She was merely the daughter of a concubine. A twist of fate at a bride-seeking contest made her the Crown Prince's concubine. He and the other man had once been as close as brothers, but power and a woman nearly turned them into strangers. After giving her heart and sincere love to the wrong man, she narrowly escaped death when she was used as a pawn in a power struggle. She raised her sword to cut off their past, if only for a time, yet could not bring herself to sever the feelings that had long since taken root and blossomed in her heart. She gave up the exalted position of Empress, second only to The Outcast and above all others, but never forgot the days when she had begged for food to survive through times of hardship. With fate toying with them and their feelings impossible to forsake, who would quietly enter her dreams at midnight?
