Hei Lang's grip tightened around Hua Lian's trembling wrist as the flickering candlelight cast wavering shadows across the small, cramped hideout. The silence between them was thick, heavy with unspoken questions and tangled emotions.
She lay pale and weak against the cold stone wall, the wound in her back throbbing with every heartbeat. Yet there was something in her that refused to waver.
For a moment, Hei Lang studied her — the delicate curves of her face, so unlike the fierce, untouchable warrior she had worn like armor. And beneath the serene mask of the maid, he glimpsed the same fire that had kept her alive through countless battles.
"What… what are you hiding from me?" His voice was low, wary, a mixture of accusation and confusion.
Hua Lian's breath hitched. The truth was a maze of shadows, one she had chased for years, each step closer more dangerous than the last.
Hei Lang's blue eyes narrowed. "Tell me."
But she was still unconscious
The night had swallowed the capital whole. Clouds blotted out the moon, and the palace roofs gleamed faintly in the scattered torchlight that guarded the walls. Despite the silence, a lone shadow slipped between corridors — carrying a limp figure wrapped in blood and dust. He had just managed to escape the soldiers that were like a swarm of bees in the wood. He carried the unconscious Hua lian on horseback with himself. Arrows and spears were targeted at him from every side but he managed to dodge all without grazing his skin.
Hei Lang's arm was firm around her, her head lolling against his shoulder. The black wolf of the night, feared by corrupt officials and whispered about in drunken taverns, was not supposed to be burdened with something as fragile as an unconscious maid. Yet here he was, every step measured, every turn precise, as he tried to hide Hua Lian deeper.
Yue Ying was a woman.
Not the tough man.
No wonder, she weighed so little… far less than any warrior he'd ever carried.
Also, the whisper of floral jasmine fragrance clung to her hair, seeping past the copper tang of wounds.
The iron scent of her blood clung stubbornly to his gloves. He could still feel the shallow tremor of her ragged breath against his chest. Barely alive.Yue Ying's blood seeped hot against his assassin garb, soaking his sleeve. He was completely drenched with her blood.
A part of him wanted to sneer. Why interfere? She is nothing but an ordinary palace maid that once saved your life.
But another part — the one he rarely allowed to surface — had already made the choice when he saw her stabbed by the soldier she pitied. Their swords were raised against her, the soldiers yelling, and she had fought fiercely before collapsing under the weight of her wounds. Something in that desperate defiance had stirred him, against his own better judgment.She had mistakenly seen his face once—during their duel before they were caught. The only surviving one who had ever seen his disguise. No one alive had ever seen his face without the mask except her. It made him angry at first but he let it go.
He had silenced the soldiers with a single sweep of his blade, then taken her before more eyes could see.
" Get Yue Ying dead or alive. Don't let her escape with Hei lang" ordered official Bai The capital was drowning in shadows that night. Torches burned along the palace walls, their flames whipped restless by the cold wind. Soldiers thundered through the streets like a tide of steel, each patrol driven by a single command from the emperor's mouth: "Find Yue Ying. Alive or dead.A great reward for anyone who finds her "
Li Yuyan—crown prince by day, feared shadow-assassin Hei Lang by night—stood at the edge of the rooftop, his dark cloak blending with the night sky. His breaths were measured, his heart an iron fortress. Yet, for the first time in years, his hand trembled faintly against the hilt of his blade.
At his feet, was the body of the enemy he had chased for months. The infamous hero, Yue Ying—his rival, his annoyance, the thorn that embarrassed corrupt ministers and slipped away from his very grasp countless times. The danger was ten times greater. He wondered how to escape to the palace successfully because any little mistake would spell death for the both of them.
And the emperor's soldiers were drawing near.
"Search everywhere! Do not let the traitor escape!" Their shouts echoed through the alleys like wolves baying for blood. Lantern-light flickered across the palace walls, the search closing in like a tightening noose.
Hei Lang's instincts urged him to disappear—leave the body, let the soldiers claim their prize, and watch from the shadows. That was what he should do. That was what logic demanded.
Yet his body betrayed him.
Without knowing why, he kept , scooping the limp figure into his arms and melted back into the shadows of the roof. Hei Lang's jaw clenched, but he pressed forward, leaping silently from roof to roof, cradling the unconscious figure like a forbidden secret.
Every patrol he slipped past heightened the danger. Twice, he froze against the shadows as soldiers shone their torches upward. Once, he ducked beneath a balcony as two guards stopped to drink and complain about the cold.
His heart thundered—not from fear, but from something sharper.
Why was he saving her?
Why, when he knew Yue Ying's existence was a dagger pointed at the empire, at him, at everything he stood for?
Still, he could not let go.
"Who are you really, Yue Ying?"
Would saving her put him in trouble?