For ten years, I never once saw the emperor's face, until I was chosen to care for the emperor, who had been unconscious for three years.
A strange fragrance filled his bedchamber. Though the emperor was asleep, he looked as if he were alive.
On the seventh night, I accidentally knocked over a bowl of medicine. The brown liquid seeped into the floor tiles, and strange words in blood appeared:
“Run. He isn't...”
A gentle voice came from behind me: “My beloved consort, what did you see?”
