Magpie Consort, His Majesty has arrived.
This smell...
Xiangfu incense. No...
There's another smell, too.
Are you Feng Xiao Yue?
You forgot your silk shawl at the Ye Ming Palace, didn't you?
I've come to return it,
so return my eunuch to me.
If you don't, then I'll make you pay for it.
That's right. I went to the Ye Ming Palace that day.
Magpie Consort Qin Huiyao
You didn't grant me my wish.
But then he appeared.
The man who would make my wish come true.
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
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 never kneels before the emperor.
Such is the Raven Consort.
Highness...
It's all right. I'm sure she'll be back soon.
Xing-xing!
Episode 12 Siblings
You said you wanted me to bring someone back from the dead.
Were you talking about your late brother?
My brother and I had no other siblings.
When I was still young, my brother protected me.
At times, he scolded me. We even argued over nothing.
That was how we grew up together.
Compared to his schoolmates, my brother was exceptional.
To me, my brother was the greatest man in the world.
He was full of life, beautiful, and self-assured.
I loved my brother.
I entered the inner palace for his sake,
so that he could become an official someday.
I heard your brother passed away due to an injury he suffered falling from a horse.
My brother can't be dead. There must be some mistake!
That cannot be true!
So I went to the Raven Consort to make a request!
When you told me you couldn't bring him back, I lost all hope.
I even thought about following my brother in death.
That's when Xiao Yue appeared.
He told me to gather a bit of my brother's hair or bones, and some dirt.
I sent my father a letter to request them.
Brother...
With that hair and dirt, Xiao Yue...
Brother!
He really was my brother.
My brother came back to life.
Where is your brother now?
I...
You don't have to tell me. I can smell him.
Wait.
Please, wait!
It really is my brother!
It has his face and body.
Your Majesty, I'll never allow anything like that to happen again.
So please, please have mercy!
Anything like what?
What is this smell?
Wen Ying!
Wen Ying. Wen Ying!
Your Highness...
That's right. It's me.
You're all right now.
Your Highness!
Brother!
Brother, no!
Dan Hai!
Sorry I'm late.
It's not over!
Brother!
Brother, it's all right.
What? She's worried about that?
Is that your allegedly resurrected brother?
Not even a sorcerer can bring back the dead.
Neither can I.
Xiao Yue succeeded.
Did the blood in those buckets come from animals?
Yes. Xiao Yue said he would revert to a clump of dirt unless I fed him blood.
But my brother doesn't seem to like the blood of animals very much.
What he really needs is human blood.
You have yet to answer my question.
What did you mean when you said "anything like that"?
Forgive me, Your Majesty. My brother...
That night, my brother thirsted for human blood and went on a rampage.
Brother, it's all right. I'll give you some now.
But, regrettably...
A monster!
Brother!
By the time Xiao Yue found them in the woods, it was too late.
My brother killed her.
I shall accept all the blame.
So please, forgive my brother.
Do not waste the life that was returned to him!
This thing is not your brother.
What?
Xiao Yue didn't bring him back to life.
He simply created a clay doll.
What are you saying?
This thing isn't alive. It's empty.
No matter how long you wait, it will never become the brother you knew.
That's not possible. That can't be...
You must know that yourself, deep down.
That isn't the brother you've loved since you were a child.
No, no. This is my brother.
My one and only brother.
Right? Isn't that right?
Isn't that right, Brother?
Huiyao...
I'm sorry for what I did.
I'm the one who should be apologizing.
Not only did I fail to carry out your orders, but you had to rescue me as well.
I'm next.
But Mr. Dan Hai, you're not injured.
I've got a scrape right here.
That'll heal on its own.
So mean! Why are you so much colder to me?
Dan Hai.
Yes, Your Highness.
I searched every nook and cranny of the Quechao Palace,
but couldn't find Xiao Yue.
What about his personal effects?
Apparently, he didn't even have his own room.
Nobody ever saw him sleep or eat.
I see.
I promise we'll find Xiao Yue.
Stay in the Ye Ming Palace.
I'm sorry.
What I did to the Magpie Consort can't be undone.
Why would you apologize?
I knew she hadn't been herself ever since she received word of her brother's death.
I should have returned her to her father sooner.
I'm wholly responsible for what happened.
The Magpie Consort was desperate when she came here, and I flatly turned her away.
I failed to understand her grief.
I'm going to sleep.
Your Highness, you must be cold, so I...
Your Highness?
She went to send off His Majesty.
Leave tracking down Xiao Yue to us.
