That night, I waited by the window, listening to the distant sounds of celebration drifting from the palace. The moon hung high, indifferent to the fate of men. With every hour that passed, my heart grew heavier.
I thought back to the days when Wenhai and I would walk by the river, discussing poetry and politics. He would always say,
“Qiaolan, if I ever have power, I’ll use it to help those who have nothing. Even if it means risking everything.”
Now, as the night deepened and the city quieted, I realized that the world Wenhai wished to save was not kind to dreamers. And Princess Zhenhua, with her silken smiles and iron will, was the cruelest test of all.
By dawn, the news had spread: another brilliant scholar had fallen, and the Princess Royal’s shadow loomed larger than ever over the capital. I clutched Wenhai’s last letter to my chest, the ink barely dry, his promises echoing in my ears.
But I knew this was not the end. For Wenhai, for the people, and for myself, I would not let his sacrifice be in vain. The game Princess Zhenhua played with men’s lives was not over—and this time, I would be the one to set the board.
The Princess Royal’s mansion was haunted.
Rumors swirled through the capital, and inside the palace, fear gripped the servants. The maids whispered anxiously, wondering if the ghosts of the innocent men the Princess Royal had killed had returned for vengeance. Some swore they’d seen the tragic figure of a scholar who’d died unjustly.
This left Princess Royal Zhenhua deeply troubled. For days, she wore a perpetual scowl, and any servant caught gossiping about the haunting was beaten to death on the spot. But the situation only grew more dire. Even the commoners of Yucheng City avoided the palace, afraid of catching its misfortune.
Desperate, Princess Zhenhua summoned every Daoist priest in the city. They tried exorcisms, pasted talismans everywhere, but nothing worked. The air above the palace only grew thicker with resentment.
One day, the elderly Daoist Master Qingxu was dragged into the palace. Stroking his white beard, he trembled as he pointed at the sky. The sun shone bright, not a cloud in sight, yet his face was grave.
“Your Highness, in two days’ time, the full moon will rise. If this resentment is left unchecked, you will face a deadly calamity on that night.”
Princess Zhenhua’s eyes flashed with anger. She slammed her hand down on the table.
“Nonsense! Slap his mouth!”
A crisp slap echoed through the hall. Princess Zhenhua gripped her silk handkerchief so tightly it nearly tore in two.
“I am the Princess Royal, the Emperor’s own sister. Who dares threaten me?”
No sooner had she spoken than a sudden wind swept through the hall, icy and sharp, carrying dead leaves and bitter resentment right toward her.
“Ghosts!” someone screamed.
The remaining priests fled in terror. The maids and older attendants turned pale, frozen in place, staring as Princess Zhenhua’s robes whipped in the wind.
Everyone else shrank back in fear. Only I, Lin Qiaolan, leapt forward. I grabbed a lock of her hair and twisted my fingers in a ritual motion.
Within seconds, the wind vanished as if it had never been.
The palace fell deathly silent. A bird called from the garden, and Princess Zhenhua seemed to snap out of her daze. She scowled and shoved me to the ground.
“Wretched maid! How dare you touch me?”
I scrambled to my knees, bowing frantically.
“Please forgive me, Your Highness! It was urgent, I only wished to save you.”
Her sharp gaze narrowed. “You know how to break this curse?”
Her old nurse sneered. “She’s just a chamber pot maid. Probably got lucky.”
“No, I swear I’m not lying!” I stammered. “I learned some folk methods as a child in my village. I never thought they’d work! But—” My voice faltered, “it’s only a temporary fix. We’ll need to keep performing rituals.”
Just as I expected, Princess Zhenhua relented.
She stepped closer, lifting my chin with the tip of her embroidered shoe, then kicked me hard in the chest.
“You know my temper. If you’re lying, your whole family dies.”
I promised obedience and worked through the night.
By morning, the resentment in the palace had faded a bit. When the full moon came, Princess Zhenhua survived the night unscathed. Relieved, she rewarded me with twenty taels of silver and ordered me to serve in the inner quarters.
Before I left, the old nurse warned me,
“Serve Her Highness well, and you’ll be rewarded.”
I bowed respectfully. But hidden in my sleeve, I rolled a lock of hair and a few fingernail clippings between my fingers.
Of course, I’d serve the Princess Royal well. After all, I was the one who’d created the haunting. Only I could dispel it. Compared to exorcising ghosts, I was far better at changing fate.
Chapter 01
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