Chapter One: Here Are My Tears
"Under the same moonlight, in two different worlds… one heart was breaking, and another was awakening."
The Pavilion of Moonlight
The candle beside the desk had burned low, its flickering flame casting trembling shadows on the screen behind her. Yunxi's fingers hovered over her keyboard, the glowing screen in front of her still showed the last line she had typed: "And he never turned back…" but she couldn't complete the story.
Tears blurred her vision. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry for love anymore, not after everything she'd been through. But tonight… the loneliness cracked her chest open again. Her first love had been quiet and deep, like a song only she could hear. But he had chosen someone else — and left her behind without a word.
She had healed slowly, with the comfort of C-dramas, K-pop playlists, and the fantasy worlds she wrote in secret. One night, she was writing about a cold-hearted prince — the kind her heart still longed for — when sleep stole her away, her face resting against tear-streaked arms on the desk.
And then… silence.
No buzzing street noise. No computer screen. No dorm room.
When she opened her eyes, the scent of jasmine filled the air. Her clothes were unfamiliar — layers of silk, light as air, yet warm against her skin. Her long hair fell over her shoulder like a ribbon of ink. She ran to the mirror, heart pounding, and gasped. The reflection was not the university girl she knew… it was someone out of a historical drama.
She had time-travelled.
The Song Beneath the Stars
That night, she found herself drawn to a lonely pavilion draped in white silk and lit by moonlight. The maidservants called it the Moonlight Pavilion, a place where noble ladies composed poetry or played the guqin. But tonight, no one was there — just Yunxi, the weight of a thousand unspoken words pressing on her chest.
A crystal piano sat at the heart of the pavilion. Strange, she thought. It looked like a relic from her world, not this one. As if it had been waiting for her.
She sat.
Closed her eyes.
And let her heart speak.
Here are my tears,
Knowing that it is for yours,
Under moonlight,
Singing what I felt...
Each note spilled her sorrow, her longing, her memories of betrayal. The sound echoed across the still gardens, pure and haunting.
The Assassin Prince
At the palace's training ground, hidden beneath the old willow trees, Prince Chen's blade was dancing through the air. His movements were precise, lethal, emotionless — just like him. He was feared by all, whispered about as the king's hidden weapon. A prince by blood, an assassin by command.
His sword glowed faintly with the suppressed power sealed deep within him — a magic that once erupted with terrifying force and had been locked away since childhood.
Until now.
A sound reached him.
He froze.
A song?
His eyes narrowed. No one was allowed near the palace at this hour. And no one… sang like that. The voice was sorrowful, aching — too pure to belong in his world.
His chest tightened. His blade faltered. For the first time in years, his breath caught.
The seal inside him pulsed.
Cracked.
A warm current surged through his veins, melting the frost he had built around his soul. His power stirred wildly, like wind against fire.
And yet…
It didn't rage.
It quieted.
It listened.
Something Begins
Yunxi's song faded into the night air. She wiped her tears, not knowing her voice had reached someone — changed someone.
Prince Chen stood alone under the moonlight
Eyes wide.
Heart racing.
For the first time in years… he felt something.
And far away, under the same sky, Yunxi whispered to herself:
"Somewhere out there… you're listening, aren't you?"
[Yunxi's Room – Same Time]
Yunxi sits at her desk, the moonlight falling over her unfinished story on the scroll before her.
She touches the words she once dreamed of writing — about a cold prince who hides a warm heart, and a girl from another world who teaches him to feel.
"Will I meet him?" she wonders softly.
"My dream prince…"
She doesn't know the real prince has already passed her. Has already noticed her. Has already felt something shift.
But in this world, he's not her dream.
He's the shadow everyone fears.
And yet…
Yunxi smiles faintly and closes her eyes.
"I hope… he finds me before I fall again."
Yunxi sat alone in the Moonlight Pavilion, her fingers gently brushing across the piano keys. The soft, lilting sound filled the air, floating like a whispered secret to the stars above.
The piano was ancient, its wood gleaming faintly under the pale moonlight. Yet the melody she played was anything but old. It was a tune she had written in the quiet moments of her soul, one she had never played before, as if it had been waiting to be born in this moment.
The song... came to me. Like a dream. She closed her eyes as her fingers danced over the keys.
The music began slow and haunting — a melody of longing, soft but aching with the weight of unspoken words. It flowed like a river, gentle yet filled with unspoken sorrow. It felt as though the song was speaking for her, telling the story of a heart that longed for something it could not touch, of a love that might never be returned.
Interrupted Fate and A New Path
Setting: The Moonlight Pavilion and the palace grounds, just before dawn.
Yunxi was lost in the music, her fingers lightly tracing over the piano keys, the soft melody filling the air. It was the only way she could express the emotions she didn't yet understand — a yearning for something she couldn't name.
But suddenly, the sweet sound was broken by a familiar voice, calling out from the courtyard.
Princess Roa's voice, full of warmth and authority, carried on the wind.
"Chen! Chen! Where are you? You've been training for hours!"
Yunxi paused, surprised. She hadn't heard Prince Chen's name spoken aloud yet, but the way Roa called him with both affection and frustration was telling.
Yunxi turned toward the sound of her voice, watching as the Princess appeared at the edge of the courtyard, looking for her brother. There was a soft chuckle in Roa's tone as she called again.
"Chen, you can't avoid the world forever."
Yunxi looked back at the pavilion, her fingers slowly stilling over the keys. The soft glow of the lanterns still bathed the night, but something about the name Chen made her heart stir in a way she didn't quite understand.