The first explosion ripped open the night.
Princess Wan Li woke with a gasp, heart pounding as the walls of her pavilion trembled. Dust rained from carved ceiling beams, and her candle flickered violently, shrinking into a panicked blue flame.
"Su Yan…?" Wan Li whispered.
Her maid jolted upright beside the door, eyes wide. Before she could speak, another blast thundered across the Forbidden City — closer, sharper, violent enough to rattle the wooden lattice windows.
The night erupted into screaming.
"Princess!" Su Yan cried. "Something's happening outside—"
The doors burst open.
A eunuch stumbled in, panting, his face streaked with sweat and soot.
"Princess—Her Majesty calls for you. Quickly!"
Wan Li's breath hitched.
Her mother never summoned her this way.
Not in the middle of the night.
Not with the palace shaking.
The eunuch grabbed Su Yan's arm to pull them out.
"We must hurry—before the next blast reaches this wing!"
Wan Li was swept into the corridor. The air was thick with smoke. Lanterns swung in the wind, casting long, warped shadows across the walls.
From the distance came shouts:
"Pull back!"
"Fire at the east gate—!"
"Protect the emperor!"
"Fetch water—move!"
Wan Li flinched at each voice. The emperor—His Majesty Li Shan—her older cousin, temperamental, proud, brilliant… was he alright?
"Su Yan," Wan Li whispered, trembling. "Is His Majesty—"
Su Yan shook her head tightly, dragging her along. "Princess, we cannot stop. Her Majesty said nothing except to bring you immediately—"
They reached the Pavilion of Gathered Elegance, its windows glowing with the reflected flames from far-off courtyards.
Inside, Empress Dowager Ruyi was kneeling on the floor among open chests. Jewelry, gold bars, jade pendants, silver ornaments, and embroidered bags lay scattered in frantic piles. Her hands shook as she sorted through them, but her face remained composed—too composed.
Wan Li froze at the threshold.
"M–Mother?"
Ruyi looked up, eyes blazing with urgency.
"Wan Li. Come here. Quickly."
Wan Li rushed forward, her heartbeat hammering painfully.
"Mother… what is happening? Why are the walls—why is everything—"
"Not now." Ruyi gripped her daughter's shoulders with surprising strength. "There is no time for questions. Listen to me."
Wan Li swallowed. Hard.
Ruyi's voice softened, but the tremble beneath it was unmistakable.
"The palace is under attack."
Wan Li's knees nearly gave way.
Under attack?
The Forbidden City?
The most fortified place in the entire nation?
"W–who would attack us?" Wan Li whispered.
Ruyi inhaled shakily.
"The president was assassinated this afternoon."
The ground seemed to tilt beneath Wan Li's feet.
She didn't understand politics.
She didn't understand assassinations.
She only understood that her world—her quiet, obedient, carefully sheltered world—was breaking.
Ruyi continued, "His death shattered every alliance holding this city together. Revolutionaries and renegade soldiers are using the chaos to push inside the palace."
Wan Li shook violently. "But… but the emperor—His Majesty—where—"
"Guards have taken him to safety," Ruyi said firmly. "You must not worry about him now."
Wan Li's voice trembled. "Mother… are we leaving the palace?"
Ruyi's expression stiffened.
"You are."
Wan Li's breath stopped.
"Mother… no. I won't go without you—please, I'll stay with you—"
Another explosion shook the pavilion, knocking a porcelain vase to the floor. It shattered beside Wan Li's feet. Su Yan flinched. Wan Li cried out.
Ruyi pressed her hands to Wan Li's cheeks.
"Listen to me, my daughter."
Wan Li stared at her, tears blurring her vision.
"You have been raised to be gentle, obedient, and modest," Ruyi whispered. "You were taught womanly virtue, not because it was easy… but because in this world, it was the safest path for someone like you."
Wan Li's breathing became shallow.
Ruyi brushed away her tears.
"But tonight… safety will not be enough."
She picked up a coarse brown maidservant dress and held it out to her.
"Take off your robe."
Wan Li stared at the garment as if it were a foreign object.
"Mother… no—no, I can't—it isn't mine—"
"It must be."
Ruyi's voice cracked for the first time. "You cannot walk outside these walls as a princess. If they find you, they will use you. Or kill you."
Wan Li sobbed, shaking her head. "Mother, please—come with me—hide with me—"
Ruyi shook her head, almost gently.
"I must stay."
"N–no—"
"The palace is collapsing. Li Shan is still here. The palace staff are trapped. I cannot abandon them."
Wan Li clung to her mother desperately. "I'm scared—I'm so scared—please—"
Ruyi's arms tightened around her.
"I know, Li'er. I know."
Her voice was soft, tender, breaking.
"But I love you too much to let you die here."
She pulled away, eyes shining.
"You must go to the Yuan residence. The president once swore his family would protect you if the dynasty ever fell."
Wan Li trembled. "Mother, I don't understand anything—"
"You don't have to. You only have to survive."
Then,
Ruyi hesitated as she cupped Wan Li's cheeks again, lowering her voice to a trembling whisper thick with urgency and sorrow.
"Li'er… the Yuan family has already agreed to take you. Their youngest son… you were promised to him years ago."
Wan Li blinked, confused. "Promised…?"
"Yes," Ruyi whispered, brushing soot from her daughter's hair. "You are meant to marry into their family one day. They will protect you because you are part of their future."
