Cheng's fingers raked through her tangled locks with growing annoyance, pulling out several strands that had snagged during Yumi's enthusiastic hair-pulling.
The usually smooth waves now resembled something resembling an unruly bird's nest thanks to the infant's curious grasp.
"Unbelievable," she scoffed at her reflection. "Not only does she refuse to eat properly but now she's ruining my styling efforts." Her hands worked quickly to detangle the mess while muttering curses under her breath.
The wine glass sat forgotten on the dresser as Cheng focused entirely on restoring order to her appearance. Each knot represented another source of irritation - Aiko's accidental insult earlier, the veiled figure terrorizing servants, even General Gen insistence on treating her like fragile porcelain rather than an empress capable of handling crisis independently.
She drew the drawers to get a brush to fix her hair. She almost let out a scream , when she saw that her combs and brushes were all broken into two with the teeth of the comb replaced with actual baby teeth .
Cheng stared at the drawer in disbelief, her hand frozen in mid-air as if touching the broken items might confirm they were real.
The silver combs she'd purchased from artisans in Kyoto lay scattered across the velvet lining, their delicate teeth snapped off and replaced by small, white baby teeth - undeniably human and far too numerous to be coincidence.
"By the gods..." she breathed out, stepping closer to examine one of the brushes more closely. A tiny molar sat nestled among the bristles, its surface slightly chipped but clearly belonging to an infant's mouth.
Her mind raced through possibilities - had Yumi somehow crawled into her dressing room earlier? But how would she have accessed these particular drawers locked securely behind carved mahogany doors?
The empress snatched up a broken comb piece with trembling fingers, turning it over to see how perfectly the infant teeth fit into place.
The message appeared scrawled across the polished wood of her wardrobe in what appeared to be dried blood, its letters formed with unsettling precision. "A gift from me to you."
Cheng stumbled backward, her silk slip catching against the edge of her vanity as she braced herself against it. Her heart hammered against her ribs, and the wine she'd consumed moments ago threatened to resurface.
"This isn't possible," she whispered, though her eyes confirmed otherwise. The words remained fixed in place, glowing faintly as if lit from within.
She forced herself to approach cautiously, examining the script that seemed familiar yet alien at the same time. It bore similarities to Bella's penmanship but twisted into something malevolent and possessive.
"The servants were right," Cheng murmured to herself, running a shaking hand through her already messy hair. "They aren't imagining things. She's here somewhere in this very palace."
"No! No!"she laughed hysterically to her self as she shakes her head from side to side. "This is not possible. This is probably just the wine. I should reduce taking much wine", she tried to convince her self that she wasn't going crazy.
But in that instant, another message appeared. "You sure it's just the wine?" Cheng jumped back after reading the message.
Cheng couldn't stand there anymore. She ran into her bedroom. Jumped into the bed and covered her self from head to toe, despite the heat. Under the covers "Ghost aren't real! Ghost aren't real!" She chanted to her self.