Li Yun didn't sleep.
Not that he could, with everything unraveling around him.
Instead, he stood alone in the martial courtyard, beneath the pale glow of morning light. The rain had passed, leaving puddles scattered like shattered mirrors on the stone floor. He moved through his sword forms slowly, each stroke more like meditation than combat.
He wasn't training for strength.
He was training for clarity.
Behind every memory now loomed a shadow—his mother's death, Lady Shen's secrets, his uncle's betrayal. Even his own past felt like a painted wall, beautiful from a distance but hollow when struck.
Yun exhaled slowly and sheathed the blade.
He sensed her before he heard her.
Lady Shen stood near the corridor, holding a cloth-wrapped bundle.
"You forgot something," she said, stepping into the courtyard.
He turned. "What is it?"
She unwrapped the cloth, revealing a black velvet box. Inside was a pendant—gold, carved with twin dragons, and a crimson gem at its center.
"This was meant to be given to you on your sixteenth birthday," she said. "It was your mother's."
He didn't move to take it. "Why didn't I get it then?"
"Because you were gone. And because your uncle said you didn't deserve it."
His expression didn't change, but something inside him cracked.
He reached out and took the pendant.
It was warm.
Strangely… warm.
"There's more to it," she said. "Wearing it may unlock memories buried by spiritual seal. Your mother was paranoid near the end—she used soul-binding glyphs."
"She sealed my memories?"
Lady Shen nodded. "Maybe to protect you. Or herself. You'll know, eventually."
Yun tucked the pendant into his robe.
"You told me to watch my uncle," he said. "I will. But if you're lying to me—"
"I'm not."
He met her eyes. "Then help me catch him."
Later that day, Yun walked the inner halls with measured calm.
He stopped by the servant quarters, then the east records hall, then finally—his uncle's study.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, scrolls were stacked neatly along the walls. Incense burned in the corner. A pot of tea sat on a warming plate, still steaming.
Yun stepped in casually.
Li Chen looked up from the ledger at his desk.
"Nephew," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You're up early."
"Just revisiting old places," Yun said. "Trying to feel like I belong again."
"You always belonged," Li Chen replied. "Even if you needed some discipline to grow."
"Is that what exile was called back then? Discipline?"
His uncle's smile didn't waver. "Your father did what he thought best."
Yun sat opposite him. "And you?"
"I advised him."
"Against my mother?"
A pause.
Slight. Measured.
Li Chen poured tea into Yun's cup.
"I advised the clan," he said. "Sometimes that means making sacrifices."
Yun stared at the steam rising from his cup.
"And if that sacrifice was my mother?"
Li Chen said nothing.
But his eyes gleamed.
Just slightly.
That night, the first attempt came.
Yun had returned to the ancestral library to search through his mother's old scrolls. He stayed past curfew, alone beneath dim lanternlight, trying to match the Flame Sigil to any known technique.
It was nearly midnight when he heard it.
A click behind the shelves.
A breath.
Too quiet for a servant.
He reached for his dagger instinctively—only to have a silk cloth suddenly yanked around his throat from behind.
He staggered, elbowing backward.
A masked figure grunted, tightening the garrote.
Yun dropped his weight, using gravity to wrench the attacker forward. The two of them hit the floor hard, books scattering around them.
Yun twisted, slamming his attacker's wrist into the wooden shelf until the cloth snapped loose.
The man struck again—fast, trained. A dagger sliced across Yun's sleeve.
Blood.
Yun kicked out, sending the man crashing into a pile of scrolls.
He didn't wait.
He lunged, pinning the attacker's arm, slamming his head into the floor once—twice—until he stopped moving.
Breathless, Yun staggered back, clutching his side.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Lady Shen burst in, her outer robe flying behind her.
She saw the scene and froze.
Yun pointed to the man. "He tried to kill me."
She rushed forward, lifting the attacker's mask.
Her face paled.
It was one of the inner court guards.
The same one assigned to his uncle's side.
Yun stared.
So did she.
"What now?" she whispered.
Yun looked toward the open library window.
The storm had passed.
But war was coming.