Xiao Zhi had heard news of the Khan's upcoming wedding. The palace was practically buzzing about it.
This is it, she thought.
The Khan's wedding was not just a celebration. Before, it would also be the death of her. But now, it would be her ticket to escape her cruel fate, to live happily ever after with the man she loved.
Time was ticking. She needed to see Ruhan immediately. To finalize their escape plan, before the threads of her life were severed in the cruel choreography of the story she was trapped in.
Xiao Zhi was already on her way to find Ruhan when she heard the whispers.
She had left her quarters early, unease lingering in her chest since waking. The thrill of their escape plan kept her up all night. She had been doodling strategies again. Escape plans, death plans, everything that would make sense to avoid her tragic fate and escape the damned palace.
She had slept eventually, exhaustion pulling her under, but even in sleep, she had reached for him. In her dreams, he was there, his hand waiting for hers, but as she moved to touch him... he dissolved into smoke.
And when she woke up, she found herself alone and hollow.
She stood at the intersection of the corridors leading to the eunuch's wing and the Khan's private quarters.
That was when she heard it.
"…one of the Khan's eunuchs…"
"…killed by bandits, just outside the palace…"
The words were hushed, exchanged quickly between servants. They didn't even see her passing. Xiao Zhi's step slowed as she began to put the pieces together.
A eunuch... dead.
She felt her chest growing heavy, but her body suddenly felt light. There were many eunuchs in the palace, and dozens who served the Khan. It could be anyone. It had to be someone else.
Still, the heaviness in her chest wouldn't go away.
She continued walking and decided to go directly to the Khan's quarters to find him. Her steps became faster now, almost running. The palace felt different all of a sudden, and the corridors felt like they were growing longer with every frantic step she took.
"…his body was brought back…"
"…they said it was violent…"
"...barely recognizable..."
Her heartbeat quickened, and her breath became shallow.
No.
No, no, no.
She tried to shove the bad thoughts away, but they kept coming back, even more terrifying than before.
At this point, she was running toward the Khan's quarters. Her long skirts brushed against the floor, and she stumbled a few times, but she kept getting back up and even ran faster than before.
Her pulse was roaring in her ears. The closer she came, the heavier her body felt, as though some instinct deep inside her already knew what she would find.
She saw Arkan standing outside the gate. The moment she saw him, her heart dropped.
He stepped forward immediately, blocking her path. "Princess Consort. You cannot be here."
"Move," Xiao Zhi said.
"Please," Arkan continued, lowering his voice. "This is not—"
The doors were open, so she looked past him.
Inside, the courtyard was quiet in a way that felt wrong. At the center of it lay a body, covered in straw mats and coarse cloth, the shape beneath unmistakably human. A scene too familiar. Like something straight from the tragedies she had once watched in a movie, never believing she would face one herself.
The Khan stood nearby. He remained perfectly still, but his masked face fixed on the body lying in front of him.
Xiao Zhi shoved past Arkan.
"Princess Consort," Arkan said sharply, reaching for her arm.
"Let her through," the Khan said. His voice was calm and cold. The voice he used when he wanted no argument.
Xiao Zhi barely heard him.
She walked forward as though in a dream, her legs unsteady. The closer she came, the more her vision blurred. She stopped at the edge of the body, staring down at it, her chest tight to the point of pain.
Slowly, with trembling hands, she reached for the edge of the straw covering.
"Princess Consort," the Khan said again, giving her a last warning. "You are not supposed to be here."
She did not answer. She didn't ever hear him.
She pulled the covering back.
The world was spinning around her.
For a moment, she could not breathe.
The face beneath was damaged, barely recognizable, and yet Xiao Zhi knew. She recognized the build, the clothing, the shape of the jaw beneath the blood and bruises.
Her knees buckled.
Xiao Zhi sank to the stone floor, her face completely blank. She stared at nothing, her eyes wide and empty as the world went quiet around her.
No... Her lips mouthed the word, but no sound came out.
Her nightmare had come true.
Hands reached for her, voices calling her name, but they felt distant, muffled, as though she were underwater. She could not tear her eyes away from the body, could not connect the stillness before her with the man who had stood beside her only days ago.
The man who had just confessed his feelings to her.
The man who had planned to escape with her.
This couldn't be happening. It couldn't.
"Princess Consort," Arkan said urgently. "You must leave."
She did not resist when they lifted her. She didn't scream, didn't even cry.
She had gone numb.
The servants guided her back to her quarters, murmuring reassurances she did not hear. When the door closed behind her, shutting out the world, Xiao Zhi sank to the floor where she stood, her back sliding down the wood until she was curled against it.
Her hands pressed against her mouth, but no sound came out.
Her body shook, but her mind felt empty.
This couldn't be happening. This wasn't real.
Ruhan was dead.
Her thoughts spiraled. Lin Rui had orchestrated it, writing her life into tragedy, forcing her to endure bruises, insults, and relentless cruelty.
And now this. He had turned that same cruelty against her heart, making her feel more pain than Kabil's blows, more than the stones thrown at her, more than the words aimed to wound her.
He had made her live through fear, helplessness, and heartbreak, all to see the plot unfold exactly as he intended.
And now she had to face the aftermath. Lin Rui had weaponized his story against her heart, against her freedom, against the life she had only just begun to taste. Against the hope of a happy ending, she just started to dream about.
And she hated him for it.
Hated him for being heartless. And hated herself for how little she could do about it.
Before she could do her revenge to rewrite the story, he had placed the end.
She covered her eyes with her trembling palms, wishing for just a moment that the world could reset, that she could erase the memory of seeing him like this.
She no longer wished to wake up in her old apartment. She only wished to wake up back from the start, back at Hua when they first met. Welcoming his cunning smile with a tight embrace, and never letting him go.