A thousand years ago, corrupt officials ruled Later Yan, and the people lived in misery. The five most powerful clans in Jianye vied openly and secretly for the empress's place. The family of the great villain Ouyang Shao, who had always wielded his daughters as tools to seize power, was defeated when the Wu and Gongsun families joined forces.
Ouyang Yan, Ouyang Shao's eldest daughter, was breathtakingly beautiful and unmatched in talent and appearance. Emperor Murong Yuan fell in love with her at first sight when they were children and made her Empress Yuanshu. He doted on her alone, leaving the beauties of the six palaces eclipsed. But her brilliance provoked envy and plots against her, and she ultimately died an unexpected death...
The second daughter, Ouyang Yu, was mediocre in both wit and beauty compared with her sisters. Timid and submissive, she had always lived in the shadow of her elder sister, Empress Yuanshu, like a pawn at others' mercy. At long last, she reached adulthood and was able to marry into a prince's household, only to have the prince break off their engagement because of a courtesan...
The third daughter, Ouyang Jing, was clever and adaptable, poised and graceful, with the bearing of a proper young lady. She looked quite like Empress Yuanshu, and her father, Ouyang Shao, had raised her specifically as a replacement for the empress...
The Prince of Zhenxuan, who broke off his engagement to save the courtesan who had tried to assassinate him; Emperor Murong Yuan, suspicious and sensitive by nature; the palace maid Ziling, born a courtesan but never forgetting who she was; the treacherous official Gongsun Zan, who joined forces with the Wu family to bring down the Ouyang family; and Princess Kangle, rebellious and yearning for freedom and for a master to teach her martial arts...
No one could remain untouched by the whirlpool of power struggles in Later Yan.
