The palace corridors lay in hushed silence after the banquet, the air still thick with unspoken tensions. Courtiers dispersed like shadows, yet none could resist stealing glances at the woman who had dared to defy convention—Xiao Xuanli.
"Have you lost your mind?"
A low, razor-edged voice cut through the night. The Crown Prince, Mo Xuancheng, stepped into my path, his obsidian eyes burning with restrained fury.
"Do you want the entire court to know you’re no longer the docile puppet they remember?"
I met his gaze evenly, unmoved.
"I merely composed a poem." My tone was calm, but my eyes held his without flinching.
"You were challenging me." He advanced, each step a silent threat. "Do you truly believe such petty defiance will change anything?"
"Isn’t it Your Highness who so often speaks of changing the world?" I countered, a cold smile playing on my lips.
For a fleeting moment, his expression faltered—a rare crack in his imperious mask.
"Xiao Xuanli… you’ve changed." His voice was low, almost rough with something unspoken.
"No," I replied softly. "I’ve simply returned to who I always was."
I turned to leave, but his hand shot out, fingers closing around my wrist like a manacle.
"Was this all just to seize my attention?" His breath was warm against my ear, his words a dangerous caress. "Or do you, deep down, still care?"
I laughed lightly, twisting free of his grasp.
"I only wanted to remind you—I am no longer a pawn for you to control, Mo Xuancheng."
He watched me go, his figure rigid in the moonlight. Only when my silhouette had fully vanished did he murmur, so quietly it might have been the wind:
"A pity… Xuanli. Had you not stood against me, I might have loved you."
——
Beyond the palace walls, another pair of eyes observed the aftermath of our clash.
Clad in unadorned robes, a figure stood in the shadows—his presence as quiet as a blade unsheathed in the dark. His gaze, sharp and unwavering, traced my every movement.
"Xiao Xuanli," he whispered, the name carrying the weight of a vow.
"At last… you’ve begun to move."
And he—this enigmatic player in the shadows—was the true variable in the game.
[To Be Continued...]
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