Please stay at the Ningguang Hall, Master.
Also, I will send a messenger to the Magpie Consort's father.
Master?
Xiao Yue, show yourself!
I'm the one you want!
Don't drag anyone else into this!
I will not run, nor hide.
Show yourself!
The Owl.
Not exactly. This isn't truly me,
just as you are not truly the Raven itself, but merely its vessel.
It is meaningless for us to fight each other.
We must use our niaobu.
Niaobu?
You don't even know that much?
Or has consuming so many flowers made the Raven forget?
However, you seem to know you should be afraid of me.
I don't understand a single thing you're saying.
Very well.
I understand that you know nothing.
Listen closely. I have come from the Palace of Seclusion.
The Palace of Seclusion?
The land far across the sea where the gods are said to live?
Yes. I am the executioner of the Palace of Seclusion.
There it is. That is what I've been looking for.
It took a great deal of effort to come to this island.
I was at a loss, since it had gone missing.
Simalu, come here.
I told you to come here.
You never listen to me, do you?
Simalu.
What am I to do? Simalu was originally the Raven's bird.
Who is this Raven you speak of?
Are you talking about me?
Not exactly. The Raven is the Raven.
The thing inside you.
I've watched over you for a long time,
because intervening with this island is forbidden.
Those who are banished from the Palace of Seclusion are sent to this island.
There was nothing I could do when the Raven was banished,
even though I am the Raven's brother.
You're her brother?
The Raven and I were born when a bubble of the sea was split in two.
We were originally a single bubble.
I was made executioner,
and the Raven was made responsible for guiding the spirits of the dead
who drifted in on the currents and wind.
Souls are beautiful things.
They twinkle in the darkness like pale white stars.
The Raven and I lived during the night.
Does that bring back memories?
No. I don't know what you're talking about.
The Raven committed a sin.
Tempted by the dead, she sent a soul back and revived it
without realizing what a grave sin it was.
Foolish sister.
But a short while ago, I sensed the power of the Raven.
The Raven attempted to run wild within you.
It felt so nostalgic and dear to me, I couldn't bear it anymore.
So I sent Simalu and this from the Palace of Seclusion.
I waited patiently for a thousand years. I think I did pretty well.
I have come to end your suffering.
Raven Consort. My sister.
You again?
You fool, don't!
You stand no chance against him.
You're the fool.
It's so difficult to move in this form.
If only it were a new moon.
You came to kill me, didn't you?
I don't want to kill you.
But in order to slay the Raven, I must destroy you, her vessel.
Stay out of my way.
By "Raven," do you mean Niao Lian?
That's the name you gave her, not the one I know.
If you intend to harm the Raven Consort, then I cannot stand idly by.
Then I must kill you, as well.
Stop.
Stop!
Master, please stand back!
Wei Qing!
What a troublesome bunch.
You still don't understand?
Destroying this body won't kill me,
though making a new one is quite an inconvenience.
Your Highness!
Stay back.
You're a clay doll as well, aren't you?
I told you, I cannot come to this island.
Not with my own body.
I do not wish to kill an innocent girl.
If you must blame anyone, blame Xiang Qiang.
Xiang Qiang?
Why blame the first Raven Consort?
She is the cause of all this.
She trapped the Raven inside her.
I thought Xiang Qiang trapped Niao Lian beneath the Ye Ming Palace.
That's why the Raven Consort is its warden.
Its warden? She was a cunning girl.
She offered up herself and the numerous women who'd come after as vessels,
and sealed her away so she couldn't escape.
She is a criminal. A monster.
She is the one I hate.
Turning a living person into a vessel is an unforgivable crime.
It inevitably becomes corrupted.
For both our kind and yours, it is a forbidden technique.
Do you not suffer on the night of each new moon?
Your soul is nearly being torn apart because the Raven within you is escaping.
I cannot imagine how painful that must be.
You are already halfway to becoming the Raven.
The life you've been given is being taken from you
without you realizing it.
Xiang Qiang fed the Raven flowers continuously.
They are a poison.
One that intoxicates us.
The flowers I've been offering to Niao Lian are poison?
The Raven has already lost her mind.
The Raven's power that overflowed from within you
was her scream of rage and pain.
You must've been angry as well.
It's time to put the Raven out of her misery.
As an executioner, I have come to slay my sister.
Don't you want to be released from your pain as well?
My, my.
Useless niaobu, why are you here?
Niaobu...
It is meaningless for us to fight each other.
We must use our niaobu.
Xing-xing!
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?
Episode 13
Xiangfu Incense