The candles flickered.

The palace showed Phong his deepest wish: not fame or gold, but a warm hand holding his while reading poetry under a peach tree. The illusion placed Linh beside him, softer, mortal. Phong almost surrendered. Then he noticed—the phantom Linh had no poetry book. “Real Linh would mock my bad verses,” Phong said. “You’re fake.” The illusion shattered.

“Gladly. But first, another kiss.”

Phong’s face reddened. “That’s the weirdest compliment I’ve ever received.” Linh offered a deal: survive three nights inside Ma Cung , each night a trial of heart, desire, and memory. If Phong succeeded, Linh would let him go. If Phong failed… he would stay forever as the Ghost King’s consort.

The palace hummed. Lanterns lit themselves one by one, revealing a long, red-carpeted hall. But instead of ghosts jumping out, a brush and inkstone floated toward him. A silken scroll unrolled, with elegant, chilling words: “Ngươi có duyên với chủ nhân nơi này. Hãy viết lời thề kết tóc. Nếu không, vĩnh viễn không được ra.” (You share a fate with the master of this place. Write a wedding vow. If not, you shall never leave.) Phong blinked. “I… I’m a broke scholar. I don’t even have a wife. Or a husband, not that I’d mind, but—wait, master ?!”

Genre: BL, Dark Fantasy, Horror Romance, Reincarnation Tags: Sentient Palace, Ghost King x Human Scholar, Cursed Love, Se Duyên (Fated Connection) Prologue: The Cursed Palace Deep within the mist-laden mountains of Độc Sơn, there stood an abandoned palace no living soul dared to enter. They called it Ma Cung —the Demon’s Labyrinth.

“Your line ‘moon like a cold dumpling’ is terrible, husband.”