was no variation, no human inconsistency. Even the spacing between them looked calculated.
Yonghui's eyes snapped upward.
"…what the—"
The guards followed their weapons. Bodies lifting off the ground in unison.
Fists drawn back mid-air, descending together in a synchronized strike aimed directly at her position.
Yonghui didn't wait to be crushed.
She rolled. Hard.
Out of their landing path.
The fists hit empty space where she had been a heartbeat earlier and crushed the ground.
She screamed inwardly. "..what frightening force."
She used the roll's momentum to push herself up immediately.
Yonghui had just managed to stand when it started.
Before she could fully settle her balance, the spears were already in motion again.
She reacted instantly, stepping back as the first one came down where her foot had been a moment earlier. Another followed, forcing her to twist her upper body sharply to avoid it, the wind of its descent brushing past her shoulder.
She moved again, faster now, slipping between two more that should not have arrived so close together in timing. One struck the ground slightly behind her with a delay that didn't match its release, and the next came in at an angle that made no sense for how it had been thrown.
Yonghui's expression tightened as she kept dodging, her steps adjusting without pause. But the more she moved, the clearer it became that something was wrong. The spears weren't just coordinated—they were behaving as if something else was correcting their motion after they left the guards' hands.
One curved slightly mid-air. Another slowed before dropping.
Another landed too late for where her eyes had already calculated it should be.
She finally paused for the briefest fraction of a second, eyes narrowing.
Her gaze tracked the next spear as it shifted again in the air. And that was when she understood, something unseen was interfering with their movement.
Her mind was racing. Everything was real, it felt real but this was not. It felt like something coming out of a Chinese historical drama. She tried to think, how did she get to this point. And that was when it hit her.
"... Didn't I fall from the balcony at the party?"
Then the guards closed in. Now it was fists.
The first strike came straight at her.
She stepped aside, letting it pass, then redirected the attacker's arm just enough to unbalance him.
"You're not letting me think in peace."
Another came from the side.
She blocked it with her forearm, absorbing the impact and turning her shoulder into it to soften the force.
The third tried to force space between them.
She didn't let him. A quick step in. A sharp strike to break his rhythm.
Across the courtyard—
The wind brushed past the hem of his robes, but even that seemed quieter around him, as if the noise of the courtyard avoided his presence without permission. The silence around Yanshu deepened.
Because now it was no longer just a reaction. It was understanding.
In front of him,stood Wen Suiyan, tense, eyes fixed on the fight unfolding between Yonghui and the guards.
For a moment, even Suiyan couldn't hide his reaction.
"…impossible" he muttered, almost disbelieving.
The movement in front of him wasn't what he expected. Not from someone like "her".
It was like she was a whole new person.
Wen Suiyan felt a tap on his shoulder and turned.
Yanshu was still watching.
A faint curve appeared at the corner of Yanshu's mouth.
Not warmth. Not amusement either.
Something more controlled than both.
Suiyan's expression tightened slightly.
"…Your highness?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Yanshu said lightly. Then, almost immediately, he added, "Is that the dark-skinned princess?"
Before Wen Suiyan could respond, something changed in the air.
His sword was no longer in his hand.
Yanshu was already moving.
One step. Then he was gone from where he stood.
Yonghui felt it. Pressure.
Even with what was happening, she could feel something coming.
She grabbed a spear instinctively and raised it. The impact came immediately.
The sword met it instantly. The spear split cleanly.
Yonghui's eyes widened slightly as she stepped back.
"…too fast," she muttered.
The second strike didn't give her time to finish.
It came higher. Closer.
Intent sharpened into one point. Her neck. She gasped.
"Prince Li Yanshu."
The voice cut in. The minister had stepped forward.
Yanshu stopped. Not because he had to.
Because something in the space around him paused with him.
"Do not move or I'll cut you down." His icy voice directed at An Yonghui before slowly turning his head.
"…you're interrupting me. Or are you trying to side with it? You know how much the emperor hate demons."
The minister held his ground.
"That body," he said firmly, "belongs to the emperor's goddaughter."
