The capital of Yue was already awake by the time Luo He and Jin Mulan entered the inner districts leading toward the imperial palace.
Morning sunlight reflected across tiled rooftops while streams of servants, merchants, soldiers, noble attendants, and carriages crowded the enormous stone roads.
Vendors shouted prices loudly from both sides of the streets while armored patrols marched past civilians with disciplined expressions.
Yet despite the noise, Luo He walked through the capital as though he were strolling through a garden. Calm. Relaxed. Almost amused.
Behind them, the dark cloud shuttle was nowhere visible in the skies. Instead, it rested completely concealed beneath several layers of thick black cloth while two trusted guards carried it carefully between them using reinforced poles like ordinary cargo.
To anyone watching it looked like nothing more than expensive luggage. Jin Mulan glanced back toward it briefly before lowering her voice.
"We could have arrived much faster." She said. Luo He immediately looked at her as though she had lost all intelligence overnight. "And announce to the entire capital that we possess a flying artifact?" He told as if explaining quantum physics to a cow.
Jin Mulan opened her mouth slightly. Then closed it again. Luo He shook his head lightly while continuing forward beside her. "Who acts that stupid in public?" He said dismissively.
Nearby, a noble carriage rolled past them escorted by mounted guards while commoners hurried aside respectfully.
Meanwhile Luo He's expression remained casual. But Jin Mulan noticed his eyes constantly moving.
Entrances. Windows. Guard positions. Rooftops. Watching faces. He observed everything automatically. "Politics is life and death," Luo He said calmly.
"The moment people discover your trump cards, they begin preparing ways to kill you." He said confidently. Jin Mulan crossed her arms lightly. "You already revealed it to my family." She said.
"My family," Luo He corrected her immediately. "And even then only because they were already too involved." He said calmly afterwards. He glanced briefly toward the wrapped shuttle afterward.
"A hidden advantage is worth more than ten visible weapons." He said arrogantly.
Jin Mulan nodded slowly. That much she understood well by now. Luo He approached almost everything the same way.
Information first. Power second. Reveal neither unless absolutely necessary. She quietly looked toward him afterward. "You truly think this trip could become dangerous enough to matter?" She asked.
Luo He smiled faintly. "The Emperor is dying." That single sentence already explained nearly everything. "The Crown Prince gains more authority every day," Luo He continued calmly.
"Military factions are choosing sides. Noble houses are testing loyalties. Eunuchs are spreading rumors. Ministers are preparing future alliances."
He looked toward the distant palace walls rising above the capital.
"In times like this, even smiling too confidently can get someone killed." He said. Jin Mulan sighed softly. "And here we are planning to attend a wedding and mock royalty in a few days."
"We will." He reassured. "Those two things should not belong in the same sentence." She followed afterwards.
"For ordinary people, perhaps." Luo he attacked back.
The palace district slowly drew closer ahead while armored patrols became increasingly common throughout the streets.
Jin Mulan glanced toward the hidden shuttle once more, before laughing softly in an elegant, noble manner that somehow still felt warm.
"So the great flying artifact becomes luggage now?" she asked amusedly.
Luo He looked at her immediately. For a brief moment he simply admired her.
Morning sunlight reflected softly against the gold ornaments in her hair, while the faint breeze carried strands of black yet crimson hair across her cheek.
Her posture remained graceful as always, every movement carrying the effortless refinement of someone raised among nobility from birth. But it was the smile that caught him off guard.
Not smug. Not annoyed. Not plotting revenge for once. Just genuinely amused. "That smile of yours is really cute," Luo He said honestly. "Now I suddenly feel like kissing that sweet lips of yours."
Jin Mulan blinked at him with visible confusion. The compliment came too directly. No teasing. No trap. No provocation. For several seconds she genuinely looked like she had encountered a different man entirely.
Then Luo He returned. "Why can't you always smile like that instead of getting angry over some damned flaw every few minutes?" He said grimly. There it is, she thought immediately.
"Men are so predictable." She thought.
