"I'm innocent! I didn't do anything!"

Dana's voice rang out in the cold prison cell, a large room full of dark corners somewhere under the Palace near the stables.

No magic could penetrate the cell, nor could it be performed within the confines of the prison. It was a strange, oppressive feeling, Shiyao noticed, the further she walked down the dingy corridor towards the cells the worse it became. She could practically feel her magic leaving her body and it made much more sense why the guards stationed outside every door were very large and muscular. Yixing followed behind the princess as she made her way further in, finally arriving at the last cell at the end of the block.

"You're awfully loud." she muttered, a streak of moonlight falling over her face as she approached the cell.

"You!" Dana hissed, charging towards the impossibly thick bars separating her and her freedom. "It wasn't me! I didn't spread that gossip!"

"The evidence was irrefutable, they said." Shiyao shrugged. "Luckily for you, His Highness still has feelings for you. You know very well what the punishment should be for such a crime."

"I don't care what the evidence said - It. Wasn't. Me!" she repeated. "What, did you find out about me and decide to get rid of me? You know His Highness loved me?"

Shiyao looked around, slightly bemused. "Get rid of you? You're still here, aren't you?"

Dana's fingers wrapped around the bars, her shoulders rising and falling. This bitch was pissing her off.

"It's because His Highness loved you that you're here behind bars." she shrugged. "This way, everyone gets to keep their tongue."

Dana frowned at her remark.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"What are you imply-"

"Nothing." Shiyao sighed, folding her arms and looking the maid right in the eyes. "Sure is interesting, though. I'm not sure I could ever treat someone I loved the way you were treated."

"Would you just spit out whatever it is you're dancing around?"

"Is that any way to talk to a Princess?" Shiyao shot back.

"Oh, screw off!" Dana yelled, "Throwing your weight around as though you think you're somebody. Nobody in this palace respects you - all you have is a title!"

"Oh my." Shiyao deadpanned, hand on her chest. "Was I wrong to convince King Yun that you and your family should be spared?"

"What?"

"Make no mistake, the only reason you and your entire family haven't been exiled is because I convinced His Highness that doing so would be a terrible misstep. The Crown Prince managed to change your punishment, but I was the one who made sure it didn't go any further. I care about him, too, very much so, so don't think for one second that I did this for you."

"Yeah, right."

"In any case, the Crown Prince won't lose face by fooling around with a palace maid. It's better to give up the idea entirely."

"Look, Shiyao, I don't know what I've done to offend you, but everything was going just fine before you showed-"

"Before I showed up and ruined everything, yeah, you're not the only one who thinks so." she interjected. "But since you're on the same page as that guy, maybe you should take a look in his direction instead of pining after what can't be."

"What are you saying now?"

"You didn't know? You have a secret admirer." she smirked. "He'll come to pay you a visit. From all accounts I've heard he's a pretty decent guy, full of integrity."

"Why did you even come here?" Dana spat. "You know it wasn't me, you're obviously not that stupid if you were able to convince King Yun - did you just come to taunt me or what?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

"Fuck off."

Shiyao raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more and turned to leave. Indeed, why had she even bothered? It wasn't as though she was going to out Zixuan to her. Maybe it was just to jab at her, to cover the embarrassment she felt from being rejected by Jing Han. The title of Queen that she had so boldly assumed to be hers already seemed like a distant dream. She wasn't any different from Dana in that sense, but at least she wasn't the one behind bars.

She wouldn't be Queen because she was the more capable one?

What a load of bullshit.

As they emerged from the underground, Yixing and Shiyao felt their veins being energized once more, and as they passed through the main square of the Inner Palace, Shiyao spotted the library in the distance. That guy, Lu, didn't he say that it was a good place to receive visions? The time was just about right, too. It didn't take long for the pair to arrive at the stone staircase leading up to the ancient building and Yixing wordlessly took up post outside while the princess ran inside.

The huge circular window on the roof of the building, she realised, was in the perfect position. It allowed full moonlight to shine directly in, though it was fading with every minute. Shiyao zoomed over to the centre of the library, plopping herself down in the centre of the circular tiles and settling. She tried her best to calm herself down, closing her eyes and grasping her necklace, waiting for twilight to approach.