Wan Li's breath shook.
A husband.A family.A future her mother had chosen.
"If you reach them," Ruyi said, voice breaking, "endure. Obey. Be patient. One day… the boy you are promised to… he will be your safety."
Wan Li didn't understand marriage, destiny, or politics.
But she understood her mother's trembling voice.And she clung to it like a lifeline.
Another violent blast shook the room. The far wall cracked. Dust showered down.
Ruyi grabbed a ceremonial spear that had fallen. She turned to Su Yan.
"Take her. Run. Do not stop."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Su Yan cried, already pulling Wan Li back.
Wan Li struggled, sobbing. "Mother—Mother—please—!"
Ruyi's eyes softened.
"I love you, Wan Li."
Then the ceiling at the far end of the pavilion collapsed in a thunder of debris and flame.
Ruyi turned toward the destruction—
and used her body to shield the doorway, standing between her daughter and the chaos.
"GO!"
Su Yan dragged Wan Li from the room.
Wan Li reached out, fingers clawing the air—
but the corridor swallowed her mother's figure as the roof crashed behind them.
"Mother! MOTHER!"
Wan Li's scream shattered, lost in the roar of fire.
She didn't see her mother again.
--
THE ESCAPE
The palace was a nightmare.
Smoke.
Flames.
Running shadows.
The shriek of burning wood.
Wan Li barely saw where she stepped. She stumbled, tripped, clung to Su Yan's hand like an anchor.
"Miss—please—stay with me—!"
Wan Li's voice trembled. "Su Yan… will… will His Majesty be safe…?"
"I don't know… we need to keep moving… your mother said to run…"
Obedience.
Wan Li had always obeyed.
Tonight, obedience was the only thing holding her together.
They turned into a servant corridor—but the roof above them cracked sharply.
Wan Li looked up.
A massive beam was breaking free.
She froze, eyes wide, breath caught in her chest.
The beam fell.
Su Yan screamed.
A force collided with Wan Li.
She was thrown to the ground, air punched from her lungs. She coughed, choking on dust. Her elbow throbbed. Her ears rang.
A hand grabbed her arm.
"Get up."
The voice was steady, even in the chaos.
Wan Li blinked through the haze.
A boy—no, a young man—stood in front of her.
Older than her.
Strong.
Tall.
Clad in a military coat streaked with ash.
Dark eyes sharp and alert.
Wan Li trembled.
She didn't know him.
But he had saved her life.
"Sir!" a soldier shouted as he ran up. "Young Marshal Zhang! The fire's spreading—we have to go!"
Wan Li didn't fully register the words.
But the name—shouted so loudly—the name stuck.
"Young Marshal Zhang, should we bring them along?" the soldier asked, glancing at Wan Li and Su Yan.
The young marshal's eyes flicked to Wan Li—brief, unreadable—then sharpened with decision.
"Take them out," he ordered. "Both of them. Make sure they get past the city walls."
"Yes, Young Marshal Zhang!"
He didn't wait for thanks.
He turned and strode into the fire-lit chaos, directing men with calm authority.
Wan Li watched him disappear, breath catching in her throat.
Not because she understood anything.
Not because she recognized status or power.
Not because she felt anything more than shock and terror.
But because he saved her.
Su Yan tugged her hand hard. "Miss, we must follow the soldier!"
Wan Li stumbled forward—but looked back one last time.
Young Marshal Zhang.
She repeated his name silently, terrified the memory would slip away into the smoke.
She didn't remember his face clearly.
But she remembered the shape that shielded her.
The hand that pulled her up.
The name echoed in the corridor of fire.
She would never forget that.
--
THE LAST STEP OUTSIDE THE RED WALLS
The soldier escorting them guided them through shattered halls, down into the burning city streets. Wan Li looked back once — at the collapsing roofs of the palace she had lived in all her life.
Her mother was gone.
Her home was gone.
Her world was gone.
Su Yan wrapped an arm around her. "Miss… please… hold on…" then she asked the soldier escorting them, "Can you take us to the Yuan residence?"
The soldier hesitated. "The Yuan estate is dangerous tonight."
"Please," Su Yan pleaded. "It's the only place we can go…"
The soldier paused as if deliberating for a moment, before he bowed his head. "Very well."
--
By dawn, they reached the Yuan residence — a towering compound barely touched by the night's destruction.
Su Yan banged on the gate.
Two guards emerged, hard-faced and wary. Their eyes swept over Wan Li — ash-covered, trembling, dressed in a poorly fitting maid's uniform.
"State your business."
Wan Li's lips parted.
But no sound came out.
Her throat had closed.
She had no mother.
No title.
No courage.
She felt Su Yan squeeze her hand.
The maid stepped forward.
"This girl…" she said, steady despite the tears streaking her face, "is Princess Wan Li. Her mother—Her Majesty—sent us here before she… before she—"
She choked but continued.
"Please. Let us in. She… she followed her mother's last command."
The guards stiffened — visibly startled.
One bowed stiffly.
"We were informed… someone might come."
But Wan Li saw the truth in their eyes:
The dynasty is dead.
Your title is meaningless.
You are nothing but trouble now.
Wan Li followed Su Yan through the gates, limbs numb, vision blurred, heart shattered.
She did not cry.
She could not.
She only walked forward.
Obediently.
Silently.
Just as she had been taught.
And the first years of her long suffering has just began.
--
TBC