Chapter 1

The nostalgic scent of incense and the sound of bells, the tower and courtyard of my childhood.

The figure that silently supported me, the two of us hugging under the starry sky, the unease and loneliness dissipating, all the familiar things still lingering at my fingertips, the incredibly sweet emotions surging and filling my body.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes.

Purple curtains.

The imperial bedroom, morning.

Alone.

Beijing.

—It was just a dream. I got up from the dragon bed.

In just a moment, those warm feelings vanished, abruptly disappearing, and almost instinctively, tears began to fall in the smoke.

In the morning, I woke up for no reason, tears streaming down my face, a sad dream that I couldn't remember.

I stared at the gaunt face in the bronze mirror, the tear marks still lingering, now dried.

I gave up trying to recall and left the purple chamber, washing my face with warm water under the eunuchs' attendance.

For some reason, a sense of unease filled my heart.

I gave up thinking and left the imperial bedroom.

I opened the door of the purple chamber.

I pushed open the door of the Qianqing Palace, and before my eyes,

Finally familiar with the scenery of Beijing, I could remember the names of those palaces, just as I remembered the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus Strait.

I passed through the Taihe Gate, looking at the ministers who were already waiting there.

Silk-like white clouds flowed in the clear winter sky.

I

I

Tried to see someone, the only one, in the clouds.

Chapter 1

Unfamiliar bells.

The only sensation in my sleep. I was tired and wanted to keep sleeping. I had been working on the memorials until the sky turned light.

"Yujian..."

Someone was calling my name.

"Zhu Yujian..."

A voice with a sob, like the chirping of crickets beyond the palace walls, distant but real.

"You, don't you remember...?"

The voice asked me anxiously, but I didn't know you.

Suddenly, Wei Zhongxian, who was attending me, coughed lightly. Yes, it was the time for the imperial audience.

I put down the "Examination of the Envoys from the Fulin Kingdom in the Jingtai Era" that I had been reading for days, and a parchment with foreign script slipped out, containing a blue-green stone. I instinctively reached out and grabbed the sky-colored object.

In an instant, the remnants of the dream dissolved.

Only a faint name remained, fading before my eyes.

The name was, Constance?

An unfamiliar name, an unfamiliar person. The strange script of the Great Qin Empire was like a farewell letter, but I couldn't understand it.

But it was just a dream, right? When I regained my senses, the parchment was gone.

However, I still felt something was wrong. My chest felt unusually heavy, and I was sweating all over.

Did I catch a cold?

I once canceled the morning court due to a slight illness and was criticized by the ministers. That shouldn't happen, after all, the body is the capital of the court.

I looked at my body, where there was a prominent bulge.

That was the bulge of the chest.

"??????"

The plump white flesh reflected the morning light, smooth and lustrous. Between the two peaks, a deep crevice was as dark as a deep lake.

I instinctively placed my hand on it, as naturally as picking a peach from a tree.

...

...

...

...

Ah

I was thoroughly moved. It was a feeling I had never experienced with Empress Zhou. She was gentle and beautiful, but frail since childhood, with a slender figure, lacking this kind of sensation. These hills were really...

How to describe it, this figure was truly impressive.

"Sister, what are you doing?"

The voice came from a girl standing there, her only comment on what she saw me doing.

"You don't know, this is the first time I've touched a girl's chest without a eunuch watching and recording it."

Looking at the girl again, she seemed to be under eighteen, with long golden hair tied with a silk scarf, full of youthful energy.

"Sister?"

Sister? I pointed to myself and asked the child. Was she my imperial sister?

What nonsense, where did I get a sister... Moreover, this sister seemed to be a foreigner.

"Come and eat! Hurry up!"

With a slam, my sister angrily closed the door. What a temper, completely lacking the proper upbringing of the imperial family! I thought this as I was urged by hunger to get out of bed.

Suddenly, I caught sight of the dressing table opposite the bedroom and quickly ran to the mirror. My half-naked body shone in the imported Venetian silver mirror.

Golden hair flowed like a stream, a few strands proudly standing up due to my sleeping position. A small face was hidden behind the bangs, with blue eyes reflecting the color of the sea. My gaze moved down from the slender neck, where a gold cross was sliding down my collarbone.

Further down, a plump body, with the faint outline of ribs, and a slender waist disappearing at the bottom of the mirror.

This was, the body of a foreign woman.

I had become a foreign woman?

The shock made my drowsiness vanish like the wind, and I couldn't help but shout loudly.

————————————

I cautiously entered the dining room, and Anna's voice was already clearly audible.

"The Basileia of the Eastern Roman Empire, the most devout Augusta, Empress Constance XI, you are late again."

Anna's tone lacked any respect for the imperial Basileia, using the long title sarcastically.

I clasped my hands and hurriedly apologized: "Sorry, sorry..."

My apology was insincere as I eagerly forked a thousand-layer pie and roasted fish into my mouth, washing it down with red wine, and my body, which had been empty all night, slowly regained its strength.

"Cough... Today, it doesn't seem like you're possessed by a demon."

"Eh?"

It was Patriarch Joseph II, who was enjoying his post-meal red wine while staring at me.

My sister Anna laughed at me: "You were quite a spectacle yesterday, suddenly shouting and acting like you were insane."

Insane? I looked at the Patriarch, and both of us were looking at me as if I were a heretical iconoclast.

"Clang..."

"Clang..."

That was the bell of the Hagia Sophia.

I glanced at Joseph II, who should be leading the morning prayers in the cathedral.

As if knowing my question, the Patriarch, who was over sixty, said solemnly: "Prayers won't save the Romans."

A eunuch entered, bowed to me, and placed an unsigned wax-sealed letter on my side, the seal bearing the emblem of the caduceus.

This was a communication letter among the members of the Hermes Order.

It wasn't the scheduled day for communication, so this letter was not ordinary.

I discreetly glanced at the Patriarch, cleverly blocking his view with the table, and quietly unfolded the letter.

"The comet that visits every 1200 years will arrive in one month. At that time, the comet will be visible to the naked eye for several days, and various societies have already made preparations for observation."

Below the text, a copy of an astrological illustration showed a comet named Tiamat crossing the star chart.

Not good, those days are Mercury retrograde...