Chapter 433: The Black Altar

The palace did not sleep that night.

News of Shin Gu’s death had spread through every corridor.

But this time, the whispers were different.

People were no longer asking whether dark magic existed.

They had seen it.

They had witnessed strange incidents with their own eyes.

They had seen Shin Gu involved.

And yet—

Shin Gu was dead.

Before anyone could question her.

Before anyone could force her to reveal who had ordered her.

Before anyone could discover who stood behind her.

She was gone.

And that made everything worse.

---

The Emperor sat in the main investigation hall.

Prince Liang stood beside him.

The Empress Dowager, Lady Chen, Princess Zhi, Mei Lan, and General Wei were also present.

Nobody spoke for several moments.

Finally, Prince Liang broke the silence.

"Shin Gu is dead."

His voice was quiet.

"After everything we discovered, she dies before we can interrogate her."

The Emperor’s fingers tightened around the armrest.

"She was never the mastermind."

Everyone looked at him.

Lady Chen frowned.

"What makes Your Majesty say that?"

The Emperor looked toward the evidence placed on the table.

"The dark rituals were too organized."

"The incidents were too carefully planned."

"Shin Gu was useful."

"But useful does not mean she was responsible for everything."

Prince Liang slowly nodded.

"I reached the same conclusion."

The room became silent again.

Then General Wei entered.

"Your Majesty."

The Emperor looked up.

"What did you find?"

General Wei placed several objects on the table.

"A hidden room."

Everyone stared at him.

"Where?" asked the Empress Dowager.

"Inside the palace."

His answer immediately changed the atmosphere.

"One of the old storage buildings behind the western courtyard."

He opened a cloth covering.

Inside was a black object.

A small altar.

The room went completely silent.

Princess Zhi’s face lost its color.

"That’s..."

General Wei nodded.

"Yes."

"The same type of altar connected to the incidents surrounding the Empress."

Lady Chen immediately stood.

"Where did you find it?"

"Hidden beneath a false floor."

General Wei continued.

"There were candles, blackened bowls, strange symbols, pieces of cloth, and several handwritten pages."

Prince Liang leaned forward.

"And the book?"

General Wei placed another object on the table.

A thick, old book.

Its cover was dark.

No title was written on it.

But the pages were covered with strange symbols.

The Empress Dowager stared at it.

"That is forbidden magic."

General Wei nodded.

"Most likely."

The Emperor didn’t touch it.

"Did Shin Gu write it?"

"No."

General Wei’s answer came immediately.

"We compared the handwriting with the documents found in Shin Gu’s room."

"They are different."

Everyone froze.

Lady Chen whispered,

"Different?"

"Yes."

General Wei opened the book.

"The writing belongs to someone else."

Prince Liang’s expression became grim.

"So Shin Gu was only using someone else’s instructions."

The Emperor looked at the black altar.

"Exactly."

He slowly leaned back.

"She was a chess piece."

"And whoever placed her on the board knew exactly how to use her."

---

The Empress’s Old Accusation

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes briefly.

She remembered everything.

Months earlier—

The entire kingdom had been terrified.

Strange incidents had occurred throughout the palace.

People claimed they had seen shadows moving without bodies.

Some servants had heard voices in empty rooms.

Animals became frightened for no apparent reason.

The Empress had been found connected to one of the most disturbing incidents.

A black altar had been discovered in a hidden section of her chamber.

The discovery had turned the entire palace against her.

People had shouted.

People had demanded punishment.

Some had even demanded that she be executed.

They believed the Empress was responsible for the paranormal disturbances spreading through the kingdom.

The accusation had become so serious that people had begun demanding her hanging.

The Emperor had struggled to protect her.

And even then—

Doubt had remained.

Until Shin Gu’s actions began exposing the truth.

Now—

Everyone understood how dangerous that earlier accusation had been.

Someone had deliberately planted evidence.

Someone had wanted the Empress blamed.

And someone had made sure the entire kingdom believed it.

Lady Chen slowly spoke.

"If Shin Gu was working for someone else..."

She looked at the book.

"Then the altar found in the Empress’s chamber could also have been planted."

Nobody answered.

Because everyone knew the answer.

It probably had been.

---

"Then Why Kill Shin Gu?"

Princess Zhi suddenly asked,

"If the mastermind wanted Shin Gu to remain useful, why would she be killed?"

Prince Liang looked at her.

"Perhaps she became a liability."

General Wei nodded.

"Or she knew too much."

The Emperor’s expression darkened.

"Or someone wanted us to stop investigating."

Liang looked at him.

"Meaning?"

The Emperor pointed toward the altar.

"Think about it."

"Shin Gu dies."

"We discover a black altar."

"We discover a forbidden book."

"And we discover evidence connecting the dark rituals to someone other than Shin Gu."

He paused.

"Whoever arranged this knew exactly what we would find."

The room became silent.

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed.

"This could be another layer of the same plan."

