Years ago, my father predicted the fate of four individuals.

  Corwin had perished, Crown Prince Alaric was imprisoned, and Duke Rowan had sided with me—leaving only Elias. Each of them carried the destiny of a ruler.

  I stood atop the city walls, gazing out over the vast imperial capital. It was as if I had returned to that night when my father gathered the three of us sisters.

  "If a fate-weaver seeks to alter the destiny of another, they must be close to their subject—intimately intertwined with their lives. You must marry three of them, use your arts in accordance with their hearts, and shift the tides of fate."

  Spring Myles frowned. "Father, but that means one of them will be left out?"

  "Then we shall place our final wager on chance," he replied.

  And indeed, fate unfolded just as my father had foretold. Four men. We had married three of them. Now, only one remained.

  That night, after my sisters left, my father kept me behind and told me much more.

  His voice still echoed in my mind: "Autumn, Spring is gentle but fragile. Summer is stubborn and easily broken. Only you…"

  He stood under the moonlit corridor, his long robes billowing in the breeze. "This gamble rests upon you. Your fate is that of the 'Seven Killings Star.' Should you remain by a man's side long enough, without either of you realizing it, you will claim his destiny as your own."

  The 'Seven Killings Star' was destined to dominate.

  Now, the banners rustled in the wind. Elias's army was approaching the city.

  Liam had carried out my orders, quietly moving key figures out of the capital. Within the palace, preparations for the enthronement ceremony were underway. The emperor’s robes and the empress’s ceremonial attire were being embroidered day and night without pause.

  To pacify Elias, I had assured him that the moment he returned to the capital, he would ascend the throne. I had even shown him the embroidered samples of his future regalia. But I suspected he had never truly cared to look at them.

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  Winter Myles, however, remained restless.

  A palace maid who served her came to report, presenting a stack of copied letters. Only then did I learn that Winter had intercepted my correspondence with Elias and had even attempted to reach out to him herself.

  I set the letters aside, my fingers tapping lightly against the lacquered table. "You have served in the palace long enough. Tell me—who is the father of the child that belonged to Lady Myles?"

  They recounted in precise detail everything that Winter had done since entering the palace.

  "The Late Emperor treated Lady Myles with the utmost kindness, but it was the love of an elder for a cherished niece. If there were romantic affections, they existed only in the rumors of idle gossipers."

  I frowned slightly. I knew—her child did not belong to the Late Emperor.

  That night, Winter suffered a miscarriage.

  I ordered the imperial physicians to tend to her with utmost care, yet she still cursed me, swearing that I had caused her child's death.

  She was hysterical, driving the servants away in a fit of rage.

  That night, I could not sleep.

  While wandering the palace, I noticed the faint glow of candlelight flickering from Tranquil Hall. I approached and pushed open the doors, only to find Winter standing before a bronze mirror.

  She had dressed herself in the ceremonial robes of the Empress, yet the attire was too large for her frail frame. The sleeves hung past her hands, the hem pooling on the floor, making it difficult for her to move.

  "Did you lose the child yourself?" I asked coldly. "Just to chase after this ridiculous dream?"

  Winter whirled around. The golden phoenix hairpin adorning her hair trembled with the motion, producing a clear chime.

  "Autumn, have you forgotten?" Her voice was breathless, almost delirious. "The Late Emperor betrothed me to Elias! I am his rightful wife! I am the future Empress!"

  She was lost in a dream of her own making, her gaze unfocused as she turned toward the half-opened window. "Fortunate, so fortunate that I helped you that night. I helped him, too! He must give me a place at his side!"

  So it had been her.

  She was the one who opened the palace window for me each night.

  Had Crown Prince Alaric known this before, he would not have trusted her, only to be betrayed in the end.

  "Winter," I sighed, "go to sleep. Stop this madness."

  She lifted her chin, her eyes flashing with resentment. "Autumn Myles, I despise your indifference! That day, when all four of us were imprisoned, you told me I would be fine. And what happened? You merely uttered a few words, and the Late Emperor nearly executed me on the spot!"

  I looked at her calmly, my voice steady. "That day, in the dungeon, if I had said the Emperor would kill you, he would not have done so. But if our arts had been exposed as fraudulent, none of us would have survived."

  Winter let out a cold laugh. "So I was destined to suffer that calamity? If that's the case, then I saved your entire family that day. The Myles family owes me a life debt!"

  I met her gaze steadily. "Winter, we have known each other for ten years. I have never wronged you. Are we standing here today simply because of one sentence spoken in a prison cell?"