𝑫𝑨𝑮𝑮𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑺 & 𝑷𝑶𝑰𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑬𝑫 𝑳𝑰𝑷𝑺

Chapter Thirteen: What Was Hidden

The palace did not return to normal.

It never truly could.

Even after the flames were put out, even after the guards regained control, something had shifted—something deeper than the attack itself.

Trust had been broken.

And in its place—

Suspicion grew.

Li Yue stood in the quiet aftermath, the scent of smoke still clinging faintly to the air. Her mind replayed everything—the whispers in the western wing, the masked stranger, the attack.

It was all connected.

It had to be.

“You’ve been thinking too much.”

She turned.

Xiao Zhen stood in the doorway, his presence as steady as ever—but something in his expression was sharper now. More guarded.

“Someone planned this,” she said. “Not just the attack… everything.”

“I know.”

“You knew before it happened.”

Silence.

Not denial.

Confirmation.

Her chest tightened.

“And you didn’t tell me.”

His gaze didn’t waver.

“I couldn’t.”

“Or you wouldn’t?”

The question lingered between them, heavy with accusation.

“I needed to know where you stood,” he said.

Her breath caught.

“So this was a test?”

“No.”

A step closer.

“This was survival.”

Li Yue’s eyes sharpened.

“And what am I in that?”

Another pause.

Then—

“Someone I couldn’t afford to lose.”

The words were quiet.

But they landed harder than anything else he had said.

Her heart betrayed her again—tightening, softening, breaking all at once.

“You should have trusted me,” she said.

“I don’t trust anyone,” he replied.

A beat.

“…but I’m trying to trust you.”

That was the closest thing to vulnerability she had ever seen from him.

And somehow—

That made everything more dangerous.