---

The Search Continues

"Search the entire palace," the Emperor ordered.

General Wei bowed.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Every abandoned building."

"Every unused chamber."

"Every underground passage."

"Every servant quarter connected to Shin Gu."

"Do not destroy anything you find."

"Bring every object directly to me."

"Understood."

General Wei turned to leave.

Then the Emperor stopped him.

"And search outside the palace."

General Wei looked back.

"Outside?"

"If someone supplied Shin Gu with these objects, they had to come from somewhere."

General Wei nodded.

"I understand."

He left.

---

Lady Chen’s Fear

Lady Chen remained silent.

Her fingers were cold.

She looked at the black altar.

She had once believed Shin Gu could control everything.

She had believed the woman was powerful enough to solve their problems.

Now Shin Gu was dead.

And the person behind her had not even shown their face.

Lady Chen lowered her eyes.

"Could Shin Gu have betrayed her master?"

The Empress Dowager looked at her.

"Perhaps."

Lady Chen swallowed.

"Then her death..."

"Was not accidental," Prince Liang said.

Lady Chen’s face tightened.

Nobody needed to explain what that meant.

If Shin Gu had been silenced—

The mastermind was still active.

---

The Emperor’s Realization

The Emperor stood.

"Take the book."

Prince Liang looked at him.

"Where?"

"To the scholars."

"Have them examine every symbol."

"And find out where the paper, ink, and binding came from."

Prince Liang nodded.

"Yes."

The Emperor then looked at the altar.

"Do not burn it."

"Do not destroy it."

"We need evidence."

He paused.

Then his voice became colder.

"We already made one mistake."

Everyone understood.

They had once looked at the Empress and believed the evidence placed before them.

They had nearly allowed an innocent woman to be punished for something she hadn’t done.

They would not repeat that mistake.

---

Meanwhile — The Empress’s Courtyard

Lian An stood beneath the moonlight.

Fen Yu, Wei Rong, and Li Shen were nearby.

Even they were unusually quiet.

Fen Yu stared toward the palace walls.

"There’s something strange."

Lian An turned.

"What?"

Fen Yu shook her head.

"I don’t know."

Wei Rong crossed his arms.

"The palace feels different."

Li Shen looked toward the darkness.

"Because the truth is beginning to surface."

Lian An sighed.

"But we still don’t know who is behind everything."

Li Shen nodded.

"Exactly."

Fen Yu frowned.

"Shin Gu knew."

"She probably did," Lian An replied.

"But now she’s dead."

Wei Rong’s expression hardened.

"Someone killed her before she could speak."

Lian An looked toward the distant palace.

Her expression became serious.

"For months, someone wanted everyone to believe I was responsible."

She remembered the black altar discovered in her chamber.

The accusations.

The frightened servants.

The angry nobles.

The people demanding her execution.

Her hands slowly tightened.

"Whoever did that wasn’t trying to frighten me."

"They wanted the entire kingdom to hate me."

Li Shen nodded.

"And that means the altar wasn’t merely magical."

"It was political."

Lian An looked at him.

He continued,

"If people believed the Empress was responsible for supernatural disasters, they would demand punishment themselves."

Fen Yu’s eyes widened.

"So the mastermind didn’t need to kill her."

"They could make everyone else do it."

Lian An remained silent.

That realization was far more frightening than any ghost.

---

The Black Book

Back in the investigation hall—

Prince Liang opened the forbidden book again.

The first pages contained symbols.

The next pages contained instructions.

But halfway through—

He stopped.

There were names.

Not complete names.

Only initials.

Dates.

Locations.

And brief descriptions of rituals.

Prince Liang’s face changed.

"Your Majesty."

The Emperor immediately approached.

"What?"

Liang pointed at one page.

"This date."

The Emperor read it.

His expression hardened.

It was the date of one of the earliest paranormal incidents in the kingdom.

Another page contained the date when the black altar had been discovered in the Empress’s chamber.

Another contained the date of Princess Zhi’s strange incident.

Another—

The date of the Empress’s sleepwalking.

Everyone stared.

The book wasn’t recording future events.

It was recording events that had already happened.

Someone had been documenting everything.

Prince Liang whispered,

"Whoever wrote this book was watching."

The Emperor’s eyes became cold.

"Not watching."

He turned another page.

"Planning."

---

The palace fell silent.

Shin Gu was dead.

The black altar had been found.

The forbidden book had been recovered.

But instead of ending the mystery—

The evidence had opened an even larger one.

The people who once believed the Empress was responsible were now beginning to realize that she may have been the target of a carefully constructed deception.

Yet the mastermind remained hidden.

And somewhere within the kingdom—

Someone who had planned everything was still watching.

The Emperor closed the book.

"Find them."

Prince Liang bowed.

"We will."

The Emperor looked once more at the black altar.

"Shin Gu was never the end of this."

He paused.

"She was only the first door."

And behind that door—

Someone else was waiting.