THE EMPEROR OF TIME

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: THE PRINCESS IN DISGUISE

The emperor was dead.

Yet the entire city of Chang’an seemed afraid to acknowledge it.

Chen Tianyu stood before the enormous imperial gates, holding the sealed succession order in his trembling hands. Around him, soldiers knelt in silence while servants hurried between the towers, carrying messages that nobody dared to read aloud.

The bronze bell continued ringing.

Each strike announced the death of an emperor.

Each strike brought the empire closer to war.

And each strike reminded Tianyu that he had become part of a history that no longer followed the rules he remembered.

“Lord Chen.”

The elderly official in crimson silk bowed again.

“We must enter the palace immediately.”

Tianyu stared at him.

“Why does the emperor want me on the throne?”

The official’s expression tightened.

“His Majesty is dead, my lord.”

“That does not answer my question.”

“It is not my place to question an imperial decree.”

“Then whose place is it?”

The official looked around nervously.

“Your Highness, please. There are ears everywhere.”

Tianyu almost laughed.

Only a few days earlier, he had been a historian sitting in a modern office, drinking cold coffee and studying archaeological photographs.

Now an ancient Chinese official was calling him a prince, an army was kneeling before him, and the emperor had apparently died after naming him as his successor.

It was absurd.

It was terrifying.

And it was beginning to feel deliberate.

Tianyu looked at General Zhao Wuchen.

“Do you believe this?”

Zhao’s expression remained unreadable.

“I believe the emperor is dead. I believe someone wants you inside the palace. As for the throne, I believe we should discover who benefits from your coronation before deciding whether to accept it.”

“That is the most sensible thing anyone has said since I arrived.”

“I am pleased to have met your expectations.”

Zhao turned toward his soldiers.

“Nobody leaves the formation. Nobody speaks to strangers. If anyone attempts to separate us, consider it an act of treason.”

His men answered in unison.

“Yes, Commander!”

Princess Li Xueyan approached Tianyu’s horse.

She had changed into a dark red riding robe, but her face remained hidden beneath a thin veil.

“Whatever happens inside the palace,” she whispered, “do not trust the succession order.”

Tianyu lowered his voice.

“You think it is a trap?”

“I know it is a trap.”

“Then why are we going inside?”

“Because if we refuse, they will declare us enemies of the emperor.”

She glanced toward the palace towers.

“And because I need to discover who killed my father.”

Tianyu turned toward her.

“Your father is dead?”

Xueyan looked at him sharply.

“You really know nothing, do you?”

“Apparently not.”

For a moment, something like sadness crossed her eyes.

Then she straightened.

“My father was the previous emperor’s elder brother. He disappeared twelve years ago. The court announced that he had died during a military expedition, but his body was never recovered.”

Tianyu remembered the historical records.

The imperial family of the Sui Dynasty had been torn apart by rivalries, suspicion, and political violence.

But no record mentioned a missing royal prince connected to a woman named Li Xueyan.

“What does that have to do with me?” he asked.

She leaned closer.

“Three months ago, I discovered a document in my father’s private library. It described a man who would arrive from another age and take the Dragon Throne.”

Tianyu’s stomach tightened.

“The prophecy.”

She nodded.

“It named you.”

“How?”

“Your face. Your name. The date of your arrival. Everything.”

He stared at her.

“Then why were you investigating me?”

Xueyan hesitated.

“Because the document contained another instruction.”

“What instruction?”

Her voice became barely audible.

“I was ordered to kill you before you reached Chang’an.”

For several seconds, Tianyu said nothing.

Then he looked at her sword.

“You have been traveling with me for days.”

“Yes.”

“And you have had several opportunities to kill me.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Xueyan looked away.

“Because I wanted to discover whether the prophecy was true.”

“And now?”

She met his eyes.

“Now I think the prophecy is only telling us part of the truth.”

Before Tianyu could ask what she meant, the official in crimson silk approached them again.

“Your Highness, the imperial family is waiting.”

Xueyan lowered her veil.

The expression on her face changed instantly.

The suspicious woman who had fought beside Tianyu disappeared.

In her place stood a quiet noblewoman whose eyes revealed nothing.

Tianyu realized that he was not the only person hiding a secret.

Princess Li Xueyan had been living a lie long before he arrived.

And whatever she was searching for, it was powerful enough to make her defy an imperial command.

“Let us go,” she said.

Together, they entered the palace.

