Nan Jihan was notified as soon as Jun Huang arrived at the palace. He quickly dealt with the business at hand in order to make time for her. After half an hour, however, Jun Huang still hadn’t shown up. He wondered what had happened. Had Jun Huang got lost?

He was going to ask the servants, but as soon as he stepped out of the palace, he saw his personal eunuch talking to a young eunuch. He was a little too far from them to hear their conversation clearly, but the young eunuch’s expression was a clear enough indicator that something was wrong.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded.

Both men jumped. The older eunuch looked guilty. Nan Jihan frowned and asked again, but the eunuch stammered and didn’t give him an answer. He scowled.

The older eunuch weighed his options and tried to buy himself time. Too many conflicting forces were at play for him to make a decision readily.

Nan Jihan had never been...