The rumor did not die with the setting sun.
It grew.
By the following morning, the capital had become a place where people lowered their voices whenever the Empress's name was mentioned.
In the grand hall of the Ministry of Rites, several senior ministers had gathered behind closed doors.
No servants were permitted inside.
No guards were allowed near the entrance.
The windows had been shut despite the warm weather.
On the long table before them lay reports collected from different provinces.
One after another, they had brought stories of strange occurrences.
Animals found dead without visible wounds.
People waking from inexplicable sleep.
Villagers claiming to hear voices in empty houses.
A merchant swearing that his dead father had spoken his name.
And, most troubling of all, reports of strange shadows and unexplained disturbances around several noble estates.
The ministers had suffered too.
Some had lost livestock.
Some had seen strange things in their homes.
