The moon hung high above the palace like a watchful guardian, casting a silver veil upon the forbidden courtyard where few dared to tread. Within that desolate corner of the palace, Lady Yên Vân stood motionless, her silken robes fluttering faintly in the summer breeze. Her eyes, sharper than ever, scanned the darkness. She was waiting—waiting for someone who should never be late.
A rustle.
A shadow flitted across the wall like smoke. Before she could react, a figure dropped silently before her.
"You're late," she said, her voice cool.
"I had to shake off two tailing guards," replied the man, stepping into the moonlight. It was Lâm Kha, now clad in the garb of a palace eunuch, but his posture and aura betrayed the truth—he was no servant.
Yên Vân's eyes narrowed. "What news from the Eastern Bureau?"
Kha handed her a rolled scroll, bound in wax. "The Empress Dowager has begun moving her people. She sent a secret envoy to Grand Chancellor Dưỡng Tâm. If she secures his allegiance…"
"She will control the Imperial Court," Yên Vân finished grimly. "And the Emperor will become her puppet."
Kha hesitated, then asked, "Are you sure about this path? Once we act, there's no return."
Yên Vân looked at the moon, then at her own reflection in the courtyard's black pond.
"There was no return the moment I stepped into the palace," she murmured. "But now… now I fight not just for myself, but for the child growing inside me."
Kha's eyes widened. "You're—?"
She nodded. "Two months. It's still a secret. And it must remain so. If the Empress Dowager finds out, she'll see it as a threat to her reign."
Kha stepped closer, concern in his eyes. "Then we move now. Strike before she consolidates power."
"No," Yên Vân said. "We wait for the full court assembly during the Mid-Autumn Banquet. That's when I reveal her crimes—before the Emperor and the nobles. We'll expose her before all."
Kha hesitated. "That's a dangerous gamble."
Yên Vân smiled faintly. "Every move in this palace is a gamble. But this time, I'm playing with more than just my life."
From the distance, a nightingale sang.
As the two parted ways, neither noticed the flicker of movement high above—a masked woman hiding among the rafters, having heard every word.
And far across the palace, the Empress Dowager sat in her private quarters, sipping tea that had long gone cold.
She stared into the night.
"She thinks I don't know," she whispered. "But the snake reveals its fangs the moment it feels confident. I'll crush her before that banquet ever begins."