Jin Mulan rolled her eyes lightly while continuing beside him. "And here I thought you were being sincere." She said. "I was," Luo He replied proudly,
"you simply make sincerity difficult." He said.
"That sounds like a personal problem."
She answered calmly. He looked mildly offended afterward before glancing back toward the wrapped shuttle.
"And it is not luggage," he corrected seriously. "It is survival. You will see." He warned. "That somehow sounds even more suspicious." She said. "It should." Luo He answered.
The two guards carrying the shuttle carefully avoided reacting while walking behind them. Neither wished to become involved in whatever strange conversation their master and mistress were currently involved in.
Then after several moments of silence Luo He suddenly spoke again. "Do you know why certain imperial stories survive for centuries?" He asked.
Jin Mulan blinked once. The shift in topic came so suddenly she nearly missed it entirely. "Because nobles enjoy turning tragedies into poetry?" She said arrogantly.
"That too," Luo He admitted. "But mostly because people remember emotions longer than fact's." He said.
The morning wind passed softly through the crowded streets around them. Then Luo He continued calmly.
"Let me tell you a story of a great emperor. One who conquered most of his battles, whose banners cast shadows across kingdoms, whose name made even hardened generals and ministers bow their heads in silence.
And yet, for all the wars he won beneath the sky, he lost the one battle no army or his sharp mind could ever fight for him the battle of his heart.
His victories built an empire. His reforms kept it stable. But his heart built his ruin." Luo He said.
This emperors name was Tuoba Hong.
In the fractured halls of the Northern Wei court, there lived an emperor whose reign promised greatness but ended in tragedy.
His name was Tuoba Hong, a ruler born into a throne that was never truly his in the beginning.
For when his father died, Tuoba Hong inherited the imperial title far too young to rule. The empire, in practice, belonged not to him but to a woman of iron will and unmatched political brilliance: the Empress Dowager Feng.
She was not his true grandmother, but a consort of his grandfather who had risen through intelligence, manipulation, and ruthless survival.
In the palace, even the emperor's word bent before hers. She ruled the empire from behind the curtain. And she intended that her family would continue ruling long after her death.
To secure this, she brought four women from the Feng clan into the imperial palace and bound them to the emperor through marriage.
Two died early, but two survived: Feng Qing, the elder and politically positioned bride, and Feng Run, the younger and gentler sister.
Feng Run was unlike the rest of the court. Soft-spoken, compassionate, and quietly intelligent. She carried warmth into a palace built on fear.
Tuoba Hong fell in love with her naturally, and she loved him in return. Even Feng Qing, her sister, was treated with kindness by her, which deepened the emperor's affection for her further.
For a brief time, the palace knew peace.
Then Feng Run became pregnant. She was only fourteen. But in the imperial court, love was never free of consequences.
A brutal tradition existed in those times. When an heir was born, the mother could be executed afterward to prevent her family from controlling the future emperor through blood ties.
The Empress Dowager Feng feared exactly that, not for the empire, but for her own clan. So she made her decision.
The pregnancy was secretly ended.
Feng Run was declared seriously ill. The court was told she had withdrawn from worldly life and had become a nun. In truth, she was sent far away to a temple, removed from the emperor's sight.
Tuoba Hong was left believing she had simply disappeared into sickness and fate. He did not know the truth. Feng Qing, her sister, was elevated in her absence and became empress in her place.
Time passed in silence and distance.
During this period, Tuoba Hong found comfort in another concubine, and a son was born from that union. But because the mother was not of the Feng clan, the Empress Dowager Feng acted swiftly again.
The concubine was killed. The child was taken and raised under palace control.
Once again, Tuoba Hong lost someone he loved for the second time. Yet he endured.
Far away in the temple, Feng Run lived under the illusion of abandonment, while the emperor believing her sick, continued sending physicians to care for her. Among them was a man named Gao Pusa.
At first, he was only a healer. But slowly, through repeated visits and quiet conversations, Feng Run grew close to him. In her loneliness, affection replaced grief. And what began as trust became love.
Years later, the Empress Dowager Feng finally died. With her death, the iron grip over the palace shattered. Tuoba Hong rose at last into true power.