Shen Estate – Southern Province

The carriage wheels slowed just beyond the moss-covered gates. The wind here smelled of soil, old stone, and faint memories.

Crown Princess Shen Lianhua stepped down, veiled in a simple traveling cloak—no crown, no fanfare. Just her.

The estate hadn't changed much. Worn archways. Cracked paths. The almond trees lining the garden had bloomed early this year, delicate white petals fluttering like whispered confessions.

She hadn’t returned since the funeral. Since her mother was laid beneath the oldest tree with no epitaph, no final words—just silence.

Now she came, not as a grieving daughter, but as a woman who had survived everything her mother had once feared.

Inside the Ancestral Hall

The room was dim, the air heavy with incense that hadn’t been lit in months.

Lianhua knelt before her mother’s memorial tablet and whispered:

“You were right. About everything.”

She reached into her satchel and pulled out a worn letter—one she had found tucked deep inside a scroll chest, forgotten until now.

It was addressed in her mother’s hand.

“For Lianhua, should she ever rise.”

Her fingers trembled as she unfolded it.

“My beloved daughter,
If you are reading this, it means you chose power—bravely, dangerously. It means you no longer walk with your eyes downcast.
Know this: I saw your strength from the moment you took your first breath. I feared what the world would do to it. So I taught you stillness. Politeness. Obedience.
Not because I believed in them. But because I wanted you to survive long enough to rewrite the rules.”

Tears blurred the ink.

“Now that you have, do not ask permission. Lead. And forgive me for not showing you how sooner.”

“With all my love,
Mother.”

Later – Beneath the Almond Tree

Lianhua sat in silence, her hand resting on the roots of her mother’s resting place.

Li Shenzhao joined her quietly, sitting beside her without speaking.

Eventually, she turned to him.

“She wasn’t afraid of the world. She was afraid of what it would do to me.”

He nodded. “And now?”

She looked out over the orchard.

“Now I am the thing the world fears.”

He smiled faintly. “And respects.”

She leaned against him, letting the wind tangle her hair.

“Let’s go home,” she said. “I’ve buried enough of the past.”