They say gods do not weep. But he did.

In the heart of the Celestial Realm, beneath silver skies and crimson moonlight, he held her broken body in his arms—her white robes stained with blood, her nine golden tails dimming with every breath.

“Who did this?” he had whispered, voice shaking for the first time in centuries.

But her lips trembled with more than pain. Her gaze—those eyes that once held mischief and moonlight—now shimmered only with betrayal.

“I trusted you,” she murmured.
And then... she was gone.

That night, thunder cracked across the heavens. But no justice followed.

The Moon Goddess watched from her palace, veil unshaken.
The Celestial Court declared it fate.

The Fox Clan mourned their Lady in silence, retreating deep into the realm of spirits. They never found her body.

And the War God—once proud heir to the Celestial Throne—locked his heart behind walls no one could breach.

He never stopped searching for the soul who once called him beloved.

A thousand years passed.
The realms forgot. But he never did.

Now, a servant girl enters his palace—eyes like wildfire, voice like a memory.

Something stirs.

And fate, it seems, is not finished with them yet.

The moonlight spilled over the cliffs like silk, and Qing Yue stood at the edge of the sacred spring, her silver hair fluttering in the breeze, nine radiant tails swaying softly behind her.


"Xuan Yue," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Tell me you didn't…"


Behind her, the War God descended slowly, the hems of his divine robes brushing the stone. His face was carved in silence, too calm—too unreadable.


"Why did you kill them?" she asked again, turning to face him, pain surging in her luminous golden eyes. "My clan… my people…"


"I didn't," he said simply. "I would never."


But the proof was behind her. Flames. Ashes. Screams.


And in her hand—the pendant he once gave her—shattered.


She shook her head, tears brimming. "You lied to me."


"I didn't," he repeated, stepping forward. "You have to trust—"


She slapped his hand away, voice breaking.


"No! I trusted you already! I gave you my soul, Xuan Yue! And now—now I don't even know if you were ever truly mine."


Li Hua stood outside the balcony of her servant quarters, staring at the stars. The same stars he used to trace for her… long ago.


Inside, Jin Xuan Yue stood near the inner garden, hidden in shadow. He hadn't meant to follow her.


From afar, he could see the glint of moonlight on her hair. The way her fingers moved—slowly, carefully—as if drawing invisible sigils in the air. Sigils only the former High Priestess of the Fox Clan knew.


> That fragrance… lotus and moonflower. Only she ever wore that.


Li Hua's shoulders tensed—but she didn't turn.


"I thought you were asleep," she murmured.


He frowned. "How did you know I was there?"


He watched her a moment longer. "What's your real name?"


Li Hua smiled faintly, eyes still on the sky. "Does it matter, my Lord?"


Chapter 4 - Parallel Scene: Then and Now — The Fragrance of Memory