"Therefore you must treat it with respect. Have compassion as her fiancee."
Yanshu's expression shifted into something colder.
Yanshu's gaze returned to Yonghui.
Yonghui met his gaze. And froze.
"...ahh, he really wants to kill me." That final thought registered in her mind.
She saw it. There was no recognition in her eyes for him. This man who they called Li Yanshu truly wasn't the man she knew.
Not because he looked different, not because of the way his speech changed or the fact that he was dressed differently.
None.
It was the look he gave her.
By the fact that there was something behind his gaze she couldn't read at all.
But she knew it was sharp. Heavy.
Something deeper than intent alone.
Something that made her skin tighten.
"… Then report this to the emperor immediately," Yanshu said calmly, not looking away from her.
That will not be possible at present."
A pause.
Then he continued more carefully, choosing each word like it carried weight in court.
"His Majesty is on a private observance of ancestral merit and cannot be interrupted lightly, even by matters of the palace."
His eyes flicked briefly toward Yonghui, then back to Yanshu.
"By ritual law, he will remain there until the rites are concluded."
A faint laugh left Yanshu. Almost amused.
"…of course."
He lowered his sword slightly. Then looked at Yonghui again.
"How ironic," he said softly. "One of the souls he went to pray for… is standing here alive."
"But that is, if it is even the person in question."
And in the next instant, his hand closed around her throat.
Yonghui reacted instantly, grabbing his wrist and striking at his arm, trying to break his grip. But his strength did not loosen. His expression didn't change either.
Her breath tightened. Her fingers dug harder. Her vision began to blur at the edges.
Then, impact.
Her body jerked. Her grip loosened.
She went limp.
Yanshu released her at the same time she went unconscious, letting her body drop to the ground without ceremony.
The minister lowered his hand slowly, the strike still fresh in the air.
Suiyan moved immediately toward her body.
The minister sighed. "..what a mess."
He turned toward the gathered attendants first.
His voice was steady, carrying just enough volume to reach everyone without sounding like a proclamation.
"This matter is being addressed. No further action is required from those present."
His gaze swept across them once, slow and deliberate.
A few of the attendants still looked unsettled, but none dared interrupt.
Then his attention shifted to Lu Meifen.
His tone softened only slightly, but the meaning remained firm.
"Madam Lu, your daughter's body will be returned to your residence once arrangements are finalized."
Then his expression hardened again as he looked back at everyone else.
"However."
The single word cut through whatever fragile relief had formed.
"Anyone who spreads unverified accounts of what occurred here and causes unrest in the capital will be identified."
His voice lowered slightly, but gained weight instead of losing it.
"And dealt with accordingly."
No threats followed. None were needed.
The message was clear enough that even those who hadn't understood the situation now understood the consequences of speaking about it.
The minister turned back to Yanshu.
".....the body..."
Yanshu interrupted before the question could fully land.
"Before the emperor returns," he said evenly, "would you prefer to keep her under your watch?"
The question was simple.
But it pressed directly into a silence no one wanted to answer.
And of course, the minister hesitated. He looked over at the body of the dark skinned princess. He didn't want to acknowledge it but it was truly unseen that a dead body could rise and with everything going on in the capital now, a demon is definitely possible.
And the stories of how they are portrayed.
Entities that wore human shape but did not belong to human order.
Deceitful things that mimicked breath.
That borrowed warmth. That lingered in flesh that should have been surrendered to death. Things that did not announce themselves as monsters.
Things that required time to reveal what they were.
The minister's jaw tightened slightly.
This could not be handled carelessly.
If it truly becomes a threat, then it is better to have someone, who is able to take it on without hesitation, near it.
"The Black Blade of the Court." He muttered to himself as he glanced at Yanshu.
The minister exhaled slowly.
"…very well," he said aloud at last, carefully measured. "You may hold custody of the body until the emperor's return."
A pause.
Then, more deliberately:
"But do not exceed what is necessary."
Yanshu inclined his head slightly.
Then he turned away.
No delay.
And as he left with Yonghui's unconscious form under his control, the courtyard remained still.
".... truly what a mess."