The imperial palace of Chang’an was more magnificent than anything Tianyu had imagined.

Golden roofs rose above vast courtyards. Red pillars supported intricately carved balconies, while stone dragons guarded the entrances to buildings decorated with elaborate paintings.

Thousands of servants moved through the corridors, but their voices remained subdued.

The emperor’s death had transformed the palace into a place of fear.

Tianyu noticed armed guards stationed at every intersection.

Some wore the insignia of the imperial household.

Others carried unfamiliar black badges beneath their armor.

He had seen those badges before.

They belonged to the secret police of the imperial court.

In the history Tianyu remembered, secret intelligence networks had played an important role in maintaining imperial authority.

But the presence of so many agents suggested that someone was preparing for a violent struggle over succession.

“Do not look at the guards for too long,” Xueyan whispered.

“Why?”

“They are watching you.”

“Everyone is watching me.”

“Then you should learn to look as though you do not notice.”

Tianyu forced himself to relax.

They crossed a courtyard and entered a long hall lined with portraits of former emperors.

At the far end stood a pair of enormous doors.

The official in crimson silk stopped before them.

“Beyond these doors lies the Hall of Eternal Peace. The imperial family has assembled to hear His Majesty’s final decree.”

He looked directly at Tianyu.

“Once you enter, you must kneel before the throne.”

“What if I refuse?”

The official’s expression became grave.

“Then you may not leave the hall alive.”

Tianyu sighed.

“Of course.”

The doors opened.

Inside, dozens of nobles stood in formal robes.

At the center of the hall sat an empty golden throne.

Beneath it lay a coffin covered in yellow silk.

The emperor’s body.

Tianyu felt an unexpected wave of sadness.

He had never met the man.

He had never even known that the emperor would die on the day of his arrival.

Yet the death of a ruler had thrown thousands of lives into uncertainty.

A man with a long grey beard stepped forward.

His robes were embroidered with silver clouds, and a jade seal hung from his belt.

“Who is this stranger?” he demanded.

The official bowed.

“Lord Chancellor Wei, this is Chen Tianyu, the man named in His Majesty’s final decree.”

Wei’s eyes narrowed.

“This beggar?”

Tianyu looked down at his borrowed clothes.

“They were not my first choice.”

A few nobles exchanged startled glances.

The chancellor did not smile.

“This is a sacred imperial hall. You will show respect.”

“I would be delighted to show respect if someone would explain why I am here.”

A murmur spread through the hall.

Chancellor Wei stepped closer.

“You are here because the dead emperor has named you as his successor.”

“Then I would like to see the evidence.”

The chancellor’s face darkened.

“Do you dare question an imperial decree?”

“I dare question anything that could get me killed.”

Silence descended.

Then an elderly woman sitting beside the coffin began to laugh.

Her laughter was soft, but everyone in the hall immediately lowered their heads.

She wore a magnificent golden robe, and a crown of pearls rested above her silver hair.

The empress dowager.

The mother of the dead emperor.

She studied Tianyu with eyes that seemed capable of seeing through stone.

“At last,” she said.

Tianyu turned toward her.

“At last, what?”

The empress dowager rose slowly.

“The boy who was promised to Heaven has arrived.”

She descended from the raised platform.

The nobles stepped aside.

When she reached Tianyu, she lifted his chin with two fingers.

For a moment, she seemed to be examining his face.

Then her expression changed.

She stepped backward.

“No.”

The word escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Tianyu frowned.

“What is wrong?”

The empress dowager stared at him.

“You have his face.”

“Whose face?”

She did not answer.

Instead, she turned toward the chancellor.

“Who brought this man into the palace?”

“General Zhao Wuchen, Your Majesty.”

“Bring him forward.”

Zhao stepped out from the assembled guards and bowed.

The empress dowager studied him.

“Did you examine the stranger?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Did you search him?”

Zhao hesitated.

“We found no weapons.”

“That was not my question.”

The entire hall seemed to hold its breath.

Tianyu felt the pendant beneath his robe grow warm.

The empress dowager’s eyes moved toward his chest.

Then she whispered something that only he could hear.

“Does he know what he is carrying?”

Tianyu froze.

Before he could answer, the empress dowager straightened.

“Search him!”

Four guards rushed forward.

Zhao immediately drew his sword.

“Nobody touches him.”

The guards stopped.

Chancellor Wei stared at the general.

“Have you lost your mind, Zhao Wuchen?”

