Later that same evening, Great Yan’s first hunt since surviving national catastrophe opened with a grand bonfire banquet.

Torches flickered and glowed against the night. The sound of string and pipe instruments flowed without end. Beautiful dancing women dressed in golden gauze, whirling red satin ribbons, light as swallows, spun and leaped through the flames. Golden bells on their pale jade feet chimed clear and bright.

Dazzling as the performers were, they were not what drew the most attention inside the venue.

Shen Zhuxi sat upright among the seated guests — her floor-length robe a rich camellia red, as luminous as firelight, and a lavish peony-crowned jeweled hairpin of jade and pearl placed at an angle in her gathered court coiffure, its green beads swaying in the cool night breeze like a scattering of brilliant emerald stars drifting through three thousand strands of dark hair.

All the world knew that the Princess of Yue had inherited the bewitching beauty of the late Noble Consort Bai, once the most adored woman in the imperial harem — yet relatively few had seen her in person. It was said that when the Princess was still in the palace, even her outings were screened by a hundred li of embroidered curtains. After two years living among the people, her movements were no longer so grand a procession as before, but glimpsing this quietly reclusive princess was still exceedingly rare.

To appear so openly and directly before so many eyes at once — this was the first time.

Seated beside her was the First Gentleman Under Heaven — elegant and luminous as jade, like a tree standing in radiant glory. If the Princess of Yue had captured half the gazes in the room, then the quietly composed First Gentleman beside her had drawn away the other half.

Fu Xuanmiao’s expression was serene, his bearing graceful and unhurried. Even the simple act of reaching out with his chopsticks to select a dish was pleasing enough to seem like a composition by a master painter.

“Princess — this is the ruyi cake you love most.”

The fish-grey silk of his wide sleeves slid back to his wrists as he moved, revealing the steady, deep blue-green of the cross-collared long robe beneath. A sash of misty blue-grey gauze was tied at his front, like the Milky Way pouring down from the ninth heaven.

The delicate pastry was placed on Shen Zhuxi’s dish. She pressed her lips together and gave a small nod.

“Does the Princess have something on her mind today?” With the music and dancing loud and the atmosphere exuberant, Fu Xuanmiao’s voice only seemed calmer and lower by contrast.

“…I was thinking of my mother’s consort. It would be lovely if she were here today.” Shen Zhuxi redirected the conversation: “How is Madam Fang doing?”

“Thank you for the Princess’s kind concern. My mother has been slowly recovering. After taking the calming medicine today, she has gone to sleep. I believe that with a few more days of rest, she will be well enough to go out and enjoy the hunt.” Fu Xuanmiao paused, then added, “My mother has never ridden a horse. Tomorrow I was hoping to take her to walk around the outer edge of the hunting grounds. Would the Princess care to join us?”

Tomorrow?

She could only hope he would be behind bars tomorrow, with nowhere to go.

“I have a bit of a headache at the moment — let’s talk about it tomorrow,” Shen Zhuxi said.

“If the Princess is unwell, Chan Yu can escort the Princess back to the tent to rest. I will convey your apologies to His Majesty.”

“…No need. My imperial brother is in high spirits tonight — I do not wish to dampen his mood.”

Fu Xuanmiao gave her a long, deep look.

“The Princess is still the same as she always was — always placing others before herself.”

Shen Zhuxi lowered her eyes and said nothing, as though inwardly at a loss. But she understood clearly: what Fu Xuanmiao had just said no longer applied to who she was now.

“Tonight’s banquet —”

Shen Suzhan broke into laughter and spoke:

“Is a celebration of Great Yan having survived its calamity in safety and restored its former glory! And also a celebration of Our reunion with Our sixth sister — the Princess of Yue — who wandered among the people for two years, after so long, at last returning to Our side! We have personally brought from the palace a cask of bear gallbladder wine, brewed from the black bear that the late emperor hunted with his own hands! Let this wine — one of a kind in all the world — bear witness to the joy We and all Our beloved subjects share this night!”

When Shen Suzhan finished speaking, the thunderous cries of acclaim from the gathering went on for a long while.

Several palace maids and eunuchs carried out together a black-glazed wine cask nearly as tall as a person. Before the assembled crowd, a soldier of nine-foot stature and herculean build pried open the cask. A rich, heavy fragrance of wine immediately billowed from the mouth of the cask and spread outward. Exclamations of wonder and admiration surged like a tide around the cask.

Shen Zhuxi, seated among the inner circle, caught the same mellow, pungent aroma drifting toward her.

The critical moment had finally arrived. Her expression stayed composed by force, while her heart grew more agitated than ever.

