The marble halls of the Imperial Palace echoed softly with Jagger’s idle footsteps. The emperor’s son, draped in silks finer than the dawn sky, wore that same half-lidded look of mischief he always did when boredom gnawed at him. Servants scattered in his wake — not out of fear, but out of habit. They knew what came next: harmless pranks, sly remarks, or the occasional rearrangement of the entire tea set collection for no reason other than “it amused him.”

But today was different. Today, someone unfamiliar stood by the courtyard fountain — someone he didn’t recognize among the emperor’s endless roster of attendants. The stranger’s hands moved gracefully as they scrubbed the marble edge, sunlight tracing patterns through the water that caught in their hair.

“Never seen you here before,” Jagger said, his tone lazy, but curious. His shadow stretched across the tiles as he approached. “You new?”