The Breaking Dawn
The Eastern Palace blazed with lanterns that night, yet the air hung colder than a tomb.
I found the Crown Prince seated behind his desk, a bloodstained memorial lying open before him. He didn't look up immediately, letting the silence stretch like a bowstring.
"You went to Cloudspire Courier Station."
A statement, not a question.
I didn't deny it.
"Who did you meet?" His voice was deceptively calm, the way still waters hide drowning currents.
Instead of answering, I placed my mother's final letter on the desk between us. "Help me investigate the Moon Case," I said, "if you ever cared for me at all."
A mirthless laugh escaped him. "Do you know how much you resemble her right now?" His fingers hovered over the parchment but didn't touch it. "Your mother thought righteousness was armor. She died still ignorant of the truth, crushed between 'loyalists' and 'traitors'."
"If court politics killed her," I hissed, "then this court will pay in blood."
The slam of his palm sent teacups shattering. "It was your grandfather who signed her death warrant!"
The words struck like a physical blow.
"Think your mother innocent? She was. But her father?" His laugh turned jagged. "The Left Chancellor who ruled the ministries for a decade? He orchestrated the Moon Case. Your mother was his bargaining chip."
My vision swam. The room tilted.
"Two paths remain." The Prince's voice came as if through water. "Pursue this and desecrate her memory. Or give me that letter, and I'll rewrite your past clean."
The parchment trembled in my grip.
To expose this would condemn my mother's name forever.
To surrender it would erase her last stand against injustice.
When the Prince spoke again, his breath warmed my ear: "Do you want truth... or peace for her bones?"
I met his gaze, my voice scraping raw: "I want her death to mean something."
Something unreadable flickered in his eyes—murder or mercy, I couldn't tell.
"Then dig your own grave." He stepped back. "From this moment, you walk alone."
"Good." I turned toward the doors. "I prefer my path unguarded."
His final question froze me mid-step:
"Do you still trust me?"
I didn't look back. "You once said you hated lies."
———
Beyond the palace gates, dawn's first light gilded the frost-laden ground.
But true darkness, I knew, was only just beginning.
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