Meanwhile, in her own chambers, the young Empress Lian Mei sat at her table with her head gently resting in her hand. A single lantern flickered on the lacquered wood, painting her face in soft light and shadow. 

Another long night, she thought, her sigh drifting into the silence. 

At her side knelt her head maid, Xiu Rong—a woman as beautiful as she was devoted. She tilted her head, her voice light with teasing. 

“Mistress? That was your tenth sigh tonight.” 

Lian Mei lifted her gaze, one brow arched. “You counted?” 

“Yes, Mistress,” Xiu said with a grin. “I counted.” 

For the first time that evening, laughter rippled between them, soft as silk brushing stone. 

As the laughter faded, Xiu’s tone shifted. “Mistress, Imperial Consort Yexiu has begun to stir again. The little maids are fleeing past her palace gates, hoping not to catch her eye. They say she’s cruel and unforgiving.” 

Lian Mei sighed again. “Life is already hard for everyone. Why make it harder still?” 

She fell back into silence. Yexiu’s behavior couldn’t be ignored—but tonight, she didn’t have the strength to confront it. 

Lian Mei was Wēn Zhiming’s second daughter, born of his legitimate wife. Like her father, she was steady and unshakable in her convictions. Unlike his stern and unyielding exterior, her strength was wrapped in gentleness. Though she was loyal to Emperor Zhao, she could not deny the truth: theirs was a marriage forged in duty, not affection.

They had wed when she was nineteen, just as Zhao ascended the throne—and her father held the regent’s seal. Whatever childhood affection lingered between them had withered under the weight of expectation. 

Wēn’s role as regent strained their early bond. Zhao’s mistrust of her father bled into their marriage, creating a quiet but persistent distance between them. 

In the years since, they had grown companionable—but never close. Love had been a luxury neither dared reach for. The Momos had drilled it into her since girlhood: “Your greatest duty is to bear heirs, not to distract him from his work.” 

“Xiuxiu,” Lian Mei murmured, her voice quiet and wistful, “do you ever wonder what life would’ve been like if I hadn’t been chosen to be Crown Princess? What we might be doing now?” 

Since inheriting the title—and later, the crown—Lian Mei had longed for the one companion denied to her: freedom. Jinri offered no shortage of social chains to the women of its empire, but Lian Mei had never let those chains fully bind her dreams. And when she needed strength, she had always had her greatest supporters behind her. 

“Of course I do!” Xiu Rong smiled fondly. “I miss our trips to the temple… the festival markets… even the lazy days at the Prime Minister’s manor. Those were the best.” 

She had been Lian Mei’s dowry maid since the age of five. They had grown up side by side, two girls bound by duty but tied more tightly by affection. Their lives had coiled together like threads in the same braid. And though Xiu Rong bore a servant’s burdens, she had never walked behind Lian Mei—only beside her. 

“But truly, Mistress,” she said, her voice softening, “I am fortunate to have you. As long as we’re together, I’m content.” 

Lian Mei’s cheeks warmed. She gave Xiu a loving smile in return. In her heart, she had always seen her maid as a little sister—more family than servant. And Xiu’s loyalty had never wavered, not even for a moment. 

“Do you remember the time we climbed over the wall to visit the night fair?” Lian Mei laughed, her eyes lighting with mischief. 

“Yes! And the Master was so angry with us!” Xiu laughed. “Our palms were red for days.” 

The memory bubbled between them like warm tea. Prime Minister Wēn and his wife had treated Xiu Rong like their own, sharing in all of Lian Mei’s joys and punishments alike. If Lian Mei received a new pair of earrings, Xiu did too. And though the lines between mistress and maid were blurred in love, Xiu Rong had never forgotten her station—thanks, in part, to the ever-watchful Momos. 

Ugh, I’ve nearly forgotten what the market even looks like.  

— ➿ — 

Next Episode — Chapter 7: Sighs Offered to the Moon

One sigh becomes two, echoing through the palace halls — where longing and duty sleep back-to-back beneath the same moon.