Chapter 52 - Chapter 22 - The Hooded Emissary

The mist descended over the imperial gardens like an ethereal blanket, dense and silent, covering each flower, each pond, and each statue with a veil of mystery. The air smelled of extinguished incense, mixed with the dampness of earth freshly moistened by dew. Not a single footstep from the monks of the Celestial Pavilion broke the stillness; even the birds had taken refuge in the trees, as if sensing what was about to come.