As the nobles heard the faint rattle of chains approaching the chamber doors, their whispers grew louder, crackling like sparks before a blaze.
"General Liang committed treason? Truly?"
"He was the emperor's most loyal sword. How could this be?"
"They say the emperor orchestrated it all, feared the general's rising influence."
"His family was executed... Will they really kill him too? After all he did for the empire?"
Their murmurs died instantly as the doors opened with a slow groan. All eyes turned to the figure who stepped in, flanked by guards...chained, bloodied, and hollow.
His once-white robes were soaked through with red. His long black hair, matted and tangled, fell over a face that had once inspired armies. He walked with no resistance, as though even his soul had given up. Head lowered. Soulless.
When the guards forced him to his knees in the center of the hall, he still did not lift his head, nor did a single muscle twitch.
Until..
"The Emperor has arrived."
A voice announced it crisply, as if nothing were wrong in the world. The emperor entered, dressed in robes of understated opulence, each thread woven with command. His presence was magnetic, one born for rule, for power. Normally, every head would turn to greet him. Today, they didn't. They couldn't.
Their gazes remained locked on Zhen.
Because he moved. Slowly. And for the first time, he looked up.
Everyone expected fury. Betrayal. Despair. But what they saw chilled them to the bone.
Zhen smiled. Straight at the emperor.
A slight curve of bloodied lips. His gaze met the emperor's with a calm defiance, a morbid amusement. There was no pleading. No hatred. Just a gaze that whispered "Go ahead and kill me. End it all."
That smile, eerie, challenging, and far too beautiful for a battlefield, would burn into the minds of every person in that chamber. None would forget it.
....
Two weeks later.
"I can't believe it!" Ruolan huffed, brushing out Zhen's long hair with more aggression than care. "The emperor didn't even visit you that first night. Worse, he spent it with another concubine! How could he? It's like he doesn't care for your reputation at all."
Ruolan had been overjoyed at her promotion, finally getting to serve an imperial concubine. Visions of gratitude and golden hairpins filled her dreams. She would serve the concubine wholeheartedly and get to be a favored maid. Life would have been perfect. But in fact it was not. Those dreams shattered when she learned she'd been assigned to the Cold Palace.
Not to a noble lady.
But to him.
The infamous General Liang Zhen, now disgraced and discarded like old armor. A male concubine whose sole purpose now was humiliation. To rot in this crumbling palace.
So she vented, assuming there would be no punishment. After all, what could a fallen man with no allies do?
"It's such a waste too!" she went on. "The emperor is cruel..two weeks without a single visit! And you… you're such a beauty!"
She fixed a simple wooden hairpin into his hair. In the mirror, she saw a reflection that did not belong to a man, or woman. It looked ethereal. Like it couldn't possibly belong to a human. Long black hair framed a face with lips like calligraphy, eyes dimmed but still radiant. Even stripped of jewelry and silks, Zhen looked like art.
"No one in the harem looks like you do," she muttered, half in awe. "And yet they laugh behind your back… they say you've been-"
"Shut up."
Ruolan froze. She had served him for two silent weeks. This was the first time he'd spoken.
She looked at him through the mirror. His eyes, empty one moment, were now alive with murderous intensity. Eyes that had once made seasoned warriors falter. Ruolan instinctively felt the need to apologize. Feeling that her head could fly off at any moment.
"I-I apologize-"
"These ridiculous robes," he interrupted, glancing down with disdain and resignation. "How's anyone supposed to fight in these?"
He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back into the chair...relaxed, casual, completely out of place in a concubine's chamber. Ruolan watched him in disbelief. What changed?
"You wear your thoughts on your face," Zhen said, giving her a bored glance.
Then he stood, stretched, and yawned, unrefined and loud. After a moment of silence, he muttered:
"The emperor's dogs just left."
Ruolan blinked. "Dogs…?" But her eyes widened as the realization dawned.
The guards. Spies. Watching him, judging his brokenness.
He knew.
"Y-you knew?" she whispered, and immediately regretted it.
Zhen's eyes darkened, his lips curling into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. In a blink, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
"So you knew too? One of his little snakes, are you?"
His voice was low, mocking. Even his chuckle carried venom.
"Go ahead. Run to him. Tell him I'm planning something. But-" His fingers tightened. "Don't cry about what happens after."
He didn't need to spell it out. She knew.
"Am I understood?"
She nodded quickly, fear tightening her throat.
Zhen released her and flopped down onto the couch, unbothered by the rumpled robes. "Good. I like obedience."
Now, Ruolan understood.
How this man had led armies of cutthroats.
Why the emperor revered him so much in the past.
Why the guards stayed for so long.
Because no matter how beautiful or soft he appeared on the outside…
Every part of her screamed:
This man is dangerous.