Before the Wedding… No one was truly ready.
All hearts were caught in invisible whirlpools, their traces deeper than any visible wound.
Wu Xin…
The groom standing at the threshold of a marriage he desires with all his being, yet carrying in his chest a strange tremor—as if joy could not fully settle in its place, as if something whispered to him that the complete picture was not yet here.
Huo feng…
The bride who smiled at people while her heart walked toward an end only she knew. Every step that brought her closer to the wedding… took her further from something she could not save.
Li…
Who chose to be a shadow. Neither rival… nor lover. A sacrifice walking on two feet, smiling silently as it eroded from within.
Mei…
No longer merely inhabited by jealousy. Something more dangerous dwelled in her… a desire to rewrite everything, even if the price was truth itself.
Amid these whirlpools, the first threads began to weave. Not through a clear decision but by a quiet slip toward a fate from which there was no turning back.
In one corner of the manor, away from the clamor of preparations, before the night before the wedding could fully settle, the first knots began to tighten.
Yue said with her usual sarcasm, hand on her hip:
"Are you planning to move in here, in Huo feng's room, Mei?"
Huo feng turned her gaze toward Mei… and in her eyes was that strange look that had begun to invade her lately, as if a faint haze had taken up residence in her pupils without her noticing—a look that made anyone staring into it feel like a mirror, seeing themselves as they were, without masks.
Mei, for her part, raised her head with an innocence so pronounced it was almost hard to believe.
"I heard you wanted to prepare a gift for Master Wu Xin… so I wanted to help. I don't know why… perhaps to return the favor. Your pill was truly effective."
Yue and Huo feng exchanged a brief, wary glance—a flicker like the gleam of a sword over still water. Yue was about to say something biting but held back. There was something in Mei's eyes today… something different.
But Mei continued, her voice and gaze still painted with innocence, in a way that aroused suspicion more than trust:
"I know a small secret about my friend Wu Xin… and it might help you a great deal."
Huo feng didn't speak, so Mei took the chance to continue. She stepped forward, as if participating in a sacred rite.
"The secret lies inside a large chest in his room. A guzheng… belonging to his mother. You can play it for him… as a surprise on your wedding day."
Huo feng asked in a stifled voice:
"Is it… for Shushu?"
Mei slowly shook her head.
"No… for Fu."
Huo feng's eyes widened in astonishment. Images began intertwining in her mind—little Fu, Shushu, mother, daughter… who belonged to whom?
Mei quickly clarified, as if reading Huo feng's thoughts:
"It belongs to both of them… one of them stole it from the other. I don't know all the details; this is what my mother told me. She kept it as an inheritance for her son Wu Xin… along with some other rare pieces."
Then she bowed slightly. It was a light, quick bow, yet it carried something Huo feng could not interpret. Then Mei slipped out of the room lightly, as if her feet walked upon a desire she would not reveal.
The moment her shadow vanished, Huo feng hurried toward the door with light steps to catch up, but Yue grabbed her arm and stopped her. Her grip was stronger than usual.
"Wait… do you really believe her? I feel like she's plotting something."
Huo feng answered, looking at the door Mei had left through moments ago, as if her footsteps still echoed in the corridor. In her eyes was something Yue had never seen before—not naivety, but… a perilous kind of trust.
"All possibilities are open… either the pill I gave her—the one you said could reshape desires—truly worked, or it failed… and Mei really wants to change."
Yue folded her arms, her face tense with worry.
"Or perhaps… she never took the pill at all. Maybe she's keeping it for someone else."
At that moment, Huo feng smiled a mischievous smile. It was a childish smile, yet it carried a wisdom beyond her years. She reached out and gently pinched Yue's cheek—a gesture she had always used to calm her.
"You're truly clever… I know that. It's fine. I'll wait for her to finish cooking her scheme—"
Then she whispered, eyes gleaming with subtle cunning:
"Then I'll make her taste what she brewed, so she learns that some pots should not be stirred."
A cautious smile appeared on Yue's features, a mix of worry and admiration. She wanted to say something but held back.
Meanwhile, the trace of Mei's words lingered in the air… like smoke rising from an incense burner whose scent no one could quite place.
On the other side of the wedding, Wu Xin's room was steeped in deceptive stillness. Oil lamps cast a warm glow on shelves filled with closed drawers and on a table scattered with maps and unfinished talismans. Everything in the room suggested order… except its occupant.
Wu Xin was not reading.
He sat on the edge of the bed, a small ring moving between his fingers. He did not know why he had taken it out tonight, yet he felt it belonged to him. The ring was simple, metallic, dull… but it was warm. Strangely warm.
He smiled.
"Tomorrow… Huo feng will be married."
His chest filled with a sensation akin to warmth, but it was soon laced with an undercurrent of unease. It was not anxiety about the marriage itself—Huo feng was everything he wanted, and he knew that without hesitation. Yet for days he had sensed a small void inside himself, as if part of his memory had been folded away without his knowledge. Whenever he tried to recall how he had begun to love her, the details faded into a gentle haze… not painful, but disorienting.
A soft knock at the door.
He looked up, momentarily thinking it was her—Huo feng—and his heartbeat quickened. But the door opened to reveal Mei.