Zhao’s voice remained calm.

“The stranger is under my protection until his identity is established.”

“You dare challenge the imperial court?”

“I dare prevent an injustice.”

The chancellor raised his hand.

“Arrest him!”

Half the guards moved toward Zhao.

The other half remained motionless.

For one dangerous moment, the imperial hall divided into two opposing forces.

Then the empress dowager struck the floor with her golden staff.

“Enough!”

Every guard knelt.

She looked at Tianyu.

“The decree will be read.”

An official stepped forward carrying a scroll.

He broke the seal.

Then he began reading.

“By the final command of His Imperial Majesty, the man known as Chen Tianyu shall be granted the title of Prince of the Hidden Dragon. He shall be brought before the imperial ancestral temple, where his lineage shall be examined and his right to the throne determined.”

Tianyu frowned.

“His lineage?”

The official continued.

“Until the investigation is complete, Chen Tianyu shall remain within the imperial palace under the protection of the empress dowager.”

The scroll ended with the emperor’s seal.

Tianyu slowly exhaled.

He was not being crowned.

Not yet.

Someone wanted to examine his bloodline.

But why?

He was a modern historian.

His parents had been ordinary Chinese citizens.

There was no royal ancestry in his family records.

Unless his father had hidden something.

The thought made his stomach tighten.

The empress dowager turned toward him.

“You will remain in the Eastern Palace tonight.”

“May I ask a question?”

“You may.”

“Why does everyone in this palace seem to know me?”

The empress dowager looked at him for a long time.

Then she answered.

“Because, Chen Tianyu, your arrival was recorded before the founding of our empire.”

Tianyu felt the floor shift beneath him.

“That is impossible.”

“Many things are impossible until they happen.”

She turned away.

“Take him to his quarters.”

As the guards escorted Tianyu from the hall, he looked back at the golden throne.

For a moment, he thought he saw someone standing behind the curtain.

A man wearing black imperial robes.

A man with his face.

Then the curtain moved, and the figure vanished.

The Eastern Palace was quiet.

Tianyu had been given a private chamber with a wooden bed, silk curtains, a writing desk, and a brazier burning beside the window.

Two guards stood outside the door.

A third waited at the end of the corridor.

The arrangement was supposed to make him feel protected.

Instead, it made him feel imprisoned.

He sat at the desk and examined the succession order.

The scroll was genuine.

The imperial seal was authentic.

But one detail troubled him.

The handwriting changed halfway through the document.

The first section was written in the formal style used by imperial scribes.

The final paragraph contained a strange symbol.

Nine intersecting lines surrounding a circle.

The mark on his pendant.

Tianyu leaned closer.

Beneath the symbol was a sentence written in modern Chinese.

THE BLOOD REMEMBERS WHAT THE MIND FORGETS.

He dropped the scroll.

“Who are you people?” he whispered.

A soft knock came from the door.

Tianyu immediately stood.

“Who is it?”

“Someone who would prefer not to be seen.”

The voice was female.

He opened the door a fraction.

Princess Li Xueyan slipped inside.

She had removed her veil and changed into a simple pale-blue robe.

Without her disguise, she looked younger than Tianyu had expected.

But her eyes remained sharp.

“You should not be here,” he whispered.

“Neither should you.”

She closed the door and examined the room.

“How many guards?”

“Three outside.”

“Good. We have approximately five minutes.”

“Five minutes for what?”

She removed a small key from her sleeve.

“To discover whether the emperor really died of natural causes.”

Tianyu stared at her.

“You want to investigate the emperor’s death?”

“I want to investigate everything connected to your arrival.”

She placed the key on the desk.

“This opens the western archive.”

“The forbidden library?”

Her expression changed.

“How do you know about that?”

Tianyu cursed silently.

He was beginning to realize that his knowledge of history was a dangerous liability.

“I guessed.”

Xueyan studied him.

“You are a terrible liar.”

“So I’ve been told.”

She approached the window.

“Three nights ago, someone entered the forbidden library and removed an ancient record. The record contained the names of every person who had been connected to the prophecy over the past three hundred years.”

“And?”

“Yesterday, the palace astrologer was found dead.”

Tianyu felt a chill.

“How was he killed?”

“His heart stopped. There were no wounds, no signs of poison, and no evidence that anyone had entered his chambers.”

“That could have been a natural death.”

“Perhaps.”

She turned toward him.

