6. Failed search and inkognito

AT THE SAME TIME

EMPEROR LIANWEI FIRST PERSON POV:

It had been a week. Seven days without a trace of her. Seven days of empty leads, false sightings, and increasingly irritated reports from my best trackers. They bowed before me with lowered heads, muttering apologies and offering guesses instead of answers.

"She might have boarded a grain caravan heading west." "There was a merchant in North market who claims a woman with her description asked for healing her." "A peasant boy says he saw a noblewoman bathing in the river, but she vanished when he blinked."

I slammed the last scroll onto my desk, the ink bleeding from my grip.

"Guesses." I growled. "Nothing but shadows."

"She's clever." General Cao offered tentatively. "She must've had help. There's no way she slipped out alone-"He started.

"I didn't ask for excuses."I said.

He shut his mouth quickly. The room emptied soon after. Only silence remained. Silence, and a growing ache under my ribs I hated naming. I leaned back in my chair, eyes scanning the candle's flicker against the window. In my mind, I saw her again, how quiet she'd been in the mornings, how she always watched the sky first before speaking. Her voice had been soft but never weak. Every night I spent with her had left me strangely... steadier. The others? They were silk and perfume and performance. But she, she had been real. And she left.

Voluntarily. That thought alone still tasted bitter. A knock came at the door.

"Enter." I snapped.

A junior informant crept in, sweating through his robes.

"Y-Your Majesty, we did… receive a letter. Smuggled. From the outer villages. It mentions a healer. No name, but a woman with quiet manners and good hands."He said.

I stood at once. 

"Where?"I asked.

He hesitated. 

"Several villages… She never stays long."He said.

I narrowed my eyes. 

"Describe her."I ordered.

"Pale. Black hair. Slim, small frame. No mention of nobility. But… she always wears gloves."He said. 

Gloves? She never used to. My mind tripped over that detail, something small, something off. Like a piece of armor. I threw coin and dismissed him with a wave and waited until the door shut. She's hiding. Not just from the palace. From me. A soft whisper brushed my senses. That familiar voice, smug as ever.

"Getting warmer, aren't we, little emperor? But she's cleverer than you think. Maybe she doesn't want to be found." Zeyrith said.

"Shut up." I hissed, jaw clenched.

"But what if she's better without you? Hmm? Has that crossed your mind yet."He grinned.

I grabbed the nearest scroll and hurled it through Zeyrith's illusion, his translucent smirk hovering above my desk.

"You gave her a second life by helping her." I said tightly. "But you won't stop me from taking it back."

The god only laughed, fading into mist.

The next morning they brought me twenty cloaks. I chose the plainest one. No silk, no brocade. No sign of wealth. It felt wrong against my skin, like I was wearing another man's life. Good. That's what I needed. If she so desperately wished to vanish from the emperor's gaze, then the emperor would vanish too.

"I'll travel with four men." I told General Cao. "No crest. No seal. You'll say I've gone to meditate in the southern shrine."I said.

He hesitated, as if unsure whether I was serious. 

"Your Majesty-"He started.

"Say it." I said. "And make sure no one follows."

He bowed stiffly, then left without another word. In the mirror, I hardly recognized myself. The dark traveling cloak cast shadows over my face, and I let the magic tool do the rest, a subtle distortion of my features, barely noticeable, enough to make even my own mother blink twice. She wouldn't know me. Not immediately. Perfect. 

Still, I tucked one of her old hairpins into my sleeve. A golden one she'd once worn during festival night simple, shaped like a falling petal. I remember it poking into my arm as she fell asleep beside me. I had wanted to throw it, but now… now it was the only thing that made me feel like she'd truly been here. 

Zeyrith's whisper came again, just as I fastened my traveling sash.

"Dressing like a peasant for love? How very tragic. You do know she ran, right?"He said.

"She won't be running when I find her."I said.

"Ohhh, dangerous. Possessive. How… you."He said.

"I'm not playing your game."I said.

Zeyrith snickered, lounging inside the mirror like he owned the glass. 

"You keep saying that, yet here you are, chasing a woman who doesn't want to be found. How delightful."He grinned.

I turned sharply. 

"You said she didn't want to be found by the emperor. Fine. I won't be him."I said.

I grabbed the small pack and stepped into the shadowed passage under the palace. Only three guards followed loyal, silent. They knew better than to speak of this to anyone. Outside, the world smelled of wet earth and smoke. Nothing like court. Nothing like home. I felt something deep and unfamiliar stir beneath my ribs. Freedom? No. Focus.

I would find her. She had hidden herself, yes, but I knew her. I remembered every glance, every flinch when I mentioned my other women. I remembered how she laughed only when I wasn't looking. And how she stopped laughing altogether near the end. She wasn't just missing. She was angry. I would find her and bring her back. And this time, she wouldn't run.

 I reached the village, careful not to draw attention, though my heart hammered louder than my footsteps. This place... it held a trace of her, an echo buried beneath the ordinary. I closed my eyes, reaching inward. The obsession that gnawed at my mind was no longer just a thought. It was a pulse, a scent carried on the wind, faint, but unmistakable. Her presence was here.

The villagers didn't notice me, a traveller with black hair and green eyes, an unfamiliar face among them. Perfect. Yet, my every thought spiralled back to her, the woman I couldn't forget, the woman I needed to find.

"This time, I won't let you slip. You are mine only, Mei Chen."I whispered to the dark.