Don't move, Raven Consort.
Bingyue!
Correct. I'm impressed you knew it was me.
You swine, get away from Jiu-jiu.
I'm the one who will be making demands, Raven Consort.
You mean the request you mentioned before?
Yes.
Are you plotting the revival of the Luan family?
I'm not interested in that.
There's simply someone I want you to help,
Raven Consort.
Do you not understand that I'm telling you to get away from her?
I command you!
Master!
Stop!
You tore me from her by force.
If you're unable to cross over to paradise, allow me to send you there.
Don't...
Don't do this!
Shouxue, that's enough.
I shall play the best role of all
The saddest role where one kills the most
Even at the ends of this square ocean, people change and are replaced
You forget that you're playing a role in this world
Everyone is just a bird in a cage
We all look forward to the day we can escape
And once it's within our grasp
The great big sky overwhelms us
MYSTERIOUS
Call out the name and bring calm
No one can stop your MYSTERIOUS
My MYSTERIOUS
Now, I shall play the best role of all
Raven of the Inner Palace
She's merely unconscious.
Lay her down over there.
Episode 7 Glass Prayer
You said there's someone you want me to help.
Allow me to guess.
Is it Princess Mingzhu?
She's your aunt, isn't she?
She and my father had different mothers.
She was even younger than me.
I heard you were to be adopted by your master, Feng Yixing,
and have your name removed from the family register.
That's strange.
Why would you bother giving up the Luan family name?
The law against intermarriage.
Previously, as long as they had different mothers,
brothers often married sisters, and uncles often married nieces.
But starting with the Luan dynasty, it became forbidden.
In other words, you tried to give up your family name
so you could marry someone within your family,
and that person was Princess Mingzhu.
We were to be married shortly.
The emperor said he would allow it
if I removed my name from the Luan family register.
Mingzhu was delighted,
but it all went up in smoke.
I was captured by Xia's imperial guard,
beheaded by Yandi, and doomed to wander as a ghost.
When I came to my senses, I was in the inner palace.
I searched for Mingzhu's body, as I'd heard she killed herself.
I couldn't find it. However...
There was a ghost beneath the willow tree.
Mingzhu's ghost.
She was standing beneath the willow,
looking as she did in her final moments.
Mingzhu. Mingzhu!
Mingzhu, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
Mingzhu, it's me. Can't you hear me?
Mingzhu!
My voice couldn't reach Mingzhu.
Her mind was captivated by something, preventing her from hearing me.
So I cannot send her to paradise.
Master Feng escaped the pursuers Yandi sent after him and went into hiding,
so I couldn't track him down.
I possessed several sorcerers and attempted to speak to Mingzhu,
but she never responded.
Spring came and went countless times during my futile attempts.
When I returned to the inner palace to see Mingzhu's ghost again,
I learned a new Raven Consort had been chosen.
Not only that, but she was a member of the Luan family.
I thought if things went well, I might be able to make a deal with her.
I was a fool.
If you hadn't used Jiu-jiu as a shield,
I would've calmly listened to what you had to say.
Dawn is approaching.
Come with me.
Bingyue, you must know that Princess Mingzhu had a white glass comb.
I gave it to her as a symbol of our engagement.
I see. Do you know that it's been lost?
Lost?
We always met here when I visited the inner palace.
I even proposed to her beneath this willow tree.
If she chose to die here because of the memories she shared with you,
it's hard to imagine she would have died
without her precious glass comb symbolizing your engagement.
However, she wasn't wearing it when she died.
She probably did not want the comb to be on her body
because she believed it would be plundered by Xia's men.
Both her jade pendant and the blade she used to kill herself
are in the storehouse at Ningguang Hall.
It was possible the comb would also have fallen into the hands of your killer, Yandi.
She was probably determined to avoid that.
Where is the comb, then?
With the soldiers approaching, I doubt she had time to hide it anywhere.
She probably buried it.
Qing.
They're the roots of the willow.
Use this.
She was probably unable to leave this place because she was worried about this comb.
Because she was so focused on that, not even your voice could reach her.
How ironic.
It's just a comb I gave her...
Mingzhu.
I finally get to see you.
Let's go together.
Let's bury that comb at their grave.
That would be good.
It's probably better that I don't touch it.
You hold onto it.
Your Highness.
Jiu-jiu, are you feeling better already?
Yes. As you can see, I'm completely fine now!
I'm sorry for dragging you into this.
Don't say that.
It's not your fault.
Thank you for saving me.
I still have something left to do.
Go ahead and get some rest.
In that case, I'll join you.
You should rest.
I need you to be well.
If you insist.
Xing-xing, don't worry.
I'll be back soon.
I'm not running away.
You're so aggravating, watchman of Niao Lian.
If you tell anyone, I'll roast you whole.
I know this scent.
Why are you here?
Wait. What are you doing?
Silence. Just watch.
It'll be over soon.
Don't.
They're harmless.
You don't know what's harmless and what's not.
This is my area of expertise.
Wait!
Don't!
The scent is gone.
What was that?
Why do you think they were standing in front of the door?
Probably because they had something to say to me.
There's that, too, but they were guarding something.
Guarding what?
Fool. You, obviously.
I heard they've been appearing over the past month.
What happened roughly a month ago?
The empress dowager's execution.
They must have begun appearing after that.
What's the meaning of this?
