A scheme separated her from the man she loved and forced her to marry Prince Chen. Their dutiful but distant marriage, born of helplessness, was exposed by the obsessive Prince Chen, who tried to claim a place in her heart, but she refused. Only after losing the one she loved, heartbroken and devastated, did she nearly mistake the disguised man for her true love because she had forgotten the past. But deception cannot last forever. He finally understood what love meant, yet for the sake of the greater cause, he had to leave her for a time. Exiled to a foreign land, she joined forces with her new husband, full of regret, but their plans stalled when someone from the past was due to return…
When we met again, I was Queen of Nanjiang, and the man I loved had become a Secretary of State. As he knelt before me in the palace and begged me to approve his marriage, granting his wife and children their rightful status, I knew I had lost the young man I once loved…
The lotus flowers outside the city were in full bloom, and the king invited me to admire them with him. I could already picture that perfect couple out on the water, boating and picking lotus flowers, so I declined. Yesterday, the king offered to make me a bowl of lotus seed soup. Once, someone else used his own hands to make me soup, but I’ll never taste anything that good again in this lifetime. I wonder if the Secretary of State will remember me when he’s surrounded by children and grandchildren? Set in an imaginary dynasty, this is an ensemble story with multiple couples and a collection of bittersweet tales. The supporting characters get plenty of time in the spotlight too.
