The Moon Palace was silent.
Not the peaceful silence of celestial balance—but the silence of withheld breath, of unease trembling beneath marble and moonlight.
No attendants dared approach the Sanctum of Reflection. No priestess chanted prayers. No guardian knocked. For three days, the Moon Goddess had sealed herself away, and even the stars seemed hesitant to peer inside.
Lunar runes flickered across the walls, their usual steady glow dimming and surging like a heartbeat out of rhythm. The palace held its breath with her.
Ye Yue sat before the Mirror of Aeons, its ancient surface rippling with silver mist. Her divine reflection hovered above the polished basin, but she would not meet its gaze.
She couldn't.
The Mirror did not lie.
And what it showed her now… was something she had never been trained to face.
The Goddess Who Didn't Love
Love was a story for mortals.
A temptation. A trap. A divine mistake.
That was the lesson instilled into her bones by the Divine Matrons:"We do not love mortals. We guide them. We test them. We bless them. And then—we let them go."
Ye Yue had lived by that truth for eons. She had watched kingdoms rise and fall under her moonlight. She had witnessed men beg for her favor, women curse her name, temples crumble and rebuild.
And none of it touched her.
Until him.
Until Chen Ming.
The mortal who defied the heavens with laughter in his eyes.
The boy with flame in his veins, mischief in his smile, and hands that had dared to hold her.
He didn't kneel.He didn't beg.
He touched her not as a goddess to be worshipped… but as a woman to be wanted.
And the worst part?
She let him.
She wanted him.
The First Cracks
She remembered their first union beneath the silvery veil of moonlight. The way his heat invaded her, not just physically, but spiritually. The trembling in her core—not from weakness, but surrender.
A surrender she had never imagined she could give.
She remembered how he looked at her afterward—not with reverence, but with warmth. Not like a devotee.
Like a partner.
Like a lover.
"Why does it matter so much now?" she whispered, voice thin as mist. "Why do I… need him?"
The Mirror flickered.
Images surged forth.
Chen laughing with Lanmei.Their lips brushing, her hand on his chest.A quiet moment—too intimate, too easy.Lanmei's smile as she rested her head against him.
Crack.
A jagged fracture sliced through the mirror's surface, webbing outward like a spider's kiss.
Ye Yue flinched, her breath sharp. Her divine aura flared—and faltered.
"No," she whispered. "No. He's mine."
Her hands curled into fists, nails digging into her palms until silver blood bloomed.
"He came to me. His flame was born inside me."
"She's just a mortal—"
The words caught in her throat.
Just like he was.
The Whisper Returns
The temperature dropped.
Moonlight dimmed.
And from the edge of her senses, a voice coiled into her thoughts—velvet-soft, venom-slick.
Serakha.
"You thought he'd stay yours forever, Moonlight?""Even you—a goddess—cannot bind the sun."
Her knees hit the floor, divine grace breaking with them.
"You felt it, didn't you? His power rising beyond you. Stronger than you imagined. Stronger than the leash you wove in silk and sighs."
"He wouldn't abandon me," Ye Yue murmured, but the words cracked like glass. "He… he needs me—"
"No, little moon. You need him. That's the difference."
Lightning seared across the sanctum ceiling. Marble split down the walls. Sacred runes shattered.
And from her eyes—eyes that had witnessed centuries of prayers and stars—tears fell.
Real ones.
The kind mortals weep when something precious slips beyond reach.
"What's happening to me…?" she whispered, shaking.
Divine Emotion: Forbidden, But Real
Her trembling fingers reached for the moonstone that hung near her heart. The one Chen Ming had touched. The one that still pulsed with his energy. It beat in time with his Flame Core—tethered by a thread she could no longer pretend was one-way.
She pressed it to her chest, as if trying to hold in the unraveling.
"I don't want to be a goddess," she confessed to the shadows.
"I want to be his."
And just like that, her divine glow dimmed.
Not by force.
By choice.
Her pride fractured.
Her defenses fell.
And in that moment, Ye Yue became what the heavens feared most…
A goddess who felt.
[System Alert]🌙 Moon Resonance DetectedEmotional Instability in Ye Yue: 83%Divine Possessiveness Awakening
Trait Unlocked: Lunar ObsessionYe Yue will do anything to remain the sole goddess in Chen Ming's heart.