I detected the scent of a beast near your bedchamber.
It was the smell of a curse that was cast using a beast.
A curse? Could it be?
The empress dowager left a curse in her final moments
so you'd be tormented even after her death.
Then, my mother and Ding Lan...
They were preventing the curse from entering your bedchamber
just before it could reach you.
Look up, Gaojun.
Mother... Ding Lan...
Shouxue, why did you help me?
Aren't you angry with me?
Don't you hate me?
I'm angry with the former summer and winter kings, not you.
If I'd allowed you to die, then those two— who gave their lives to protect you—
wouldn't be able to rest in peace.
I see. Thank you.
I don't want your gratitude.
I owe you one. How shall I return the favor?
I don't need anything.
Stay away from my palace. That's all I want from you.
What is it?
Is it truly impossible for me to help you?
I don't need your help.
That man really is a fool.
I'd like to make a suggestion.
Is His Majesty busy?
He hasn't visited a single time since then.
I've been quite at ease because he hasn't.
There you go again.
Something's been wrong with me ever since he started coming.
What?
I got carried away after hearing the emperor's request.
I forgot my responsibilities as the Raven Consort.
These days I have you, Hongqiao, and Wen Ying at my side.
I'm even obligated to have tea with Huaniang.
You certainly can't keep postponing the Flower Princess's invitation.
I wonder what Li Niang would say if she could see me now.
She accepted the Raven Consort's fate
and sought nothing, formed no relationships,
and spent the rest of her days here at Ye Ming Palace alone.
You don't want to see His Majesty?
I don't. Whenever he speaks my name,
I feel oddly unsettled. I can't relax.
Which hairpin would you like to wear?
Well...
This will go well with the clothes Huaniang gave you.
Oh, my.
Th-This was made to match these clothes, that's all!
I didn't say a thing.
That looks lovely on you.
Did you know His Majesty is revising the law?
He's been quite busy with that.
I didn't. I'm not interested.
He wrote in a letter to me that he will be unable to visit you for some time,
and asked me to pass on the message.
Why would he include a message for me in a letter to you?
He said you'd burn a letter from him without reading it.
Would you like to have some of these?
I have plenty to spare.
My youngest sister is around the same age as you.
Forgive me if I'm being rude,
but doing this makes me feel like I'm looking at my sister.
It makes me happy.
I don't think that's rude.
In that case, maybe I call you Amei?
You may call me Azi.
How splendid that you and the Flower Princess call each other "sister."
I never said I'd call her that.
Huaniang can be rather pushy.
You seemed like real sisters to me.
That's not...
I was wondering why the doors wouldn't open.
I see you were out.
I thought you wouldn't be able to visit for a while.
So you heard from Huaniang.
I finished things sooner that I expected.
This is...
What did you want to discuss?
I've been amending the laws.
What does that have to do with me?
I've done away with some unnecessary laws,
like the death warrant on the Luan family.
According to the register, all the members of the Luan family are deceased,
making that law no longer necessary.
If the Raven Consort is what allows the emperor to exist,
then I cannot lose you.
There is no law ordering your capture or death anymore.
You need not fear any longer.
Have I offended you?
Look at these.
This one is yours, and the other is mine.
Let us swear an oath.
An oath?
A promise between you and I.
The king of summer and the king of winter.
What promise?
The first is the promise I made to you before.
I will not kill you, no matter what.
There's more?
That you and I will not fight.
I never intended to fight you.
That would mean keeping you here as the Raven Consort
and not as the winter king.
There is no other path available to me,
nor do I seek anyone's help.
When you and I are alone together,
I shall treat you as the winter king and not the Raven Consort.
And not just you.
I'd like to express my respect for all the Raven Consorts who came before you as well.
Did you make these fish?
No. They are beyond even my ability.
I had them made in a workshop.
Though I could make you a wooden carving in less time.
Nobody asked you to make a carving.
I could make you birds, or even flowers.
Even roses?
I could make you roses, magnolias, or lotuses.
I'd like a rose.
Very well.
A wooden rose will not wilt.
You're still not leaving? Haven't you concluded your business?
I forgot to mention the last of my promises.
There's even more?
One more.
I wish to become your friend.
My friend?
Your friend. I wish to understand your suffering.
You're a fool.
Am I?
That's not an oath.
It's an oath I'm imposing on myself.
What do friends do, exactly?
It's not as though I know much about the subject,
but I believe they drink tea together.
Qing.
Yes?
Qing is excellent at making tea.
Would you like to try some?
I wouldn't be opposed.
Deep in the inner palace,
there lives a consort known as the Raven Consort.
She holds a special position. Despite her title of consort,
she does not perform nighttime duties.
Though she lives in the inner palace,
she has no contact with the emperor.
But she has gained a friend.
My fate had tainted
The heavily falling snow black
The sun shines in gradually
And freshly melts it away with its summer warmth
The dream you saw in your eternal sleep
I'll do whatever I can to make it come true
(I want to help you, it's true)
Because you made your wish to me
Just like the sun shining through the darkness
The bouquet of light
That you had given me
Still connects the seasons that will never meet
The proof of this pain
Will it be able to stay the snow that falls in the summer?
I've thought of a name for you.
I borrowed a character from an apprentice I was going to adopt.
Xiao Yue.
It's a good name. Thank you, Master Feng.
Episode 8
Blue Swallow