Where Clouds and Waters Never Meet

“Click to read, and judge the mental state of this high-school senior’s author”

All one sees is the cold of the sun and the warmth of the moon, slowly consuming human life. I fear that cloud and water will never meet again.

An imagined ancient setting, palace intrigue + a little political scheming, ensemble cast told mainly from the harem’s perspective. No fixed protagonist and no conventional villains.

The characters are all flawed, each pursuing their own ends. Everyone uses their head, and the author’s values are sound.

“None of them is at fault. They only want to survive in the vast inner palace, and each has chosen a different path. The one at fault is the emperor’s scheming.”

“On and on we go, farther and farther apart, until you and I must part for good...”

“The walls are not too high, nor is the moat too deep. They abandoned them and fled, because favorable terrain is no match for unity among the people.”

Major spoiler warning: almost everyone who could get a bad ending does. Unless the plot logic forbids it, I throw tragedy at the characters without restraint.