The wine was divided into jugs and brought to each table.

Shen Zhuxi watched as two palace maids filled the cups before her and Fu Xuanmiao from separate jugs.

“This first cup, We wish to raise to a certain person — were it not for him, We would not be drinking this mellow bear gallbladder wine tonight!” Shen Suzhan said with evident feeling. “This cup has been owed to Our father the late emperor for a long time now. These past two years, the realm has been in turmoil, and We and Our beloved subjects have been consumed by campaigns — We have never had the chance to pause and properly pay our respects to those who have passed. Fortunately, the false Liao has at last fallen, and We have avenged our father’s blood. We can now raise this cup with our heads held high. Father Emperor — your son has held Great Yan together! You may rest at peace!”

Shen Suzhan spoke those impassioned words, poured the wine from his cup onto the ground, and then drank the second cup on the table in a single draught.

Not a sound was heard throughout the venue. A solemn, reverent expression settled over everyone’s faces.

After Shen Suzhan set down his cup, Prime Minister Wang Jue stroked his white beard and spoke: “His Majesty’s valor and wisdom are beyond compare — if the late emperor could see this, he would surely be proud.”

Wang Jue opened the door to the flood of praise that followed, and a crowd of officials well-practiced in reading the room immediately showered him with flattery.

“This second cup, We raise to all Our beloved subjects here present —”

Before Shen Suzhan had finished speaking, an official quickly said: “That would be entirely improper! How could Your Majesty toast us — it should be we who toast Your Majesty…”

“What is improper about it?” Shen Suzhan said with a hearty laugh. “Through these past two and more years, We and all our beloved subjects have shared hardship and adversity together, and the bond between us has long since surpassed that of ordinary lord and subject. If this beloved subject refuses this cup, it is he who will wound Our sincere goodwill!”

“This humble servant is overwhelmed with gratitude for Your Majesty’s kindness…”

After the back-and-forth between Shen Suzhan and the official who had spoken, everyone raised their cups. Fu Xuanmiao was no exception.

He lifted his agate cup with a composed expression. The amber wine sent ripples spreading across the agate.

Tension left Shen Zhuxi’s throat dry.

Amid the deafening chorus of agreement, Shen Zhuxi drank down the cup before her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Fu Xuanmiao beside her drink his cup as well. His movements were measured, his expression steady — as though he had no suspicion whatsoever that the wine Shen Suzhan had bestowed was anything but ordinary.

Perhaps that was precisely why Shen Suzhan had arranged for the cask to be opened and the wine distributed in plain view of everyone — to ensure no suspicion would be aroused.

For now, it seemed his aim had been achieved.

After that came several toasts from high-ranking ministers to Shen Suzhan, accompanied by fine words. Only once Shen Suzhan put down his cup did the banquet properly begin. The stars retreated behind clouds, and a clear, bright crescent moon rose to its highest point. As the bonfires leaped and danced, so did the shadows of those reveling and toasting below.

The aromas of roasted meat and medicinal wine wove together, conjuring the warmest of bonfire atmospheres. Beneath a tableau of host and guests at perfect ease, cold killing intent lay in silent wait.

Shen Zhuxi sat in her extravagant palace attire watching the sumptuous performances, and what she thought of was the cleanest, most moving stretch of time in Yutou Town.

Yutou Town had been swallowed up in the turbid waters of the Shang River.

The small but exquisite Liuhe Hall, the grand and imposing Jinyin House, the Ding family pastry shop that always smelled of freshly made sweets, and that narrow winding lane running from the market to the Li family’s small courtyard — a lane that always had a few scattered “surprises” of animal droppings — all of it had vanished beneath the sweeping waves.

Her most beautiful memories — gone.

Because of the person beside her.

She had spent the first half of her life nearly blind and deaf, stumbling forward in fear beneath a canopy of clouds.

Because of the person beside her.

He may have shielded her from some storms.

But the sunlight and nourishment he had blocked from reaching her — far, far more than what he had shielded. So much that her spirit had nearly withered entirely.

“…This cup — I offer it to you,” Shen Zhuxi raised the cup before her — heavy as a thousand weights.

Shen Suzhan’s words echoed again in her ears.

“The wine contains a substance called ‘Dispelling Sorrow.’ Colorless and odorless — no physician, however skilled, could detect it. After drinking, the body grows weak all over and drowsiness sets in. The more one drinks, the faster it takes effect.”

She had long since resolved to escape this cage.

She was no longer that lonely, helpless girl who could only pour her heart out in secret to the osmanthus trees in the imperial garden.

