Lin Yue's reflection didn't blink.
It didn't breathe.
It didn't tremble like a human being.
It just stared back at her…
wearing a crown that hadn't touched her head in reality.
And smiling like it already owned her.
Lin Yue stumbled backward, choking.
Her fingers clutched the calendar so hard her knuckles turned white.
The page burned.
Not metaphorically.
It was literally hot in her palm—like the ink was alive.
Shen Rui stepped in front of her, instantly.
His body moved before his mind could.
His eyes locked onto the mirror.
Then the next.
Then the next.
All of them reflected the same thing:
Lin Yue, crowned.
Lin Yue, obedient.
Lin Yue, erased.
The robed man's voice drifted through the chamber like perfume in a coffin.
"Do you feel it?" he asked softly.
"The palace remembering her?"
Lin Yue's throat tightened.
"I'm not her," she whispered.
But her voice didn't sound fully… hers.
It cracked wrong.
Like someone else was trying to speak through her mouth.
Shen Rui's jaw clenched.
"Shut up," he snapped at the voice. "You don't get to talk to her."
A laugh—gentle, cruel.
"Oh, Your Highness," the robed man sighed.
"You're so emotional for someone who was never meant to exist."
Shen Rui's eyes flared.
He turned sharply, scanning for him.
But there was no door.
No visible opening.
Only mirrors.
Only reflections.
Only the palace's hunger.
Lin Yue's calendar trembled again.
The page tried to flip.
Lin Yue slammed her hand down on it, like she could pin time in place.
"Stop—stop it!"
The ink pulsed.
A dark stain bled outward from the date, spreading like veins.
Lin Yue gasped.
Her palm burned.
Shen Rui grabbed her wrist instantly.
"Give it to me."
Lin Yue shook her head violently.
"No—if I let go, it'll—"
"It's already taking you," Shen Rui hissed.
"Give it to me."
Her eyes were wet.
Panicked.
She didn't want to lose it because it felt like the only proof she existed.
But Shen Rui wasn't asking.
He was saving.
Lin Yue let go.
The calendar hit Shen Rui's hand—
and the chamber went silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
Like sound itself got cut.
Then—
Shen Rui's breath hitched.
His vision blurred.
He saw it again.
Not a memory.
A punishment.
A girl running barefoot across marble.
White dress soaked with snow.
Blood on her ankle.
A crown rolling across the floor like a severed head.
A whisper in the walls:
*Lian Yu must return.*
Shen Rui staggered.
Lin Yue grabbed him.
"Shen Rui!"
He blinked hard.
His eyes refocused.
His chest heaved.
The calendar in his hand felt heavy—like holding a tombstone.
The robed man's voice returned, satisfied.
"Ah," he murmured.
"You can see the script now."
Shen Rui swallowed.
His voice came out low.
"This isn't a ritual."
He stared at the mirrors, hatred sharpening his words.
"This is a machine."
The robed man chuckled.
"A palace is a machine, Your Highness."
"A kingdom is a machine."
"A princess is a function."
Lin Yue's breath shook.
Shen Rui turned his head slightly.
"Don't listen," he whispered to her. "Look at me."
Lin Yue tried.
She really tried.
But her eyes kept flicking to the mirrors.
Because every reflection looked like it was pulling her.
Like gravity.
Like a rope around her ribs.
Shen Rui saw it.
And something inside him snapped.
He stepped forward.
Straight to the nearest mirror.
He raised his hand.
Lin Yue grabbed his sleeve.
"What are you doing?"
Shen Rui's voice was calm.
Too calm.
"I'm going to break it."
Lin Yue's eyes widened.
"You can't—!"
Shen Rui pressed his palm against the mirror.
The glass was freezing.
His skin prickled instantly.
The reflection stared at him.
Not his own.
Because his reflection…
wasn't there.
The mirror showed Lin Yue again.
Crowned.
Smiling.
Shen Rui's jaw clenched.
"You're not her," he whispered, voice shaking with rage.
The crowned reflection tilted its head.
And then…
it smiled wider.
Like it recognized him.
Like it remembered his death.
The mirror whispered.
Not out loud.
Inside his skull.
*You are the mistake.*
Shen Rui's blood went cold.
His fingers dug into the glass.
He leaned closer.
"You're right."
His voice dropped into something dangerous.
"I am."
Lin Yue's breath hitched.
"Shen Rui—what are you saying?"
Shen Rui didn't look back.
"I'm saying…" he murmured,
"…if I'm the mistake, then I'm also the blade."
The robed man's voice sharpened slightly.
"Do not touch the mirror."
Shen Rui smiled.
A cruel, royal smile.
"Too late."
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time…
he stopped resisting the feeling he'd been terrified of since he met Lin Yue.
That strange emptiness.
That absence where a normal person's past should be.
He let it flood him.
He let the truth surface:
He wasn't born.
He was placed.
He wasn't loved.
He was written.
He wasn't a prince.
He was a patch.
A correction.
