The palace did not sleep that night.
The news had spread through the inner palace before dawn.
Princess Shin Gu was dead.
But because Shin Gu was not merely a palace attendant or an ordinary noblewoman, her death carried consequences far beyond the palace walls.
She was a royal princess, born into an influential royal family.
Her family was not in the capital.
They had been staying in their own fiefdom, far from the imperial palace, and the messenger sent from the capital had not yet reached them.
Therefore, the Emperor could not simply allow the matter to disappear into the night.
A royal princess had died.
And the circumstances surrounding her death were still unclear.
The Emperor had ordered that her body be treated with the dignity appropriate to her rank.
A formal message had already been prepared.
A fast horse would carry the news to her family.
The letter was sealed with the imperial seal.
It contained only the essential truth:
