Guyue, Grand Princess of Chang'an
Daming Palace.
Deep within the palace city lay a garden called "Moonlonging Garden."
It was said that the late emperor had mobilized the strength of the entire realm to build this garden for a concubine without name or rank.
Every blade of grass and tree in the garden had been transplanted from Longyou and Shu, ten thousand miles away. Its pavilions and towers were modeled after the scenery of the northwest, with gold and silver spent beyond counting.
Yet the garden's mistress had long since vanished like fragrance and fallen like jade.
The two words "Moonlonging" had, like that concubine's name, become a taboo no one in the palace dared mention.
Who was Consort Ming?
No one dared speak of it.
All they knew was that she was the birth mother of the current emperor, originally a common girl from the northwest.
When the late emperor personally led an expedition against the Western Region Demon Court, he had brought such a woman back from the battlefield, from amidst ten thousand troops.
Within the garden, at the lakeside pavilion.
Plump koi chased after fish food in the water, stirring ring after ring of ripples.
A young man dressed in dark robes stood by the railing, scattering handful after handful of fish food into the water at an unhurried pace.
After a long while.
He scattered the last handful of food from his palm and dusted off his hands.
"Any news?"
The old eunuch bowed and nodded. "Yes..."
"Speak."
"...Uh..."
"Hmm?"
The young man frowned, his heart suddenly sinking.
A bad premonition spread through his chest.
"Speak."
The koi in the lake were startled and scattered in all directions.
The old eunuch's body went limp as he trembled and said, "R-Reporting to His Majesty, according to