She wasn't sure why she was surprised when her vision darkened even further and splodges of colour began appearing, swirling and morphing and changing until they made solid shapes.

Shiyao looked around as she found herself sitting on a long white marble bench. It was an observatory, she realised, as she spotted the stain glass window at the back of the building. Instead of constellations on the glass, it was a horseshoe covered in purple jewels. A blinding flash of light changed the scene again and this time it was a mountain summit where the torrential downpour was flowing back up to the sky. Another flash showed her a somewhat familiar scene - tall grassy plains with a tree split almost entirely down the middle, though it was still standing. Hadn't she seen that somewhere before?

Long ago when she was in Ranhara?

"Congratulations!"

Shiyao flinched at the sudden voice, the images in her consciousness wavering, blurring and eventually melting away. Opening her eyes, she blinked a few times as sunlight came streaming through the window, really showing off the dust in the air. She sat for a moment in her peach and cream robes, the fur collar of her jacket keeping her neck warm in the chilly morning air.

"Don't like what you see?"

Lu.

His skin seemed to glow in the morning light, tanned, healthy and radiant. He grinned as he descended the stairs in a very elaborate navy robe. She did wonder how he even went about putting on such a garment, she could barely tell what all the elements were.

"That's a shame."

"Did you have the same vision?" she asked, standing up as he reached the final step.

"How would I know what vision you had?"

The jacket of his ensemble trailed over the floor behind him as he sauntered towards her, the rich gold embroidery around the edge depicted suns and moons while the sleeves and back showed all the constellations in a gorgeous cascading flow.

"Don't get any ideas about my robes, now, I can see you admiring them."

"Where do you even get robes like these? I haven't seen anything like them in real life before." she asked. "I thought mine were grand, but these are really something."

"Thank you." he smiled. "They were gifted to me."

"And the king and queen don't mind?"

"They don't have the right to mind." he replied, chuckling at her gasp.

"I don't mean to be rude-"

"Please, be rude."

He smiled as she laughed, glad that she had lightened up somewhat. Still, it was clear as day that she wasn't sure if she should ask what she wanted to ask.

"You want to know more about me." he said and after a pause, she nodded. "Hmmm, what would you like to know?"

"How are you able to speak so casually to members of the royal family? Why don't they take offence?"

"Ah, well... to put it simply, I'm not like everyone else."

"You're not a Demon?"

"I am, but the circumstances surrounding my birth put me in a higher position than anyone else."

Well that was helpful.

Shiyao fidgeted with her nails, briefly catching sight of his fancy leather boots that were also embroidered in gold.

"I'm sorry about what happened, with Zixuan and with Jing Han. After everything you've been through, you didn't deserve that." he said lowly.

"How did you know about-"

"I know."

Shiyao regarded him for a moment, wondering just how much he knew about everything. What kind of person existed outside of the jurisdiction of the royal family? Even when she was The Witch, she was still a subject of the Ranharan royal family and had to address and defer to them as everyone else did.

Lu, on the other hand, seemed like he lived in an entirely different world where the rules didn't apply to him, as though he were a mere spectator of the human existence. How could anyone circumvent the rules like that? Just what, exactly, was he? Was she the only one who didn't know? The Crown Prince never blinked when Lu called him his name to his face, a bold move that would've gotten anyone else a severe sentencing.

Still, it seemed rude to dig in deeper with more questions when it was clear that he was being purposefully vague.

"Did you always know I wasn't going to be queen?" she asked.

Lu folded his arms as he leaned back against a table with a smile. "Well, if Jing Han wanted to take you as his wife, would you have accepted it?"

That was a good question. She had been coming to terms with the normality of distant cousins marrying, and she was rather convinced that she could bring herself to do it when the time came. On the other hand, the thought of having children with Jing Han - something she knew she would have to do if they were to marry - was what made her feel sick to her stomach and reconsider the entire thing.

She supposed it was rather arrogant of her to assume that it would be a dilemma she would have to face.

"I don't know." she replied truthfully. "...Do you?"

"I do."

Shiyao smiled slightly as the early morning sunlight cast a soft glow over her delicate face, though Lu could feel the sadness imbued in it and it almost broke his heart. She managed to meet his eyes once more as she spoke again:

"Well that makes one of us, at least."