She entered with hesitant steps, as if treading on glass. She closed the door silently behind her and stood still for a moment, watching him. Her back was pressed against the door, as if to keep herself from fleeing.
Wu Xin spoke, his voice still carrying the remnants of a smile that had slightly faded:
"Mei… at this hour? Is something the matter?"
Mei swallowed. Her hands trembled behind her back. She took one step… then another.
"I came… to say something I should have said long ago."
He looked at her. His face was not cold; instead it held genuine surprise and a readiness to listen—behind them a discomfort that showed in the way he suddenly straightened up.
She said in a faint, almost breaking voice:
"I love you."
A long silence followed. Wu Xin looked at the ring in his hand, then at her. His expression was a mixture of embarrassment and tenderness—the tenderness of a brother or a friend, not a lover.
"Mei… I don't know why you chose tonight, but…" He sighed. "You are among the people dearest to me, but tomorrow I will become Huo feng's husband. And she… she is the one I love."
Mei did not raise her head. She saw the ring between his fingers—that simple ring whose existence she had never known. She asked in a hoarse whisper:
"Do you truly love her?"
Wu Xin smiled a strange smile—one of certainty, yet surrounded by that haze she could not understand.
"Yes… with everything I have."
But deep inside, he caught a faint question: "Since when?" He found no clear answer. Only that warm ring between his fingers, and Huo feng's name filling his heart with a joy that needed no explanation—perhaps love sometimes needed none.
Mei stood where she was for a moment, then bowed a slight bow, like the one she had given in Huo feng's room moments before.
"Then… I wish you happiness."
She left without looking back. He was left staring at the ring, trying to remember… when had he bought it? Where had it come from? It was warm, warm as if it had been with him for a long time.
He shook his head with a smile: perhaps it was just a passing fancy. Tomorrow would be the happiest day of his life.
After a calculated moment, the door swung open—but violently this time.
It was Mei. But a different Mei.
She rushed toward Wu Xin, who was stunned by her behavior, which would have seemed reckless if not for…
If not for what she did next, more embarrassing for both of them.
She lunged at him and nearly ...
But Wu Xin pushed her away harshly. She fell to the ground, along with her dignity.
She began to scream, tears streaming bitterly:
"Wu Xin, I—"
But he didn't move.
Yet his breathing… slowed.
One blink, longer than usual.
Then he said, without averting his gaze:
"No."
One word. It fell like a stone into a deep well. Mei heard it hit the bottom of her chest.
Her fingers trembled. She felt the world constrict around her, the walls closing in. But she didn't back down.
"You didn't even let me—"
He cut her off, quietly but harshly this time. He stood and walked toward the window. His back was to her now—as if to say he wasn't afraid of her words, but he didn't want to see her pain.
"Don't turn what's between us… into something I cannot give back to you."
Mei began to laugh. A hysterical laugh, as mad as her soul. Then she fell silent. Calmed.
"Do you remember your first day in our kingdom? When you stood at the edge of the River of Oblivion… at death's door? That day, I saved you. That day, I gave you a new life."
Wu Xin closed his eyes. As if he didn't want to remember—or perhaps he truly didn't.
Mei continued, her voice growing softer:
"Back then, I was the reason you lived… and I found a reason to live for."
His features hardened. Perhaps he felt shame—or regret that he had lived at all thanks to another.
He stammered:
"I never wanted to be indebted to anyone… so… I think what I did was enough."
Mei lowered her head shyly, remembering his courage during the last attack on their kingdom.
"You saved my parents… but you didn't save me. So how are we even? Don't you remember when I saved you from that whirlpool that tried to poison you? Have you forgotten?"
He didn't answer. For if he wished, he could mention dozens of times he had been her support, saved her from death repeatedly. But he didn't. Because he was her friend. Her teacher.
She approached him and took his hand when she noticed that look—the tender look of a friend.
"Would you have loved me… if you hadn't met her?"
He gently withdrew his hand. In his eyes, Huo feng's image shimmered as an answer. He patted her head, then moved away—without wounding her with his refusal.
But despite that, a deep crack split her heart.
A wound followed by determination.
She felt something freeze inside her—not surrender. A decision.
She raised her head. Her eyes glinted with something between pain and defiance:
"Then choose any other woman…"
She paused, as if swallowing fire.
"…except her."
Wu Xin's gaze changed. Not anger… but a silent warning. He turned to face her, his expression sharper this time.
But Mei continued, as if propelling herself toward the abyss. She stepped closer, then another. Her voice rose gradually, laced with years of bitterness:
"Her past is unknown… and her future carries everyone's ruin. You don't truly know her. You don't know where she came from, or what she hides. How can you marry a woman—"
Wu xin fell silent.
He said nothing. Just looked at her.
In that moment, Mei realized her words would not reach him. That his wall was too strong to tear down. She felt something die inside her—perhaps hope. Or perhaps what remained of her humanity.
She slowly extended her hand.
Opened her palm.
There it was… a small pill.
But it was not ordinary. Its surface was dark, as if absorbing light rather than reflecting it. From it rose thin threads of a black aura… twisting slowly, like living smoke. As if it breathed. As if it… watched.
Mei said, in a deliberately low voice:
"This… is the proof."