A bandage over a wound that never healed.
Shen Rui opened his eyes.
They were darker now.
Not evil.
Just… real.
He pressed his palm harder against the mirror.
And the glass—
cracked.
A thin line.
Like a hairline fracture.
Lin Yue's breath stopped.
The robed man's voice snapped, furious.
"What did you do?!"
Shen Rui's voice was calm.
"I used myself."
Lin Yue stared.
"What?"
Shen Rui's hand trembled.
Blood beaded at his fingertips where the glass cut him.
But he didn't pull away.
He pressed harder.
The crack spread.
The mirror trembled like it was screaming without sound.
The crowned Lin Yue in the reflection flickered violently.
Her smile twisted.
Her eyes turned hollow.
The robed man's voice turned sharp, almost panicked.
"Stop."
Shen Rui's lips tightened.
"Make me."
He dragged his hand down the mirror.
Not scratching.
Cutting.
Like his existence was a knife.
The crack tore downward—
and the entire mirror shattered.
Glass exploded across the floor like ice rain.
Lin Yue screamed, flinching back.
Shen Rui grabbed her instantly, pulling her away from the shards.
The chamber shook.
Not physically.
But in its… memory.
Like something ancient was waking up angry.
The other mirrors flickered.
The crowned reflection appeared again.
Then again.
Then again.
All at once.
A hundred crowned Lin Yues stared at them.
The robed man's voice returned, colder.
"You think breaking one mirror changes the palace?"
Shen Rui's chest rose and fell.
Blood dripped from his palm.
He stared at the mirrors like he wanted to burn them.
"It changes her."
Lin Yue's breath shook.
Her palm still burned.
She looked down.
The ink stain wasn't just on the page anymore.
It was on her skin.
A faint dark smear across her lifeline.
Like the calendar had marked her.
Lin Yue's eyes filled with terror.
"It's on me…"
Shen Rui grabbed her hand.
His grip was tight.
Grounding.
"Look at me."
Lin Yue looked up.
Her eyes trembled.
"I don't want to disappear."
Shen Rui's throat tightened.
"You won't."
Lin Yue's lips quivered.
"But I can feel it."
Her voice dropped into a whisper.
"Like… someone is standing behind my eyes."
Shen Rui's stomach twisted.
He forced his voice steady.
"Then we kick her out."
The robed man laughed softly.
"You can't kick out what belongs here."
Lin Yue's breath hitched.
Shen Rui's gaze snapped to the mirrors.
"Belongs?" he repeated, voice turning sharp.
Then he turned to Lin Yue again.
His eyes softened for a fraction.
"Lin Yue."
She blinked.
Her lashes were wet.
"Yes?"
Shen Rui swallowed.
This was the moment.
The one he'd been avoiding.
The one that would cost him everything.
"If you hear a voice," he whispered,
"don't answer it."
Lin Yue's brow trembled.
"What if it answers me?"
Shen Rui's jaw clenched.
"Then you say your name."
Lin Yue's lips parted.
"My… name?"
Shen Rui nodded once.
Hard.
"Lin Yue."
He leaned closer.
His forehead almost touched hers.
His voice shook.
"Say it like you're punching the palace in the mouth."
Lin Yue's eyes widened through tears.
A broken laugh escaped her.
Even here.
Even now.
"Why are you like this?"
Shen Rui's mouth tightened.
"Because if the palace wants a princess…"
His eyes burned.
"…it can choke on me first."
The mirrors flickered violently again.
The robed man's voice rose, commanding.
"Mirror Chamber—restore the princess."
The air dropped ten degrees.
The mirrors glowed faintly.
Lin Yue's body went stiff.
Her pupils dilated again.
Her lips parted.
A whisper crawled out of her throat.
"…Lian…"
Shen Rui's heart slammed.
"No."
He grabbed her shoulders.
Hard.
"Lin Yue. Look at me."
Her eyes struggled.
Fighting.
Like she was underwater.
"…Yu…"
The whisper tried again.
Shen Rui's voice rose.
"LIN YUE!"
Lin Yue flinched.
Her eyes snapped to him.
For a second, she was there.
She was herself.
She gasped.
"Shen Rui—help me—"
The mirrors flashed.
And Lin Yue's mouth moved again.
Not her choice.
Not her voice.
But it came out of her throat like poison.
"I am…"
Shen Rui's blood turned to ice.
Lin Yue's eyes widened, terrified, because she could hear herself speaking.
"…Lian Yu."
Her voice was calm.
Perfect.
Royal.
Wrong.
Shen Rui froze.
The robed man's voice purred in triumph.
"There."
Lin Yue's eyes filled with tears.
She shook her head violently, sobbing.
"No—NO—!"
But her mouth smiled.
Her mouth smiled like the mirror.
And her own voice whispered again, softer now, like a lullaby to her death:
"…welcome home."
END CHAPTER 26
Cliffhanger: Lin Yue is forced to say "I am Lian Yu," and her body begins responding like the princess is taking control.