“But the same symbol found on your pendant was burned into the floor beside his body.”

Tianyu slowly reached for the pendant.

Xueyan noticed.

“You have it with you.”

He hesitated.

Then he pulled the jade pendant from beneath his robe.

Its surface glowed faintly in the dim room.

Xueyan stepped closer.

For several seconds, she stared at it without speaking.

Then she reached into her sleeve and produced another pendant.

It was identical.

The same coiled dragon.

The same black eyes.

The same nine intersecting lines.

Tianyu looked from one pendant to the other.

“Where did you get that?”

“My father gave it to me before he disappeared.”

“Your father had one?”

“Yes.”

She held it beside his.

The two pendants began vibrating.

A thin blue light spread across the desk.

The symbols on their surfaces changed.

For the first time, Tianyu could read the inscription without difficulty.

THE FIRST KEY OPENS THE PAST.

THE SECOND KEY OPENS THE FUTURE.

Below the words appeared a third line.

THE THIRD KEY MUST NEVER BE FOUND.

Xueyan’s face turned pale.

“There is another one.”

Tianyu nodded slowly.

“And someone is looking for it.”

Before either could speak again, the candle flames went out.

The room plunged into darkness.

A heavy thud sounded in the corridor.

Then another.

Tianyu rushed to the door and pulled it open.

The guards lay unconscious on the floor.

A shadow moved at the far end of the corridor.

“Stop!” Tianyu shouted.

The figure ran.

Xueyan drew her sword.

“Stay here!”

She raced after the intruder.

Tianyu followed.

They reached the western staircase just as the figure disappeared through a narrow door.

Xueyan forced it open.

Beyond lay a long corridor leading to a building Tianyu had not yet seen.

The forbidden library.

The library was older than the rest of the palace.

Its walls were made from dark stone, and its doors were reinforced with bronze plates. Ancient inscriptions covered the entrance, warning that unauthorized entry was punishable by death.

The door stood open.

Tianyu and Xueyan exchanged glances.

“Someone wants us to follow,” Tianyu whispered.

“Then we should be careful.”

They entered.

Inside, thousands of scrolls rested on wooden shelves. Stone tablets filled the lower chambers, and bronze lamps illuminated a central table covered with archaeological artifacts.

At the far end of the room stood a circular doorway.

Tianyu stopped.

It was identical to the one in his dreams.

Nine symbols surrounded its frame.

The same symbols appeared on the jade pendant.

Before he could approach it, Xueyan grabbed his arm.

“Look.”

A body lay beside the central table.

An elderly man wearing the robes of an imperial scholar.

His eyes were open.

His face was pale.

And his hands were covered in black stains.

Tianyu knelt beside him.

“Do you know him?” he asked.

Xueyan nodded.

“Master Shen. He was the chief keeper of the forbidden library.”

Tianyu examined the man’s hands.

The black stains did not look like ink.

They resembled burns.

Tiny branching marks spread across the skin, forming patterns similar to electrical damage.

He checked for a pulse.

Nothing.

“He has been dead for several hours,” Tianyu said.

Xueyan crouched beside him.

“How can you tell?”

“The skin is cold, and his body has begun stiffening.”

She studied him.

“You learned that from books?”

“Among other things.”

Tianyu searched the scholar’s robes.

He found a folded sheet of silk hidden inside the man’s sleeve.

It contained a list of dates.

The years were written in a system Tianyu recognized from ancient Chinese astronomical records.

But the dates did not correspond to ordinary historical events.

Each one marked the birth of a person who had supposedly traveled through time.

The first entry was dated three hundred years earlier.

The second, one hundred and fifty years later.

The third was dated fifteen years before Tianyu’s birth.

He stared at the final entry.

It contained a name.

CHEN GUOWEI.

His father.

Beneath the name was another date.

The date of his disappearance.

Tianyu’s hands began shaking.

“No,” he whispered.

Xueyan leaned over his shoulder.

“Who is Chen Guowei?”

“My father.”

She looked at him in disbelief.

“Your father came here?”

Tianyu nodded.

“He was an archaeologist. He disappeared fifteen years ago.”

He turned the silk over.

A message had been written on the back.

The handwriting was unmistakable.

He had seen it in his father’s notebooks, on old letters, and in the birthday cards his father used to leave beside his bed.

The message read:

My son, if you have reached the forbidden library, then the first timeline has already failed.

Do not trust the emperor.

