Blazing crimson lanterns were already lit when Kesi and the guards arrived back at the palace. Under the last few rays of sunlight, the golden rooftops glimmered much more brightly than before.
Kesi sighed, taking in the magnificent sight that she hoped to never see again. Somehow, despite her best wishes to escape, she found herself back here again, back in the cold and lifeless palace.
Her future here simply felt so bleak. Not only did she still have no clue or plan on how to save the people on that list, she had even lost the little boy on the streets. Death was gone, and there were no clear instructions that he left behind.
For the first time in seemingly eternity, she simply had no plan. No hit list. No target. Nothing at all.
A little eunuch whispered something to the guards at the palace gates, casting occasional sideways glances at Kesi. And as much of her once-again old eyes failed her, she could easily tell that this one was not the one who had attempted to save her and gave her a crumbling bun the last time.
The eunuch pointed at her, and she gulped, wondering if the Empress had discovered her plans to never return.
"Nanny Rong, please come this way." With a sweeping gesture, the eunuch motioned for Kesi to follow him, his fingers pointing to a narrow hallway in the near distance. He plastered on a sickly sweet smile, his beady black eyes illuminated with a strange gleam from his single hand-held lantern.
They took the left turn instead of the right at the artificial rock pile… They walked past the wooden platforms… They never passed by the patch of bamboo…
As they headed deeper and deeper into the winding corridors of the palace, Kesi could already tell that this was definitely not the way that she had come this morning.
Despite how the cold night air tingled the back of her neck, her hands were clammy as her fingernails dug into her flesh.
If the Empress had really known her intentions and intended to dispose of her, there should have been no reason to bring her back into the palace to kill. It would have been better for her blood to run through the streets and not through the palace.
She tried to convince herself that this eunuch just knew a different path from the guards escorting her this morning, but as the number of passing maids and servants decreased with every single twist and turn, the feeling of impending doom only grew.
"My dear, my old legs are failing me. Can we take a moment of rest?" Kesi reasoned, trying to buy some time and information from the little eunuch. Not to mention, it was true. After experiencing temporary youth from her encounters with Mu Luming, the old creaky joints stood out more than ever. The wound on her thigh definitely didn't help either.
"Nanny Rong, you'll have plenty of rest later, if not eternal rest of some sorts."
All she could hope was that the eternal rest didn't refer to a painful death.
"But where are we heading to?"
"You'll find out when we get there."
They continued walking and walking, so far out into the palace that Kesi was sure that they had gone even further than her one-day residence in the shack. There was no way that they weren't already at the border of this maze of buildings, she reasoned.
Suddenly, the lone lantern snuffed out, all the brightness suddenly disappearing from the world. It was as if her last bits of hope went out alongside the lantern light. All that was left was the faint glow of moonlight reflecting against the polished stone floor.
She was doomed for. She would never save those people and make it back to the present.
Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap.
They continued walking, and she could barely make out the eunuch's shadow in front of her. Especially under the cold moonlight, he seemed almost alien, a foreign creature from an entirely differently world.
"We're here."
Looking up, what greeted her were none other than the giant words, "Forgotten Palace." The golden words threatened to break off from the wooden frame, the letter for "Palace" half-teetering off the entire plaque.
Cobwebs lined every inch of the palace, and while it wasn't as small as her shack, it certainly looked to be equally falling apart. The windows had small holes in their coverings, red paint peeled off from the thin wooden poles, and suspicious splatters of dark crimson lined the corners of the walls.
In addition to the silence of the dark night, the occasional flickering shadows made it seem as if this was the final resting spots for countless restless souls and ghosts. Every single one of Kesi's hairs stood on end.
The eunuch gestured to a side room, motioning for Kesi to approach it. Pushing open the creaky door, she choked as clouds of dirt billowed out.
Inside, there was a stiff bed. But what's more important, the room contained her previous collections from her old shack.
She let out a breath of relief, now fully knowing that that Empress had not intended to actually kill her.
Seeing her look of surprise, the eunuch fished a carved wooden signage from his many layers of fabric. This wooden sign was clearly not made from the high quality wood, bearing combined chunks of various woods.
And waiting for an even more dramatic effect, he pretended as if he was an important member of the courts presenting relevant information, holding the signage close to his body and hiding it.
Finally, he relented.
The plaque read a single thing: "Eastern Palace."
Such was the place the Crown Prince would stay in. And if the Crown Prince would stay here, as would his nanny.