“The three princes shall be dethroned.”
Thunder cracked overhead. A sound so immense it split the heavens, yet no one flinched.
“W-what do you mean…?”
Steeled myself, I dared to lift my head to meet his gaze. Lurking in the dark, eyes gleaming like a beast’s. Like a taxidermy predator.
“They shall never step foot in the palace again…”
Those words which I was never meant to hear—
“…Whilst their entire bloodline shall be erased.”
—nor anyone else to hear.
I clamped my jaw shut, unable to utter a single sound.
Why me?
Why them?
My mind spiraled, questions multiplying like wildfire.
“This should’ve been done long ago. Don’t you think so?”
But his next words cut through my turmoils like a blade through silk.
A low growl, almost animal-like, echoed faintly through the rain.
“I let those without a drop of my blood sit on the throne and now they speak of succession? The audacity.”
It hit me, then. How long he must have honed this dagger in the dark.
“It’s time the real traitors paid the price.”
Finally I understood, where his blade was truly pointed. The princes’ downfall were merely a masquerade, a distraction, a single thread leading to a far greater end. The blade, sharpened over time, was meant to finish off the nobles standing behind them.
My whole body began to tremble. I knew all too well what became of those who learned secrets above their station: death.
“Once, long ago, a woman gave me that flower.”
A Perial flower. Its petals bloomed in the vivid scarlet color, as if spilled blood. His expression was unreadable when he looked at that flower.
“She, too, blessed the petals with her devotion… and she was able to prove herself, in the end.”
His eyes, forged by an icy fury, now fixed on me. The tip of his sword had found its way to my skin.
“Prove yourself as well. Your loyalty to me.”
So much for my plan to leave the palace behind. It had been a foolish fantasy. From the moment I stepped into this place, it was impossible to walk out alive. From the moment I learned the emperor would send the princes to their doom, it was the moment I became his accomplice.
And this man, this calculating emperor who forgives no betrayal, had made it clear: we were conspirators, bound by blood and silence. A not ordinary man. Every step he took he laid a trap, awaiting for prey to be caught.
Khainon, what do you want from a mere person like me?
“What… do you command of me?”
Lightning flashed behind him, illuminating the storm.
“Make the three princes fall to their knees.” The words, twisted and divine, rumbled through my bones like thunder. “Tangle them in desire, and bring them to their ruin.”
I knew then, there would be no going back.
I didn’t resist. Because fate has never been kind. It wears the face of inevitability.
“Under the twin moons of Radom, I accept Your Majesty’s command.”
“Are we… really dancing here?”
When I was still just a girl, I joined a dance troupe. My young days were filled with scrubbing laundry and doing odd chores until I earned my place.
Although we weren’t invited often, nobles did call for us sometimes.
The palace ballroom, however… was something else. Like a temple in the sky.
“Wow, look at that!”
Stained glass shimmered high above us, casting shifting rainbows across the hall. It felt like we had transmigrated into a different world. There was no need for extravagant decorations, the celestial light alone made the space breathtaking.
Sylvia, hand on her chest, gasped in awe.
“I’d be happy dancing in a market square together with you, much less on the street. But this… this a whole different level!”
It made sense why dancers saw a palace invitation as the pinnacle. We had no stage but the ground, no instrument but our bodies. To dance here, even just once, felt like an accomplishment.
If Sylvia could be this stunned, after all she had been raised close to nobility, imagine how I felt.
“If it weren’t for the stuck-up nobles, our troupe would be written into history by now,” she grumbled.
Sylvia Bebedbo.
A lady of the Bebedbo family, nobles who earned their name through scholarship and teaching. Every gesture, every word she uttered was graceful and precise. Due to the family business of educating aristocrats for generations, she’d been groomed like an aristocrat since birth.
Although with everything she had, the tamest bird still longs to fly when caged too long.
At one point she encountered dance as part of her education. The untamed, uninhibited, and expressive dance. She was fascinated. Unlike the so-called refined, restricted movements of noble dance.
And that was how she ended up joining this dance troupe, through escaped under the guise of “healing”. Such a grandeur rebellion of a noble.
“What if you run into the Duke?”
“Relax! I told everyone I caught chickenpox. No one suspects I’m in the capital. I even said the physician ordered me to stay in bed for a month. Clever, right?”
“Do nobles learn how to lie as part of their training?”
“Sheesh, out of the hundreds of troupes out there, we’re the ones invited here! What wouldn’t I do for this? And you lied to Uncle Theo too, didn’t you?”
A gentle face that had served me soup this morning flashed in my mind.
Father had always been reluctant to let me come to the capital. Even school trips as a child had been off-limits. So this time, I have to lie. I told him we were performing at the big city market. He hadn’t shown it, but he must be anxious knowing I’d gone to the capital.
Still…
“This is a rare chance. I can’t waste it.”
Sylvia smiled, her fair cheeks glowing under lantern light. As she took the lead, “Shall we dance, Len?”
On Radom, there are two moons that illuminate the nation. One night out of a year, both moons align, forming a single red moon. Thus at this time of the moon’s brightest, begins the long-awaited Moonlight Festival for seven days.
Anticipation brimmed in the air and the capital stirred.
It was time for the grandest celebration began.
“Sylvia, did you bring it?”
“Definitely. It took forever to find, it wasn’t easy because it’s so far.”
“Thank you.”
“But what’s it for?”
“Father told me… In his homeland, this flower carries blessings when given as a gift.”
The ballroom, quiet moments ago, now crowded with people. Nobles’ attires in every shade and style were more dazzling than the stained glass above.
As I distracted momentarily, Sylvia tugged at my sleeve, couldn’t refrain her curiosity.
“So who is he? Don’t tell me it’s—”
She narrowed her eyes, trying to read my face. I chuckled softly.
“It’s not for him.”
“You liar! But he’s in the palace, isn’t he?” threatened Sylvia then seized my shoulders, glaring like a storm cloud. “You’re seriously not going to use this opportunity? Just say the word and I’ll bring him to you!”
“Alright, alright. I’m going to step out for air first.”
After a few more playful threats, she let me go. I made my way toward a small terrace, away from the bustle.
The twin moons hung above me, shining like watchful eyes.
I caressed the butterfly-shaped pendant at my chest, the one I always carried.
After tonight, our troupe would be called to even more places, and perhaps even became regular at the palace.
If that happened…
“Don’t forget. My name is…”
My chest throbbed. Like ripples across a calm lake, his voice, that chased me in my dream each night, sounded young and light—shook me to my core.
Could I really meet him again? And if I did… would I recognize him?
No matter how hard I tried to recollect his face, the picture was torn and blurry, as if it was erased.
“Even so…”
Even if only once, I wanted to see that face again.
I hadn’t just lied to my father and come to the palace to dance. I had hoped, just maybe, a miracle was on my side to let me see him again. Just a peek from a distance, it would be sufficient.
It was all I asked for.
But if fate allowed me one chance, I would say what I’d held in my heart for so long:
That I never, not even once, forgot.
That no matter how many attempts I went to get rid of it, our moments together were carved in me.
That you are my hidden scar,
my etched lifeline,
my existence.
“As it always has been…”
I kissed the pendant, warmed up from the skin of my palm, and tucked it close to my heart. My pulse beat in the silence at the familiar shape.
The two moons glowed as bright as ever, watching from above.
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