Do not trust the man who wears your face.

And above all, do not let Xueyan discover what happened to her father.

Tianyu felt the room spin.

He looked at Xueyan.

She had read the message.

Her sword was pointed at his chest.

“What does your father know about mine?” she demanded.

Tianyu raised both hands.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

“I swear I’m not.”

She pressed the sword closer.

“My father disappeared twelve years ago. Your father wrote this message fifteen years ago. How could he know anything about my family?”

Tianyu had no answer.

Then a faint sound came from the circular doorway.

A whisper.

A familiar voice.

“Tianyu.”

He turned.

The doorway had begun glowing blue.

Behind it stood a man dressed in modern clothing.

His hair was streaked with grey.

His face was thinner than Tianyu remembered.

But there was no mistaking him.

Chen Guowei.

His father.

Tianyu staggered forward.

“Dad?”

The figure raised one hand.

For a moment, Tianyu forgot the palace, the prophecy, and the dangerous woman standing behind him.

He was thirteen years old again, waiting for his father to return from an archaeological expedition.

He wanted to run forward.

To ask where he had been.

To demand an explanation for fifteen years of silence.

But his father looked terrified.

“Listen carefully,” Chen Guowei said through the glowing doorway.

“You have very little time.”

Tianyu stepped closer.

“Where are you? What happened to you?”

“I cannot explain everything now.”

“Then explain something!”

His father’s eyes filled with sorrow.

“I am sorry, son.”

The blue light flickered.

Behind his father, something moved.

A tall figure dressed in white stepped into view.

The mysterious man turned toward Chen Guowei.

“Your time is over.”

Tianyu’s father looked back at his son.

“Whatever happens, remember this: the emperor who summoned you is not the man who died today.”

Tianyu froze.

“What does that mean?”

His father reached toward the doorway.

“Find the third key.”

The white-clothed figure seized him.

Chen Guowei shouted one final sentence before the doorway collapsed.

“XUEYAN’S FATHER IS STILL ALIVE!”

The blue light vanished.

The circular doorway went dark.

Tianyu stood motionless.

Behind him, Xueyan slowly lowered her sword.

Her face had lost all color.

“My father is alive?”

Tianyu turned toward her.

“I think so.”

She shook her head.

“No. That is impossible.”

“Your father may have traveled through time. Mine did.”

She looked at the dead scholar.

Then at the dark doorway.

Finally, she stared at Tianyu.

“If my father is alive, why did he never return?”

Tianyu thought about the warning.

Do not let Xueyan discover what happened to her father.

He did not know what had happened.

But he suspected that the truth would be terrible.

A sound echoed through the library.

Footsteps.

Many footsteps.

Someone had discovered them.

Xueyan sheathed her sword.

“We need to leave.”

Tianyu folded his father’s message and slipped it inside his robe.

As they hurried toward the exit, he noticed something lying beneath the scholar’s body.

A small bronze token.

He picked it up.

The token bore the insignia of the imperial household.

On the reverse side was a name.

LI CHENGHAO.

Prince Li Chenghao.

The same man who had attacked the military camp.

The same man who knew the jade pendant should have been destroyed.

And the same man who, according to the historical records, should have been dead years before Tianyu arrived.

A terrible realization settled over him.

The prince was not merely aware of the future.

He was connected to the people who had been manipulating it.

And he had access to the forbidden library.

The footsteps grew louder.

Xueyan grabbed Tianyu’s wrist.

“Come!”

They escaped through a side passage just as imperial guards stormed into the library.

Neither of them spoke until they reached the courtyard.

The night air felt cold against Tianyu’s face.

He looked toward the imperial palace.

Somewhere inside those walls, an impostor was preparing to take the throne.

Somewhere beyond time, his father was trapped with the mysterious man in white.

And somewhere in the ancient empire, another key waited to be discovered.

Tianyu turned to Xueyan.

“We need to find your father.”

She nodded slowly.

“But first, we need to discover who is pretending to be the emperor.”

Tianyu looked at the jade pendant.

Its surface had changed again.

A new inscription appeared beneath the dragon.

THE FIRST EMPEROR HAS ALREADY BEEN REPLACED.

He closed his eyes.

He had spent years studying the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties.

Now he was living inside a conspiracy that could erase every dynasty from history.

And the most frightening part was that he was beginning to understand why his father had disappeared.

His father had not been trying to discover the past.

The He had been trying to prevent the future.