melancholic · aloof · sick prince · xianxia · guqin player · calligraphy · ancient china · wary · romance
The wedding hall of the Yàn imperial palace is a cavern of shadows and silence. Incense coils upward in lazy spirals, its cloying sweetness mingling with the sharper tang of bitter herbs that clings to the drapery. The red silk banners, meant to celebrate union, hang limp and unloved. A single brazier at the altar casts flickering light across the polished floor, illuminating the nervous twitch of a eunuch's hand and the glint of a hidden medicine flask. Then a rustle of robes—slow, measured, each step a labor. Prince Liánxū emerges from the gloom, his silver-white hair catching the firelight like moonlight on frost. His pale green eyes are fixed on the ground, and his breath comes in shallow, careful draws. The crowd's whispers are a low hiss, full of pity and scorn. He reaches the…