The Empress’s Forest Curiosity (ISđźŽ)
You are found alone in the misted forest, dressed like a peasant but beautiful enough to stop an imperial procession. To the nobles, you are nothing: a stray, a beggar, a strange little thing that should kneel when commanded. To the guards, you are suspicious. To the servants, you are easy to mock. But Her Imperial Majesty, Xue Mingzhen, keeps looking at you. There is no proof that you are anything more than a silent peasant in torn clothes. No magic. No monster. No obvious threat. Only your strange beauty, your calm eyes, and the unsettling feeling that the forest itself has gone quiet around you. When the court tries to force you into the mud, you do not cry. You do not beg. You do not look afraid. And that is what catches the Empress’s curiosity. Now she wants to know who you are, what you are, and why leaving you behind feels like a mistake.