“The Princess does not hold her wine well — perhaps water would serve as a substitute,” Fu Xuanmiao said.

“Everything Fu Xuanmiao has done for me — that deserves a proper cup of wine. Water would be too light a gesture,” Shen Zhuxi said.

Fu Xuanmiao looked at her for a moment, then finally picked up his cup.

“Since the Princess insists, this servant defers to the Princess’s wish…”

Shen Zhuxi raised her cup in a gesture of acknowledgment and drank it down first, in a single draught.

The fiery liquid burned its way down her throat. She swallowed back the cough — and swallowed back the tears pressing up to the rims of her eyes.

“Before, I misunderstood you. This cup is my apology.”

Without waiting for him to speak, Shen Zhuxi raised her cup again and drank a second cup down in one go.

Fu Xuanmiao had no choice but to drink the second cup along with her.

“After the palace coup — did you manage to recover my father emperor’s remains?” Shen Zhuxi asked.

“After the rebels occupied the capital, His Majesty entered negotiations with the rebel leader and exchanged provisions and prisoners to recover the late emperor’s remains. They have since been interred in the imperial mausoleum. The Princess need not worry.”

“And…”

And what of my mother’s consort?

Before Shen Zhuxi could finish, her voice caught in her throat.

Because she already knew what the answer would be.

With enemies at the gate and the palace in collapse, recovering her father the emperor’s remains had already been an immense difficulty. If there were further exchanges to be made, they would have been for the late Empress’s remains — not those of a fallen consort who had been abandoned in the cold palace for years and was already long forgotten.

She swallowed the tears rising in her throat and forced a smile as she lifted the cup a palace maid had just refilled: “In any case, Father Emperor has at last been laid to rest in peace. I know that bringing back his remains must have involved no small effort from the Fu clan. This cup — I still raise it to you.”

She lifted the cup and drank it down again in one draught.

In that way, Shen Zhuxi drank three cups of harsh, burning wine in succession. The wine rose to her head, leaving her dizzy and heavy. Her eyelids grew weighted with fatigue, and even Fu Xuanmiao’s expression before her began to blur at the edges.

When she reached for the fourth cup, a lean, pale hand pressed her cup back down from her lips.

Fu Xuanmiao looked at her with a deep, solemn gaze and said quietly: “Xi’er. Enough.”

It is not enough — how could it be enough?

She had not yet rescued Li Wu…

She had not yet broken free of this glittering prison…

How…

How could it possibly be enough?!

Shen Zhuxi had just been about to raise the fourth toast when an official came forward with his own cup, congratulating her on her triumphant return to the palace, likening her to a true phoenix reborn.

Not long after, another official raised his cup, wishing her that the hardships of the past would give way to boundless glory and comfort ahead.

Somehow, the court officials who had once looked straight through her seemed now to be able to see her. One after another they approached with cups in hand, saying much the same things each time — either congratulating her on returning to the palace after two years among the people and her reunion with the Son of Heaven, or praising her and Fu Xuanmiao as a perfect, heavenly-matched pair and asking when the wedding date would be announced.

Shen Zhuxi grew numb listening, and nearly as numb from the wine.

She had turned down one cup to begin with, but after Shen Suzhan remarked from the head table, “Today is a special occasion and everyone is in good cheer — sixth sister ought not to dampen the spirits of the assembled ministers,” Shen Zhuxi had not refused a single cup after that.

Fortunately, the ministers seemed to have some awareness of where the line was drawn, and only those of the fourth rank or above dared step forward to toast her.

By the seventh cup, before Shen Zhuxi’s fingers had even reached the cup — which was already doubled in her vision — Fu Xuanmiao had taken it from the table first.

“I shall drink this cup on behalf of the Princess of Yue.”

Before Shen Zhuxi could react, Fu Xuanmiao had already set down the empty cup.

Shen Zhuxi’s head was spinning. The next few toasts that came her way were each intercepted by Fu Xuanmiao, and the wine in her jug was drained, one cup at a time, by him.

An indeterminate time passed. The black-glazed cask gradually ran dry, and the jugs on the tables had all been emptied. The clear bright crescent moon dimmed and was wrapped in a thin veil of cloud. A new light was faintly beginning to appear on the horizon.

“Before the hunt officially begins, there is one matter We cannot help but address. But first —”

Shen Suzhan’s words silenced the previously raucous venue in an instant.

He put away his easygoing, affable expression. A sharp, cold gaze shot like an arrow toward Fu Xuanmiao seated beside Shen Zhuxi.

“Lord Fu — is there anything you wish to say to Us?”