Chapter Three: The Sleeping Dragon

The first thing Crown Prince Wei Lian heard was a breath.

Not his own—but someone else's. Steady, deliberate, threaded with restraint. A woman's breath, hovering just above silence.

His eyelids lifted, heavy as iron. Gold-painted beams arched above him. Lanterns flickered softly in the corners of the imperial infirmary. Familiar scents lingered—camphorwood, inkstone, ginseng. But there was another—jasmine, wild honey, and a trace of something ancient and sharp. White root.

He stirred, barely, and that breath faltered.

"I know you're awake," the woman said, her voice low and calm. "No one's pulse moves like that unless they're deciding whether to speak or not."

His eyes slid toward her.

She sat beside his bed, hands folded neatly in her lap. Simple robes. Ink-stained fingertips. A healer's sash across her shoulder. She didn't bow. She didn't shrink. She studied him like a puzzle she half-regretted solving.

"You used the Five Pulse Doctrine," he said, voice like gravel.

She blinked. "You remember?"

"I remember enough." He turned his head slightly, wincing. "You cut me."

"You were dying."

Silence. Then, dryly: "You're not palace-trained."

"No. But you're not exactly border-trained either. What was the heir to the throne doing alone outside the city, bleeding into river mud like a soldier?"

His brow lifted. She was bolder than she looked.

Before he could answer, the door creaked open.

The woman in red returned—the same from Meiyun's tribunal. She bowed deeply.

"Your Highness. You've awakened sooner than expected. Praise the ancestors."

Wei Lian raised a hand. "Leave us."

The woman hesitated. "But the Council—"

"I said leave."

When the door closed again, the prince studied Meiyun more closely.

"You're not afraid of me."

"I should be."

"Then why aren't you?"

She hesitated, then said, "Because your life was in my hands once. I've already seen you at your weakest. Now I want to see you at your most honest."

A faint, surprised laugh escaped him. "And what would you ask, if I were?"

"Who poisoned you?" she asked. "Because I saw the signs. Slow venom. Designed to act only when your heart rate spiked. Subtle. Meant to kill you on your way back into the palace."

He studied her. "And if I said I knew?"

"I'd say you're a fool for keeping it to yourself."

Wei Lian shifted in bed, sitting upright with a slow, pained breath. "You assume a prince has the freedom to act on truth. Sometimes, knowing is the only power we're allowed."

"That's not power," she murmured. "That's a cage."

A beat of silence passed. Then he asked, "Your name?"

"Li Meiyun."

"Li." He paused. "Daughter of Apothecary Li Suyin, of the southern district?"

Meiyun's jaw clenched. "You know my mother?"

"She was once summoned to the court. Declined the position. Said she preferred saving lives to serving politics."

"She always said nobles never paid in coin, only in curses."

The prince leaned forward, voice dropping. "Then why did her daughter walk willingly into the viper's nest?"

Meiyun met his gaze. "I didn't. You were dragged in my arms. I just refused to let you die."

Another silence passed. Then, unexpectedly, he bowed his head.

"Then I owe you a debt."

She stood slowly, bowing with the barest courtesy. "Then pay it by telling me who in this palace wants you dead. Because if they failed once, they'll try again."

Wei Lian watched her go, thoughtful.

As the door closed behind her, he murmured, "They already have."